Hollywood Pictures
 | |
| Former Division & Label of Walt Disney Studios | |
| Industry | Film |
| Founded | February 1, 1989 |
| Founder | Michael Eisner |
| Defunct | April 27, 2007 |
| Headquarters | Burbank, California, United States |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Parent |
The Walt Disney Studios (The Walt Disney Company) |
Hollywood Pictures was an American film production label of the The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company. Similar to Disney's Touchstone Pictures and former Miramax and Dimension film labels, it produced films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures and Disneynature.
While then-Disney chief Michael Eisner at first intended Hollywood Pictures to be a full-fledged studio, like Touchstone, in recent years its operations have been scaled back and its management has been merged with the flagship Walt Disney Pictures studio.
The division is known for having brought the works of M. Night Shyamalan to the theater;[1] its most profitable film to date is Shyamalan's own breakout hit The Sixth Sense, which grossed over $600 million worldwide upon its 1999 release.
History
Because of the success of Disney's mature film division Touchstone Pictures, yet another Disney-related film label was established as Hollywood Pictures on February 1, 1989. Ricardo Mestres was appointed the division's first president moving over from Touchstone Pictures. The division was created to create opportunities for up and coming executives and double its feature film output to fill the gap left by the contraction in the industry which includes closure of MGM/UA's United Artists and financial problems at Lorimar-Telepictures and De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. With Touchstone aligned with Disney, the two Disney Studio production divisions would share the same marketing and distribution staffs. Hollywood is expected to be producing 12 films a year by 1991 and to share funding from the Silver Screen Partners IV.[2] The company's first release was Arachnophobia in 1990.[1]
On October 23, 1990, The Walt Disney Company formed Touchwood Pacific Partners I to supplant the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary funding source.[3]
After the collapse of their just renewed deal at Paramount Pictures, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer moved their production company to Hollywood Pictures in January 1991.[4]
The division issued primarily inexpensive comedies for the first six years with a few box office flops films amongst them Holy Matrimony, Aspen Extreme, Super Mario Bros.,[5] 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 out weigh the general anemic box office record of the division. In April 1994, Mestres gave a force resignation after the lackluster performance of the division. Mestres moved to long term production deal with the studio.[6]
In July 1994, Michael Lynton was appointed as new division president moving from Disney's Hyperion, a Disney Publishing unit. 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.[5] In 1997, Lynton left for a position at Penguin Group.[7]
By 2001, Hollywood Pictures had produced 50 films but its operation was phased out.[1]
After being dormant for five years, the brand was re-activated for low-budget genre films,[1] similar to Dimension Films (once a Disney division itself, now part of The Weinstein Company) or Sony Pictures' Screen Gems (part of Columbia Pictures), News Corporation's Fox Atomic (part of Fox Searchlight Pictures) and Relativity Media's Rogue Pictures (distributed by former parent Universal Studios). The first film released by the resurrected Hollywood was the 2006 horror film Stay Alive,[1] then Primeval and The Invisible.
Disney dissolved the label in 2007 as the company announced a focus on three core brand names, Disney, ABC and ESPN with other studio brands, Touchstone, Miramax and Pixar continuing.[8]
Filmography
1990s
| US Release | 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 |
| 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. | Cinergi Pictures and Allied Filmmakers |
| 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 |
| 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 11, 1994 | The Santa Clause | Walt Disney Pictures and Outlaw Productions |
| November 23, 1994 | A Low Down Dirty Shame | Caravan Pictures |
| January 6, 1995 | Houseguest | |
| January 27, 1995 | Miami Rhapsody | |
| 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 30, 1995 | Judge Dredd | Cinergi Pictures |
| August 11, 1995 | Dangerous Minds | Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
| September 8, 1995 | The Tie That Binds | Interscope Communications and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| September 15, 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 |
| February 2, 1996 | White Squall | Largo Entertainment and Scott Free Productions |
| 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 |
| April 11, 1997 | Grosse Pointe Blank | Caravan Pictures and Roger Birnbaum Productions |
| May 30, 1997 | Gone Fishin' | |
| 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 20, 1998 | An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn | |
| September 4, 1998 | Firelight | |
| September 11, 1998 | Simon Birch | Caravan Pictures and Roger Birnbaum Productions |
| August 6, 1999 | The Sixth Sense | Spyglass Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company |
| September 17, 1999 | Breakfast of Champions | |
| October 1, 1999 | Mystery, Alaska |
2000s
| US Release | Title | Co-production with |
|---|---|---|
| February 4, 2000 | Gun Shy | Fortis Films |
| September 15, 2000 | Duets | Seven Arts Pictures and Beacon Pictures |
| April 6, 2001 | Just Visiting | Gaumont Film Company |
| March 24, 2006 | Stay Alive | Universal Pictures (UK distribution only), Spyglass Entertainment and Endgame Entertainment |
| January 12, 2007 | Primeval | Pariah Entertainment |
| April 27, 2007 | The Invisible | Spyglass Entertainment |
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Breman, Phil. "Film/TV Companies: Hollywood Pictures". About.com. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ↑ 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). "`Top Gun' Team at Disney". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- 1 2 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.
- ↑ "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.
External links
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