The story
Founded by Lorenzo Ventavoli in 1964, in Rome.1
Medusa Distribuzione S.p.A. was founded by Felice Colaiacono and Franco Poccioni in 1964. Initially only focused on distribution, thanks to executive producer Franco Rossellini, in the 1970s the company began collaborating with other production companies, including Devon Film and Luciano Martino's Dania Film, and co-produced successful genre films and comedies. In 1983, Poccioni became the sole administrator of the company.
In July 1986, Reteitalia, a subsidiary of Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest, acquired a 49% ownership interest in Medusa. Two years later, in 1988, Reteitalia took full ownership of the company, however, the following year, Medusa was subsequently absorbed into Penta Film.
In 1995, Penta Film was dissolved and Medusa Film was restored. Carlo Bernasconi was appointed president, and the company resumed operations in 1996. In 1999, Medusa announced that it would begin producing its own films. That year, Riccardo Tozzi} signed a five-year contract to produce films for the company. Following the death of Bernasconi in 2001, Marina Berlusconi was appointed president of Medusa.
In 2002, Variety reported that Medusa Film was the second leading film distributor in Italy, holding 14% of the country's total market share. In 2005, the European Audiovisual Observatory reported that Medusa was the fourth leading film distributor in Italy, holding 10.3% of the country's total market share.
In July 2007, Medusa Film was sold to Mediaset, and Pier Silvio Berlusconi was appointed to its board of directors. Around 2010, Medusa Film signed screenwriter Fausto Brizzi to a four-film deal, for which they collaborated with the films Women vs. Men (2011), Love Is in the Air (2012), and Guess Who's Coming for Christmas? (2013), and Se mi vuoi bene (2019).
In November 2012, Medusa sold its home video division to Warner Bros. Italia.
From Wikipedia’s article on Medusa Film, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5