Elie Samaha

Samaha was a co-owner/founder of the dry cleaner chain Celebrity Cleaners and co-owner of the Roxbury nightclub in Los Angeles.

Between 1997 and 2004, Samaha produced films under the Franchise Pictures studio title, which included films such as The Boondock Saints, Mercy, Battlefield Earth, The Whole Nine Yards, Get Carter, Angel Eyes and Driven.

Samaha specialized in rescuing stars' pet projects. Franchise Pictures sought out stars whose projects were stalled at the major studios, bringing them aboard at reduced salaries. Samaha's approach was to produce star vehicles more cheaply than the larger studios. His unorthodox deals raised eyebrows and the entertainment industry magazine Variety commented that they were "often so complex and variable as to leave outsiders scratching their heads". As Samaha put it during an interview about Battlefield Earth, "I said, 'If John [Travolta] wants to make this movie, what does he want to get paid?'... Because I do not pay anybody what they make. That is not my business plan."

Samaha is currently the President of Take 3 Productions, which produced Breaking Brooklyn (2016), a dance film starring Louis Gossett Jr., Nathan Kress and Colin Critchley.

In 2000, Samaha was sued by Intertainment Pictures [de], his business partners on a number of films. Intertainment won a $70 million judgment against Samaha for fraudulently overcharging them for production costs on the films.

In 2021, Samaha co-founded and served as the chairman of Luminosity Entertainment, to distribute, produce, and finance films in the U.S., as well as handle international sales, in which headquartered in West Hollywood. He co-produced the Wesley Snipes/Tiffany Haddish comedy, Back on the Strip, released in summer 2023 under the Luminosity title.

Controversy

In December 2000, the German-based Intertainment AG filed a lawsuit alleging that Franchise Pictures had fraudulently inflated budgets in films including Battlefield Earth, which Intertainment had helped to finance. Intertainment had agreed to pay 47% of the production costs of several films in exchange for European distribution rights, but ended up paying for between 60 and 90% of the costs instead. The company alleged that Franchise had defrauded it to the tune of over $75 million by systematically submitting "grossly fraudulent and inflated budgets".

Intertainment won the case and was awarded $121.7 million in damages. Samaha was declared by the court to be personally liable for $77 million in damages.