21 Laps Entertainment

21 Laps Entertainment is a film and television production company founded and run by filmmaker Shawn Levy.^[2] The company is best known as the producers of Stranger Things, and exclusively distributes content through a partnership with Netflix.^[3] It has also produced films like Arrival, Free Guy, The Adam Project, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Spectacular Now, Real Steel, Deadpool & Wolverine, and the Night at the Museum franchise. The companies' name originates from the number of laps Levy's oldest daughter ran in a jogathon when she was 5 years old.^[4]

21 Laps Entertainment

Logo used since 2014
Formerly	Wunjo, Inc. (1999–2005)
Industry	Film Television
Founded	January 29, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-01-29) (as Wunjo, Inc.) 2005; 19 years ago (2005) (as 21 Laps Entertainment)^[1]
Founder	Shawn Levy
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Shawn Levy (CEO) Dan Levine (Partner) Dan Cohen (Partner)
Products	Motion pictures, television programs

History

In 1999, Shawn Levy, who after his start on television incorporated and founded the company as Wunjo, Inc. It was in-name only from the beginning until 2005. Levy made his breakout role as a film director on Big Fat Liar, Just Married, and Cheaper by the Dozen.

In 2003, Levy, after the success of his aforementioned feature films, launched his own production company with a first-look deal at 20th Century Fox Television. The deal was to produce half-hour sitcoms and hour-long dramas.^[5]

In 2005, Levy rebranded the studio to 21 Laps Entertainment and it signed a non-exclusive deal with 20th Century Fox to produce their films. The film division would be run by Tom McNulty, formerly employee from Happy Madison Productions, and its television division by J.J. Klein. The first two products were Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Pepper Dennis.^[6]

In 2010, Levy and Marty Adelstein signed on to form a television company called 21 Laps/Adelstein Productions, and they signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television and hired Becky Clements to serve as president.^[7]

In 2014, both Levy and Adelstein parted ways, with the latter launching Tomorrow Studios as a joint venture with ITV Studios.^[8]

In July 2016, one of the company's television projects, Stranger Things, premiered on Netflix and achieved critical acclaim, earning a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with 55 out of 58 reviews being positive.^[9] The show's first season was also one of Netflix's most watched series, averaging 14.07 million adults 18–49 in its first 35 days.^[10] Along with producing the series, Levy directed two of the premiere season's episodes.^[11] The third season premiered on July 4, 2019^[12] and the fourth season premiered in two parts on May 27, 2022 and July 1, 2022. It was renewed for a fifth and final season.^[13] In 2020, the company signed a first look deal with Netflix.^[14]

Filmography

Films

Release date	Title	Director	Distributor	Notes
October 23, 2001	I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus	John Shepphird	PAX	first film; uncredited; co-production with Regent Entertainment, ACH and Medien Capital Treuhand
February 8, 2002	Big Fat Liar	Shawn Levy	Universal Pictures	first theatrical film; uncredited; co-production with Tollin/Robbins Productions
January 10, 2003	Just Married		20th Century Fox	uncredited; co-production with The Donners' Company and Robert Simonds Productions
December 25, 2003	Cheaper by the Dozen			uncredited; co-production with Robert Simonds Productions
December 21, 2005	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	Adam Shankman		First credited film under the 21 Laps label
December 22, 2006	Night at the Museum	Shawn Levy		co-produced with 1492 Pictures and Dune Entertainment
May 9, 2008	What Happens in Vegas	Tom Vaughan		co-produced with Regency Enterprises, Mosaic Media Group, Dune Entertainment and Penn Station Entertainment
August 20, 2008	The Rocker	Peter Cattaneo		co-produced with Fox Atomic
May 22, 2009	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Shawn Levy		co-produced with 1492 Pictures, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners
April 9, 2010	Date Night			co-produced with Dune Entertainment
October 7, 2011	Real Steel		Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with Touchstone Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, ImageMovers and Reliance Entertainment
July 27, 2012	The Watch	Akiva Schaffer	20th Century Fox
June 7, 2013	The Internship	Shawn Levy		co-produced with Regency Enterprises, Wild West Picture Show Productions and TSG Entertainment
August 2, 2013	The Spectacular Now	James Ponsoldt	A24	co-produced with Andrew Lauren Productions and Global Produce
September 19, 2014	This Is Where I Leave You	Shawn Levy	Warner Bros. Pictures	co-produced with Warner Bros. Pictures and Spring Creek Productions
October 10, 2014	Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day	Miguel Arteta	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with Walt Disney Pictures and The Jim Henson Company
December 19, 2014	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	Shawn Levy	20th Century Fox	co-produced with 1492 Pictures and TSG Entertainment
November 11, 2016	Arrival^[15]	Denis Villeneuve	Paramount Pictures (North America) Stage 6 Films (International) Entertainment One (United Kingdom) Roadshow Films (Australia)	co-produced with FilmNation Entertainment and Lava Bear Films
December 23, 2016	Why Him?	John Hamburg	20th Century Fox	co-produced with Red Hour Productions and TSG Entertainment
February 17, 2017	Fist Fight^[15]	Richie Keen	Warner Bros. Pictures	co-produced with New Line Cinema, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment and Wrigley Pictures
March 3, 2017	Table 19	Jeffrey Blitz	Fox Searchlight Pictures	co-produced with 3311 Productions
April 20, 2018	Kodachrome	Mark Raso	Netflix	co-produced with The Gotham Group and Motion Picture Capital
August 3, 2018	The Darkest Minds	Jennifer Yuh Nelson	20th Century Fox
August 31, 2018	Kin	Jonathan Baker and Josh Baker	Lionsgate	co-produced with Summit Entertainment and No Trace Camping
October 16, 2020	Love and Monsters	Michael Matthews	Paramount Pictures (North America) Netflix (International)	co-produced with Entertainment One
February 19, 2021	The Violent Heart	Kerem Sanga	Gravitas Ventures	co-produced with Material Pictures and 3311 Productions
August 13, 2021	Free Guy	Shawn Levy	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with 20th Century Studios, Maximum Effort, Berlanti Productions, TSG Entertainment, Lit Entertainment Group
October 6, 2021	There's Someone Inside Your House^[16]	Patrick Brice	Netflix	co-produced with Atomic Monster
March 11, 2022	The Adam Project	Shawn Levy		co-produced with Maximum Effort and Skydance Media
October 14, 2022	Rosaline	Karen Maine	Hulu (United States) Disney+ (International, via Star) Star+ (Latin America)	co-produced with 20th Century Studios
December 9, 2022	Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again	Matt Danner	Disney+	co-produced with Walt Disney Pictures, Atomic Cartoons and Alibaba Pictures
May 12, 2023	Crater	Kyle Patrick Alvarez		co-produced with Walt Disney Pictures
June 2, 2023	The Boogeyman	Rob Savage	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with 20th Century Studios and NeoReel
Upcoming
July 26, 2024	Deadpool & Wolverine	Shawn Levy	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with Marvel Studios and Maximum Effort
TBA	Never Let Go	Alexandre Aja	Lionsgate Films
	Be More Chill	TBA	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with 20th Century Studios, 5000 Broadway Productions and Berlanti Productions
	Boy Band	TBA	Paramount Pictures	co-production with Maximum Effort
	Untitled Free Guy sequel	TBA	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	co-produced with 20th Century Studios, Maximum Effort, Berlanti Productions and Lit Entertainment Group
	Untitled Sesame Street film	Jonathan Krisel	Warner Bros. Pictures	co-produced with Marc Platt Productions,^[17] Entertainment 360,^[18] and Sesame Workshop
	Untitled Backrooms film^[19]	Kane Parsons	A24	co-produced with A24, Chernin Entertainment, and Atomic Monster
	Seismic^[20]	TBA	Netflix	co-produced with Lit Entertainment Group

Television

Year	Title	Creator(s)	Network	Notes
2006	Pepper Dennis	Gretchen J. Berg Aaron Harberts	The WB	co-produced with 20th Century Fox Television and Two Presbyterians Productions
2011–2017 2018–2021	Last Man Standing	Jack Burditt	ABC Fox	Credited as 21 Laps-Adelstein Productions co-produced with 20th Century Fox Television, Double Wide Productions, NestEgg Productions, Mr. Big Shot Fancy-Pants Productions and Lyonsberry Productions
2014–2015	Cristela	Cristela Alonzo Kevin Hench	ABC	Credited as 21 Laps-Adelstein Productions co-produced with 20th Century Fox Television and Hench in the Trench Productions
2016–present	Stranger Things	The Duffer Brothers	Netflix	co-produced with Monkey Massacre Productions
2017	Imaginary Mary	Adam F. Goldberg David Guarascio Patrick Osborne	ABC	uncredited; co-produced with Sony Pictures Television, ABC Studios, Happy Madison Productions, Adam F. Goldberg Productions and David Guarascio Productions
2020	I Am Not Okay with This	Jonathan Entwistle Christy Hall	Netflix	co-produced with Ceremony Pictures and Raindrop Valley
2020–present	Unsolved Mysteries	John Cosgrove Terry Dunn Meurer		co-produced with Cosgrove-Meurer Productions
2020	Dash & Lily	Joe Tracz		co-produced with Boy Detective Inc. and Image 32
2021–2023	Shadow and Bone	Eric Heisserer		co-produced with Chronology and Loom Studios
2022	Lost Ollie	Shannon Tindle		co-produced with Fufufufu Productions
2023	All the Light We Cannot See	Steven Knight		co-produced with Nebula Star
Upcoming
TBA	Real Steel	TBA	Disney+	co-produced with Compari Entertainment, Angry Films and 20th Television

References

1. "Fox Animation Acquires Film Rights to Sanrio's Mr. Men Little Miss Properties". Business Wire. January 27, 2015.
2. Breznican, Anthony. "Shawn Levy to produce 'Man Made' book about toughened-up dad". EW.com.
3. "'Stranger Things' Producer Inks Massive Overall Deal With Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter. December 6, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
4. Shawn Levy (March 19, 2018). The Story Behind The Name '21 Laps Entertainment'. Producer's Guild of America.
5. Adalian, Josef (November 14, 2003). "Twentieth TV takes up with 'Married' man". Variety. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
6. Fleming, Michael (October 7, 2005). "Levy homes in on Fox". Variety. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
7. Andreeva, Nellie (June 18, 2010). "Shawn Levy And Marty Adelstein Form TV Company, Sign With 20th Century Fox TV And Tap Becky Clements As Prez". Deadline. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
8. Andreeva, Nellie (June 4, 2014). "Marty Adelstein Sets Joint Venture With ITV Studios US To Launch Tomorrow ITV Studios". Deadline. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
9. "Stranger Things - Season 1 Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes.
10. Holloway, Daniel (August 25, 2016). "'Stranger Things' Ratings: Where Series Ranks Among Netflix's Most Watched". Variety.com.
11. Guerrasio, Jason. "How the man behind Netflix hit 'Stranger Things' is taking over Hollywood". Business Insider.
12. Wigler, Josh (December 31, 2018). "Netflix Reveals 'Stranger Things' Season 3 Premiere Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
13. Goldberg, Lesley (September 30, 2019). "'Stranger Things' Renewed for Season 4 as Creators Ink Nine-Figure Netflix Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
14. McNary, Dave (November 19, 2020). "'Stranger Things' Producer Shawn Levy Signs First-Look Feature Deal With Netflix, Expands TV Pact". Variety. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
15. Barnes, Brooks (November 25, 2016). "A Filmmaker's Belief in Himself Pays Off". New York Times. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
16. Squires, John (August 23, 2021). "'Creep' Director Patrick Brice's New Movie 'There's Someone Inside Your House' Crashes Netflix in October". BloodyDisgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
17. Galuppo, Mia (December 5, 2018). "Anne Hathaway Eyes Starring Role in 'Sesame Street' Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
18. Fleming, Mike Jr. (November 15, 2016). "Can You Spell David Guion & Michael Handelman? They Are Writing 'Sesame Street' Film For Warner Bros". Deadline Hollywood.
19. Grobar, Matt (February 6, 2023). "'The Backrooms' Horror Film Based On Viral Shorts By 17-Year-Old Kane Parsons In Works At A24, Atomic Monster, Chernin & 21 Laps". Deadline. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
20. D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 13, 2023). "Netflix Picks Up 'Seismic' From 'Mortal Kombat's Greg Russo; Shawn Levy's 21 Laps Producing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 13, 2023.