New Line Cinema

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"New Line" redirects here. For other uses, see New Line (disambiguation).
New Line Productions, Inc.
New Line Cinema logo
Fate Merged with Sister, Warner Bros. (1996-present)
Founded 1967
Defunct 2008 (as a separate studio) (now a division of Warner Bros.)
Location New York City, New York (now that it is merged with Warner Bros. it is in Burbank)
Industry Theatrical distribution, marketing, home video
Parent Time Warner Inc.


New Line Cinema, founded in 1967, is one of the major American film studios. Though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and is now a division of Warner Bros.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Divisions of New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema operated several divisions, including theatrical distribution, marketing, home video, and a unit specializing in independent film called Picturehouse (formerly known as Fine Line Features) with fellow Time Warner subsidiary HBO. On May 8, 2008 it was announced that Picturehouse would shut down in the fall.[1]

[edit] In comparison with other independent motion picture studios

Unlike other independent studios such as Orion Pictures, Carolco Pictures, or Cannon Films, New Line Cinema has grown and prospered to become one of Hollywood's major film studios, culminating in the hit Lord of the Rings film trilogy that brought prestige to the studio. Prior to this, New Line was responsible for the cult classic Dark City, the Austin Powers film trilogy, the fantasy Pleasantville, the Nightmare on Elm Street series, the films of John Waters, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.

[edit] Early successes

One of the company's early successes was its distribution of the 1936 anti-Cannabis propaganda film Reefer Madness, which became a cult hit on American college campuses in the early 1970s. The studio has also released many of the films of John Waters (not including Cry-Baby which was released by Universal Pictures). A Nightmare on Elm Street was New Line's first commercially successful series, leading the company to be nicknamed "The House that Freddy Built".

New Line also released many classic foreign-language films, like Stay as you are, Immoral Tales and Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (which became the first New Line film to win an Oscar [2]).

[edit] Turner Broadcasting System/Time Warner acquisitions

In 1994, New Line Cinema was acquired by Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, which then merged with Time Warner in 1996. While fellow Turner-owned studios Hanna-Barbera Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment eventually became absorbed into Warner Bros. (though Castle Rock operates today as a subsidiary of WB), New Line was kept as its own entity until February 28, 2008 when Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes announced that New Line would become a subsidiary of Warner Bros. and that Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne would no longer be in charge of the company.[1]

In 2007, New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment collaborated on Fracture, their first joint venture since the mid-1990s before both companies were bought by Turner.

[edit] International distribution

Outside the U.S., New Line does not distribute its own films. Rather, it contracts other studios such as Alliance in Canada, Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK, Warner Bros. in German-speaking areas, Singapore, Poland, and the Czech Republic, Village Roadshow Pictures in Australia and New Zealand and Playarte in Brazil to distribute its product overseas.

[edit] Home video distribution

For a number of years, the studio's video releases were distributed in the United States by RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video and its successor, Columbia-TriStar Home Video (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) from the early 1980's-1994. Media Home Entertainment originally released the first five Nightmare on Elm Street films on home video as well.New Line established a home video division in 1990, with Sony distributing the videos from 1990-94, Turner from 1994-96, and Warner from 1996-present. On January 5, 2008, New Line Cinema announced, as did its parent company Warner Bros., they will exclusively support Blu-ray Disc for their films and drop support of HD DVD.[2]

[edit] Films

Main article: List of films released by New Line Cinema

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ New Line Cinema to merge into Warner Bros. - Los Angeles Times
  2. ^ New Line Details Transition to Blu-ray | High-Def Digest

[edit] External links