Hollywood Pictures

History

Hollywood Pictures Corporation was incorporated on March 30, 1984, 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 the 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. Hollywood Pictures was expected to be producing 12 films a year by 1991 and to share funding from the Silver Screen Partners IV. The company's first release was Arachnophobia on July 18, 1990.

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.

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.

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., 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.

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. 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. In 1997, Lynton left for a position at Penguin Group. When Lynton left, it was briefly transferred to a releasing-only entity, making pictures by third-parties, as well as Caravan Pictures, and Cinergi, and its development slate was transferred to Touchstone Pictures, but David Vogel, who was president of Walt Disney Pictures took on the studio by producing films again. In 1998, the three units were transferred to the Buena Vista Motion Picture Group, and its development slate of projects by Hollywood Pictures, such as Bicentennial Man, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was transferred to Touchstone. 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.

After being dormant for five years, the brand was reactivated for low-budget genre films. Films released by the repurposed Hollywood Pictures were two horror films: Stay Alive (released on March 24, 2006), and Primeval (released on January 12, 2007), and one thriller, 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.

Filmography

1990s

2000s

Notes

References

References

1. "Film/TV Companies: Hollywood Pictures".
2. "Articles of Incorporation of Hollywood Pictures Corporation". California Secretary of State.
3. Harmetz, Aljean. (December 2, 1988). "COMPANY NEWS; Disney Expansion Set; Film Output to Double". The New York Times.
4. (December 2, 1988). "Disney Forms New Film Unit in Plan to Double Output". Los Angeles Times.
5. (October 23, 1990). "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.
6. (January 18, 1991). "'Top Gun' Team at Disney". The Washington Post.
7. (August 17, 1994). "A Stranger in a Strange Land Is Hollywood Pictures' New Player". Los Angeles Times.
8. (April 27, 1994). "Mestres Out as President of Disney Unit". Los Angeles Times.
9. (June 14, 1994). "Company Town : Hollywood Pictures Gets New President". Los Angeles Times.
10. (January 6, 2000). "AOL Taps Lynton". Los Angeles Times.
11. Cox, Dan. (September 9, 1997). "Vogel: H'wood star".
12. Cox, Dan. (July 17, 1998). "One Mouse House".
13. Fixmer, Fixmer. (April 25, 2007). "Disney to Drop Buena Vista Brand Name, People Say (Update1)". bloomberg.com.