“I would say that the distribution deal with Paladin is kind of growing pains with AMG,” AMG Owner Dennis Bell told XBIZ. “As we’ve been growing — COLT and John Rutherford, Cisco Ybarra and his team got us going with wholesale and they’ve done a lot of work helping me get the name AMG out in the marketplace.
“With the growth of the new AMG Brazil line, COLT has also done a great deal, getting that into the marketplace. Paladin was just the next logical step. They’ve got a bigger distribution base, and as Paladin distributes COLT it was kind of natural to just join the family.”
Paladin will distribute “AMG Classics” and “AMG Brazil” lines in the U.S., while international distribution will continue to be handled by COLT Studio Group.
“We are thrilled to welcome Athletic Model Guild,” Paladin President Stan Loeb said. “AMG’s long-running history speaks for itself and the new hardcore titles under Bell’s direction are a welcome addition to our family of the very best in the industry.”
Founded on a historic treasure trove of work of late pioneering physique photographer Bob Mizer, AMG currently is redigitizing and remastering Mizer’s vintage content for DVD in its Classics line.
“We’ve been going through the films that he produced and there’s about 3000 that he produced from the ‘50s to the ‘70s,” Bell said. “The neat thing about DVD that Bob Mizer could never do is we can rerelease the film with all of the photo sets he shot at the same time, as well as model biographies and videographies, and put together a really complete package of that material, as opposed to just releasing a film.”
Bell, who purchased AMG from Mizer’s estate in 2004, has also introduced AMG’s hardcore Brazil line, which showcases native talent shot on location in the jungles and on the beaches of Brazil.
“What I try to do is give a fresh look to Brazilian porn,” Bell said. “It goes along with what Bob Mizer did. He did a lot of work with Latin men and I love Brazilian guys, so we’ve put it into the new brand.”
With 10 titles in the Brazil line, Bell said he’s had good reaction from consumers. His latest release “Suruba: Piroca,” will be the first AMG Brazil title distributed by Paladin, which will hit streets on Aug 20.
Paladin is also accepting pre-orders for AMG Brasil’s biggest budget production to date, “Amazonia.” The two-part jungle epic is expected to release on Oct. 30 and will feature American and Brazilian models.
Coincidently, an exhibition of original Mizer prints is appearing at the Wessell + O’Connor Gallery in New York City.
Though Bell said AMG is not affiliated with the New York show, last year AMG showed a number of digitized, black and white prints from original negatives of Mizer’s photographs at a show in Los Angeles, and he is planning a similar show for early 2008.
“Bob did some gorgeous Kodachrome work in the ‘50s all the way through the ‘80s studio work,” said Bell. He also is in the process of compiling a second book of Mizer’s work, which will be autobiographical, with interviews from people that worked with Mizer throughout his career.
