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MARK DAMON:

FORESIGHT UNLIMITED

Exclamation markMark Damon has again broken new ground with his latest film production, the hair-raising thriller Captivity—the first Russian-American co-production shot almost entirely at MOSFILM Studios in Moscow. Damon is producing the picture with the emerging Russian film powerhouse, RAMCO, together with executives Leonid Minkovski, Sergei Konov, and Valery Chumak, and is in plans to produce more pictures with RAMCO as Russia becomes a force in international film. Directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Roland Joffe (The Mission, The Killing Fields), and starring Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax, The Girl Next Door, 24), the $17 million-budgeted Captivity is set for worldwide release in the first quarter of 2007. Currently, Foresight Unlimited, Damon's new company, is administering worldwide licensing for several upcoming releases which include: First Stone, a romance/thriller written by John Briley (Gandhi) and to star Scarlett Johansson; Twist of Fate, directed by Jennifer Elster (Particles of Truth); and Hangman, a high concept thriller currently out to directors. Mark Damon's two most recently released independent motion pictures have not only been critically acclaimed, but have ended up in the Top Ten highest grossing films in the U.S., a tribute to Damon's commercial as well as artistic sensibilities. The films Monster, which won an Academy Award for Charlize Theron, and the recently released The Upside of Anger, starring Joan Allen and Kevin Costner, are both highly profitable films. Monster has done about $80 million theatrical box office worldwide and its budget was only around $5 million. The Upside of Anger, while touting important stars, still kept its budget to around $9 million and to date has grossed $72 million worldwide. A key to Damon's success is in doing very commercial scripts on contained budgets which gives his films the highest possible upside. Over the last twenty-five years, Damon's films have grossed over $2 billion in theatrical box office worldwide. Mark Damon is a pioneer in the financing, distribution, and marketing of films as well as a highly successful independent producer. He has accomplished a staggering amount in his prolific five decades in show business. Credited with having invented the foreign sales business as we know it today and considered one of the world's leading authorities on international distribution, Damon has played a successful role in various facets of the entertainment industry for 50 years, this year being his 50th. His first 20 years were devoted to his acting career during which time he starred in 50 feature films. Among his more notable efforts were the cult-classic The Fall of the House of Usher, for which he won a Golden Globe, directed by Roger Corman and co-starring Vincent Price; The Longest Day, directed by Daryl Zanuck; and over 40 films in Europe, where he became one of the most successful of the Italian Spaghetti Western stars and one of the most well known of the U.S. expatriate stars. He first entered the world of independent sales and production in the 1970's while living and working in Italy where he saw a huge market of independent international distributors eager for top American movies. Mark returned to the U.S. in 1977 to produce Robert Aldrichs The Choirboys and his goal became selling important American pictures to international distributors to compete with the studios. His early visionary contributions to the international distribution of independently produced films are widely recognized and he has developed a reputation in the entertainment industry as one of the leading producers and distributors of independent films. Over the next two decades, Mark was integral in the financing and international sales of over 300 profitable films including Prizzi's Honor, Once Upon a Time in America, and Cotton Club. He began to produce independent films starting with the World War II drama Das Boot directed by Wolfgang Peterson. After it was nominated for six Oscars (a record for a foreign-language film) Damon went on to produce or executive produced over 70 successful critically acclaimed and profitable films including 9 1/2 Weeks, directed by Adrian Lyne; 8 Million Ways to Die, directed by Hal Ashby; Short Circuit, directed by John Badham; High Spirits directed by Neil Jordan; The Lost Boys, directed by Joel Schumacher; The NeverEnding Story, directed by Wolfgang Petersen; Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, directed by Stephen Sommers; The Musketeer directed by Peter Hyams, and many others. Today, Mark's producing career spans several decades and includes award-winners in every genre from fantasy to comedy to gut-wrenching dramas like Monster, which won dozens of awards for actress Charlize Theron in 2004 including an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Mark's most recent production, The Upside of Anger, has critics calling Joan Allen's performance Oscar-worthy. Mr. Damon is one of the original founding members of AFMA and currently serves as Vice Chairman of IFTA. He received his M.B.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of California Los Angeles and resides with his wife and two children in Beverly Hills.

 

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