Major League Baseball, Imagine Entertainment Strike Multi-Year Partnership; R.J. Cutler-Directed Doc First at Bat (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comMatt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment has entered a significant content deal with Major League Baseball, Variety can report exclusively.
The partnership will yield multiple scripted and unscripted projects, the first of which is a documentary feature from noted filmmaker R.J.
Cutler (“The September Issue,” “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”) following baseball’s 2023 world series. “I’ve always been drawn to the drama, high stakes, and emotion of baseball ever since I was kid in the bleachers of Dodger Stadium,” Oscar winner Howard told Variety. “These also happen to be the very same elements that make for a great movie or television show, which is why Brian, Imagine, and I are so excited to be teaming up with Major League Baseball to bring more of their stories to life.” MLB will participate in the deal through its eponymous studios label, which creates, produces and consults on original content with multi-platform media and licensing projects that span film, television, audio and digital.
To date, they have launched titles like “Once Upon a Time in Queens” and “The Captain” on ESPN, “Say Hey, Willie Mays!” for HBO and “After Jackie,” a civil rights story set in ’60s baseball for the History network.
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