Hezi Bezalel's International film production company Mountaintop Productions announced Wednesday the purchase of a 51% stake in Movie Mobile Studio, saying the price tag totaled NIS 12 million (3.267 million) in value and investments. Representing Mountaintop Productions was attorney Schaul Scherzer. Movie Mobile was represented by attorney Lior Gerro.
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"This move makes Mountaintop the only production company in Israel to own television studios and rental equipment, in addition to offering production services, thereby realizing its vision of becoming a one-stop shop for production companies and creators from Israel and abroad. Shani Yanco, who has acted as Movie Mobile's CEO for the past 15 years, will continue to lead the company down its new path," a statement read. "The long-standing Movie Mobile joins the wide array of film-related businesses owned by businessman and entrepreneur Hezi Bezalel and his children, Omri and Carnie, who are themselves filmmakers, having made the feature film 'Listen' and the award-winning short film 'Desert Heart', respectively. The purchase brings them one step closer toward fulfilling the family's vision of continually promoting Israel in cinema and developing Israeli creativity locally and globally."
Mountaintop boasts a rich portfolio that includes a whole host of Israeli productions on the small and big screens such as "A Tale of Love and Darkness directed by Natalie Portman; "Pollard" by Omri Assenheim; and "Incitement," winner of the Ophir Award (the Israeli equivalent to an Oscar) for best picture in 2019. Mountaintop was also responsible for the production of several US projects featuring actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Demi Moore, Liv Tyler, Juliette Lewis, and Jessica Lange.
"Movie Mobile's purchase comes on the heels of Mountaintop's September 2022 acquisition of 50 percent of Hollywood production company Big Swell, in partnership with American producer Andy Horwitz. Horwitz has produced films such as 'American Hustle', nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2013; 'Suicide Squad', which earned $750 million in 2015; and 'Triple Frontier', produced for Netflix and watched by 120 million people in its first four weeks,' the company said, stressing that "bringing Big Swell and Movie Mobile to work together in synergistic unison" has had Mountaintop expand the "bridge it has built to bring Israeli creations to Hollywood and Hollywood productions to Israel, which will also lead to innovation in the Israeli market."
It further stressed that during the recent pandemic, the now-purchased Movie Mobile "made a positive turn" by relocating to the former premises of the Israeli Educational Television in Tel Aviv, and "over the past two years, Movie Mobile has transformed the vacant compound to a coveted shooting location, providing production conditions of the highest quality."
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