Artisan to Buy Landscape Assets

Artisan Entertainment is acquiring the assets of Landscape Entertainment and installing the fledgling company’s founder, Robert Cooper, as vice chairman and head of its movie and television production operations. As part of the deal, Landscape’s Canadian shareholder, Bell Globemedia, will transfer its investment to Artisan in exchange for 20% of the parent company, best known for the surprise horror hit “The Blair Witch Project.”

Cooper, who most recently served as head of production at DreamWorks SKG and before that was a top executive at TriStar Pictures and HBO Pictures, will oversee theatrical movies with budgets under $20 million to be produced and distributed by Artisan, as well as more expensive movies for the major studios.

Amir Malin, Artisan’s New York-based chief executive, said the deal gives the company a much-needed strategic investor in Bell Globemedia, a leading Toronto-based telecommunications company that owns Canadian broadcaster CTV, the Globe and Mail newspaper and the top Canadian Internet portal Sympatico-Lycos. It also puts Artisan in the television production business.