Franchise Pictures LLC was an independent motion picture production and distribution company, founded by
Elie Samaha
Elie Samaha (Arabic: إيلي سماحة) is a film producer in Los Angeles, with production credits beginning with '' The Immortals'' in 1995. He has produced over 83 works, primarily films along with some video games. He produced '' The Boondo ...
,
Ashok Amritraj, and
Andrew Stevens. They were known for their production in the
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
genre. The company also had a short-lived video game arm, Franchise Interactive.
As of 2021, half of the Franchise Pictures library, along with that of
ThinkFilm, is now owned by Orange Holdings LLC. Another half of the Franchise Pictures library is owned by
Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios Distribution Company, LLC is an American motion picture and television studio headed by Chief Executive Officer Scott Hemming.
The company focuses primarily on the distribution, remake and sequel rights to titles in its libra ...
(via
Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Entertainment is an American film production company that has released box-office hits including '' Young Guns'', '' Dead Ringers'', '' Major League'', ''True Romance'', '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', '' The Crush'', '' Robin Hood: ...
).
In 2004, in a case heard before a jury in a
Los Angeles federal courtroom, ''Intertainment Licensing GmbH v. Franchise Pictures, et al.'',
Judge
Stotler awarded a plaintiff's verdict for $121.7 million against Franchise Pictures and Elie Samaha for fraudulent
accounting. Samaha vowed to appeal but the fraud judgment destroyed Franchise's viability; the company and its subsidiaries all filed
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy petitions on August 19, 2007.
History
Franchise Pictures was started in 1997, with Phoenician Entertainment serving as subsidiary for lower-budget films. Its initial employees were
Elie Samaha
Elie Samaha (Arabic: إيلي سماحة) is a film producer in Los Angeles, with production credits beginning with '' The Immortals'' in 1995. He has produced over 83 works, primarily films along with some video games. He produced '' The Boondo ...
and
Ashok Amritraj, who would later leave two years later to start Hyde Park Entertainment.
On October 8, 1998, it signed a distribution agreement with Morgan Creek Productions and
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
, in which Franchise paid the distribution rights to both Morgan Creek and WB. On May 19, 1999, the company had signed a deal with Intertainment in order to bring all 60 motion pictures that Franchise had been receiving to Germany. A month later, Intertainment had struck a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, in order to secure the rights to 60 motion pictures for worldwide distribution.
On July 2, 2001, Morgan Creek and its CEO
James G. Robinson sued Franchise Pictures for breach of contract, resulting in Morgan Creek to end their partnership with Franchise Pictures after the release of ''
Heist'' (2001).
During Franchise's partnership with Morgan Creek, by 2000, the companies had financial success with a film titled ''
The Whole Nine Yards
"The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way", as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use ...
''. However, they also suffered a huge flop with ''
Battlefield Earth'' starring
John Travolta, which received bad
word-of-mouth
Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...
and grossed $29.7 million on a $75 million budget.
Filmography
Bankruptcy
Following the financial failure of ''
Battlefield Earth'' and other films independently produced by Franchise Pictures, ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported that the United States'
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
was probing "the question of whether some independent motion picture companies have vastly inflated the budget of films in an effort to scam investors". In December 2000 the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
-based Intertainment AG filed a lawsuit alleging that Franchise Pictures had fraudulently inflated budgets in films including ''Battlefield Earth'', which Intertainment had helped to finance.
Intertainment had agreed to pay 47% of the production costs of several films in exchange for European distribution rights, but ended up paying for between 60% and 90% of the costs instead. The company alleged that Franchise had defrauded it to the tune of over $75 million by systematically submitting "grossly fraudulent and inflated budgets".
The case was heard before a jury in a Los Angeles federal courtroom in May–June 2004. The court heard testimony from Intertainment that according to Franchise's bank records the real cost of ''Battlefield Earth'' was only $44 million, not the $75 million declared by Franchise. The remaining $31 million had been fraudulent "padding". Intertainment's head Barry Baeres told the court that he had only funded ''Battlefield Earth'' because it was packaged as a slate that included two more commercially attractive films, the
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), '' Passenger 57'' (1992), '' ...
vehicle ''
The Art of War
''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is com ...
'' and the
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...
comedy ''
The Whole Nine Yards
"The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way", as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use ...
''. Baeres testified that "Mr. Samaha said, 'If you want the other two pictures, you have to take ''Battlefield Earth''—it's called packaging'". Baeres commented: "We would have been quite happy if he had killed ''Battlefield Earth''".
Intertainment won the case and was awarded $121.7 million in damages, of which Samaha himself was declared by the court to be personally liable for $77 million in damages.
However, the jury rejected Intertainment's claims under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
RICO was en ...
(RICO) statute, which would have
trebled the damages if Franchise had been found liable on that charge.
Samaha vowed to appeal but the fraud judgment destroyed Franchise's viability; the company and its subsidiaries all filed
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy petitions on August 19, 2007.
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References
{{Authority control
Defunct film and television production companies of the United States
Fraud in the United States
Mass media companies established in 1997
Mass media companies disestablished in 2007
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007
American independent film studios