Winchester to Cease Trading!

Oooh. Last Thursday, Winchester Entertainment suspended shares pending announcement of a merger – and today that merger was announced. Well, I say merger – by all accounts, it is a reverse takeover by ContentFilm. Apparently, Winchester will buy out ContentFilm, and then give them the controlling stake in the firm – which will still be called ContentFilm, and will be lead by current ContentFilm CEOs Ed Pressman and Schmidt.

So, what does all this mean for the Movie? It sounds good – a source close to the deal has said:

“This deal is the first stage of a plan to build up a major integrated U.K.-listed film company, capable of production, financing, and distribution. We will be bringing some of the brightest management in the U.S. film industry to London, and have some of the savviest backers in the business. We will be combining this with U.K. talent to create a real powerhouse in British filmmaking. This is a very exciting development for the U.K. film industry.”

The company will continue to sell films internationally through it’s London base – perfect for Red Dwarf. It may even increase the likelihood of the Movie being made – Winchester has had financial problems the past few years, and hopefully this merger should alleviate that – along with building a bigger company, like the source says. On the other hand, the management will change, and when a merger occurs it’s difficult to predict anything with any certainty. We’ll keep an eye on things to see; if anything has changed, we’ll let you know.