R.I.P. Tartan

[_____V_____]

June 26, 2008


LONDON — U.K. distrib Tartan Films has finally shuttered.

Sources told Variety that Tartan employees found the London office doors closed Thursday June 26 and were then informed later in the day by Tartan topper Hamish McAlpine the company was closed for business.

Speculation over the future of Tartan has been rife for several months. The distrib was believed to be in takeover talks with David Bergstein of the Capco Group, the firm that owns ThinkFilm, a stake in I.M. Global as well as the U.K.'s Capitol Film and has itself been plagued by rumors of financial troubles, for much of last year before negotiations broke down following disagreements over Tartan's financial worth.

Last October Tartan announced it had received a cash injection of £3 million ($6.2 million) in the form of a convertible loan from a private investor and also had restructured its Brit operation, with managing director Laura De Casto ankling. The company's theatrical and home entertainment departments, previously run out of separate London offices, were also merged into one entity based at Tartan's head office.

Tartan USA, the company's U.S. arm, announced at this year's Cannes that it was being foreclosed. Film print and advertising financing company Palisades Media Corp. has since bought the U.S. rights to its library.

Those moves now appear to have only offered temporary respite from a downward turn of fortune for McAlpine, who founded Tartan in 1982. The company subsequently expanded by launching sub-labels such as Tartan Terror and Tartan Asia Extreme. Distrib arguably became the home for genre fare and edgy, foreign-language pics, especially from Asia.

No official comment has been made yet by Tartan execs as to what the future holds for the company although it seems likely that a team of liquidators and accountants will be brought in to assess the company's assets and sell them off.

[urgeok2]

oh hell ... that sucks

[The Mothman]

as long as Anchor Bay is still around.