The Death of Hollywood Pictures

0:02 [Music] in December of 1988 the Walt Disney Company announced plans to form a Film Production label entitled Hollywood pictures the new division would be the company's third film label alongside its Flagship Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone pictures which had been founded several years earlier to release adult and teen or oriented films the growing company's goal was for Hollywood pictures to release General appeal films similar to those released by Touchstone low to mid-budget movies that could expand the Studio's reach beyond the family films that Walt Disney Pictures produced the studio had been founded in 1923 as Disney Brothers cartoon Studio

0:49 by Walt and Roy Disney who initially produced animated shorts exclusively the company was renamed Walt Disney Productions in 1929 and moved into feature fil Film Production in the 1930s releasing a string of animated films before moving into liveaction production in the 40s and 50s the early films of Walt Disney Productions were distributed by third-party companies as the studio had teamed with RKO pictures and United Artists to release their films but in 1953 the Disney Brothers formed their own Distribution Company buen a Vista as a way of releasing and promoting their films inhouse the studio achieved a massive success over the decades with animated and liveaction films alike but by the late 1970s Walt Disney Productions was

1:36 faltering the death of its two Founders had led to an identity crisis within the company and the studio found diminishing returns with its family-friendly releases the viewing public had largely pigeon hold the studio as being for kids only so to break out of this image Disney released a series of films in the early 1980s which attempted to draw in teens and adults most of these films flopped majorly and and the company was at risk of a hostile takeover when it founded Touchstone films in 1984 this new division would release films for the teen and adult markets which would allow the newly renamed Walt Disney Pictures division to focus solely on family films Touchstone first release Splash was a big hit and after the company's CEO Ron Miller was forced out in 1984 management brought in Michael

2:23 Eisner as the Disney company's new CEO Warner Brothers executive Frank Wells was appointed as the company's president and Eisner brought in Jeffrey kenberg from Paramount to serve as the Studio's chairman this new regime secured hundreds of millions of dollars in financing from a partnership with an entity called Silver Screen Partners which Disney utilized to fund touchstone's production slate through its adult-oriented releases Disney was resurrected from the brink of disaster repositioning itself as a top Film Studio the Touchstone releases of Three Men and a Baby Good Morning Vietnam and cocktail all grossed over $100 million while Who Framed Roger Rabbit surpassed $350 million worldwide liveaction films were now the Bedrock of the Disney

3:09 company and the film industry overall was experiencing a boom with a number of new independent film companies rising to prominence as the supply of movies increased Multiplex Style movie theaters grew in popularity while multiscreen theaters were not A New Concept the mid to late ' 80s saw an explosion of Multiplex theaters containing upwards of 12 to 24 screens which inundated malls and shopping centers Across America but around 1988 after years of growth Film Production had peaked and begun to recede several prominent Indie Studios had shut down due to financial issues with others facing bankruptcy with this large ecosystem of Multiplex theaters in place a shortage of films was expected soon and Disney executive saw an opportunity to build the company by

3:56 upping Film Production to fill the void Disney was also experiencing some internal struggles between highlevel Executives Ricardo mestres had worked with Jeffrey kenberg as a development executive at Paramount Studios before being recruited to join Walt Disney Studios in 1984 as vice president of production a year later mestres was assigned to Touchstone pictures under touchstone's President David hobman while the two oversaw Monumental growth for the studio with Touchstone churning out hits left and right it was reported that the two Executives had developed a rival and this conflict along with Disney's desire to amp up Film Production LED Michael Eisner and Jeffrey kenberg to create a third film studio for mes to head in late 1988 Disney publicly announced the creation

4:42 of its third distribution label Hollywood pictures the name dates back to the early 1980s when Eisner then the president of Paramount Pictures had floated the idea of buying the film company American International pictures and rebranding it as Hollywood pictures this plan never came to fruition but the name clearly stuck with Eisner who had also considered renaming Touchstone as Hollywood pictures before the label became its own entity Disney's Hollywood pictures would release films similar to those from Touchstone low to mid-budget adult-oriented fair that was unfit for a Walt Disney Pictures release Disney's goal was to have Hollywood pictures release 12 films per year with all of their films being released through Disney's in-house distributor buen a Vista and because the company would be funding the new label through the

5:28 investment cured from Silver Screen Partners Disney was in the rare position of being able to make a high number of films without risking their own money Ricardo mestres was given $100 million to fund Hollywood pictures production slate and was tasked with the lofty assignment of duplicating Touchstone success Hollywood pictures first release would be Arachnophobia in the summer of 1990 a horror comedy that the studio described as a thrill aromed the film was highly anticipated with variety predicting that Arachnophobia would be one of the Summer's top grossing films and Disney was also sharing in that enthusiasm with mestres saying obviously we want to get off to a great start even rival Studios were feeling intimidated by the film's

6:14 release with Paramount Pictures reportedly moving up the release date for their film ghost to avoid competing with Arachnophobia ultimately amidst all this pressure to succeed Hollywood pictures debut feature would do respectable numbers grossing 53 million on a $25 million budget but the film failed to match the grandiose expectations put upon it by Disney and the press as the company had been counting on it to be a huge Blockbuster hit ironically Paramount's ghost would become a Smash Hit earning over 500 million dollar worldwide nearly 10 times what Arachnophobia had grossed Hollywood pictures next release a comedy entitled taking care of business starring Jim balushi and Charles groden failed to make an impact grossing less than half of what Ara phobia did the label was off

7:02 to an iffy start and while Disney became the top grossing studio in 1990 thanks to the massive success of touchstone's Pretty Woman internal worries were stirring one of Disney's highest profile releases of 1990 touchstones Dick Tracy had cost the studio a whopping $46 million to produce along with 54 million in marketing costs while the film grossed over $100 million the studio saw little return on their investment due to the film's bloated costs Disney had hoped to turn Dick Tracy into a franchise like Indiana Jones but the film was a disappointment and in January of 1991 Studio chairman Jeffrey katzenberg sent out a 28-page internal memo in which he warned against what he called the Blockbuster mentality urging

7:47 the studio not to rely on high-cost high-risk projects though 1990 had been a disappointing box office year for all film studios in Hollywood 1991 would see the stakes rise as Studios up the number of films scheduled for release film distribution was becoming an international industry and with revenue from foreign markets growing Studios could produce more films with less risk while 143 films were released overall in 1990 180 films were scheduled for 1991 the downside of this was that increased competition was driving up the cost of marketing and making it harder for Studios to secure spots in theaters 1991 would be Hollywood pictures First full year in operation as the label slated four films with

8:33 recognizable stars for release run was an action thriller starring Patrick Dempsey while the marrying man was a romantic comedy starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger one good cop was a crime drama starring Michael Keaton and VI wosi was an action comedy starring Kathleen Turner as a private eye with this mix of genas and bigname actors Disney hoped to draw in adult movie goers and establish a brand known for producing High High concept quality films on Modest budgets unfortunately the films released by Hollywood pictures in 1991 couldn't match the competition with all four of them flopping but it wasn't just Disney taking a hit amidst a crowded Marketplace ticket sales for films overall fell by 4% in 1991 as budgets

9:18 soared due to Rising Star salaries despite its Failure to Launch in 1991 Disney continued with its plan for Hollywood pictures upping the anti to release 10 films in 1992 first up in January of that year was The Hand That Rocks the Cradle a psychological Thriller which Disney expected to be the breakout hit that their struggling label needed the company's estimation was correct with the film debuting at number one at the box office and staying there for four consecutive weekends in its fifth week of release The Hand That Rocks the Cradle would be dethroned from the number one spot by Hollywood pictures next release Medicine Man starring Shan connory and Lorraine brocco Disney was riding high on all of this success and by February of 1992 the company had four

10:05 films in the top 10 at the box office cradle which was produced for a modest $12 million would end up becoming one of the year's most profitable films grossing $140 million worldwide and becoming a top rental on home video but Hollywood pictures still had a rocky road ahead of it as it released eight more films in 1992 to mixed results the most notable of these releases was in Ceno man a comedy starring Brendan Frasier as a caveman who is frozen and deth thought in modern day Los Angeles the movie which would launch the film career of comedian Paulie Shore did well at the box office grossing $40 million on a low $7 million budget another film released that year was the distinguished gentleman a political comedy starring

10:50 Eddie Murphy made for a staggering $50 million likely due to a high salary for Murphy the film grossed $86 million but received negative reviews failing to achieve the success of Murphy's previous films Hollywood pictures released six other films in 1992 all of which flopped but the label had achieved enough success to justify continued growth with 11 films being scheduled for 1993 the most prominent of these films was Super Mario Brothers based on the immensely popular Nintendo video game series the film was the second collaboration between Hollywood pictures and synergy pictures an independent production company founded in the late 1980s by producer Andrew vajna vajna had

11:36 previously founded Carol Co pictures which was best known for producing the Rambo series but vajna had left the company in 1989 to form Synergy which had made a deal with Disney to distribute several of its films per year starting with Medicine Man Super Mario Brothers would be the highest profile release by Hollywood pictures to date and the first based on an existing franchise with with a budget of around $45 million while the film had hoped to capitalize on the audience of the video game it was a critical and Commercial disaster grossing only $38 million and being panned by reviewers and fans alike most of Hollywood pictures other films from 1993 were flops as well aside from paully Shore's second film son-in-law which posted moderately successful

12:22 numbers toward the end of the year the studio experienced a slight Rebound with the release of the Joy Luck Club based on the Amy Tan novel of the same name the drama was one of the first American Productions to feature an all Asian cast and Disney reportedly gave the filmmakers full creative control over the film as it was just the kind of unique lower budget project that Hollywood pictures was looking for the film received positive reviews and performed moderately at the box office grossing $32 million on a $10 million budget but given all of its flops Hollywood pictures desperately needed more big hits to stay afloat December release of Tombstone which was co-produced by Synergy came after a wave of successful modern westerns the film did fairly well at the box office but

13:08 failed to cross the $100 million Mark and 1994 would be a particularly rough year for Hollywood pictures as its first three releases of the Year bombed in April of 1994 Ricardo mrees abruptly stepped down as the head of Hollywood pictures while mrees had overseen several hit films the Studio's overall approach of producing High concept films on Modest budgets was clearly not working mrees shifted to working as a film producer for Disney and a new president named Michael Linton was appointed to head Hollywood pictures Linton had never worked in the film industry but had come out of the literary World working as an executive for Disney's publishing Wing Linton promised to steer the studio away from lower budget comedies and produce

13:53 highquality mainstream films in a variety of genres while the rest of Hollywood pictures off offerings in 1994 were mostly Duds one film in particular offered a glimmer of hope for the future quiz show directed by Robert Redford was a historical drama based on the real life quiz show scandals of the 1950s in which game show producers were caught rigging the outcomes of their programs the film performed modestly at the box office but was a critical sensation earning four Academy Award nominations including the first best picture nomination for Hollywood pictures while this was a notable achievement Hollywood pictures couldn't survive on Oscar nominations alone if the division was to continue it would need to produce big hit films and fast today's video is brought to you by

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15:25 1994 with the studio becoming the first in history to ear earn $1 billion at the box office in one single year but 1994 was also a year of big shakeups at the company company president Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash in April of 1994 and shortly thereafter Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey kenberg left the company after he wasn't promoted to wells's position kenberg was replaced by executive Joe Roth who had previously run Disney's subsidiary production house Caravan pictures amidst all of this chaos it was uncertain if Hollywood pictures could continue the label had only produced One breakout hit in 4 years despite pulling out all the stops while the division had developed and

16:11 produced the Santa Claus for Tim Allen Walt Disney Pictures had taken the Reigns to release the film the movie was a Smash Hit earning $190 million worldwide and while Hollywood pictures wasn't technically able to bask in this success it was a positive sign that the division was capable of developing and producing more hits 1995 would be the year that Hollywood pictures finally broke out in April the label released the romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping starring Sandra bulck and Bill Pullman while the film had cost 16 million to produce it wound up grossing $182 million worldwide the highest gross get for a Hollywood pictures film and one of Disney's most profitable liveaction films ever the following month's release of the Tony

16:56 Scott action film Crimson tie also proved to be a smash grossing $157 million to become one of the biggest action films ever released by Disney to top it off the release of Dangerous Minds a drama starring Michelle feifer is a school teacher who takes a job working with underprivileged students was a sleeper hit not only grossing $179 million on a $23 million budget but producing a triple platinum soundtrack featuring kio's number one billboard hit Gangsta's Paradise within months the Studio had gone from the brink of failure to having three films surpass the $100 million Mark plus a breakout soundtrack with a hit song dominating the music industry however 1995 wasn't without its failures the 90 million Judge Dread

17:44 another Synergy collaboration starring Sylvester Stallone was a commercial and critical disappointment and The Scarlet Letter an adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel starring Demi Moore as the lead received seven golden raspberry nominations developing a reputation as one of the worst films ever made but the label had achieved enough wins in '95 to offset its losses the irony is that most of these successful projects had been greenlit under Ricardo mz's leadership who was pushed out before he could take any credit Joe Roth's leadership as the Disney Studio chairman was also credited for these wins as he reportedly authorized Big Marketing pushes for the films that tested well with preview audiences while limiting resources for the ones that tested poorly late 1995 would see the release of

18:31 Oliver Stone's presidential biopic Nixon which was a commercial flop but received four Academy Award nominations Mr Holland's Opus the last Hollywood pictures film released in 1995 achieved both critical and Commercial Success garnering several Golden Globe nominations and grossing $100 million worldwide through failures and successes during the first half of the 9s Disney overall was shifting its strategy rather than release liveaction films with modest budgets it would focus on more big budget star driven films that would be considered events 1996's 101 Dalmations produced by Ricardo mestres and released by Walt Disney Pictures was one of the first films to tap into this strategy as it was a live-action reboot

19:18 of a classic animated film from the Disney Vault the tie-in with an existing intellectual property meant that the film had a built-in audience and also opened the door for Promotional and merch merizing opportuni is not possible with the standard liveaction film Joe Roth predicted that event films could generate two to three times the profits that an ordinary liveaction film could as high revenue from the box office home video and merchandise would offset the high marketing costs necessary to promote these large-scale films Roth's bet was correct with 101 dalmati grossing $320 million worldwide and the film's success led to Disney releasing more liveaction films based on existing properties to big success but in chasing big event films Disney would

20:04 fall victim to the Blockbuster mentality that kenberg had warned about years earlier Blockbusters needed big stars in order to sell but star salaries had risen considerably over the years with most big actors now commanding $20 million per film plus profit participation additionally the industry had embraced high-priced development deals with various Talent a studio would pay millions of of dollars to a particular star director or producer for a firstlook deal to develop any projects that they might create by 1996 Disney had 40 development deals in place with everyone from Tim Allen to Oprah Winfrey to Martin soresi overall the studio was paying an estimated $50 million a year in overhead costs just to support these

20:50 deals while the company's development deal with producer Jerry brookheimer had proved to be worth it with his 1996 Hollywood pictures film The Rock grossing over $300 million worldwide the majority of these development deals were not paying off despite star power and bigname directors Hollywood pictures suffered a number of flops in 1996 these failures coupled with development deals and other overhead costs were causing a real strain on the studio as it lost an estimated $180 million in 1996 despite some big hits in response Hollywood pictures would reduce the size of its Workforce and many in the Press were predicting that Hollywood pictures would be shut down saying that Disney had failed to establish an identity for its distribution label and

21:36 was spending too much money on films with minimal appeal Michael Linton stepped down as the president of Hollywood pictures around this time opting to return to the publishing world to head penguin group Linton would be replaced by Walt Disney Pictures president David vogle who would expand his duties to oversee both entities and Disney Executives initiated a long-term plan to scale back on on overall Film Production at the studio 1997 would be even worse for Hollywood pictures as they released eight films with only one Gross Point Blank being a modest success due to its minuscule budget high-profile releases like Shadow conspiracy GI Jane and An American Werewolf in Paris failed miserably as Michael Eisner was urging the studio to cut costs in response to

22:22 eisner's mandate Joe Roth merged the operations of Hollywood pictures Touchstone and Walt Disney pictur pictures into a single entity called buen a Vista Motion Picture group Hollywood pictures would cut down its production slate significantly releasing just two to four films per year but even then the label was unable to churn out any hits none of the four films released in 1998 by Hollywood pictures achieved any success and it was looking like the label was about to be phased out with only three films scheduled for release in 1999 down from 15 a year in its peak Disney had moved on from the goals and strategies which had necessitated The label's Creation in the first place however Hollywood pictures next release would exceed all expectations growing to become one of Disney's biggest releases

23:08 ever yet ultimately leading to the distribution label's death ight Shyamalan was no stranger to the Disney Company the upand cominging director had written and directed his first film The independently released praying with anger in 1992 before releasing Wide Awake through Miramax in 1998 the script for shyamalan's next film the psychological Thriller the six sense caught the eye of David vogle who greenlit the film into production through Hollywood pictures Bruce Willis who had starred in Touchstone Blockbuster Armageddon and was under contract for One More film with Disney chose to star in the film much to the dismay of Studio Executives who would have preferred that he stick with the action genre released in August of 1999 the six sens grossed $26 million its

23:54 opening weekend setting a record for an August release and due to strong word of mouth the film would remain at the number one spot for five weekends in a row ultimately surpassing $600 million worldwide the film's critical response was equally impressive receiving rave reviews along with six Academy Award nominations but more importantly the six sense was the kind of cultural phenomena that Studios can only dream of achieving a transcendental film that becomes woven in the collective consciousness of the public I see dead people after 10 years in existence Hollywood pictures had finally produced a film that smashed all expectations with the six sense becoming not only the second highest grossing film of the year

24:41 but at the time becoming Disney's biggest liveaction release ever but there was one big problem with the success of the six sense when the film had been green lit by David vogle Studio chairman Joe Roth had very little faith in the film pressured by eisner's directive to cut costs at the studio Roth had opted to sell the international and domestic rights to the six cents to spy glass entertainment before its release in order to recoup some of the production costs and lessen the risk while Disney distributed the film through buen a Vista it only received a distribution fee of 12.5% of the gross losing out on the majority of the profits for the film's massive worldwide success in spite of the fact that Hollywood pictures had developed and produced Disney's highest grossing liveaction film ever the label had

25:27 become increasingly irrelevant to the company its next two films in 1999 an adaptation of Kurt vet's Breakfast of Champions and mystery Alaska from Austin Powers director J roach both flopped commercially in the year 2000 saw Hollywood pictures release two lowprofile Indie Acquisitions gunshi and Duets to little Fanfare overall Disney wasn't releasing as many films as it had in the early '90s and the studio had Touchstone pictures to release its smaller films along with Miramax films which Disney had acquired in 1993 in 2001 Hollywood pictures released one final film just visiting before quietly going defunct while the label stopped releasing films the name Hollywood pictures would occupy an important role

26:13 at the Disney company as they opened a brand new theme park as part of their Disneyland Resort in Anaheim Disney's California Adventure which opened in February of 2001 featured a themed land called Hollywood pictures Backlot which was inspired by the gold age of Hollywood and attempted to replicate the feeling of a studio Backlot while the park received a mixed public reaction overall Hollywood pictures Backlot would retain its name until 2012 when it was renamed Hollywood land Hollywood pictures as a film label would make a surprising return in 2006 with the release of the horror film stay alive Disney did not publicly reveal why they chose to resurrect the label for this particular film but it appears that their goal was for Hollywood pictures to become a horror and thrill label

26:59 appealing to a young adult audience similar to Dimension films which Disney had owned until 2005 but stay alive was critically panned and disappointed at the box office the label's next film a monster flick entitled Prime eval performed even worse and after the release of the Teen Supernatural Thriller the invisible in 2007 Hollywood pictures was put to rest for good around this time Disney announced that it would be simplifying its branding renaming Touchstone television as ABC C television studio and turning buen a Vista distribution into Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Disney has since acquired companies like 20th Century Fox Marvel Studios and lucasfilm moving even further away from the kinds of original small to mid-budget films that Hollywood

27:44 pictures was known for but there's no doubt that Hollywood pictures made its mark on the film industry as a whole producing influential art housee films and Mass Appeal Blockbusters alike though the hits were few and far between the label was responsible for launching the careers of several high-profile individuals and certainly brought more value to the Disney Company by expanding the scope of what Disney was capable of producing maybe the label was never destined to succeed simply being a product of the excesses of its time but Hollywood pictures played a pivotal role for the Disney Company during one of its most successful eras and will always have its place solidified in film history if you enjoyed this video please hit the like and sub subscribe buttons and if you'd like to support me on

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