EXCLUSIVE: It was only a year ago in Berlin that newly minted Global Road Entertainment CEO Rob Friedman told international buyers on the first day of the European Film Market that Global Road planned to spend $1 billion in film production over three years. The company would exploit an East-meets-West company that…

Former Global Road and IM Global exec John Zois has been hired as EVP Acquisitions & Co-Productions at Anton, the  global film and TV producer, financier and distributor whose credits include Liam Neeson’s Non-Stop and the Paddington and Shaun the Sheep franchises. He will be tasked with growing the company's film…

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve confirmed that Rob Friedman will be leaving as chairman/CEO of beleaguered Global Road, immediately and as expected. Friedman hung in after the lenders took control of Donald Tang’s fusion of IM Global and Open Road, the latter of whose assets will be bought in bankruptcy by Raven Capital Management…

Raven Capital Management, which had offered a stalking-horse bid of $87.5 million for Open Road last month, will take control of the company after no other bidders emerged in the company’s bankruptcy proceeding. The auction in Delaware bankruptcy court originally scheduled for November 7 has been canceled (read the…

Open Road, the latest independent film company to hit the rocks, has received a “stalking-horse” bid of $87.5 million in Delaware bankruptcy court from a buyer identified as “OR Acquisition Co.” According to court documents, the bid is backed by New York-based private equity firm Raven Capital Management. The firm’s…

UPDATED at 6:50AM PT with company statement. Global Road has begun its bankruptcy process, as expected, filing for Chapter 11 protection. Following the scenario sources had floated, the filing was made under the Open Road releasing unit, with the IM Global division remaining separate. That maneuver is akin to cutting…

The focus of the indie film distribution this will squarely be on the Toronto International Film Festival, with the distinct exception of Global Road, where the road is expected to point toward Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. It is expected that the restructuring or liquidation picture will get clearer…

UPDATE: Insiders at Global Road said that the actual numbers in that first round of layoffs reached only 45, with another five in the U.K. While there is no severance, insiders said that management bucked the draconian instructions from the lenders that took over the company, and got those laid off two months of COBRA…

EXCLUSIVE: Word from inside the beleaguered Global Road is that layoffs loom this week, as early as tomorrow, this after lenders led by Bank of America took control of the company last week. Sources said a bankruptcy filing will become clear by tomorrow, but filing might take a little longer to materialize. Lead bank…

The town is lamenting the expected loss of another independent company, as Global Road heads into a weekend where it is releasing A.X.L., a film that will lose enough in releasing costs that it will likely tip Global Road into some kind of default situation with the banks that earlier this week took control of its…

Warner Bros’ Crazy Rich Asians is expected to reign supreme in its second weekend with $16 million-$18 million as the summer box office winds down. Those K-12 schools off according to comScore fall from 57% last Friday to 40% this weekend, but an even harder drop is among colleges, which move from 90% off to 57% off…

Global Road has headed down a dicey path. Word is that staffers today were told that the banks backing Donald Tang’s venture are now in control of the company’s domestic theatrical production and distribution operations. TV and international sales are intact for now. The staff was told this today by CEO Rob…