Cinestate was a Dallas-based movie studio founded in 2016 by

Dallas Sonnier Joseph Albert "Dallas" Sonnier IV (born March 31, 1980) is an American film producer, publisher, and entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of Cinestate and, from 2018 to 2020, the publisher of ''Fangoria'' magazine. He has producing credi ...

. The company produced ten films under a variety of production labels, in addition to retroactively claiming the 2014 film ''Bone Tomahawk,'' produced independently by Sonnier, as a Cinestate movie. In 2017, the company acquired ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'' magazine, relaunching it in 2018 as a print-only collectible under the editorial oversight of Phil Nobile Jr. In 2019, the company announced the launch of Rebeller Media, an action label that would have encompassed a production company and lifestyle website to be managed by

Washington Free Beacon ''The Washington Free Beacon'' is an American conservative political journalism website launched in 2012. The website is financially backed by Paul Singer, an American billionaire hedge fund manager and conservative activist. History The ' ...

journalist

Sonny Bunch Sonny Bunch is an American writer, editor, and journalist. He is best known for his interest and work in the film genre. As of 2019, Bunch is the Editor-in-Chief of Cinestate's Rebeller website and regularly contributes to the Washington Post. ...

. In 2020, following the arrest of producer Adam Donaghey for sexual assault and a ''

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' article alleging misconduct on Cinestate sets, Rebeller was shut down and ''Fangoria'' sold, all Cinestate social media and websites went dormant, the company was closed and its entire staff laid off. Two films produced by Cinestate under the "Fangoria Presents" and "Rebeller" labels, ''The Seventh Day'' and ''South of Heaven,'' respectively, were sold to distributors and released following the company's closure under the

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...

label "Swiss Avenue Productions," named for the street where the company headquarters were once located. A successor company, Bonfire Legend, was launched by Sonnier in early 2021 to carry on the company mission of the Rebeller Media label, in partnership with the ''

Daily Wire ''The Daily Wire'' is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing. The company is a major publisher on Facebook, and produces podcasts such as ' ...

''. __TOC__

History

moved from

Dallas, TX Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wit ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, attending

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and graduating with dual degrees in business and film. He launched Caliber Media and started managing writer and aspiring director,

S. Craig Zahler Steven Craig Zahler (born January 23, 1973) is an American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, novelist, comic book artist, animator and musician. After beginning his career working briefly as a cinematographer, Zahler focused on scre ...

. After acquiring the script for ''Bone Tomahawk'' from Zahler, Sonnier premiered the film through Caliber Media. In 2016, Sonnier moved back to Dallas where he partnered with Will Evans, owner of Deep Vellum Publishing, to form Cinestate.

Filmography

Other ventures

''Fangoria''

In 2018, Cinestate acquired ''

'' magazine from the Brooklyn Company for an undisclosed price, with plans to re-launch the publication as a quarterly edition and additionally develop

into a brand for producing movies, books and podcasts. As part of the deal, Cinestate controlled all material from over 300 issues of ''Fangoria'' magazine over 39 years. Following the 2020 Daily Beast article about misconduct on Cinestate sets, the staff of ''Fangoria'' staged a

walkout In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest. A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...

in protest, resulting in the brand being sold.

Books

Cinestate released its first book,

's '' Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child'', alongside the announcement that Zahler would work with the

Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

to bring the title protagonist to life in an upcoming feature film. Additionally, Cinestate published ''The Megarothke'', the debut novel from Robert Ashcroft. Its most recent novel released under the Cinestate label was ''Headcheese'' by Jess Hagemann.{{Cite web, url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/286727/third-novel-published-by-cinestate-headcheese-is-now-available/, title=Third Novel Published by Cinestate HEADCHEESE is Now Available, last=Millican, first=Josh, date=2018-12-18, website=Dread Central, language=en, access-date=2019-06-07 In 2020, a new ''Rebeller'' literary imprint was launched; a single title-- Natasha Tynes' ''They Called Me Wyatt''-- was released shortly before the company shut down.

References

External links

Official Website
American film studios 2016 establishments in Texas