New International Production Division for Fox

LOS ANGELES, May 13: Fox
Filmed Entertainment is launching a new division to produce and acquire
local-language films for key global territories, and has placed veteran studio
exec Sanford Panitch at its helm.

Fox International
Productions (FIP) will focus on several key territories to produce, co-finance,
acquire and distribute local-language films, developing partnerships with local
producers and filmmakers to make strategic production agreements. Fox is in
discussions with several investment funds interested in providing equity
financing for its international productions.

The newly formed division
will initially oversee production activities already in progress in Japan,
Germany, Russia and India, and will expand into further productions and
additional territories in the future. FIP will work closely with other Fox
divisions and partners, as well as its News Corporation sister companies,
including STAR, SKY and MySpace, among others. All marketing and distribution
for FIP will be handled by Fox International, run by co-presidents Tomas Jegeus
and Paul Hanneman, and will also rely on efforts from Tony Safford, Fox’s
executive VP of worldwide acquisitions.

Panitch will become the
president of the Los Angeles-based FIP, and will report to Jim Gianopulos and
Tom Rothman, the chairmen and CEOs of Fox Filmed Entertainment. Panitch most
recently served as the president of filmed entertainment for New Regency, a
partnership of News Corp. and Twentieth Century Fox.

“We have the
infrastructure provided by the world’s most global media company along with
Fox’s unmatched marketing and distribution operations, and in Sanford, we have
a seasoned, successful executive with whom to entrust this important
enterprise,” said Gianopulos. “All of these factors—as well as our
existing relationships and collective experience around the
world—position us for great success.”

Added Rothman: “Sanford is
a uniquely gifted and well-rounded film executive. In the last years, he has
spent much of his efforts focusing on international talent, and will bring his
inimitable energy, perseverance and can-do attitude to expand our efforts
around the globe.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski