Sean Baker PATRICK BAZ / Factstory for the Red Sea International Festival (RSFF) / AFP Warner Bros. is getting in the Sean Baker business. The studio has acquired Ti Amo!, Baker’s first feature since becoming a best picture Oscar winner with Anora.
It will release the film globally in 2027 and has worldwide rights, excluding France.
The acquisition announcement was made at CinemaCon, as part of the reveal that the studio has formed a new specialty label called Clockwork, which will be led by former Neon exec Christian Parkes.
“Sean Baker is an artist who embodies everything we believe in at Clockwork, and Ti Amo! will be another gift to Cinema. Plus, his poster game is on point,” said Parkes, who reports to Warners film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy.
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Baker write, direct, edit, cast and produce the feature, working with Anora producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan. Cre Film and Rapt Film are producing with financing by FilmNation Entertainment.
No other details of the feature were available, but the film follows Baker’s Oscar success at last year’s Oscars with Anora, where in addition to best picture, he took best original screenplay, best editor an best director, while lead Mikey Madison won best actress.
Parkes arrived at Warners earlier this year from Tom Quinn’s Oscar-winning indie outfit Neon, where he served as head of marketing and which released Anora. Former Neon colleague Jason Wald, who played a key role in bringing in indie hit Longlegs, is also now at Clockwork. (De Luca and Abdy had tried to win over Quinn and buy Neon, but he turned down the offer, according to multiple sources.)
In just eight years, Quinn turned Neon into an indie powerhouse that has amassed 39 Academy Award nominations, 11 wins — including best picture winners Parasite and Anora — after I, Tonya put the company on the map. And no one is sure what the landscape will look like when once David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance closes his deal to buy Warners, but two main studios are expected to stay separate for at least two years, and Paramount is also launching a new indie specialty label.
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