Morgan Creek Entertainment is an American film
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...
that has released box-office hits including ''
Young Guns'', ''
Dead Ringers'', ''
Major League'', ''
True Romance
''True Romance'' is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, ...
'', ''
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', ''
The Crush'', ''
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' and ''
The Last of the Mohicans
''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826.
It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...
''. The studio was co-founded in 1988 by James G. Robinson and
Joe Roth
Joseph Emanuel Roth is an American film executive, producer and director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1988 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox (1989–1993), Caravan Pictures (1993–1994), and Walt Disney Studios (1994–200 ...
. Robinson leads the company as chairman and CEO. His two sons, Brian Robinson and David C. Robinson, run the day-to-day operations. The company name comes from Roth's favorite film, ''
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
''The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'' is a 1944 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton, and featuring Diana Lynn, William Demarest and Porter Hall. Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamir ...
''.
Morgan Creek generally releases their films through larger studios while retaining the copyrights, and making autonomous decisions on home video and television rights. Their initial slate of films from 1988 to 1990 were released by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, except for ''
Renegades'' and ''
Coupe de Ville
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
'' which were released by
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
and ''
Major League'' which was released by
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
, and some home video releases of its early titles going to
Media Home Entertainment
Media Home Entertainment Inc. was a home video company headquartered in Culver City, California, originally established in 1978 by filmmaker Charles Band.
Media Home Entertainment also distributed video product under three additional labels — ...
.
[ In 1991, beginning with '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'', they shifted their distribution of new films, as well as their previous catalog titles, to ]Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
, where they remained until early 2005. Later that year, beginning with '' Two for the Money'', they released their newer films through Universal, though previous films were still handled in the U.S. by Warner.
On July 11, 1997, Gary Barber
Gary Barber (born 1957) is a South African-born American film producer. Barber was the chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is also co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment.
Biography
Barber was born to a Jewish family in Johannesburg, So ...
announced that he would leave the studio, and he subsequently went on to start out Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Media Group, LLC, formerly Spyglass Entertainment, is an American film production company founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998.
History Spyglass Entertainment
On August 21, 1998, Gary Barber, former vice chairman and COO ...
. In 1998, Morgan Creek had a distribution deal with Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
to release its product through the Morgan Creek Video and the Morgan Creek DVD labels.
On October 8, 1998, Morgan Creek and Franchise Pictures
Franchise Pictures LLC was an independent motion picture production and distribution company, founded by Elie Samaha, Ashok Amritraj, and Andrew Stevens. They were known for their production in the action film genre. The company also had a short ...
entered into an agreement where Morgan Creek would distribute Franchise's upcoming pictures domestically. On July 2, 2001, Morgan Creek Productions sued Franchise Pictures for allegedly breaching an agreement giving the company the right of first refusal on some films.
In October 2014, Morgan Creek sold the international distribution rights and copyrights to their films to 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 librar ...
for $36.75 million. In September 2015, Morgan Creek began negotiating the sale of rights for the remaining territories, though they intend to retain remake and television rights to the ''Ace Ventura'', ''Major League'', ''Young Guns'', and ''Exorcist'' franchises.
List of Morgan Creek films
List of Morgan Creek television series
* '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'' (1995–2000) (with Nelvana
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
and Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...
)
* ''The Exorcist
''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...
'' (2016–2017) (with New Neighborhood and 20th Century Fox Television
20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...
)
* '' The Good Shepherd'' (with Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
)
* '' Dead Ringers'' (with Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...
and Annapurna Television
Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...
)
* ''Nightbreed
''Nightbreed'' is a 1990 American dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella ''Cabal''. It stars Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, and Doug Bradley. The film f ...
''
* ''Pacific Heights''
References
External links
*
Company profile on Yahoo Finance
{{Authority control
Film production companies of the United States
Entertainment companies based in California
Companies based in Santa Monica, California
Entertainment companies established in 1988
1988 establishments in California