APX Group Hires Anthony Buckner To Head Up New Distribution & Acquisition Arm

APX Group Hires Anthony Buckner To Head Up New Distribution & Acquisition Arm

EXCLUSIVE: American-European media fund APX Group has appointed film industry veteran Anthony Buckner as Director of Film and Television Distribution and Acquisition, to head up a new department created as it continues its international expansion drive.

This new department will operate from APX Group’s head office in Twickenham Film Studios in London, with Buckner working alongside CEO Shelley Hammond, who also heads up its UK production subsidiary Herd International Productions.

Buckner was previously Head of Sales at Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey’s Icon Entertainment International and then Kaleidoscope Film Distribution and has also worked with companies such as Magnolia Pictures and GFM Films. In 2021, he launched his own company Buckstop Films.

The first project to be handled by Buckner and his team is Wish Dragon 2, the sequel to Sony Pictures Animation and Tencent Picture’s Shanghai-set 2021 film Wish Dragon which debuted internationally on Netflix in 2021.

APX Group has an equity stake in the sequel, on which Buckner has already begun negotiations with major streamers.

Buckner’s appointment is part of a strategic restructuring of the group’s departmental chart and the various committees under the Board of Directors, leading up to the expected merger of APX Group into a publicly traded company on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) later this year.

The APX Group is a subsidiary of APX Corporation Inc which was launched by American-Israeli businessman Adi Cohen at the end of 2021.

News of Buckner’s appointment follows in the wake o APX Group’s announcement last week that it had completed the acquisition of a 50% stake in Twickenham Film Studios. This followed a move by the studios’ chair Sunny Vohra to take a 6.95% in APX Corporation Inc.

“Having worked with Anthony previously, when deciding it was time to bring someone in for this position, there was only one option,” said Hammond. “Myself and the team are thrilled to have him on board and it’s a clear sign that both APX and Herd are expanding further in their international business.”

Buckner said: “I am thrilled to be joining the team at APX and Herd International Productions. Adi and Shelley share an incredible vision for the business moving forward and I am excited to be bringing my skills and experience to the project.”