Susan Levison has been named Senior Vice President and Head of WWE Studios, reporting to WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson. Levison comes to the Stamford, CT-based entertainment outfit after a run at CBS Television Studios, where she was SVP of Alternative Programming. Wilson gained oversight of the studio last year…

WWE Studios is about to drop the big elbow on a multiplatform push. The pro wrestling titan's motion picture production arm is expanding into scripted, non-scripted, family and animated television and digital content. Michael Luisi will continue to oversee the WWE Studios as president and also will oversee the new…

Saban Films has acquired just North American distribution rights to John Stockwell's sci-fi thriller Armed Response from WWE Studios, Gene Simmons and Erebus Pictures. The film is the first to be produced and also picked up for distribution from the WWE Studios and Simmons’ Erebus Pictures which are co-financing and co…

EXCLUSIVE: WWE Studios has acquired the exclusive English-language remake rights to the Norwegian thriller franchise Cold Prey and has sealed a deal for an option to purchase the screenplay Casey La Scala is writing. Cold Prey follows a group of friends who decide to ski out of bounds and are forced to take shelter…

EXCLUSIVE: WWE Studios has named Stephanie Denton as VP International and Acquisitions, overseeing sales and acquisitions for the company. She joins after having consulted for the division about three years ago. Denton is a well-known face about town, having previously worked in similar posts at Lionsgate…

John Ortiz has been tapped to round out the cast of God Particle, the Julius Onah-helmed sci-fi pic from Paramount Pictures and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot. Production is now set to begin June 10 in Los Angeles on the movie that already stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris O'Dowd…

EXCLUSIVE: WWE Studios and Wesley Snipes’ Maandi Media DMM production company have signed a multi-film deal with the aim of developing and producing elevated branded content, according to the companies. The first pic under the deal is the just-unveiled Temple, which stars Snipes, Anne Heche, Dave Annable and WWE…

EXCLUSIVE: Erebus Pictures, the genre specialty label formed by KISS co-founder Gene Simmons and WWE Studios, has locked Wesley Snipes, Anne Heche, Dave Annable (Brothers And Sisters) and WWE star Seth Rollins to star in Temple, a thriller that will be directed by John Stockwell. Filming begins this week and Snipes is…

WWE Studios and Blumhouse Productions have bought world rights to Sleight, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section. The dramatic thriller is directed by JD Dillard and blends science fiction and street magic in a tale set in Los Angeles. Dillard wrote Sleight with Alex Theurer, and it stars Jacob…

EXCLUSIVE: WWE Studios and Lionsgate urban label Codeblack Films have set a deal to co-produce and co-finance a slate of films, and they already have their first pic in the pipeline. That’s the action thriller Brother’s Blood, which Trey Songz has come aboard to topline with John Pogue directing a script co-written by…

WWE Studios announced last night it set Josh Gad and Ryan Dixon to script its biopic of flamboyant wrestler George Raymond Wagner, better known as Gorgeous George. WWE is working on the film with Robert Halmi Jr.'s Great Point Media. The wrestler was a TV fixture in the early days of pro wrestling. Let’s see if Gad…

WWE Studios has acquired rights to adapt Franklin Martin's documentary Long Shot: The Kevin Laue Story to a feature film, and has tapped Soul Surfer scribe Kara Holden to adapt it. The 2013 documentary followed Laue, who become the first player missing a limb to play NCAA Division I basketball. A director search is…