Castle Rock Entertainment

Not to be confused with Dark Castle Entertainment.
Castle Rock Entertainment
Subsidiary of Time Warner
Industry Film
Founded June 19, 1987 (June 19, 1987)
Founder Martin Shafer
Rob Reiner
Andrew Scheinman
Glenn Padnick
Alan Horn
Headquarters United States
Products Motion pictures
Services Film production
Owner Time Warner
Parent Warner Bros. Entertainment

Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987[1] by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Time Warner and a unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Company

Reiner named the company in honor of the Maine town that serves as the setting of several stories by Stephen King (which was named after the fictitious Castle Rock in Lord of the Flies), after the success of his film Stand by Me, which was based on The Body, a novella by King.[2]

Reiner and Scheinman already had a production company. They were friends with Shafer, who worked with Horn at 20th Century Fox at the time. Horn was disappointed at Fox and agreed to join the trio at forming the company. Horn brought along Padnick, who was an executive at Embassy Television. In Castle Rock, Horn became the CEO, Shafer ran the film division, Padnick ran TV, and Reiner & Scheinman became involved in the development of productions.[2]

The company was originally backed by The Coca-Cola Company, the then-parent company of Columbia Pictures. Coke and the company's founders jointly owned a stake in the company.[3] Months after the deal, Coke exited the entertainment business, succeeded by Columbia Pictures Entertainment (now Sony Pictures Entertainment).

In 1989, Castle Rock was supported by another backer, Group W, a subsidiary of Westinghouse.[4] Castle Rock later struck a deal with Nelson Entertainment, the company that owned the domestic home video rights to Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, and The Princess Bride, to co-finance Castle Rock's films.

Under the deal, Nelson also distributed the films on video in North American markets, and handled international theatrical distribution, while Columbia, which Nelson forged a distribution deal with, would receive domestic theatrical distribution rights. Some of Nelson's holdings were later acquired by New Line Cinema, which took over Nelson's duty. Columbia, shortly after the company's formation, thereafter had to re-invest with a substantial change in terms when accumulated losses exhausted its initial funding.

Reiner has stated that Castle Rock's purpose was to allow creative freedom to individuals; a safe haven away from the pressures of studio executives. Castle Rock was to make films of the highest quality, whether they made or lost money.[2]

Castle Rock has also produced several television shows, such as the successful sitcom Seinfeld and the animated sitcom Mission Hill.

Turner purchase and Time Warner ownership

On August 1993, Turner Broadcasting System agreed to acquire Castle Rock, along with co-financing partner (and eventual Castle Rock corporate sibling) New Line Cinema. The sale was completed on December 22, 1993.[5][6] The motivation behind the purchase to allow a stronger company to handle the overhead.[2] Turner Broadcasting eventually merged with Time Warner in 1996. Castle Rock Entertainment then became a division of Warner Bros. MGM owns the rights to the pre-1994 Castle Rock Entertainment films because of the acquisition of the pre-1996 PolyGram library where Nelson Entertainment was in it.[7][8][9][10] Warner Bros., through Castle Rock, owns its post-1994 library and the TV rights to the pre-1994 library with the exception of episodes of Seinfeld.

Filmography

The original Castle Rock Entertainment logo used from 1989 to 1994.

1980s

Title Release Date Notes
April 14, 1989 Winter People co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment [N 1]
July 21, 1989 When Harry Met Sally... co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment [N 1]

1990s

Release Date Title Notes
March 16, 1990 Lord of the Flies co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment [N 1]
October 12, 1990 Spirit of '76 co-production with Columbia Pictures and Commercial Pictures
October 26, 1990 Sibling Rivalry co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment [N 1]
November 30, 1990 Misery co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment [N 1]
June 7, 1991 City Slickers co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment [N 1]
September 20, 1991 Late for Dinner co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema [N 1]
April 24, 1992 Year of the Comet co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema
August 28, 1992 Honeymoon in Vegas co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema [N 1]
September 23, 1992 Mr. Saturday Night co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema [N 1]
December 11, 1992 A Few Good Men co-production with Columbia Pictures
March 5, 1993 Amos & Andrew co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema [N 1]
July 9, 1993 In the Line of Fire co-production with Columbia Pictures
August 27, 1993 Needful Things co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema[N 1]
October 1, 1993 Malice co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema [N 1]
November 24, 1993 Josh and S.A.M. co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema
June 10, 1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold co-production with Columbia Pictures
June 29, 1994 Little Big League co-production with Columbia Pictures
July 22, 1994 North co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema
July 29, 1994 Barcelona co-production with Fine Line Features
September 23, 1994 The Shawshank Redemption co-production with Columbia Pictures
January 27, 1995 Before Sunrise co-production with Columbia Pictures
March 19, 1995 For Better or Worse co-production with Columbia Pictures
March 24, 1995 Dolores Claiborne co-production with Columbia Pictures
May 19, 1995 Forget Paris co-production with Columbia Pictures
August 25, 1995 Beyond Rangoon co-production with Columbia Pictures
September 22, 1995 The Run of the Country co-production with Columbia Pictures
November 17, 1995 The American President co-production with Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures
December 15, 1995 Othello co-production with Columbia Pictures
December 22, 1995 Dracula: Dead and Loving It co-production with Columbia Pictures
February 16, 1996 A Midwinter's Tale co-production with Sony Pictures Classics
City Hall co-production with Columbia Pictures
June 21, 1996 Lone Star co-production with Columbia Pictures
June 28, 1996 Striptease co-production with Columbia Pictures
August 14, 1996 Alaska co-production with Columbia Pictures
August 23, 1996 The Spitfire Grill co-production with Columbia Pictures
September 27, 1996 Extreme Measures co-production with Columbia Pictures
December 20, 1996 Ghosts of Mississippi co-production with Columbia Pictures
December 25, 1996 Hamlet co-production with Columbia Pictures
Some Mother's Son co-production with Columbia Pictures
January 31, 1997 Waiting for Guffman co-production with Sony Pictures Classics
February 7, 1997 subUrbia co-production with Sony Pictures Classics
February 14, 1997 Absolute Power co-production with Columbia Pictures
January 30, 1998 Zero Effect co-production with Columbia Pictures
February 20, 1998 Palmetto co-production with Columbia Pictures
April 10, 1998 My Giant co-production with Columbia Pictures
April 17, 1998 Sour Grapes co-production with Columbia Pictures
May 29, 1998 The Last Days of Disco co-production with Gramercy Pictures and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
August 20, 1999 Mickey Blue Eyes co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures
October 15, 1999 The Story of Us co-production with Universal Pictures
December 10, 1999 The Green Mile co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures

Television shows

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rights now belong to MGM

Notes

  1. ↑ Fabrikant, Geraldine (7 August 1993). "COMPANY NEWS; Turner Move To Purchase Movie Studio". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Herman, Karen. Interview with Rob Reiner. Archive of American Television (November 29, 2004).
  3. ↑ "Coca-Cola division invests in film production company". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. 14 October 1987.
  4. ↑ "GROUP W TO INVEST IN CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT".
  5. ↑ Turner Broadcasting Company Report. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C.
  6. ↑ "Chicago Tribune" Done deal: Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said it closed... articles.chicagotribune.com, Retrieved on December 27, 2012
  7. ↑ Eller, Claudia (23 October 1998). "MGM Agrees to Acquire PolyGram Movie Library". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Frankel, Daniel (22 October 1998). "NEWS/ MGM Acquires Lion's Share of PolyGram". E!. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; MGM SAYS IT WILL BUY POLYGRAM'S MOVIE LIBRARY". The New York Times. 23 October 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Warner Bros. Teams Up With PolyGram to Co-Finance & Co-Distribute Castle Rock Pictures". 6 January 1998. Retrieved 2 April 2015.

External links

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