Anyone who knows anything about satire or satirized news has probably heard of The Onion. Since the company’s creation in 1988, The Onion has proved itself genius at satirizing the mundaneness of normal life through a tone and format akin to traditional news organizations. Their stories are saturated in a surrealistic tone that remains absolutely absurd, yet the manner in which is presented (i.e. headlines, images, narrative font) comes across as realistic enough to appear serious in contrast to its unserious topics. Now, that same satirical brand is moving to a totally new medium: the world of film.
A three-movie deal has been announced between Lionsgate and Onion Studios, which will extend into 2018. The titles of these three films have yet to be announced, but it is known that Onion Studios will be working in close tangent with Serious Business, a production company known for their late night Comedy Central program @midnight. Jason Nadler, one of the heads of Serious Business, has expressed his enthusiasm at this deal, having said that “The Onion has always been one of our favorite comedic institutions, and we’re excited to help them do to the film industry what they’ve already done to publishing. In a good way.”
Jordan Gilbert, VP of digital production for Lionsgate, had this to say in his statement regarding the upcoming partnership: “This deal represents an expansion of Lionsgate’s breadth of partnerships with meaningful online publishers, while adhering to our core strategy of utilizing nontraditional marketing techniques to help our product to rise above the noise.”
As for Onion Studios vice president Kyle Ryan, his response was a bit more on the humorous side of things: “With the help of Serious Business and Lionsgate, we’ll make room on our award shelf for some Oscars. To the basement you go, Pulitzers.”
Leave a Comment