Franchise Pictures

Franchise Pictures was started in October 1997, with Phoenician Entertainment serving as subsidiary for lower-budget films. Its initial employees were Elie Samaha and Ashok Amritraj, who would leave two years later to start Hyde Park Entertainment.

On October 8, 1998, they signed a distribution agreement with Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures, in which Franchise paid the distribution rights to both Morgan Creek and Warner Bros. for North America and the United Kingdom, while 20th Century Fox handling the distribution rights in select territories for three films. Summit Entertainment would also handle the international sales of their films. On May 19, 1999, the company had signed a deal with Intertainment in order to bring all 60 motion pictures that Franchise had been receiving to Germany. A month later, Intertainment had struck a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, in order to secure the rights to 60 motion pictures for worldwide distribution. The company's first film, A Murder of Crows, began shooting in December 1997, and it was released in the United States in July 1999, with the British release occurring in December 1998. In December 1997, Franchise also started shooting If... Dog... Rabbit..., which was directed by actor Matthew Modine. However, this film didn't receive a wide release in the United States until 2002, when it was released on home video.

On July 2, 2001, Morgan Creek and its CEO James G. Robinson sued Franchise Pictures for breach of contract, resulting in Morgan Creek ending their partnership with Franchise Pictures after the release of Heist (2001).

During Franchise's partnership with Morgan Creek, by 2000, the companies had financial success with the film The Whole Nine Yards. However, they also suffered a huge flop with Battlefield Earth starring John Travolta, which received bad word-of-mouth and grossed $29.7 million on a $75 million budget.