Richard Branson Going Rogue
Branson says film is a natural extension of his business.
Friday, Jul 30, 2010 | Updated 2:00 PM PST
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Richard Branson has much to smile about, as his Virgin America airline is now losing much less money than it was a year ago.
The airline business, the record business, even the space ship business-- now Virgin Airlines owner Richard Branson is going into the movie business.
His company, Virgin Group, announced Friday the launch of Virgin Produced, a film and television development, packaging and production company.
Virgin Produced has also entered into a joint venture with Relativity Media's Rogue Pictures to develop, produce and market films together.
Branson said the Los Angeles-based Virgin Produced is a natural extension of his business.
"Entertainment has long been a focus of the Virgin brand, and I'm excited for the chance to further grow in this space," he said. "The Rogue and Virgin brands seem an obvious fit for each other."
In addition to developing and producing original films, Virgin is expected to co-produce two to three motion pictures a year with Relativity/Rogue, allowing the studio to utilize Virgin's marketing capabilities to reach millions of consumers.
The first film production from the new company is an untitled Peter Farrelly project.
