Peter Farrelly, Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks And Bob Odenkirk Directing Sketch Comedy Movie

Relativity Media announced today that Peter Farrelly (of the famous comedy directing team The Farrelly Brothers), Brett Ratner, actress Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk and Griffin Dunne (The Accidental Husband) are directing a sketch comedy feature film. More directors are expected to be announced shortly. Originally set up at Overture Films, the yet-to-be-titled comedy project takes a unifying storyline for a series of sketch comedies in the vein of the 1970s hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube. Not much more is known about the premise.

The growing cast includes Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. The producers will announce additional cast members as further deals are solidified, and production will continue thru late May 2010.

I expect that we'll be seeing more and more movies like this after the success of Valentine's Day, which was able to cram an impressive ensemble cast into a modestly budgeted romantic comedy. And a Sketch movie allows you to cram even more stars and directors into a two hour feature for a low cost and time commitment. You can read the full press release after the jump.

RELATIVITY ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION ON "UNTITLED COMEDY" WITH PETER FARRELLY, CHARLES WESSLER AND GREENESTREET FILMS

LOS ANGELES, CA, MARCH 11, 2010 – Relativity Media, LLC (RML) announced today it has begun production on the UNTITLED COMEDY project. In January, Relativity Media came aboard to co-finance and co-produce the project, and will arrange distribution through one of their studio partners. Production will continue thru late May.

Peter Farrelly, Charles Wessler, GreeneStreet Films' John Penotti and Relativity Media's Ryan Kavanaugh are producing the project. Executive producers are Tim Williams of GreeneStreet Films and Tucker Tooley of Relativity Media. Co-producers are Tom Gormican and Marc Ambrose. Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko also serve as associate producers. Witness Protection Films also serves as a production company partner.

Originally set up at Overture Films, the project kicked into high gear after the producers met with Relativity Media last December. The brainstorming session lead to a revamp of the central premise of the film. The new team created the template for a unifying storyline for a series of sketch comedies in the vein of the 1970s hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube.

"Relativity has been the perfect partner through the extraordinarily complicated process of putting this movie together. We are thrilled to be underway," commented Farrelly.

The filmmakers who have already completed their work are Peter Farrelly, Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk, and Griffin Dunne. Additional directors will be announced shortly.

The growing cast includes, Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. The producers will announce additional cast members as further deals are solidified.

"We all sat down and came up with what we think is a hilarious through-line for the movie," said Wessler. "Given the amount of pot I had smoked, at least I think it is hilarious."

Penotti added, "This has been one of the most fun and challenging projects we have ever undertaken. We are completely blown away by the caliber of talent that this project has attracted. It is a testament to the quality of Charlie and Pete's original concept."

Farrelly and Wessler are long time collaborators, working on many of the classic Farrelly Brothers comedies including There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and Shallow Hal.

ABOUT GREENESTREET FILMS

GreeneStreet Films (GSF) is an independent film financing and production company founded in 1998. GSF recently partnered with A Bigger Boat (ABB), the television and film entity founded by former Lionsgate President and producer Peter Block, to jointly produce pictures including those that are part of non-exclusive distribution deals with Overture, Alliance and Anchor Bay Entertainment. GreeneStreet is currently in production on UNTITLED PETER FARRELLY/CHARLIE WESSLER COMEDY (Relativity) and in pre-production on HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET (GSF/FilmNation). Previous GreeneStreet releases include five time Academy Award nominee IN THE BEDROOM (Miramax), critically acclaimed film PINERO (Miramax), #1 box office thriller SWIMFAN (Fox), studio comedy UPTOWN GIRLS (MGM), Robert Altman's star studded feature A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (Picturehouse), and the 2006 WGA nominated Best Documentary ONCE IN A LIFETIME: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE NEW YORK COSMOS (Miramax).

ABOUT RELATIVITY MEDIA

Relativity Media, LLC ("RML") is a media and entertainment company which focuses on creating, financing, and distributing first class studio quality entertainment content and intellectual property across multiple platforms. RML creates strategic partnerships with and opportunistic investments in media and entertainment related companies and assets. RML owns and operates Rogue, a company that specializes in the production and distribution of lower-budget genre films, which has had success within the horror genre including The Unborn and The Strangers. Building upon its foundation of financing and producing films, RML has grown to include music, sports and television divisions, as well as the Rogue lifestyle brand, including a clothing line and the next-generation social network iamrogue.com. Relativity also owns and operates RelativityREAL, Relativity's television arm, which has become one of the leading suppliers of reality television with over 20 shows in episodic or pilot. RelativityREAL is run by Tom Forman. Tom's past successes include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Kid Nation.

To date, Relativity has committed to, produced and/or financed more than 200 studio-quality motion pictures through 2014. Released films have accumulated more than $12 billion in worldwide box office revenue. Relativity's recent films include: Dear John, Brothers, It's Complicated, Public Enemies, 9, Zombieland, The Ugly Truth and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Upcoming films for Relativity include: MacGruber, Robin Hood, The Bounty Hunter, The Fighter and Sanctum. Twenty-nine of the company's films have opened at #1 at the box office. Relativity films have earned 43 Oscar® nominations, including nods for: A Serious Man, Nine, Frost/Nixon, Atonement, American Gangster and 3:10 To Yuma. Forty-three of RML's films have each generated over $100 million in worldwide box office receipts.