Troubled distributor Row K Entertainment is officially on ice.
Media Capital Technologies (MCT), which launched Row K in 2025, has frozen all film distribution plans after Row K missed employee payroll and rent payments this month and laid off four staffers, The Wrap can exclusively reveal.
“When opportunities are launched and the desired outcomes aren’t realized, change has to be implemented,” MCT said in a statement to The Wrap. “We have therefore made the decision to freeze all new activities related to film distribution and significantly reduce operating expenses, and refocus MCT exclusively on its core business. We maintain our belief in the thesis that led to the inception of Row K: there are exciting opportunities in U.S. theatrical distribution — in connecting powerful stories to the right audiences. We are deeply grateful to all the contributions of our team to this venture.”
The company, co-founded by troubled indie distributor Christopher Woodrow, also missed paying rent and employee payroll in August, an insider told TheWrap. Additionally, Row K also missed paying its health insurer, so the remaining employees are currently having to pay out of pocket for important medical procedures.
No employees have been paid in several weeks. Row K is also behind on several settlement payments related to confidential lawsuits the company settled this year.
The financial struggles marks a stunning and sharp reversal for Row K, which made a splashy entry in the distribution space last year when it launched and acquired four films out of the Toronto International Film Festival. Ultimately only two of those movies would be released, with Row K offloading the rest after a dismal opening for its January film “Dead Man’s Wire,” which grossed less than $4 million worldwide.
When pressed on the missed payroll, rent, health insurance and settlement payments, a spokesperson for Row K declined to comment and pointed TheWrap back to MCT’s official statement.
Woodrow and two of his companies, Castle Rock Digital LLC and MCT, are being sued by BANKEX in New York State Supreme Court. According to the legal docs, the suit is seeking at least $3 million in damages and alleges that Woodrow failed to make agreed payments and to transfer ownership stakes in the two companies under a July 2019 purchase agreement. The summons also cites “willful misconduct” connected to the parties’ “business dealings and/or relationships between and/or among the parties.”
According to the insider, “Chris had promised the founder of BANKEX, Igor Khmel, a share of his/MCT’s future producer fees and some small percentage of equity in the MCT in a separation agreement as they wound down MovieCoin, which Chris/MCT never fulfilled.”
Media Capital Technologies, led by Woodrow, announced the formation of Row K on Aug. 26, 2025. Former Imax Entertainment and Paramount exec Megan Colligan was named president shortly thereafter. At the time, Row K, co-led by Woodrow and fellow principal Raj Singh, a former investment analyst and CEO of National Lampoon, declined to say how much it had raised beyond “significant funding.”
Woodrow was already notorious for his controversial exit from Worldview Entertainment in 2014 amid allegations of embezzlement. The company shut down the following year. He countersued for $55 million, and the parties settled in 2018 in a walkaway agreement with no money exchanged and Woodrow cleared of fault.
Within weeks of launching, Row K was buying at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it acquired four films.
“Dead Man’s Wire” was the first test. Row K released it in January to dismal box office after the company spent about $5 million to acquire it and another $5 million to market it, according to an insider.
Then the company had to give up Maude Apatow’s directorial debut “Poetic License.” Sony Pictures Classics eventually picked it up.
This spring, Colligan and Carlson left the company, TheWrap reported, and Row K canceled its CinemaCon presentation. Woodrow and Singh said at the time they were making “a deliberate pivot toward a more commercially focused slate.”
But Row K has made no more acquisitions after that.
Previously asked about its future, Row K said, “Over the past several months, we have devoted considerable time and resources to restructuring and strengthening Row K. We have been actively positioning the company for its next phase of growth. We expect to make several significant announcements in the coming months and look forward to a strong 2027 and beyond.”
That impending announcement, as it turns out, was that there would be no more Row K films.
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