Cinestate

Cinestate
Company typePrivate
IndustryMotion pictures
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)
FounderDallas Sonnier
DefunctJune 2020[1]
FateShut down[1]
SuccessorBonfire Legend[1]
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Services
OwnerDallas Sonnier
Divisions
  • Fangoria (2018–2020)
  • Rebeller (2019–2020)
Websitecinestate.com

Cinestate was a Dallas-based movie studio founded in 2016 by Dallas Sonnier.[2] The company produced ten films under a variety of production labels, in addition to retroactively claiming the 2014 film Bone Tomahawk, produced independently by Sonnier, as a Cinestate movie.[3] In 2017, the company acquired Fangoria magazine, relaunching it in 2018 as a print-only collectible under the editorial oversight of Phil Nobile Jr.[4] In 2019, the company announced the launch of Rebeller Media, an action label that would have encompassed a production company and lifestyle website to be managed by Washington Free Beacon journalist Sonny Bunch. In 2020, following the arrest of producer Adam Donaghey for sexual assault and a Daily Beast article alleging misconduct on Cinestate sets,[5] Rebeller was shut down[6] and Fangoria sold,[7][8] all Cinestate social media and websites went dormant, the company was closed and its entire staff laid off.[citation needed]

Two films produced by Cinestate under the "Fangoria Presents" and "Rebeller" labels, The Seventh Day and South of Heaven, respectively, were sold to distributors and released following the company's closure under the ad hoc label "Swiss Avenue Productions," named for the street where the company headquarters were once located.[9][10]

A successor company,[1] Bonfire Legend, was launched by Sonnier in early 2021 to carry on the company mission of the Rebeller Media label,[11] in partnership with the Daily Wire.[12]

  1. ^ a b c d Barshad, Amos (February 17, 2022). "MAGA Movies Are Here. Does Anybody Care?". Vice. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  2. ^ "Dallas-based Cinestate forges its extreme entertainment path far from Hollywood". Dallas News. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  3. ^ "Making Movies in the Trump Era for the Audience Hollywood Ignored". Wall Street Journal. 2018-05-15. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  4. ^ Busch, Anita (2018-02-15). "Cinestate Acquires Fangoria Magazine, Installs New Management And Strategy". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  5. ^ "Cinestate's #MeToo Scandal and the Upheaval of the Dallas Film Scene". D Magazine. 2020-01-08. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  6. ^ @SonnyBunch (10 June 2020). "Sonny Bunch's Announcement of Rebeller Shutting Down" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ McMillan, Graeme (2020-08-27). "'Fangoria' Eyes Relaunch as Multimedia Studio Following Purchase". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  8. ^ Squires, John (2020-08-27). "Fangoria Again Re-Animated With New Owners and Multimedia Plans". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  9. ^ "Swiss Avenue Pictures Production Company Box Office History". The Numbers. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  10. ^ "Dallas-based Cinestate forges its extreme entertainment path far from Hollywood". Dallas News. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  11. ^ "Did Bonfire Legend Go Too Far by Shooting a Live Deer for Run Hide Fight?".
  12. ^ "The Daily Wire Makes First Foray into Film & TV with School Shooting Movie 'Run Hide Fight'; Right-Wing Site Developing Two TV Series". 4 January 2021.