Escape Artists

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Escape Artists Productions, LLC

Company type	Production company
Industry	Film Television
Predecessors	Steve Tisch Productions Black & Blu
Founded	2000; 24 years ago (2000)
Founders	Steve Tisch Todd Black Jason Blumenthal
Headquarters	Culver City, California, United States
Key people	Steve Tisch Todd Black Jason Blumenthal David Bloomfield
Website	escapeartists.com

Escape Artists Productions, LLC, commonly known as Escape Artists, is an independently financed motion picture and television production company with a first look non-exclusive deal at Sony Pictures Entertainment, headed by partners Steve Tisch, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and David Bloomfield.

The company's production office is located in the Astaire Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California.

In 2000, Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal's Black & Blu merged with the Steve Tisch Company to form Escape Artists. It was originally a film financing company with a deal with Columbia Pictures, and other international backers.^[1]

The first produced movie under the Escape Artists banner was A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger in May 2001. In the fall of 2005, Escape Artists released The Weather Man, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine. Their next film, The Pursuit of Happyness, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith, was released in December 2006 and earned over $300 million in worldwide ticket sales, as well as best actor Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Will Smith. Seven Pounds, another Gabriele Muccino-directed film starring Will Smith, was released in December 2008. In 2009, Escape Artists released the Alex Proyas thriller Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage, and The Taking of Pelham 123, directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Escape Artists produced 'The Upside, which was directed by Neil Burger and starring Kevin Hart. It was released through STX Entertainment and Lantern Entertainment on January 11, 2019 in the United States. Escape Artists produced all three film adaptations of The Equalizer, with the most recent being the 2023 film The Equalizer 3. All three movies star Denzel Washington in the main role of Robert McCall.

In February 2013, 12-year veteran David Bloomfield was promoted to partner Escape Artists.^[2] In October 2014, the company inks its first-look pact with FX Productions.^[3] In August 2019, MGM Television signed its first-look deal with Escape Artists.^[4]

• Alex & Emma (with Warner Bros. Pictures, Franchise Pictures, Castle Rock Entertainment and Epsilon Motion Pictures) (2003)
• The Weather Man (with Paramount Pictures) (2005)
• Knowing (with Summit Entertainment) (2009)
• The Back-up Plan (with CBS Films) (2010)
• Unfinished Business (with 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises) (2015)
• Southpaw (with The Weinstein Company) (2015)
• Fences (with Paramount Pictures) (2016)
• The Upside (with STX Entertainment and Lantern Entertainment) (2019)
• Troop Zero (with Amazon Studios) (2020)
• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (with Netflix) (2020)
• Being the Ricardos (with Amazon Studios) (2021)
• Emancipation (with Apple TV+) (2022)
• Cassandro (with Amazon Studios) (2023)
• Masters of the Universe (with Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Films) (2026)^[5]
• High and Low (with Apple TV+ and A24) (TBA)

• Official site Archived February 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine