Now You Can Help Acquire and Release Movies Out of Festivals Like Sundance

Plenty of worthy movies at Sundance and other film festivals go undistributed each year, and the folks at Legion M are now giving you the power to help get those movies into theaters.

Legion M, which is the fan-owned, equity crowdfunding company that has produced and co-released films like “Fackham Hall,” “My Dead Friend Zoe,” and the William Shatner documentary “You Can Call Me Bill,” is launching the Legion M Film Fund designed to let its community of backers invest directly in the marketing and distribution of a film.

Members and investors as part of Legion M have previously been able to be equity shareholders in the studio itself and vote on and have a financial stake in the studio’s investments, or it also lets people invest directly into the production of a movie, and that has seen the company pay back $1.5 million in royalties to those who invested in “My Dead Friend Zoe” and “You Can Call Me Bill.”

Now though, you can choose to invest on the distribution of a completed movie, directly funding the marketing of a title, as well as the distribution costs, and helping to drive audience engagement and raise awareness for the film. Legion M will be on the ground at Sundance in Park City this week to potentially acquire films that can be supported through this crowdfunding distribution model. The first movie already released under the model was the spoof comedy “Fackham Hall” from last year, co-released with Bleecker Street (the film has made $3 million at the box office globally), and Legion M under the terms of its deals with community investors aims to give them a 15 percent return on their investment in the first 12 to 18 months of a film’s release.

Legion M is presenting this method of investing as a “last-in, first-out” economic model. Rather than investing directly in the company or at the early stages of a project, you’re getting in on a movie that has already played a festival and has some established buzz. The company believes this is a lower risk investment opportunity aiming for steadier performance rather than riskier, higher-yield returns.

“Not every investment needs to be a swing for the fences,” said Legion M co-founder and CEO, Paul Scanlan. “With the Legion M Film Fund, we aim to string together the kinds of singles and doubles that lead to big wins over time. The initiative reflects a broader approach to portfolio construction, offering investors another way to participate alongside the studio through disciplined, distribution-focused opportunities designed to deliver consistent performance.”

“The fund creates huge strategic value by providing P&A for films released by Legion M and our partners, while also giving movie lovers a new way to be a part of the business,” said Jeff Annison, co-founder and president of Legion M. “It’s a win for everyone, and yet another example of how we’re building the company to unite fans to change the game.”

The fund is structured so that capital returned from an investment gets automatically reinvested into future projects, and Legion M says it’s a way of diversifying risk across multiple films and see compound returns, though you can also opt to cash out. Find more information on the specifics here.

Legion M’s next project currently in post-production is “Fade to Black,” a horror movie directed by filmmaker Andrew Sandler.