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 Logo used since 2019 | |
 Legendary Entertainment headquarters at the Pointe office building in Burbank | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
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| Industry | |
| Founded | 2000; 25 years ago (2000) |
| Founder | Thomas Tull |
| Headquarters | 2900 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank, California 91505 ,United States |
Key people |
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Number of employees | 153[1] |
| Parent | Wanda Group (2016–2024) Apollo Global Management (co-owner) |
| Divisions |
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| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | www |
Legendary Entertainment, LLC[3] (also known asLegendary Pictures or simplyLegendary) is an Americanmass media andfilm production company based inBurbank, California, founded byThomas Tull in 2000. The company has often collaborated with the major studios, includingWarner Bros. Pictures,Universal Pictures,Sony Pictures andParamount Pictures, as well as streaming services such asNetflix andHulu.
In 2016, Legendary became a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerateWanda Group, with American equity firmApollo buying a minority stake in 2022.[4] In 2024, Legendary Entertainment bought out Wanda's stake, making Legendary and Apollo equal partners.[5]
Thomas Tull founded Legendary Entertainment with co-founders,Jon Jashni, Larry Clark, William Fay and Scott Mednick[6][7][8] after raising $500 million fromprivate equity firms.[9] It was one of the first companies of its kind to pair major motion picture production with majorWall Street private equity andhedge fund investors, including ABRY Partners,AIG Direct Investments,Bank of America Capital Investors, Columbia Capital, Falcon Investment Advisors, andM/C Venture Partners.[10] Legendary Pictures, Inc. was incorporated in California and in 2005 it signed an agreement withWarner Bros. to co-produce and co-finance up to 40 films over seven years.[10]
In 2010, Tull,Fidelity Investments, andFortress Investment Group bought all the shares of the original investors. The buyout also included a $25 million investment byOrange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment. Following the transaction, Tull became the largest shareholder, thus enabling him to more easily direct the company's operations.[11] Golden Harvest later sold its stake in the company for $30 million.[12] In 2011,Accel Partners bought $40 million-worth of shares and Accel partnerJim Breyer joined the company's board of directors.[13] That same year the company was reported to have been valued at more than $1 billion.[10]
In September 2011, Legendary PicturesChief Creative OfficerJon Jashni was appointed to the new position of President and Chief Creative Officer of the parent company, Legendary Entertainment.[14] William Fay left Legendary Pictures in September 2011.[15] In December 2012,Waddell & Reed bought around 20% of Legendary's shares for $443 million.[16]
On July 10, 2013, Legendary reached an agreement withUniversal Pictures in which it would market, co-finance, and distribute Legendary's films for five years starting in 2014, the year that Legendary's similar agreement with Warner Bros. expired.[17] In October 2014,SoftBank bought $250 million shares in Legendary for a 10% stake. The transaction increased the company's total value to around $3 billion.[18]
In 2014, Legendary acquired the television producerAsylum Entertainment, which madeESPN's30 for 30 and miniseriesThe Kennedys, for $100 million, with Asylum Entertainment to continue operating as a separate company.[19][20]
On January 11, 2016,ChineseconglomerateWanda Group announced that it had concluded an agreement with shareholders to acquire Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion, making it the largest acquisition of an American media company by a Chinese firm.[21]
In March 2016, it was announced thatJon Jashni had decided, on the heels of the sale, to leave the company to establish Raintree Ventures, a media investment and advisory firm.[22]
On January 17, 2017, it was announced that Tull had exited as Legendary Entertainment CEO.[23] He was replaced by the senior vice president of Wanda's cultural industry group, Jack Gao, as interim CEO.[24]
On October 17, 2017, it was reported that Gao stepped down from his positions at Legendary Entertainment and Wanda Group.[25][26] The resignation comes after an announcement by Wanda's chairmanWang Jianlin earlier that year that Wanda would refocus its investments onto the Chinese domestic market in an attempt to "actively respond to the call of the country".[25] This, in turn, is thought to be a consequence of the Chinese government banning Chinese banks from providing loans to Wanda Group's foreign operations, which was intended to stop the firm's offshore acquisition plans.[27]
On December 5, 2017, it was announced that Joshua Grode had been named as Legendary Entertainment CEO.[28]
On August 13, 2018, following the box office failure of several films includingBlackhat,Seventh Son,Steve Jobs,Crimson Peak,Warcraft,The Great Wall,Pacific Rim Uprising andSkyscraper, the distribution deal between Legendary and Universal ended and a new agreement was reached to return to Warner Bros.[29]
In December 2020,Variety andDeadline Hollywood reported that Legendary Entertainment, financiers, and talent with backend deals were not pleased with WarnerMedia's multi-release plans and non-transparent intentions. Legendary was not given advanced notice of the multi-release decision nor given a say in howDune andGodzilla vs. Kong would be distributed. The studio planned to have discussions with Warner Bros. regarding a more "generous deal" however legal action was considered.[30][31] A few weeks later, Deadline reported that the film could keep its HBO Max release but only if Warner Bros. matches Netflix's $250 million bid.[32] In January 2021,The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a legal battle was averted due to Legendary and WarnerMedia nearing an agreement to keep the film's simultaneous release.[33]
On April 30, 2021, the company hiredLionTree Advisors to explore possible deals, including the possibility of merging with aSPAC, making acquisitions, or finding partners.[34] On July 22, 2021, it was announced that Legendary is looking for a merger instead of a SPAC.[35] On January 31, 2022, a minority stake in Legendary was sold toApollo Global Management, with Wanda still remaining the majority owner.[4]
On August 31, 2022, following the lapse of their deal with Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment began seeking a new partnership, withSony Pictures andParamount Pictures among the companies interested.[36]
On November 28, 2022, Legendary Entertainment reached an agreement with Sony Pictures in which Sony would market, co-finance, and distribute Legendary's films with the exception of China where Legendary East would handle all marketing and distribution on its movies. Sony would also handle home entertainment and television distribution for the Legendary titles it distributes. The partnership pact does not includeDune: Part Two andGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire as Legendary would continue to remain in business for Warner Bros. Pictures. Legendary would also continue to partner with other companies for streaming, such as Netflix, as Sony does not have a streaming service.[37]
In October 2024, Legendary bought the Wanda Group out of its majority stake in the company for an undisclosed sum, in what its CEO Josh Grode described as a transaction in a "right place, right time situation" accretive to both management and Apollo Global Management, which would share a "roughly equal" stake. Grode further stated that Legendary's board of directors would be evenly split between management and Apollo executives, although its creative team led byMary Parent would remain unchanged, with the company attaining more flexibility to pursue mergers and acquisitions on a large scale, "...when we would have conversations around large scale M&A, we would have to deal with the foreign ownership issue, and that's now no longer an issue."[5]
In November 2024, following the poor box office performances of their films such asThe Machine andThe Book of Clarence, the distribution deal between Legendary and Sony Pictures lapsed.[38]
On January 21, 2025, the company entered into a joint venture withPatrick Wachsberger to launch 193, a production and sales company which would develop and produce its own slate, outside of Legendary.[39]
On July 11, 2025, Legendary is eyeing a deal to acquireLionsgate Studios, following the latter company's recent separation fromStarz.[40] On August 18, 2025, it was announced that Legendary was also eyeing a multi-picture global theatrical distribution deal withParamount Pictures.[41] In September, they closed the deal, which was set for three years.[42]
In October 2025, Legendary's owner, Apollo, came and talked withParamount Skydance about joining David Ellison's possible bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery – a megadeal that could cost upwards of $60 billion.[43]
In addition to producing American films, Legendary Entertainment has announced various other business endeavors.
In 2009, the company announced the establishment of a digital division, to be headed by Kathy Vrabeck, that would primarily focus ongame development, a move which surprised many industry analysts because of the film industry's previous disengagement with the video game industry.[44] The goal of the division was reoriented in 2012 with the acquisition ofNerdist Industries, LLC, apop culture blog with an eponymous podcast.[45] Nerdist founderChris Hardwick announced that he and his partner Peter Levin (founder ofGeekChicDaily) would still have complete editorial autonomy and that they would become the new presidents of the digital division, with Levin heading digital strategy and the digital content.[46] In 2014, Legendary acquired bothGeek & Sundry, Inc., aYouTube channel and production company,[47] and the websiteAmy Poehler's Smart Girls.[48] On June 10, 2016, LDN announced a subscription streaming service, Alpha, which will include programming from both Nerdist and Geek & Sundry.[49] The Alpha service was shut down on March 31, 2019.[50]
In July 2020, Legendary laid off 30% of the LDN staff.[51][52]Variety reported that "there was a sense that the operations were a money drain on the company's profitable film and television operations. Those cuts were accelerated by the onset of COVID-19, which has resulted in layoffs and furloughs across the entertainment industry".[51]The Hollywood Reporter reported that "the digital brands have become less important to the strategic direction of Legendary in recent years as the online content business has shifted away from the networks that grew big during the early heyday of YouTube stardom. Legendary Digital is not a moneymaker for the business the way its core film and TV divisions are".[52] In April 2021,CBR reported that "Geek & Sundry as an original content producer hasn't exactly been operational for a couple of years".[53]
In 2010, the company announced the launch of a comic book division called Legendary Comics, LLC under the direction of editor-in-chiefBob Schreck.[54] The first graphic novel published by the company wasHoly Terror byFrank Miller, which was released in 2011.[55] The division is now overseen by Robert Napton.
In 2011, the company announced the creation of Legendary Television to focus on developing television productions and a co-financing contract withWarner Bros. Television was signed.[56] However, in 2012, Legendary decided to postpone its expansion into television and put the division on hold while restructuring; the contract with Warner Bros. Television was terminated.[57]
In 2013, Legendary purchased film marketing agency Five33 Ltd. The company, which in the past has worked on marketing campaigns for various studios, would now work exclusively on marketing Legendary's films.[58] Also in 2013, Legendary hired former head of Warner Bros. Television, Bruce Rosenblum, to head Legendary's television and digital media operations.[59] In December 2013, Legendary acquired television production companyAsylum Entertainment, best known for producing sports programming and reality and scripted television series such asBeyond the Glory andThe Kennedys.[60]
In 2011, the company announced the formation of Legendary East Ltd., a joint venture film production company based inHong Kong. The purpose of the company is to co-produce films withChinese companies to bypass Chinese quotas on foreign film releases in the country.
Under an initial agreement with Chinesefilm distributorHuayi Brothers International, half of the company was to be owned by the shell corporation Paul Y. Engineering Group, 40% was to be owned by Legendary Entertainment (through holding companies such as Legendary Asian Pacific, LLC or Legendary East Holdings, LLC[61]), and 10% was to owned by the Huayi Brothers International.[62] Legendary East initially hoped to produce one to two globally marketed English-language films per year and finance a quarter of the production of an additional two films per year. The company hoped to raise US$220.5 million through the sale of stock of Paul Y. Engineering Group on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by the end of 2011.[63] However, because financing did not meet the targeted goal, Legendary East scrapped the deal with Huayi Brothers International and continued its efforts to secure financing in 2012.[63]
In 2013, Legendary East announced a new agreement withChina Film Group. Under the new agreement, the two companies were to co-produce multiple films over a three-year period.[64] Peter Loehr oversaw the company's activities in China and brokered an alliance with Wanda Group which eventually led to the company's sale to Wanda.
Legendary financed a significant portion of "Dune", which cost roughly $175 million, and "Godzilla vs. Kong", which carries a price tag around $160 million.
Godzilla vs. Kong might stay an HBO Max hybrid in its May 21 slot, but only if Warner Bros makes a deal with Legendary that uses as a base the $250 million value established when the film was shopped earlier to Netflix.
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