Castle Rock Entertainment

Not to be confused with Dark Castle Entertainment.
Castle Rock Entertainment
Subsidiary of Warner Bros.
Industry Film
Founded 1987
Founder Martin Shafer
Rob Reiner
Andrew Scheinman
Glenn Padnick
Alan Horn
Headquarters United States
Products Motion pictures
Services Film production
Owner Time Warner
Parent Warner Bros. Pictures

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.

The logo's music was called "Beautiful Tune".

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.

Turner and TimeWarner ownership

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. Castle Rock Entertainment is now WB Entertainment's division. MGM owns the rights to the pre-1994 Castle Rock Entertainment films because of the acquisition of the pre-1996 PolyGram library where Nelson Entertainment was in it.[7][8][9][10] Warner Bros Owns the company as its division and owns the post-1994 library and the TV rights to City Slickers.

Filmography

The original Castle Rock Entertainment logo used from 1989 to 1994.

1980s

Title Release Date Notes
April 14, 1989 Winter People co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment
July 21, 1989 When Harry Met Sally... co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment

1990s

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

2000s

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

2010s

Release Date Title Notes
August 6, 2010 Flipped co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures;
November 24, 2010 Faster co-production with CBS Films and Tristar Pictures
July 22, 2011 Friends with Benefits co-production with Screen Gems
April 27, 2012 Bernie co-production with Mandalay Vision, Wind Dancer Films and Detour Filmproduction
July 6, 2012 The Magic of Belle Isle co-production with Revelations Entertainment
May 24, 2013 Before Midnight co-production with Sony Pictures Classics and Venture Forth
July 11, 2014 And So It Goes co-production with Clarius Entertainment
October 8, 2014 The Rewrite co-production with Reserve Room and Lionsgate

Upcoming films

Television shows

Notes

  1. ↑ Fabrikant, Geraldine (7 August 1993). "COMPANY NEWS; Turner Move To Purchase Movie Studio". The New York Times. Retrieved 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. ↑ 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. ↑ Eller, Claudia (23 October 1998). "MGM Agrees to Acquire PolyGram Movie Library". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Frankel, Daniel (22 October 1998). "NEWS/ MGM Acquires Lion's Share of PolyGram". E!. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; MGM SAYS IT WILL BUY POLYGRAM'S MOVIE LIBRARY". The New York Times. 23 October 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Warner Bros. Teams Up With PolyGram to Co-Finance & Co-Distribute Castle Rock Pictures". 6 January 1998. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 http://www.deadline.com/2013/08/castle-rock-extends-funding-relationship-with-before-midnight-backer-venture-forth/

External links