The Donners' Company (formerly Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions) is the film production company of director

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American film director, producer and actor. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the mo ...

and producer Lauren Shuler Donner, founded in 1986. It is notable for the ''

Free Willy ''Free Willy'' is a 1993 American Adventure film, adventure Drama (film and television), drama film, directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by ...

'' and ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

'' franchises.

History

Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions

In 1986, film producer Lauren Shuler Donner announced that she would end her production deal with The Walt Disney Studios. She announced that she would merge with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

-based Richard Donner Productions, to create Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions, to be operating on the Warner Bros. lot in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. The first film released under the name was '' Radio Flyer'', which was directed by Richard Donner, produced by Lauren, and it was released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

in 1992. It flopped at the box office. The banner made its first major success in 1993 with box office hits '' Dave'' and ''

''. The latter's success spawned two sequels, and a

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

. That year, the studio and Warner Bros. originally made a deal with

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

to produce remakes based on its existing UK film properties. In 1994, the company produced its first television project, an animated adaptation of ''Free Willy''; it aired on ABC for two seasons.

The Donners' Company

In 1999, it was announced that Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions would be renamed to the better-sounding name The Donners' Company. On April 4, 2000, it signed a deal with NBC Studios to produce shows for the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television network. That same year, the company scored a major success with ''

'', which was an instant box office hit, grossing over $296.8 million worldwide. In 2001, The Donners' Company signed a deal with Winchester Films to produce its feature films from its own. More recently, the company was producing two ''

'' series for television, including '' Legion'' on FX, and '' The Gifted'' on Fox. In 2019, the latter was cancelled months before the former concluded its third and final season. Richard Donner died on July 5, 2021. He was 91.

Filmography

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Television

In development

Television

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donners' Company 1986 establishments in California American companies established in 1986 Companies based in Burbank, California Entertainment companies based in California Film production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1986 Television production companies of the United States