Lawrence Kasanoff is chairman and CEO of USA-based Threshold Entertainment, Threshold Animation Studios and Threshold TV.
Kasanoff founded Threshold Entertainment in 1994, TDRL in 1997 and Threshold TV in 1999. He is the producer of all Mortal Kombat entertainment media, beginning with the 1995 movie.
Previously as President and Co-Founder of Lightstorm Entertainment, Kasanoff assembled a consortium of worldwide film and ancillary rights distributors who agreed to provide $500 million in financing for the company's films. This structure gave the company complete creative control and 100% ownership of its films. Also in that capacity, Kasanoff supervised production, marketing, publicity and merchandising for the four-time Academy Award winning film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This property has generated over a billion dollars in revenues, several hundred million of which came from non-film rights.
He executive-produced the 1994 box-office smash True Lies. Prior to the formation of Lightstorm in 1990, Mr. Kasanoff served as head of production and acquisitions for Vestron, Inc, distributors of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. Meanwhile, 1995 saw the first triumph of a video-game-turned-movie with Mortal Kombat, which enjoyed a $70.1 million domestic gross.
He executive-produced over 25 films and created 'prebuy' financing and acquisition deals for over 200 additional films, including the 1986 epic Platoon. Kasanoff also co-founded Vestron's original and music video programming divisions. In the music world, Kasanoff has packaged or produced video projects with several of the world's biggest talent, including Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones and Dick Clark. He founded Lightstorm Records and Music Publishing (a partnership with Sony Music). For T2, he produced MTV's 1991 top video 'You Could Be Mine' with Guns 'N Roses.
In addition to the first two MK movies, Threshold produced the TV series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders Of The Realm, and Mortal Kombat: The Live Tour. Neither lasted more than a year. Kasanoff is currently working on Mortal Kombat: Devastation, the final movie of the MK trilogy, which has been mired in preproduction for several years and will not make it to the big screen anytime soon.
He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, and a BA from Cornell University.