2929 Entertainment
2929 Entertainment, LLC. is an American integrated media and entertainment company co-founded by billionaire entrepreneurs Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. 2929 maintains companies and interests across several industries including entertainment development and packaging, film and television production and distribution, digital and broadcast syndication, theatrical exhibition, and home entertainment.
Company type
2002
Todd Wagner (CEO)
Mark Cuban (Co-Founder)
Schuyler Hansen, Managing Director
2929 Productions
Magnolia Pictures
Spotlight Cinema Networks
Truly Indie
AXS TV (co-owner)
Rysher Entertainment
HDNet Films
HDNet Movies
Landmark Theatres (sold to Cohen Media Group in 2018)
2929 Entertainment has offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Dallas. Wagner and Cuban co-own 2929 with Sky Hansen serving as Managing Director.
History[edit]
2929 Entertainment made several strategic acquisitions to assure that releases could be made available to any audience across a variety of platforms simultaneously. Wagner says that "ready availability of such infrastructure would be an operating advantage to both the circuit and the production company."[1] Some titles would even see DVD releases alongside theatrical openings as early as 2007, through an early partnership with Netflix.[2]
An extensive catalogue of television and film rights were acquired with Rysher Entertainment in 2001, and 2929 would co-produce a newer version of Star Search which premiered in January 2003 on CBS (the original Star Search aired from 1983 to 1995).
Variety praised 2929 as a "pioneer" for its simultaneous theatrical and cable television release of Steven Soderbergh's Bubble in 2006.[2] Bubble was the first of several films with concurrent releases in theaters and through 2929's cable channel HDNet. At the time, this move was controversial as most films are released in different formats on a staggered schedule, giving each channel an exclusive window. Exhibitors were especially timorous, as many feared that they would eventually lose their exclusive release windows for more mainstream films.
Operations[edit]
Production companies[edit]
2929 Entertainment develops original feature and series through its production company 2929 Productions, and formerly through HDNet Films.
Former operations[edit]
Theatrical exhibition[edit]
2929 acquired Landmark Theatres September 24, 2003. The chain was originally founded by Kim Jorgensen in 1974 and specialized in independent and foreign films.[8]
On December 4, 2018 the announcement was made that Landmark Theatres was sold to the Cohen Media Group, "a buyer who is passionate about independent cinema and who truly understands this market."[9]
2929 maintains an interest in Spotlight Cinema Networks, a cinema advertising company.