Bleecker Street Bought By Outerlight Entertainment - IMDb

Outerlight Entertainment, formerly known as First Look Entertainment, has acquired Bleecker Street Media. The acquisition provides Bleecker Street with long-term capital and additional resources to accelerate its growth strategy. CEO Kent Sanderson and president and chief marketing officer Tyler DiNapoli will continue to lead the company.

Outerlight Entertainment, the media investment firm formerly known as First Look Entertainment, has acquired Bleecker Street, the indie film studio behind Alex Gibney’s upcoming documentary “Musk.” Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the deal, Bleecker Street will continue to operate independently under CEO Kent Sanderson and president and chief marketing officer Tyler DiNapoli. Bleecker will retain control of its slate, acquisitions, distribution, marketing, filmmaker relationships and daily operations. Priorities for the combined companies include increasing Bleecker’s spending power as a buyer and distributor and muscling up Crosswalk, the studio’s event cinema label. Crosswalk’s recent releases include “Hadestown: The Musical” and “Stray Kids: The DominATE Experience.”

Outerlight Entertainment, formerly known as First Look Entertainment, has acquired feature independent studio Bleecker Street Media.

Bleecker Street, the indie distribution label behind awards season hopefuls and audience-loved horror, is being acquired by Outerlight Entertainment (formerly First Look Entertainment). Bleecker will remain under the leadership of CEO Kent Sanderson, as well as president and CMO Tyler DiNapoli, and will operate independently from Outerlight's other assets. Along with Bleecker, Outerlight's portfolio includes Club Kid producer-financier Topic Studios and Puzzle Pictures. (There is no deal with Bleecker and Topic; Topic will continue to take its projects out to the open market to other distributors.)More from The Hollywood ReporterThe capital from the acquisition will allow Bleecker to continue to operate its film business and build out its event label, Crosswalk. The backer behind the newly titled Outerlight Entertainment is eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. Bleecker is a presence at every film festival and market, known as a main player in the specialty space. Recent and upcoming releases exemplify Bleecker's varied slate, from the RuPaul-fronted comedy Stop! That! Train!

Bleecker Street, the indie distribution label behind the U. S. releases of Alex Gibney’s documentary “Musk,” Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care,” Guy Nattiv’s “The Liberation,” along with last year’s “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” “Rebuilding,” and “Bone Lake,” and many more titles, has been acquired by Outerlight Entertainment, formerly known as First Look. The acquisition comes after the distributor’s founder and then-CEO, Andrew Karpen, died from an aggressive form of brain cancer at the age of 59 in May 2025.

Bleecker Street, the indie distribution label behind the U. S. releases of Alex Gibney's documentary "Musk," Mike Leigh's "Tender Loving Care," Guy Nattiv's "The Liberation," along with last year's "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," "Rebuilding," and "Bone Lake," and many more titles, has been acquired by Outerlight Entertainment, formerly known as First Look. The acquisition comes after the distributor's founder and then-CEO, Andrew Karpen, died from an aggressive form of brain cancer at the age of 59 in May 2025. The Bleecker Street brand joins Outerlight's Topic Studios, but the two labels will continue to operate separately. Among Outerlight's portfolio, the company also owns Puzzle Pictures, with investments in MHz Choice and Passionflix. Bleecker Street CEO Kent Sanderson and its president and chief marketing officer Tyler DiNapoli will remain with the banner. The release announcing the deal also states that Bleecker will retain control of its current slate without disruption, along with its other acquisitions, filmmaker relationships, and marketing and distribution operations.