MLB & Imagine Entertainment announce strategic partnership
LOS ANGELES (April 4, 2023) – Major League Baseball (MLB) and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment have entered into a strategic partnership to create scripted and non-scripted film and television properties. Under the terms of the multi-year deal, Imagine and MLB will collaborate to develop and produce projects rooted in stories and personalities throughout the league’s robust 150-year history. The partnership looks to produce pioneering programming that taps the expansive MLB Film & Video Archive to cover historical and cultural subjects while leveraging access granted by the league to also profile the captivating storylines around the game today.
The first project re-teams Imagine with award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, The September Issue_) and Cutler’s production company, This Machine (a part of Sony Pictures Television), for a documentary event feature on the 2023 World Series. The film promises to take a deep dive into all of the intersecting narratives, on and off the field, that surround the high stakes climax of America’s national pastime. Imagine and Cutler most recently partnered on the acclaimed MGM+ true crime docuseries, _Murf the Surf: Jewels, Jesus and Mayhem in the USA which tells the story of one of the most complicated and notorious American crime figures ever, Jack Roland Murphy, who became America’s very first true crime television superstar in 1964, a mere few months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
“I’ve always been drawn to the drama, high stakes, and emotion of baseball ever since I was kid in the bleachers of Dodger Stadium. These also happen to be the very same elements that make for a great movie or television show, which is why Brian, Imagine, and I are so excited to be teaming up with Major League Baseball to bring more of their stories to life,” said Howard.
“Collaborating with Ron Howard and Imagine is a dream come true,” said Noah Garden, Chief Revenue Officer, Major League Baseball. “The opportunities that come with two premier global media companies partnering are limitless. Couple that with Ron’s passionate and vocal fandom for the game of baseball and we know we have a framework to produce unmatched content for fans to enjoy across a collection of platforms.”
Major League Baseball represents the highest level of professional baseball and is the most historic sports league in the United States. Through its MLB Studios label, the League creates, produces and consults on original content with multi-platform media and licensing projects that span film, television, audio networks and digital distribution. Recent credits include the critically acclaimed multi-part documentary films “Once Upon a Time in Queens “and “The Captain” on ESPN, “Say Hey, Willie Mays!” on HBO/HBO Max and “After Jackie,” a civil rights story set in 1960’s baseball, on HISTORY. ESPN Films recently announced an eight-part documentary series, “The Yankees Win” produced in partnership with MLB Studios.
From Blue Crush, to Friday Night Lights and Rush, the documentary The Day Sports Stood Still, and the upcoming second season of Swagger, Imagine has a rich history in telling stories rooted in the sports space. Over the last five years, Imagine has strategically expanded into an independent content studio with targeted acquisitions, partnerships, and new divisions, including an exclusive first look strategic partnership with The Washington Post in 2022 and with Warner Music Group in 2020, to co-produce a slate of projects across all mediums.