Johnny Lin is an American film producer. He is the principal of Filmula Entertainment and president of licensor Filmula International.

Life and career

Lin began his career working for his father Jimmy Lin, a producer on Jet Li's breakout film ''The Legend'' and owner of Royal Country Golf Club, who came to the U.S. in 1979 and started his own video distribution business. He was a member of his father's prolific distribution team, which distributed over 800 films in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. During this time, Lin and his father distributed successful films such as ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''Rush Hour'', ''

The Wedding Singer ''The Wedding Singer'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tells the ...

'', ''

Wag the Dog ''Wag the Dog'' is a 1997 American political satire black comedy film produced and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. The film centers on a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer who fabricate a war in Alb ...

'', ''Spawn'', and ''Runaway Bride''. After growing up in New Zealand, Lin moved to the U.S. Lin has been a producer and executive producer on numerous feature films including the crime thriller ''American Made'' with

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

, the black comedy ''Bernie'' with

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

and Matthew McConaughey, the drama ''

Another Happy Day ''Another Happy Day'' is a 2011 American drama film written and directed by Sam Levinson, in his feature directorial debut. The film stars an ensemble cast including Ellen Barkin, Kate Bosworth, Ellen Burstyn, Thomas Haden Church, Jeffrey DeMunn ...

'', and the 2010 ''Hesher''. He also wrote, directed and produced the 2016 independent film ''Queen of Hearts''. He heads Filmula, has provided over $800 million in film funding, and has acquired the rights to many films including '' Hunger Games'', '' Magic Mike'' and '' The King's Speech'', and exclusive rights to distribution of

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

films and TV shows in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. He has been CEO of Studio Solutions since 2005. Studio Solutions Group has acquired 1,200 films including the Miramax library. In 2010 Filmula partnered with FilmNation signing a co-production deal. In 2012, Studio Solutions became embroiled in a dispute with CatchPlay over 925 film rights and whether Studio Solutions and CatchPlay had an agency relationship; in 2014, a dispute with Media Development Corp was awarded in Studio Solutions' favor. In 2012 Lin entered into a joint development venture with

Ted Field Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field (born June 1, 1953) is an American media mogul, record executive, entrepreneur and film producer. He co-founded Interscope Records with Jimmy Iovine and founded Interscope Communications to develop and produce fi ...

and

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

, The Guardian Project, to produce multi-media content in association with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, and also invested in the failed reboot of

Trauma Records Trauma Records was a Los Angeles-based independent record label created in 1993 by Paul Palmer and Rob Kahane. Trauma Records had a joint venture agreement with Interscope Records that included financing and distribution through Interscope Records ...

; he twice successfully sued Field's company for breach-of-contract and recovery of the investment. On December 1, 2016 a federal judge ordered Ted Field and his Radar Pictures to assign profits from 11 films, including

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

’s '' Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'', to Lin’s Filmula Entertainment until the judgment is satisfied. In 2017, Lin and Brian Oliver acquired the rights to the sci-fi project Rise; based on the popular short directed by David Karlak. Also in 2017, it was announced that Lin and Oliver are set to produce the upcoming remake of ''

The Wild Geese ''The Wild Geese'' is a 1978 war film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Hardy Krüger. The screenplay concerns a group of mercenaries in Africa. It was the result of a long-held ambit ...

'', a 1978

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

mission movie written by

William Monahan William J. Monahan (born November 3, 1960) is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was ''The Departed'', a film that earned him a Writers Guild of America Award and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wr ...

. Additionally, Lin has acquired the rights to adapt Maureen Callahan's '90s-set fashion book ''Champagne Supernovas'' into a television series. In November 2017, it was announced that Lin will be teaming up with 3 Arts Entertainment to develop undercover agent Edward Follis' memoir ''The Dark Art: My Undercover Life in Narco-Terrorism.'' In May 2018, Lin's Filmula entered a co-financing deal with Brian Oliver’s New Republic Pictures, which struck a first-look co-financing and distribution deal with Paramount Pictures. Also in May, it was announced that Lin and Filmula will produce and finance the upcoming action picture "Escape from the North Pole." In September 2018, it was reported that Lin's Filmula acquired the rights to adapt James L. Swanson's upcoming book ''Lion in Winter'', based on the true story of America's most prolific Chicago Outfit syndicate mob boss, into a feature film. In November 2018, it was announced that Beijing-based distributor E Stars will co-finance and co-produce a range of U.S. film projects with Lin's Filmula. Also that month, it was reported that Filmula had tapped screenwriter Andrew Farotte to pen the script for an upcoming original film about World War II in the Pacific. He received his Executive MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2022.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Johnny American film producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)