Elie Samaha - Details

ELIE SAMAHA is Chairman/CEO of Franchise Pictures, which has fast become one of the most prolific production and co-financing companies in the entertainment industry. Under his leadership, Franchise Pictures will finance and distribute over a dozen films this year alone.

Samaha, who has produced/executive produced over 40 films, has in a two-year period built Franchise into a powerful mini-studio with mainstream films populated by the industry’s biggest box-office stars. They include John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Costner, Danny DeVito, Sean Penn, Cameron Diaz, Wesley Snipes and Kevin Spacey.
Franchise Pictures has instituted a co-financing and domestic distribution arrangement with Warner Bros., which began with the popular comedy The Whole Nine Yards, starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, released on February 18, 2000. The science fiction epic, "Battlefield Earth," starring John Travolta, followed in May 2000.

Franchise retains foreign rights to all its films and operates as a full-service international sales company encompassing distribution, marketing and delivery, with output deals covering territories worldwide. Samaha has shepherded an extensive list of films towards release for the coming years through Franchise Pictures.