Hollywood post-production firm tied to Al Pacino project files for Chapter 11 after parent company touted $1B financing
A Hollywood post-production company tied to the upcoming film “Lear Rex,” starring Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.
Gold Tree Studios, a three-year-old firm offering post-production rental suites, editing, sound mixing, color grading, and more, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization just months after its parent company announced a $1 billion financing deal intended, in part, to grow the studio.
“This investment expands our studio footprint & production slate, bringing more jobs & opportunities to LA and beyond,” Gold Tree Studios wrote in a March X post about the lump sum its parent company, Gold Tree, secured from the global investment firm Malka Group.
As part of the Chapter 11 process, the parent company, which continues to operate, will close its Los Angeles post-production facility, Gold Tree’s general counsel, Joseph Simon, said.
After publication, Simon told Business Insider in an email that the parent company’s “Billion Dollar Debt Finance Deal” remains in place, and that it is relocating its post-production facility to its studio location in Buffalo, New York.
Representatives for Malka Group did not return a request for comment.
Simon told Business Insider that the company has been able to deliver “exceptional” post-production services through its LA location, including the collaboration on forthcoming Bernard Rose-directed flick “Lear Rex,” but over the last couple of years, “the number of projects of this kind in LA have not been anywhere near the volume necessary to sustain this part of the business in our LA location.”
“This led to the difficult decision that was taken by Gold Tree (Group) to relocate its Post Production services out of Los Angeles until the market for these services has picked back up,” the attorney said in an emailed statement.
Gold Tree Studios filed for bankruptcy as a small business seeking protection under Subchapter V of Chapter 11.
The filing, submitted in federal California bankruptcy court, shows that the firm — one of several subsidiaries that make up Gold Tree — holds between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets and between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities. The company also listed between 1 and 49 creditors.
Gold Tree was founded by entrepreneur Tim Chonacas, who also serves as the company’s CEO, and late veteran Hollywood executive William Immerman.
The pair launched the company’s film production arm, Gold Tree Films, in 2018 and Gold Tree Studios in 2022, with its flagship location on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Gold Tree’s other subsidiaries include Gold Tree TV and Gold Tree Podcasts.
“The cutting edge facility set a new standard for post-production services,” the company’s website says about Gold Tree Studios. “Despite industry strikes, Chonacas kept the studio afloat and expanded to Buffalo, NY, and Vancouver Island, Canada.”
The LA facility provided post-production services for “Lear Rex,” an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”
In the film, which does not yet have a release date, Pacino stars as King Lear. The cast also includes Ariana DeBose, Peter Dinklage, Rachel Brosnahan, Stephen Dorff, and Danny Huston.
This story has been updated to include a comment from Gold Tree Studios’ bankruptcy lawyer.
