Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. was an American independent motion picture company in operation from 1992 to 1997. Among Savoy Pictures' noteworthy feature films were ''

A Bronx Tale ''A Bronx Tale'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age crime film directed by and starring Robert De Niro in his directorial debut and produced by Jane Rosenthal, adapted from Chazz Palminteri's 1989 play of the same name. It tells the coming of a ...

'', '' No Escape'', ''

Last of the Dogmen ''Last of the Dogmen'' is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Tab Murphy (in his feature directorial debut). It stars Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Kurtwood Smith, and Steve Reevis. Set in the mountains of northwest Montana, ...

'' and ''

Serial Mom Serial may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media The presentation of works in sequential segments * Serial (literature), serialised literature in print * Serial (publishing), periodical publications and newspapers * Serial (radio and televis ...

''.

History

Former Columbia Pictures Entertainment chairman and

TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...

founder Victor A. Kaufman became chairman and chief executive officer of Savoy Pictures in 1992 along with vice chairman executive, Lewis J. Korman. Kaufman has claimed that the name came from the Savoy Special bat

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, the Cec ...

's character used in ''

The Natural ''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mo ...

''. Savoy intended to finance and distribute films in the $12–25 million range, investing in up to $15 million per film. In June of that year, Savoy entered into a deal with HBO for the home video, pay-TV, and pay-per-view rights to its films. Budgets for their films grew. However, with rather poor marketing, Savoy faced a major financial slump, only three years after being formed. For three years, Savoy then released box office failures including ''

Exit to Eden ''Exit to Eden'' is a 1985 novel by Anne Rice, initially published under the pen name Anne Rampling, but subsequently under Rice's name. The novel explores the subject of BDSM in romance novel form. The novel also brought attention to Rice's pub ...

'' and '' Getting Away with Murder''. It also didn't help that two of its competitors in the independent film field,

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 lea ...

and

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

, were bought out by majors (

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

and

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner ( ...

, respectively), giving them stability. As a result, Savoy focused on low-budget films and the occasional blockbuster, costing up to $80 million.Fabrikant, Geraldine
''Savoy Pictures' High and Low Roads''.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

(January 18, 1995) Executives hoped to lure

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

with a then-hefty $20 million paycheck to star in a studio project that was ultimately never made. In the meantime, Savoy expanded into broadcasting to help the investment of films. In March 1994, Savoy created SF Broadcasting as a venture with

Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...

, with Kaufman and Korman owning

controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

. As a result of purchasing these stations, all of them would become affiliates of the

Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...

. Stations owned by SF Broadcasting were

WALA-TV WALA-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Satchel Paige Drive ...

in Mobile,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, WLUK-TV in Green Bay,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, WVUE in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, and

KHON-TV KHON-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of Fox and The CW. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KHII-TV (channel 9). Both s ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Savoy also launched a television production division. In January 1995, Kaufman announced that he was hiring Robert N. Fried to run the motion picture studio. Fried brought in executives Alan Sokol, Bob Levin,

Cathy Schulman Cathy Schulman (born 1965) is an American film producer. A graduate of Yale University, Schulman's screen credits include ''Isn't She Great'', ''Sidewalks of New York (2001 film), Sidewalks of New York'', ''Employee of the Month (2004 film), Em ...

, Stan Brooks, Stan Wlodkowski and filmmakers

Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1990 superhero film ''Darkman'' ...

, and George Tillman,

Rob Weiss Rob Weiss is an American television and film producer, screenwriter, actor, and director. His break came in 1993 when he wrote and directed the 1993 film ''Amongst Friends''. The film was well received at film festivals and scored Weiss a nomina ...

and

Peter Chelsom Peter Chelsom (born 20 April 1956) is a British film director, writer, and actor. He has directed such films as ''Hector and the Search for Happiness'', ''Serendipity'', and '' Shall We Dance?'' Peter Chelsom is a member of the British Academ ...

. In September 1995, Kaufman announced that he was cutting back on his interest in the motion picture business and was re-positioning the company as a television station

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. Shortly thereafter, Savoy announced the sale of 14 films in its roster, in varying stages of production, to potential buyers.

picked up Martin Lawrence's directorial debut ''

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate ''A Thin Line Between Love and Hate'' is a 1996 American comedy thriller film. It tells the story of Darnell Wright (Martin Lawrence), a ladies' man who finds himself stalked by one of his obsessed lovers: Brandi (Lynn Whitfield), an attractive ...

'', ''

American History X ''American History X'' is a 1998 American crime drama film directed by Tony Kaye and written by David McKenna. The film stars Edward Norton and Edward Furlong as two brothers from Los Angeles who are involved in the white power skinhead and n ...

'', ''

The Adventures of Pinocchio ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' ( ; it, Le avventure di Pinocchio ; commonly shortened to ''Pinocchio'') is a children's fantasy novel by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pi ...

'', ''

Heaven's Prisoners ''Heaven's Prisoners'' is a 1996 American dramatic crime thriller film directed by Phil Joanou and starring Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson, Teri Hatcher and Eric Roberts. It is based on a Dave Robicheaux homonymous novel by Ja ...

'', '' Faithful'', and ''

The Stupids The Stupids are a fictional family which appear in a series of children's books written by Harry Allard and James Marshall. The Stupids draw their humor from the fact that they are incompetent to the point of confusing the most simple concept ...

''.

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

picked up the rights to produce '' A Simple Plan''. Savoy Pictures announced in November 1995 that

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall o ...

's Silver King Communications was going to acquire Savoy for $210 million. The deal was finalized in 1997. Victor Kaufman is now vice chairman and sits on the board of directors of IAC. The SF stations were sold to Diller's Silver King Broadcasting in 1997.

Cineplex Odeon Films Cineplex Odeon Films (later known as Odeon Films) was the film distribution unit of the Canadian cinema chain Cineplex Odeon Corporation. The company was originally named Pan-Canadian Film Distributors. In 1998, the company was sold off to Allia ...

was the Canadian distributor for Savoy films, then

Alliance Films Alliance Films (formerly Alliance Entertainment, Alliance Communications, Alliance Atlantis Releasing Ltd, Motion Picture Distribution LP and also known as Alliance Vivafilm in Quebec and also known simply as Alliance) was a Canadian motion pictur ...

became the Canadian distributor after

picked up the later films from 1996. In 2006, the Savoy library was purchased by

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

through

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the U ...

, with the exceptions of a few select titles. Warner Bros. Discovery owns the titles produced by New Line Cinema, while

Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...

owns the titles produced by Rysher Entertainment, and Joel B. Michaels owns the rights to "Last of the Dogmen."

Films

References

{{NBCUniversal Defunct American film studios Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Film production companies of the United States Film distributors of the United States American companies established in 1992 Entertainment companies established in 1992 Entertainment companies disestablished in 1997 Mass media companies established in 1992 Mass media companies disestablished in 1997 American independent film studios