Del Toro, Cuaron, Inarritu Sign w/ Universal

indieWIRE reports that Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron (“Children of Men”), and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Babel”) will be forming cha cha cha, a production company that will partner with Universal Pictures and its Focus Features International. Focus features will provide financing, international sales, and distribution of five films, three of which will be directed by the trio. The other two films will fall to Carlos Cuaron and Rodrigo Garcia.

“We are proud to be not only part of the world cinema community, but also students of it,” the three directors said in statement. “Universal and Focus are affording us a safe haven and the creative freedom to keep doing the work we love as well as nuture other filmmakers.”

At least two of the features are expected to shoot this year and all of them were independently developed by the filmmakers.

Ed. Note:
This is great news for independent filmmaking. It is nearly unheard of for a studio to commit, in advance, to five pictures, and guarantee creative freedom to the artist. Great films from this trio, like Pan’s Labyrinth, are now more likely to see the light of day.