WWE Expands Into Film Production With New WWE Studios

WWE Renames Film Division WWE Studios

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has renamed its film division WWE Studios "as part of a move to expand into the production of scripted series and pics for television," according to Marc Graser of DAILY VARIETY. WWE "aims to self-finance two films per year budgeted at [$10-20M]." The films will cross all genres but "won't go after the hard R rating the WWE sought for its previous releases." WWE will also produce up to six direct-to-DVD movies annually costing as much as $5M each. The company also "intends to expand into scripted TV," which "makes sense" seeing that it currently produces five hours of TV per week in the U.S. and nine hours internationally. Projects will not "necessarily star the WWE athletes," but rather former wrestlers might be featured. The company also expects its production arm "to become a strong revenue-generating asset, and the company will use its marketing muscle to make sure auds know about the project it produces" (DAILY VARIETY, 7/21).