The bombshell scoop comes courtesy of Borys Kit’s exclusive in today’s THR: Relativity Media could be moving into distribution with the acquisition of Universal genre label Rogue Pictures.

Rogue has been as much a label as a standalone entity, one whose movies were meant to balance out the prestige pics at specialty label Focus and, since it became part of Uni, augment the company’s wider-quadrant titles. That would suggest a unit that’s hard to break out from the rest of a studio.

But as Kit reports, the companies have been negotiating for several months for a deal that would essentially give Relativity the Rogue library (jewel in that crown is summer sleeper “Strangers”) and a development slate that includes desirable genre titles like “Castlevania” and the “Strangers” sequel.

But the big coup in the deal is access to Universal’s distribution pipeline — which means that the movies Relativity makes, whether it’s the potential Leo vehicle “The Low Dweller” or last year’s “3:10 to Yuma,” would automatically go through Uni’s pipeline just like, say, Marvel and Paramount, without having to be set up anew each time.

There are some implications for Universal if the deal happens, many of them having to do with NBC U and GE and its desire to divest. But for Relativity it’s a true gamechanger.

Ryan Kavanaugh’s company has been itching to get into theatrical distribution for some time; though the firm is a powerful financing and co-production entitiy, it has lacked a distribution component. (Kavanaugh in an interview with THR several weeks ago said that he wants to “solidify (the company’s) role as a competitive media entity.”). With the Uni distribution pact, it now essentially has that, and comes closer than ever to covering the many tasks a studio does.

It also means, given that these pics are smaller, that the company could now be making a lot more movies entirely on its own, instead of the co-financing deals more common to its bigger titles.

Of course how this distribution deal will work out, especially given that Universal already has a beefed-up slate thanks to DreamWorks deal, remains to be seen. And the development slate, while a nice wholesale purchase, don’t encompass as many tentpoles as a top-tier financier might want.

Still, it’s a remarkable story. Relativity began life essentially as a hedge fund, evolved into a production banner with financial muscle — and thus greenlight power — and may now be adding a distribution component and a slate in one fell swoop, becoming as close to a studio as a non-studio can get. It’s not quite DreamWorks circa 1995, but if the deal happens, it’s about as diverse a company as you’ll get growing out of film-financing roots.