Hollywood_Pictures

Hollywood Pictures

Hollywood Pictures

Defunct American film label of Walt Disney Pictures

Not to be confused with the overall film industry known as "Hollywood", Cinema of the United States.

Hollywood Pictures was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1989, by Disney CEO Michael Eisner and 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 closed in 2007. The studio's most commercially successful film was M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, which grossed over $670 million worldwide upon its release in 1999.[1]

Quick Facts Trade name, Company type ...

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 Pictures, the two Disney production divisions would share the same marketing and distribution staffs.[3] Hollywood Pictures 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 comedy 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

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2000s

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See also

References

  1. [1]
    Breman, Phil. "Film/TV Companies: Hollywood Pictures". About.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  2. [2]
    Russel, Irwin E. "Articles of Incorporation of Hollywood Pictures Corporation". Business Entity Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  3. [3]
    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.
  4. [4]
    Cieply, Michael (December 2, 1988). "Disney Forms New Film Unit in Plan to Double Output". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  5. [5]
    "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.
  6. [6]
    Masters, Kim; Pond, Steve (January 18, 1991). "'Top Gun' Team at Disney". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  7. [7]
    Eller, Claudia (August 17, 1994). "A Stranger in a Strange Land Is Hollywood Pictures' New Player". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  8. [8]
    Welkos, Robert W. (April 27, 1994). "Mestres Out as President of Disney Unit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  9. [9]
    "Company Town : Hollywood Pictures Gets New President". Los Angeles Times. June 14, 1994. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  10. [10]
    "AOL Taps Lynton". Los Angeles Times. Times Wire Services. January 6, 2000. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  11. [11]
    Fixmer, Fixmer (April 25, 2007). "Disney to Drop Buena Vista Brand Name, People Say (Update1)". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
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