Castle Rock Entertainment

Castle Rock Entertainment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Dark Castle Entertainment.
Castle Rock Entertainment
Type Subsidiary of Warner Bros.
Founded 1987
Founder(s) Martin Shafer
Rob Reiner
Andrew Scheinman
Glenn Padnick
Alan Horn
Headquarters United States
Industry Film
Products Motion pictures
Services Film production
Owner(s) Public company (1987-1993)
Turner Broadcasting System (1993-1996)
Time Warner
(1996-2001, 2003present)
AOL Time Warner (2001-2003)
Parent Warner Bros. Pictures
Website www.lonestar-movie.com

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 Warner Bros. Entertainment, which in turn is a unit of Time Warner.

Company

Reiner named the company in honor of the fictional Maine town that serves as the setting of several stories by Stephen King (which was named after the fictional 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.

On August 1993, Ted Turner 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 System eventually merged with Time Warner in 1996.

Selected films

1980s

Title Release Date
April 14, 1989 Winter People
July 21, 1989 When Harry Met Sally...

1990s

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

2000s

Title Release Date
Bait September 15, 2000
Best in Show September 29, 2000
Lost Souls October 13, 2000
Proof of Life December 8, 2000
Miss Congeniality December 22, 2000
Hearts in Atlantis September 28, 2001
The Majestic December 21, 2001
Murder by Numbers April 19, 2002
The Salton Sea April 26, 2002
The Adventures of Pluto Nash August 16, 2002
Two Weeks Notice December 20, 2002
Kangaroo Jack January 17, 2003
Dreamcatcher March 21, 2003
A Mighty Wind May 9, 2003
Envy April 30, 2004
Before Sunset July 2, 2004
The Polar Express November 10, 2004
Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.! November 16, 2004
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous March 24, 2005
For Your Consideration November 22, 2006
Music and Lyrics February 14, 2007
Fracture April 20, 2007
In the Land of Women April 20, 2007
No Reservations July 27, 2007
Michael Clayton October 12, 2007
Sleuth October 12, 2007
The Bucket List January 8, 2008
Chaos Theory April 11, 2008
Did You Hear About the Morgans? December 18, 2009

2010s

Release Date Title
August 6, 2010 Flipped
November 24, 2010 Faster
July 22, 2011 Friends with Benefits
April 27, 2012 Bernie
July 6, 2012 The Magic of Belle Isle
May 24, 2013 Before Midnight
July 11, 2014 And So It Goes
TBA Untitled Marc Lawrence film
Daughter of the Bride[7]
Pure[7]

Television shows

  • Heart & Soul (1988)
  • Seinfeld (1989-1998) (Sony Pictures Television currently owns distribution rights)
  • The Ed Begley, Jr. Show (1989)
  • Julie Brown: The Show (1989)
  • Homeroom (1989)
  • Ann Jillian (1989-1990)
  • New Attitude (1990)
  • Partners in Life (1990)
  • Morton & Hayes (1991)
  • My Old School (1991)
  • Sessions (1991)
  • Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special (1992)
  • The Powers That Be (1992) (with ELP Communications and Columbia Pictures Television)
  • Great Scott! (1992)
  • Helicopters with Elvira (1993-1995)
  • Thea (1993-1994) (Sony Pictures Television currently owns distribution rights)
  • The Second Half (1993-1994)
  • 704 Hauser (1994, pilot only)
  • The Single Guy (1995-1997)
  • The Lazarus Man (1996)
  • Boston Common 1996-1997
  • Reunited (1998)
  • The Army Show (1998)
  • Mission Hill (1999-2002)
  • Movie Stars (1999)
  • The Michael Richards Show (2000-2001)
  • Zero Effect (2001, pilot) (with Warner Bros. Television)
  • Bliss (2002-2004) (with Warner Bros. Television)
  • Lucky (2003)

Notes

  1. Fabrikant, Geraldine, COMPANY NEWS; Turner Move To Purchase Movie Studio, 7 August 1993. URL accessed on 7 February 2012.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 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. [1] 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. 7.0 7.1 http://www.deadline.com/2013/08/castle-rock-extends-funding-relationship-with-before-midnight-backer-venture-forth/

External links

This page was last modified 19.04.2014 14:32:39

This article uses material from the article Castle Rock Entertainment from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.