Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established on February 1, 1989, by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and then-studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood Pictures was founded to increase the film output of the Walt Disney Studios, and release films similar to those of Touchstone Pictures. These films, featuring more mature themes, were targeted at adult audiences unlike the family-oriented productions of the studio's flagship Walt Disney Pictures division. After years of hiatus, the label was shuttered on April 27, 2007.
| Type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film |
| Founded | February 1, 1989 |
| Founder | Michael Eisner Jeffrey Katzenberg |
| Defunct | April 27, 2007 |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Successor | Touchstone Pictures (1984-2017) |
| Headquarters | 500 South Buena Vista Street, , U.S. |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Parent | Disney Entertainment |
| Divisions | Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment |
Hollywood Pictures' most commercially successful film was M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, which grossed over $670 million worldwide upon its 1999 release.[1]
History
Hollywood Pictures Corporation was incorporated on March 30, 1984[2] and was activated on February 1, 1989. Ricardo Mestres was appointed the division's first president, moving from Disney's Touchstone Pictures. The division was formed to create opportunities for up-and-coming executives and to double Disney's feature-film output in order to fill the gap left by the contraction in the industry, which included closure of MGM/UA's United Artists and financial problems at Lorimar-Telepictures and De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. With Touchstone aligned with Hollywood, the two Disney production divisions would share the same marketing and distribution staffs.[3] Hollywood was expected to be producing 12 films a year by 1991 and to share funding from the Silver Screen Partners IV.[4] The company's first release was Arachnophobia on July 18, 1990.[1]
On October 23, 1990, The Walt Disney Company formed Touchwood Pacific Partners to supplant the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary funding source.[5]
After the collapse of their then-recently renewed deal at Paramount Pictures, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer moved their production company to Hollywood Pictures on January 18, 1991.[6]
The division issued primarily inexpensive comedies for the first six years with a few box office flops, amongst them Holy Matrimony, Aspen Extreme, Super Mario Bros.,[7] Swing Kids, Blame It on the Bellboy, Born Yesterday and Guilty as Sin. The division only had one box office success, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and one critical success, The Joy Luck Club, which did not outweigh the general anemic box office record of the division. On April 26, 1994, Mestres was forced to resign after the lackluster performance of the division. Mestres moved to long term production deal with the studio.[8]
On June 27, 1994, Michael Lynton was appointed as new division president after moving from the Disney Publishing Group, where he was senior vice president and oversaw domestic publishing units including Hyperion Books.[9] Mestres left Lynton a few potential hits: Robert Redford's Quiz Show, the Sarah Jessica Parker-Antonio Banderas drama Miami Rhapsody, and Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer.[7] In 1997, Lynton left for a position at Penguin Group.[10] By 2001, Hollywood Pictures had produced 80 films, but its operation had been phased out and its management was merged with that of the flagship Walt Disney Pictures studio.[1]
After being dormant for five years, the brand was reactivated for low-budget genre films.[1] Films released by the repurposed Hollywood Pictures were three horror films: Stay Alive (released on March 24, 2006),[1] Primeval (released on January 12, 2007), and The Invisible (released on April 27, 2007). After the latter release, Disney stopped producing and distributing under the label as it announced a focus on the company's core brands of Disney, Touchstone, ABC, ESPN, and Pixar.[11]
Filmography
1990s
| US Release date | Title | Co-Production With |
|---|---|---|
| July 18, 1990 | Arachnophobia | Amblin Entertainment |
| August 17, 1990 | Taking Care of Business | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| February 1, 1991 | Run | |
| April 5, 1991 | The Marrying Man | |
| May 3, 1991 | One Good Cop | |
| July 26, 1991 | V.I. Warshawski | |
| January 10, 1992 | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Interscope Communications and Nomura Babcock & Brown |
| February 7, 1992 | Medicine Man | Cinergi Pictures; US and German distribution |
| March 6, 1992 | Blame It on the Bellboy | Silver Screen Partners IV |
| April 3, 1992 | Straight Talk | Touchwood Pacific Partners I |
| April 24, 1992 | Passed Away | |
| May 22, 1992 | Encino Man | |
| July 17, 1992 | A Stranger Among Us | Touchwood Pacific Partners I, Propaganda Films, and Sandollar Productions |
| September 18, 1992 | Sarafina! | Miramax Films, Distant Horizon, Vanguard Films and BBC |
| October 16, 1992 | Consenting Adults | Touchwood Pacific Partners I |
| December 4, 1992 | The Distinguished Gentleman | |
| January 22, 1993 | Aspen Extreme | |
| March 5, 1993 | Swing Kids | |
| March 26, 1993 | Born Yesterday | |
| April 16, 1993 | Blood In Blood Out | |
| May 28, 1993 | Super Mario Bros. | Lightmotive, Cinergi Pictures and Allied Filmmakers; US distribution only |
| June 4, 1993 | Guilty as Sin | |
| July 2, 1993 | Son in Law | |
| August 27, 1993 | Father Hood | |
| September 8, 1993 | The Joy Luck Club | |
| September 10, 1993 | Money for Nothing | |
| December 25, 1993 | Tombstone | Cinergi Pictures; US distribution only |
| January 7, 1994 | The Air Up There | Interscope Communications, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Nomura Babcock & Brown |
| March 4, 1994 | Angie | Caravan Pictures |
| April 8, 1994 | Holy Matrimony | Interscope Communications and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| August 12, 1994 | In the Army Now | |
| August 19, 1994 | Color of Night | Cinergi Pictures |
| August 26, 1994 | Camp Nowhere | |
| September 14, 1994 | Quiz Show | |
| September 23, 1994 | Terminal Velocity | Interscope Communications, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Nomura Babcock & Brown |
| October 21, 1994 | The Puppet Masters | |
| November 23, 1994 | A Low Down Dirty Shame | Caravan Pictures |
| January 6, 1995 | Houseguest | |
| January 27, 1995 | Miami Rhapsody | Cantaloupe Production |
| March 3, 1995 | Roommates | Interscope Communications, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Nomura Babcock & Brown |
| March 31, 1995 | Funny Bones | |
| April 21, 1995 | While You Were Sleeping | Caravan Pictures |
| April 28, 1995 | A Pyromaniac's Love Story | |
| May 12, 1995 | Crimson Tide | Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
| June 9, 1995 | Dangerous Minds | Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Via Rosa Productions |
| June 30, 1995 | Judge Dredd | Cinergi Pictures, USA distribution |
| September 8, 1995 | The Tie That Binds | Interscope Communications and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| September 8, 1995 | Unstrung Heroes | |
| October 4, 1995 | Dead Presidents | Caravan Pictures and Underworld Entertainment |
| October 13, 1995 | The Scarlet Letter | Cinergi Pictures |
| October 27, 1995 | Powder | Caravan Pictures |
| December 22, 1995 | Nixon | Cinergi Pictures |
| December 29, 1995 | Mr. Holland's Opus | Interscope Communications and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment; US distribution only |
| February 2, 1996 | White Squall | Largo Entertainment and Scott Free Productions; US distribution only |
| February 23, 1996 | Before and After | Caravan Pictures |
| April 19, 1996 | Celtic Pride | |
| May 24, 1996 | Spy Hard | |
| May 31, 1996 | Eddie | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Island Pictures |
| June 7, 1996 | The Rock | Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
| August 9, 1996 | Jack | American Zoetrope |
| September 13, 1996 | The Rich Man's Wife | Caravan Pictures |
| October 25, 1996 | The Associate | Interscope Communications and Polygram Filmed Entertainment |
| December 25, 1996 | Evita | Cinergi Pictures |
| January 24, 1997 | Prefontaine | |
| January 31, 1997 | Shadow Conspiracy | Cinergi Pictures; US distribution only |
| April 11, 1997 | Grosse Pointe Blank | Caravan Pictures and Roger Birnbaum Productions |
| May 30, 1997 | Gone Fishin' | Caravan Pictures |
| August 22, 1997 | G.I. Jane | Caravan Pictures, Largo Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Roger Birnbaum Productions |
| October 17, 1997 | Washington Square | Caravan Pictures, Roger Birnbaum Productions and Alchemy Filmworks |
| December 25, 1997 | An American Werewolf in Paris | Cometstone Pictures |
| January 30, 1998 | Deep Rising | Cinergi Pictures |
| February 27, 1998 | An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn | |
| September 4, 1998 | Firelight | Carnival Films, Wind Dancer Productions and Miramax Films |
| September 11, 1998 | Simon Birch | Caravan Pictures and Roger Birnbaum Productions |
| July 4, 1999 | Komodo | international distribution only |
| August 6, 1999 | The Sixth Sense | Spyglass Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company |
| September 17, 1999 | Breakfast of Champions | Summit Entertainment |
| October 1, 1999 | Mystery, Alaska |
2000s
| US Release date | Title | Co-Production With |
|---|---|---|
| February 4, 2000 | Gun Shy | Fortis Films |
| September 15, 2000 | Duets | Seven Arts Pictures and Beacon Pictures |
| January 12, 2001 | Thirteen Days | New Line Cinema, Beacon Pictures and Tig Productions; international distribution only |
| April 6, 2001 | Just Visiting | Gaumont Film Company; US distribution only |
| March 24, 2006 | Stay Alive | Spyglass Entertainment and Endgame Entertainment; US distribution only (distributed by Universal Pictures in UK) |
| January 12, 2007 | Primeval | Pariah Entertainment |
| April 27, 2007 | The Invisible | Spyglass Entertainment |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Breman, Phil. "Film/TV Companies: Hollywood Pictures". About.com. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ Russel, Irwin E. "Articles of Incorporation of Hollywood Pictures Corporation". Business Entity Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ Harmetz, Aljean (1988-12-02). "COMPANY NEWS; Disney Expansion Set; Film Output to Double". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- ^ Cieply, Michael (December 2, 1988). "Disney Forms New Film Unit in Plan to Double Output". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ "Disney, Japan Investors Join in Partnership : Movies: Group will become main source of finance for all live-action films at the company's three studios". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. October 23, 1990. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ Masters, Kim; Pond, Steve (January 18, 1991). . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ a b Eller, Claudia (August 17, 1994). "A Stranger in a Strange Land Is Hollywood Pictures' New Player". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ Welkos, Robert W. (April 27, 1994). "Mestres Out as President of Disney Unit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ "Company Town : Hollywood Pictures Gets New President". Los Angeles Times. June 14, 1994. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
- ^ "AOL Taps Lynton". Los Angeles Times. Times Wire Services. January 6, 2000. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ Fixmer, Fixmer (April 25, 2007). "Disney to Drop Buena Vista Brand Name, People Say (Update1)". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 28 November 2012.