Bleecker Street Pacts With Canada’s Elevation Pictures

Bleecker Street, Andrew Karpen’s newbie indie U.S. distributor, has sealed a multi-year output deal with Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures to distribute its films across Canada. As part of the deal, Elevation — run by Laurie May, Noah Segal and financier Teddy Schwarzman of Black Bear Pictures — will handle all marketing, sales and distribution services north of the border.

The pact begins with Bleecker Street’s Al Pacino-starrer Danny Collins, which opens in select cities March 20. Next up will be Pawn Sacrifice, the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky chess pic starring Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber. The latter pic was Bleecker Street’s first big splash after the company launched in August, nabbing it for seven figures at the Toronto Film Festival.

“I’ve always wanted to be in business with Laurie and Noah,” Karpen said. “They know how to reach Canadian filmgoers and we’re really proud to be partnering with them on our upcoming films.”

Karpen, the former Focus Features CEO, negotiated the deal with Avy Eschenasy on behalf of Bleecker Street and May and Segal of Elevation.