Search results
Established in 1989, by Disney CEO Michael Eisner and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood Pictures was founded to increase the film output of the Walt Disney Studios, and release films similar to those of Touchstone Pictures.
- Overview
- History
Hollywood Pictures was one of the Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produced films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.
Because of the success of Disney's mature film division Touchstone Pictures, yet another Disney film label was established as Hollywood Pictures in 1990. Danny Elfman composed the fanfare for the opening logo. The company's first release was Arachnophobia.
While then-Disney chief Michael Eisner at first intended Hollywood Pictures to be a full-fledged studio, like Touchstone, in recent years its operations have been scaled back and its management has been merged with the flagship Walt Disney Pictures studio.
Towards the ending of the 1990s, the majority of Hollywood Pictures releases were films that got overall negative reviews, among which was An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, which won the Razzie Award for Worst Movie of 1998, with the negative stigma of the banner being likely the main reason as to why Hollywood Pictures would become eventually retired just a few years later, in 2001.
Despite this, the banner has managed to release some acclaimed titles, including its most profitable film to date, The Sixth Sense, which grossed over $200 million at the North American box office.
After being dormant since 2001, the brand was re-activated for low-budget genre films, similar to Dimension Films (once a Disney division itself, now part of The Weinstein Company) or Sony Pictures' Screen Gems (part of Columbia Pictures), News Corporation's Fox Atomic (part of Fox Searchlight Pictures), and Relativity Media's Rogue Pictures (distributed by former parent Universal Studios). The first film released by the resurrected Hollywood was the 2006 horror film, Stay Alive.
This wouldn't however last very long, as after Bob Iger replaced Michael Eisner as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, in late 2005, he decided to instead focus more on reinforcing brand recognition throughout the Disney brand itself, instead of relying on other distribution labels, which was what Eisner had done through Touchstone and Miramax. This lead to the permanent retirement of Hollywood Pictures in April 27, 2007. The final film to be distributed by Hollywood Pictures was The Invisible.
Oct 16, 2023 · Its animated shorts and, later, feature films were released via distribution deals with larger Hollywood studios, including Columbia, United Artists, and RKO Pictures.
6 days ago · Walt Disney (1901–66) was an American film and TV producer who pioneered animated cartoon films and created the characters Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He also planned and built the amusement park Disneyland and had begun a second one, Walt Disney World, before his death.
Jul 22, 2019 · On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood, California.
- 42 min
In February 1960, Disney was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two stars, one for motion pictures and the other for his television work; Mickey Mouse was given his own star for motion pictures in 1978, and Disneyland received one in 2005.
May 28, 2024 · Only by constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of both animation and business, was the company able to go from a moderately successful animation studio to a complete entertainment...
