Annapurna Pictures

Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures was founded in 2011. Annapurna Pictures is a production and finance company that focuses on high-end auteur-driven cinema. Megan Ellison attended film school in Southern California for two semesters and then chose to travel abroad (2005), stopping in Nepal to hike on the Himalayan mountain, Annapurna. Maybe this was where and when she birthed the idea for her highly successful production company, or, perhaps, this is simply her motivation to climb higher on the media mountain. Regardless, whatever she is doing, it’s working. By 2014, Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures had produced and/or financed 9 films including Killing them Softly, Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty, American Hustle, The Master, etc, and had started production on 5 more films including Joy and 20th Century Women. From there, Annapurna launched a television production division called Annapurna Television (2016) which ended up producing the Coen brother’s first television project, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. And just a few months after their launch of the television division, Annapurna jumped onto the video game train, launching Annapurna Interactive. In 2017 Annapurna announced that they would begin with the distribution and marketing of films. In 2019, Annapurna Pictures and MGM branded a joint venture called United Artists Releasing to pool the distribution resources that Annapurna, Orion, and MGM have in hopes of better competing with major studios like Disney, Paramount, and NBCUniversal. The companies remain separate entities but collaborate as United Artists Releasing on select projects, aiming for between 10-14 films per year.

Annapurna focuses on creating sophisticated, high-quality content that is critically and commercially conscious while still appealing to a diverse audience.

Films Known For

The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad is an American superhero film based on DC Comics. The Suicide Squad was written and directed by David Ayer and stars Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, and others. The suicide squad is made up of imprisoned supervillains who were recruited by a secret government agency to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world in exchange for reduced sentences. Budget: $175M Domestic Box Office: $325,100,054 World Wide Box Office: $746,846,894

If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk is a romantic drama film based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel and was written and directed by Barry Jenkins. The film follows a young woman who seeks to clear the name of her lover and who has been wrongly charged to prove his innocence before the birth of their child. “If Beale Street Could Talk” stars KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, and other named cast members. Budget: $12M Domestic Box Office: $14,915,773 World Wide Box Office: $21,398,371

Missing Link

Missing Link is a stop-motion animated adventure comedy released in 2019. Missing Link was written and directed by Chris Butler, produced by Laika, distributed by Annapurna Pictures, and features the voices of Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, David Walliams, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, and other named cast members. Missing Link follows a lonely Sasquatch who seeks the help of a British explorer (voiced by Hugh Jackman). The pair, along with Adelina Fortnight, travel to the Himalayas to meet Mr. Link’s Yeti cousins. Budget: $102.3M Domestic Box Office: $16,649,539 World Wide Box Office: 25,389,539

American Utopia

David Byrnes’s “American Utopia” is a concert film directed and produced by Spike Lee. David Byrne wrote the screenplay and the film is a live recording of a Broadway performance in which musicians play cable-less, portable instruments. Rolling Stone has declared this film “A flat-out masterpiece”. Budget: N/A Domestic Box Office: N/A World Wide Box Office:$275,304

Phantom Thread

Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed Phantom Thread- a historical drama, set in the 1950s, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, and Vicky Krieps. Daniel Day-Lewis is a dressmaker who takes a young waitress as his muse. Budget: $35M Domestic Box Office: $21,023,275 World Wide Box Office: $47,896,721

American Hustle

David O. Russell directed American Hustle- a black comedy crime film written by Eric Warren Singer and Russell. American Hustle was inspired by the FBI Abscam operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Christian Bale and Amy Adams star in the film as two con artists who are forced by an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to set up an elaborate sting operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor. Budget: $40M Domestic Box Office: $150,098,456 World Wide Box Office: $257,858,943

Zero Dark Thirty

Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 thriller film written by Mark Boal. The film dramatizes the hunt of Osama bin Laden, leader Al-Qaeda, after the attacks on September 11. The cast of Zero Dark Thirty includes Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Reda Kateb, Kyle Chandler, Stephen Dillane, Chris Pratt, Édgar Ramírez, Jennifer Ehle, and more named cast members. Zero Dark Thirty was produced by Boal, Bigelow, and Megan Ellison. Ellison's Annapurna Pictures independently financed the film. Budget: $40M Domestic Box Office: $95,720,716 World Wide Box Office: $134,612,435

The Sisters Brothers

The Western crime drama The Sisters Brothers was directed by Jacques Audiard and written by both he and Thomas Bidegain. The Sisters Brothers is based on the novel by Patrick DeWitt. The film follows assassin brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters (played by John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix) as they chase after two men (played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed) who have banded together to search for gold. Budget: $38M Domestic Box Office: $3,143,056 World Wide Box Office: $14,636,067

Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a comedy-drama film directed by Richard Linklater. The film follows an architect who has become a recluse living in an old broken-down schoolhouse with her husband and daughter in Seattle. Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Judy Greer, and Laurence Fishburne star in the film. Budget: $15M Domestic Box Office: $9,198,356 World Wide Box Office: $10,840,632

Sorry To Bother You

Boots Riley wrote and directed the black comedy film Sorry to Bother You in which a young black telemarketer adopts a white accent to succeed at his job. Caught up in a corporate conspiracy, he must choose between cash and his activist friends. Sorry To Bother You stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, and other named cast members. Budget: $3.2M Domestic Box Office: $17,493,096 World Wide Box Office: $18,285,560