Italy's Leone Film Group is taking the legacy of its founder, spaghetti western master Sergio Leone, to the next level.
As the Rome-based company, run by the maestro’s sons, Raffaella and Andrea, celebrates its 35th anniversary, it continues to establish itself as the premier supplier of American independent productions to Italy. Lyon’s film and television production side has seen recent growth with a strong pipeline of high-quality content for the international market.
Having become the premier distribution partner in Italy for American independents such as Lionsgate, STX Entertainment, Voltage and Black Bear Pictures, Leone Film Group is now focusing on what Raffaella Leone calls “the most difficult task” of “laying the foundation for our production side in the international arena.”
The group’s Lotus Production, now run directly by Raffaella, has a pipeline of projects in various stages, with new films from James Gray, Isabel Coixet and Gabriele Muccino. As it expands its production division, LFG is building close relationships with a range of production partners, from Spain’s Mediapro to Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, to Brazil-based RT Features of Rodrigo Teixeira and The White Lotus producer David Bernad.
“We are driven by a strong desire to work as producers with international companies on an equal footing,” says Rafaella, the company’s co-owner and CEO.
The boost to Leone's production side comes amid Hollywood's turmoil over strikes and mergers. LFG's ambitions are unfolding amid consolidation in the Italian market, where LFG is now one of the few wholly Italian-owned companies still in existence after several foreign takeovers of its competitors.
All this ambiguity and activity opens the door for non-US players in the global content arena.
“Our goal is to remain an Italian company, and in fact to do the opposite: to acquire an international company or merge it with another, perhaps Spanish or perhaps American,” say Raffaella and Andrea. This desire to expand, they add, is not dictated by “delusions of grandeur,” but because “this is the direction the market is heading in and also because of the volume of projects we want to produce.”
A look at the LFG production line:
James Gray's Untitled Project
The film is being produced in collaboration between LFG and director Teixeira (Armageddon Time), who said in a statement: “It is an honor to work on a film with the Leone family. I began my filmmaking career in part because of Sergio Leone’s legacy. When the opportunity arose to produce a new film co-written by James Gray with Rafaella and Andrea Leone, it was a dream come true.” Details of the project, which will be Gray’s next film, are still under wraps.
Days of migration
Penelope Cruz will star in “Abandonment,” an adaptation of Italian writer Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name, directed by English director Coxit, from a screenplay by “Abandonment” writer Sara Treem. “Abandonment” will reunite the two Spanish talents after their collaboration on another film set in the United States, the 2008 drama “Elegy.” The film is based on Philip Roth’s novella “The Dying Animal,” which revolves around the relationship between a university professor (played by Ben Kingsley) and his student (Cruz).
Deep Red Remake
LFG has teamed up with “White Lotus” producer Bernad to produce a contemporary remake of Dario Argento’s 1975 horror classic.
Syracuse
Gabriele Muccino, whose filmography includes The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, will direct this English-language adaptation of Delia Ephron’s novel Syracuse. The film, about a couple and a child on holiday on Sicily’s sunny Ionian coast, is “a thriller,” Raffaella says. Muccino’s Sicilian-set romance, Here Now, starring Elena Kampouris (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”), also produced by LFG, is set to open in Italy in October.
Scandaloo
Paolo Genovese (Perfect Strangers) will direct this film that depicts the love triangle between director Ingrid Bergman, neorealist pioneer Roberto Rossellini and actress Anna Magnani, based on the book “Gli amanti del vulcano” (The Volcano Lovers) by Italian journalist Marcello Sorgi. The screenplay is by Francesco Piccolo (My Brillant Friend) and Genovese.
Joan of Arc Project
LFG and Scott Free are developing the project, promising a new vision of the French icon. It is adapted from a chapter in a best-selling book by Italian historian Alessandro Barbero, who describes Joan as a woman who “led an army dressed as a man and paid with her life for defying the rules of her time.”
love me, love me
American director Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions) will direct the first installment in Stefania S.’s wildly successful Wattpad trilogy of novels. Love Me, Love Me follows a 16-year-old girl who becomes entangled in a love triangle with two male friends and uncovers hidden truths. Lotus is producing the film in association with Amazon MGM Studios in association with Wattpad Webtoon Studios. The film will launch globally on Prime Video.
“Leone Film Group understands the importance of audience and fan engagement, which is critical to our studios,” said Aaron Levitz, President of Wattpad Webtoon Studios. “We are very proud to partner with such a legendary studio and are excited to continue creating content with Leone Film Group and the talented team at Lotus Production.”
Achievements of the Lion Cinema Group:
“Once Upon a Time in the West,” starring Charles Bronson, right, and Henry Fonda.
Courtesy of Everett Group
1989
Sergio Leone formed a company to help produce Leningrad, his long-awaited dream project, but he died that year. In the following years, two of his three sons, Raffaella and Andrea, entered the television film business under the name Leone Film Group, having gained considerable experience managing the rights to two Westerns they had inherited from their father: Once Upon a Time in the West and You, You Fool!.
2001
After a decade of relationships with independent American companies, supplying most Italian broadcasters with their products, and amassing a large library, Raffaella and Andrea decided to venture into the theater with Steven Soderbergh’s film Traffic. They also began to expand their market from television to additional platforms, including pay TV and home video.
2009
LFG moves into local production with the youth comedy “Generazione 1,000 Euro”.
2012
LFG has signed its first multi-year theatrical production deal with DreamWorks (Amblin/Storyteller).
2013
Shingle struck a multi-year production deal with Summit Entertainment, and subsequently Lionsgate. This was followed by deals with FilmNation and other American companies.
Beginning of a close collaboration with 01 Distribution, a subsidiary of RAI Cinema. The first major titles are “Rush” and “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
The LFG Securities IPO will kick off on December 19 with the soundtrack of Ennio Morricone's Once Upon a Time in the West at the Milan Stock Exchange.
2014
LFG acquires Lotus Production Company.
2015
Lionsgate has granted LFG the mandate to be the executive producer of “John Wick 2,” the first of several major American productions the company has brought to Italy.
2016
Lotus is producing its first TV series, “Immaturi,” and is beginning to develop international programming. Its most recent TV series include “The Lions of Sicily” (2023) for Disney+ and the upcoming “Uonderbois,” a Neapolitan-set show about children wandering the city’s underworld led by a Robin Hood-like character, also for Disney+.
2018
Lionsgate's family drama “Wonder” had its highest European opening in Italy with $13.8 million. Gabriele Muccino's comedy-drama “A Casa Tutti Bene” (“There's No Place Like Home”) also had the highest domestic opening in Italy.
2019
LFG sees success in Italy with the films “Mia and the White Lion”, “The Deputy”, “The Green Book” and “After”.
Shingle has an exclusive 30-month deal with Amazon for the first window. Sky has also secured a second window.
2020
The release of the high-grossing film “Gli Anni Più Belli” (“The Best Years”) by singer Muccino has been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
2021
LFG's teen romance “Time Is Up” starring Bella Thorne is the highest-grossing film in Italian cinemas this year.
The partnership with Amazon has been extended thanks to the great results achieved by LFG's productions distributed on Prime Video, especially with the “After” series. “They are the gold standard in distribution, and their father is my favorite director!” says “After” producer Nicolas Chartier, president of Voltage Pictures.
The Prime Video partnership has expanded with the launch of Leone's “Once Upon a Time” channel, showcasing the best Italian titles from the LFG library.
2022
Rafaela Leon takes over at Lotus.
2023
LFG has 11 titles in theaters, four of which are self-produced, including “Felicità” (“Happiness”) by director Michaela Ramazzotti, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
2024
Italian billionaire Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio is buying 13.78% of LFG shares through his company LMDV Capital, “driven by a desire to help the group remain in Italian hands and grow,” says Raffaella Leone.
Raffaella Leone was awarded the Cavaliere del Lavoro (Order of Merit for Labor) in recognition of her outstanding achievements as an Italian entrepreneur.
