The Raine Group is nearing a deal to sell its majority stake in Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, exiting its 51% ownership that the company purchased for $100 million in 2016, TheWrap has learned.
Three individuals close to the deal confirmed that Raine, led by co-founder Joe Ravitch and partner Erik Hodge, had accepted a purchase price. One individual said that the deal with a private equity-backed marketing firm was expected to close in the next two weeks. However, other M&A deals involving Imagine have been on the table in the past and not closed.
Raine has been “invested for a long time,” said one insider close to the deal. “It’s time to come out.”
The move to sell Raine’s stake to private equity comes as Imagine has struggled in recent years to produce the kind of film and TV hits that made it so formidable in the 2000s with titles like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “24” and “Arrested Development.”
Howard, 72, most recently directed the Sydney Sweeney indie thriller “Eden” and is in post-production on a true-story Afghanistan war drama called “Alone at Dawn” starring Adam Driver for Amazon MGM. Grazer, 75, is the producing force behind Howard’s films and others at Imagine, like the Netflix documentaries “Marty, Life Is Short” and “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing.”
The deal is complete in principle, one individual close to the transaction said, but the name of the buyer and price could not be learned immediately. TheWrap understands that Grazer has been negotiating the deal himself.
Raine has become frustrated with Imagine’s lackluster output in recent years, and the relationship between Raine and Grazer had become strained, according to a knowledgeable individual. Another individual close to the relationship said it was not strained.
It is also true that Raine does not usually stay partnered in investments for a decade.
A representative for Imagine called TheWrap’s report “factually inaccurate” while declining to give any further detail.
Imagine has been exploring a sale since at least 2024, when the company started working with an investment bank, but a planned sale to Centricus Asset Management Ltd. valued at $700 million fell apart as interest cooled in production companies, as TheWrap exclusively reported at the time.
Raine’s initial investment in 2016 marked a turning point for the company behind films like “The Da Vinci Code” franchise and TV series like “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights,” as the arrival of streaming opened up new distribution avenues. Later in 2016, China Media Capital came onboard as an investor with $100 million, while FountainVest Partners invested another $100 million in 2018.
By 2021, Imagine was valued in the $850 million range, but independent production companies have had a rough go over the last couple of years. LeBron James’ SpringHill Company, once valued at $750 million, merged with Fulwell 72 in 2024, just four years after it was founded by the NBA superstar; and Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, once valued at $650 million, has gone through several rounds of downsizing over the last two years. Even Hello Sunshine, valued at nearly $1 billion at one point, shuttered its kids and family unit in 2023.
Imagine has, of course, a much longer tail of content and a track record that includes lucrative library titles, although the company’s last global theatrical hit was 2016’s “Da Vinci” sequel “Inferno” starring Tom Hanks.
Imagine was behind Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” in 2025, which grossed just $9 million worldwide despite a starry cast that included Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, and Howard’s “Eden” eked out only $2.8 million at the box office after Vertical picked it up for distribution.
The last Imagine film to crack $100 million at the box office was 2017’s Tom Cruise crime movie “American Made,” which still only grossed $135 million against a $50 million budget.
The TV side has also been light, although 2022’s “Under the Banner of Heaven” limited series received critical acclaim and the Keke Palmer-led “The ‘Burbs” was a hit on Peacock last year, scoring a renewal for a second season.
Imagine has been very busy in the documentary space with films and series for Netflix, Disney+ and Peacock like “Jim Henson Idea Man,” “Music by John Williams” and “Avedon.”
Next up, the studio is behind the 20th Century “guy gets trapped in a whale” thriller “Whalefall” that’s in theaters in October, and also produced David Leitch’s heist thriller “How to Rob a Bank” for Amazon MGM and Pete Berg’s sports drama “The Mosquito Bowl” for Netflix.
TV-wise, Imagine has the Andrew Garfield/Jude Law Siegfried & Roy Apple series “Wild Things.”
And perhaps most importantly, a sequel to “The Grinch” that would reunite Howard and Jim Carrey is in early development.
Raine Group, meanwhile, has been behind several big sports and gambling deals over the last few years, including investing in and advising DraftKings. Most recently, Raine teamed with Ares on a $750 million catalog acquisition fund for music and artist management company Firebird.
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