As a first-time exhibitor at the Cannes Film Festival and Marche du Film, Hannover House, Inc. (OTC: HHSE), closed deals for over $6.2-million in sales, pre-sales and co-productions, the company reported. The upcoming fantasy adventure, "Mother Goose: Journey to Utopia" was by far the company's most active title, with additional sales and offers received for "The Legend of Belle Starr," the new acquisition of "Black-Eyed Dog," and from a wide range of territorial licenses received for a listing of ten catalog titles from Hannover House.
Territorial sales were made with France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, with additional offers and opportunities being contemplated for Japan, South Korea, Russia, China and Australia-New Zealand. Co-production funding commitments and incentives have been accepted for production expenditures in Louisiana and the Republic of Ireland. Potential equity investments have been offered, but not yet accepted by Hannover House, from media investors in Dubai and China. Additionally, major bank lenders specializing in the monetization of international pre-sales and "gap" funding have approached the company about banking the "Mother Goose" project.
"The successful results already generated at Cannes are very exciting for the company and our shareholders," said Fred Shefte, President of Hannover House. "To generate close to double our annual revenues in one week here demonstrates the viability of our parallel path approach to the world media market for independent films. As we continue to build our core business in the lower-budgeted realm of direct-to-video releases for the U.S. market, the addition of major theatrical locomotives to drive our schedule is clearly working. There are major revenues to be achieved with these high-profile titles, and the international markets can in many cases exceed our U.S. results," he concluded.
In addition to generating sales on the Hannover House and Medallion properties, some exciting acquisition activities for the U.S. operations were also initiated and completed at Cannes. Last week, Hannover House closed the first major acquisition deal of the market with the North American pre-sale agreement for "Within Screaming Distance." The $5-million dollar thriller was written by legendary writer Joseph Stefano ("Psycho", "Outer Limits"), and chronicles the night of the Sharon Tate murders by the Charles Manson Family. Seven additional titles have also been acquired for the company's direct-to-video activities.
Newly completed production, "Black-Eyed Dog" from director Erica Dunton has generated strong international interest - in part due to lead star Mackenzie Foy's current star role in the Christopher Nolan epic "Interstellar," opening worldwide this November by Paramount. Industry trade publication, The Business of Film, selected "Black-Eyed Dog" as its featured page one title for the Day Five Cannes Market edition, due to buyer buzz about young actress Mackenzie Foy.
Hannover House was formed in 1993 as a book publisher. DVDs were added as a product line in 2003, and by 2004, the company began dabbling in limited release theatrical titles such as ?Off The Lip?, ?Hounddog? and ?War Eagle, Arkansas? to enhance the films? profile for the DVD and Video-On-Demand markets. In 2010, Hannover House licensed the Joel Schumacher thriller, ?Twelve? at the Sundance Film Festival, for a sizable advance to production entity, Gaumont, of $1.75-million. The film was released that summer to 220 theatres, and became a significant DVD and Blu-Ray hit through a distribution pact with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. However, since 2010, the company has not secured distribution rights to any major theatrical titles. The formation of Medallion and the capital access that this venture provides through markets such as Cannes, is expected to provide Hannover House with major releases to drive its release slate.
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This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Sections 27A & 21E of the amended Securities and Exchange Acts of 1933-34, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Although the company believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these statements included in this press release will prove accurate.
