NEWS

7 Apr 2006

Press release
London: 7 April 2006

Hammer has appointed Majestic Films to be its exclusive sales agent.  Majestic, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Icon Entertainment, will license Hammer films in all media around the world, for an initial period of five years. 

The titles included in the deal are all the films and television programs currently listed in the Hammer library to which Hammer has distribution rights. 

The Hammer library features over 100 classic titles including: Dracula Prince of Darkness, starring Christopher Lee, The Abominable Snowman and Frankenstein & the Monster From Hell, both starring Peter Cushing, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, starring Horst Jansen, Plague of the Zombies, starring Andre Morell, and  Quatermass & The Pit starring Andrew Keir.

The deal does not include film clip rights, merchandising rights or underlying rights (e.g. remakes). Nor does the deal bind Hammer or Majestic in respect of any new product or any product newly acquired by Hammer.

In recent years Hammer has licensed a package of 20 leading video and DVD titles in a number of major territories.  Majestic will continue this work, packaging other titles from the Hammer catalogue and targeting the hitherto unsold territories.

Majestic very successfully represented the Hammer catalogue in the period 1990 – 2000.  Icon head of sales Peter Naish is the former chief operating officer of Hammer, in which capacity he was responsible for all Hammer’s licensing activity since 2000.  The new deal with Icon thus continues sales and distribution relationships that have been built up over the past 15 or more years.

In announcing the deal, Larry Chrisfield, chairman of Hammer said: “I’m thrilled that the Hammer Library is now being represented by Icon and that the titles will continue to find audiences into the twenty-first century.” 

Peter Naish added “Hammer is one of the great names in film history and it is fantastic to have these titles within the Icon library.”

Meanwhile, Hammer continues to work up new projects for film, television and stage as well as remakes from the back catalogue.  Progress on these fronts will be posted on the website.

With the addition of the Hammer library, Icon now represents over 300 titles for international distribution.  Icon’s slate of new features includes Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, Seraphim Falls starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, Butterfly On A Wheel starring Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler and Maria Bello, It’s A Boy Girl Thing starring Kevin Ziegers and Sammaire Armstrong and The Darwin Awards starring Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder.