Picturehouse (company)
Picturehouse is an American independent entertainment company owned by CEO Bob Berney and COO Jeanne R. Berney. Based in Los Angeles, the company specializes in film marketing and distribution, both in the U.S. and internationally. In coverage of the company’s 2013 relaunch, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos described the Berneys as “legendary tastemakers and innovators.” Early collaborators include filmmakers such as Guillermo Del Toro, who wrote in a January 2026 post on X that his Academy Award-winning film Pan’s Labyrinth “exists because of Bob’s faith.” According to trade reporting, Picturehouse's leadership focuses on theatrical distribution while considering the entire life of a film.
The company’s releases include La Vie en Rose, which won an Academy Award for Best Actress for Marion Cotillard, Grammy Award nominee Metallica Through the Never, BAFTA Award nominee Becoming Cousteau, Emmy Award winner The Territory and Academy Award nominee Porcelain War, among many others.
History
Formed by Bob Berney in 2005, Picturehouse was a joint venture created by Time Warner subsidiaries, New Line Cinema and HBO Films to acquire, produce and distribute independent films. Berney, who guided the acquisition, marketing and distribution of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Passion of the Christ, among other notable releases, ran the company from its inception.Over the next two years, Picturehouse released features such as Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, starring Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin; Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, which was acquired at script stage and went on to earn six Academy Award nominations and wins in three categories; La Vie en Rose, which garnered Marion Cotillard an Academy Award for Best Actress; and Sergei Bodrov's Genghis Khan biopic Mongol, a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2008, Time Warner's consolidation resulted in Warner Bros. exiting the independent business to concentrate on big-budget "tentpole" releases. This prompted the closure of marketing and distribution operations at both New Line Cinema and Picturehouse, costing 70 employees their jobs.
In 2013, Berney and his wife Jeanne acquired the Picturehouse logo and trademark from Warner Bros. and relaunched the label as an independent theatrical distribution company. Initial releases included Adriana Trigiani's Big Stone Gap, starring Ashley Judd, and Christian Keller's Gloria, with Sofía Espinosa.
In August 2020, the company released Fatima, directed by Marco Pontecorvo and starring Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic, Harvey Keitel and Sônia Braga. The film tells the story of a 10-year-old shepherd, Lúcia dos Santos, and her two young cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who report having seen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, circa 1917. Their revelations inspire believers but anger officials of both the Catholic Church and the secular government, who try to force them to recant their story. As word of their prophecy spreads, tens of thousands of religious pilgrims flock to the site to witness what became known as the Miracle of the Sun.
In September 2021, Picturehouse announced that it would release Becoming Cousteau, a documentary that uses previously unseen archival footage to chronicle the life and career of the adventurous oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who coinvented scuba diving and foretold the impact of pollution on climate change. Directed by Liz Garbus, the film was released on October 22, 2021.
Filmography
2000s
Original seal, distributed by New Line Home Entertainment and HBO Video| Release date | Title | |
| July 22, 2005 | Last Days | |
| September 16, 2005 | The Thing About My Folks | |
| October 19, 2005 | Ushpizin | |
| January 27, 2006 | A Cock and Bull Story | |
| April 14, 2006 | The Notorious Bettie Page | |
| June 9, 2006 | A Prairie Home Companion | |
| November 9, 2006 | Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? | |
| November 10, 2006 | Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus | |
| December 29, 2006 | Pan's Labyrinth | |
| March 9, 2007 | Starter for 10 | |
| June 1, 2007 | Gracie | |
| June 8, 2007 | La Vie en Rose | |
| August 3, 2007 | El Cantante | |
| August 10, 2007 | Rocket Science | |
| August 17, 2007 | The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters | |
| September 14, 2007 | Silk | |
| January 11, 2008 | The Orphanage | |
| February 8, 2008 | Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days and 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland | |
| February 29, 2008 | The Fox and the Child | |
| March 28, 2008 | Run Fatboy Run | |
| June 6, 2008 | Mongol | |
| July 2, 2008 | Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | |
| September 12, 2008 | The Women | |
| January 20, 2009 | Amusement |
2010s
Revived seal, distributed by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment| Release date | Title | |
| October 4, 2013 | Metallica: Through the Never | |
| September 17, 2014 | The Guest | |
| July 17, 2015 | Gloria | |
| October 9, 2015 | Big Stone Gap |