Alchemy files for bankruptcy

Troubled US theatrical distributor Alchemy has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with estimated liabilities of between $50m and $100m and creditors in the US and Europe.

In a statement on its web site Alchemy said it will “pursue an orderly liquidation” and has released its entire staff.

The company’s bankruptcy filing says Alchemy has estimated assets of between $10m and $50m and creditors including Universal Pictures, 20^th Century Fox and WME Entertainment in the US, Protagonist Pictures and The Works in the UK, Insomnia World Sales and Artedis in France and Adriana Chiesa Enterprises in Italy.

Alchemy has recently handled the US distribution of films including Meet The Patels (pictured), with $1.7m the company’s highest grossing release, Gaspar Noe’s Love, Sophie Barthes’ Madame Bovary and Black Souls (Anime Nere).

At the 2015 Cannes festival Alchemy bought Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster (pictured) for the US, but those rights were sold on to A24. The film was released in May and has grossed $8.1m to date.

Alchemy was re-launched under its current name in January 2015, after CEO Bill Lee led a buyout of Millennium Films from Avi Lerner and his partners in Nu Image (the Millennium Films division that Nu Image still operates is no longer connected to Alchemy).

Lee left his post at Alchemy last December, when Kelly Summers and Scott Guthrie became co-presidents of the company, which in February laid off around 40% of its staff.

The company’s web site statement said that Alchemy “rolled out a comprehensive strategy of acquisitions including films, businesses and broad distribution agreements. The execution of this strategy proved to have an adverse impact on the financial health of the business.”

During 2016, the statement went on, “Alchemy conducted extensive efforts to optimise performance, recapitalise the business, and thoroughly explored and pursued its strategic alternatives. Unfortunately, the company’s financial viability could not be salvaged.”