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EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Oscar-winning filmmaker Brian Helgeland’s Outside Man. Deadline first told you about the Teton Ridge Entertainment production back in April which stars Ice Cube and Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones. Cameras will roll on the movie in November.

The project reteams Oscar winning L.A. Confidential co-scribe Helgeland with his Finestkind actor Jones.

Helgeland wrote and directs Outside Man which follows former Chicago mob enforcer Ruben Bowman (Ice Cube). After Ruben is released from prison, he is a man intent on changing his life. Disappearing into rural Texas, he finds work under a skilled furniture craftsman and retired Texas Ranger Gus Wanamaker (Jones). As Ruben and Gus form an unlikely friendship, that bond is jeopardized when both men’s pasts threaten to catch up with them.

Pic is produced by Jillian Share and Jen Gorton of Teton Ridge Entertainment; Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz of Cube Vision; Bill Gerber; and executive produced by Helgeland; Justin Bursch; Madeleine Moore for Teton Ridge Entertainment; and Ben Hurwitz for Cube Vision.

Focus notched their highest grossing movie ever this year in Curry Barker’s Obsession which grossed in excess of a half billion at the global box office. Upcoming is Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on Christmas Day; Elsinore from Simon Stone starring Andrew Scott, Georgia Oakley’s fresh take on Jane Austen’s beloved classic, Sense and Sensibility; Sarah Polley’s The Bell Jar starring Billie Eilish in her debut feature role; as well as Barker’s next big screen horror feature, Anything But Ghosts in early May 2027.

Teton Ridge Entertainment’s mission is creating TV and film projects celebrating the spirit of the American West. Teton Ridge Entertainment recently received a full-series order from Netflix for Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic, with East of Eden’s Zoe Kazan and Jeb Stuart set to adapt. Other high-profile iconic Western IP acquisitions for the production label include High Noon, from filmmaker Stanley Kramer; Louis L’Amour’s beloved bestseller Fallon; and the life rights of Oscar-winning actor John Wayne.

CubeVision has produced the Oscar-nominated and box office hit Straight Outta Compton ($201.6M WW), along with many franchises that include Friday, Barbershop, Are We There Yet? and Ride Along, and many other films. Upcoming projects include Ride Along 3 at Universal, Are They Gone Yet? at Skydance Sports, Sony’s upcoming 24 Jump Street and Last Friday at Skydance. In total, Ice Cube and CubeVision films have grossed over a billion dollars at the box office.

Helgeland is represented by WME and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Ice Cube is represented by Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett & Kole and UTA. Jones is represented by CAA and Jacobson, Russell, Saltz, Nassim & De La Torre.

RedBird Capital Partners has invested another $4 billion in David Ellison’s Skydance, bringing its total commitment in the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery to $6 billion, an individual familiar with the matter told TheWrap.

The increased investment comes on the heels of the official closing of the $110 billion merger on Tuesday.

“This is a defining moment for the industry. By applying our owner-operator model to Paramount and WBD’s unmatched portfolio of iconic franchises, premium original programming, and live sports rights, we can protect that legacy while building for a media landscape that’s undergoing transformational change,” RedBird founder and managing partner and Skydance board director Gerry Cardinale said in a statement on Tuesday. “David, our Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, and the rest of our world-class Skydance team have the vision and track record to lead through this change. We’re proud to back them as we build a stronger Hollywood , expand opportunities for talent, and create long-term value for our shareholders.”

RedBird first invested $275 million in Skydance in 2019. It subsequently upped its total commitment to $2 billion to help acquire Shari Redstone’s National Amusements and combine Skydance with Paramount.

The Paramount-WBD merger is funded by a total equity investment of $47 billion, which is led by the Ellison family and RedBird, who control 100% of the company’s voting shares. No other equity participant will have any governance rights.

Other contributions in the equity investment include three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds — Saudia Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Company — and LionTree. The equity financing is backstopped by the Ellison family and RedBird, with Larry Ellison previously making an “irrevocable personal guarantee.” 

In addition to Skydance, RedBird’s investment portfolio in the media, entertainment and sports space includes Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, Affleck’s InterPositive, Banijay Entertainment, Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro’s Mari, EverPass Media, Front Office Sports, Puck, the United Football League, Everpass Media and more.