Castle rock entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment
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History
Reiner named the company in honor of the real-life Maine town of the same name that serves as the setting of several stories by Stephen King (which was named after Castle Rock itself, a mountain fort, in the William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies), after the success of his film Stand by Me, which was based on The Body, a novella by King.
Reiner and Scheinman already had a production company. They were friends with Shafer, who worked with Horn at 20th Century Fox at the time. Horn was disappointed at Fox and agreed to join the trio at forming the company. Horn brought along Padnick, who was an executive at Embassy Television. In Castle Rock, Horn became the CEO, Shafer ran the film division, Padnick ran TV, and Reiner & Scheinman became involved in the development of productions.
The company was originally backed by The Coca-Cola Company, the then-parent company of Columbia Pictures. Coke and the company's founders jointly owned a stake in the company. Months after the deal, Coke exited the entertainment business, succeeded by Columbia Pictures Entertainment (now Sony Pictures Entertainment).
In 1989, Castle Rock was supported by another backer, Group W, a subsidiary of Westinghouse. Castle Rock later struck a deal with Nelson Entertainment, the company that owned the domestic home video rights to Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, and The Princess Bride, to co-finance Castle Rock's films.
Under the deal, Nelson also distributed the films on video in North American markets, and handled international theatrical distribution, while Columbia, which Nelson forged a distribution deal with, would receive domestic theatrical distribution rights. Some of Nelson's holdings were later acquired by New Line Cinema, which took over Nelson's duty. Columbia, shortly after the company's formation, thereafter had to re-invest with a substantial change in terms when accumulated losses exhausted its initial funding.
Reiner has stated that Castle Rock's purpose was to allow creative freedom to individuals; a safe haven away from the pressures of studio executives. Castle Rock was to make films of the highest quality, whether they made or lost money.
Castle Rock has also produced several television shows, such as the successful sitcom Seinfeld and the animated sitcom Mission Hill.
Turner purchase and Warner Bros. ownership
On August 1993, Turner Broadcasting System agreed to acquire Castle Rock, along with co-financing partner (and eventual Castle Rock corporate sibling) New Line Cinema. The sale was completed on December 22, 1993. The motivation behind the purchase to allow a stronger company to handle the overhead. By 1994, Castle Rock launched a foreign sales operation, Castle Rock International, and planned to produce 12 to 15 films annually. Castle Rock also had aspirations to distribute its own films once its deal with Columbia expired in 1998.
Turner Broadcasting eventually merged with Time Warner in 1996. After a failed attempt to divest the company, Time Warner integrated Castle Rock Entertainment into Warner Bros., and cut its production slate to five films per year. On June 27, 1997, Castle Rock's staff was reduced to 60 employees and Castle Rock International was folded into Warner Bros.
In January 1998, Warner Bros. and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment formed a deal to co-finance and co-distribute Castle Rock films; that deal was taken over by Universal Pictures after the studio's parent company Seagram merged with PolyGram later that year. The Warner Bros./Universal deal expired in 2000.
In April 2002, Warner Bros. reduced Castle Rock's budget following a string of box office bombs. Castle Rock fired 16 of its 46 employees, and Castle Rock's physical production and public relations departments, back-office duties, and remaining employees were absorbed into Warner Bros.
Relaunch; under Warner Bros. Discovery
In May 2020, Rob and Michelle Reiner signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television Studios, and on October 1 of that year, it relaunched the company. On October 19, 2021, the feature division company was revived with a $175M film fund under which the studio will develop, produce and finance quality movies for global audiences. Castle Rock will produce films in a first-look deal with Warner Bros. on theatrical content, which has long been its home, in addition to their existing deal with Castle Rock television productions.
Following an addition $170 million investment from Derrick Rossi, Reiner announced his intention to relaunch Castle Rock through two films, one a sequel to his This is Spinal Tap rock-documentary, and the other Albert Brooks: Defending My Life documentary, shopping both films at the 2022 Cannes festival.
Ownership of the Castle Rock library
Warner Bros. owns the copyrights and overall rights to most of the pre-2010 Castle Rock films and television shows, with a few notable exceptions. MGM owns the rights to the pre-1994 Castle Rock Entertainment films because of the acquisition of the pre-1996 PolyGram library where Nelson Entertainment was in it. Warner Bros., through Castle Rock, owns its post-1994 library and the TV rights to the pre-1994 library with the exception of Seinfeld and Thea.
Logo
It features the silhouette of the lighthouse on the coastal land with its light beam spins in front of the screen, forming the company name as the sun rises behind the lighthouse.
Since 1994, the logo is heavily redone in CGI with the camera zooming out.
Filmography
The following is a list of films produced, co-produced, and/or distributed by Castle Rock Entertainment.
1980s
| Title | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| April 14, 1989 | Winter People | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment |
| July 21, 1989 | When Harry Met Sally... | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment |
1990s
| Release Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March 16, 1990 | Lord of the Flies | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment |
| October 12, 1990 | Spirit of '76 | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Commercial Pictures |
| October 26, 1990 | Sibling Rivalry | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment |
| November 30, 1990 | Misery | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment |
| June 7, 1991 | City Slickers | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Nelson Entertainment |
| September 20, 1991 | Late for Dinner | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| April 24, 1992 | Year of the Comet | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| August 28, 1992 | Honeymoon in Vegas | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| September 23, 1992 | Mr. Saturday Night | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| December 11, 1992 | A Few Good Men | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| March 5, 1993 | Amos & Andrew | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| July 9, 1993 | In the Line of Fire | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| August 27, 1993 | Needful Things | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| October 1, 1993 | Malice | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| November 24, 1993 | Josh and S.A.M. | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| June 10, 1994 | City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| June 29, 1994 | Little Big League | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| July 22, 1994 | North | co-production with Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema |
| July 29, 1994 | Barcelona | co-production with Fine Line Features |
| September 23, 1994 | The Shawshank Redemption | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| January 27, 1995 | Before Sunrise | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| March 19, 1995 | For Better or Worse | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| March 24, 1995 | Dolores Claiborne | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| May 19, 1995 | Forget Paris | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| August 25, 1995 | Beyond Rangoon | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| September 22, 1995 | The Run of the Country | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| November 17, 1995 | The American President | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures |
| December 15, 1995 | Othello | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| December 22, 1995 | Dracula: Dead and Loving It | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| February 16, 1996 | A Midwinter's Tale | co-production with Sony Pictures Classics |
| City Hall | co-production with Columbia Pictures | |
| June 21, 1996 | Lone Star | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| June 28, 1996 | Striptease | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| August 14, 1996 | Alaska | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| August 23, 1996 | The Spitfire Grill | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| September 27, 1996 | Extreme Measures | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| December 20, 1996 | Ghosts of Mississippi | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| December 25, 1996 | Hamlet | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| Some Mother's Son | co-production with Columbia Pictures | |
| January 31, 1997 | Waiting for Guffman | co-production with Sony Pictures Classics |
| February 7, 1997 | subUrbia | co-production with Sony Pictures Classics |
| February 14, 1997 | Absolute Power | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| January 30, 1998 | Zero Effect | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| February 20, 1998 | Palmetto | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| April 10, 1998 | My Giant | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| April 17, 1998 | Sour Grapes | co-production with Columbia Pictures |
| May 29, 1998 | The Last Days of Disco | co-production with Gramercy Pictures and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| August 20, 1999 | Mickey Blue Eyes | co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures |
| October 15, 1999 | The Story of Us | co-production with Universal Pictures |
| December 10, 1999 | The Green Mile | co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures |
2000s
2010s
| Release Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| August 6, 2010 | Flipped | co-production with Warner Bros. Pictures |
| November 24, 2010 | Faster | co-production with CBS Films and TriStar Pictures |
| July 22, 2011 | Friends with Benefits | Studio-credit-only; co-production with Screen Gems |
| April 27, 2012 | Bernie | Uncredited; co-production with Mandalay Vision, Wind Dancer Films and Detour Filmproduction |
| July 6, 2012 | The Magic of Belle Isle | co-production with Revelations Entertainment |
| May 24, 2013 | Before Midnight | Studio-credit-only; co-production with Sony Pictures Classics and Venture Forth |
| July 11, 2014 | And So It Goes | co-production with Clarius Entertainment |
| October 8, 2014 | The Rewrite | co-production with Reserve Room and Lionsgate |
| May 6, 2016 | Being Charlie | co-production with Jorva Entertainment Productions and Defiant Pictures |
| November 3, 2017 | LBJ | co-production with Acacia Entertainment, Savvy Media Holdings, Star Thrower Entertainment, Electric Entertainment and Vertical Entertainment |
| July 13, 2018 | Shock and Awe | co-production with Acacia Entertainment and Savvy Media Holdings |
2020s
| Release Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| August 6, 2010 | Albert Brooks: Defending My Life | co-production with HBO Documentary Films and distributed by Max. |
Upcoming films
- Daughter of the Bride
- Pure
Television shows
- Heart & Soul (1988)
- Seinfeld (1989–1998) (Sony Pictures Television currently owns distribution rights)
- The Ed Begley, Jr. Show (1989)
- Julie Brown: The Show (1989)
- Homeroom (1989)
- Ann Jillian (1989-1990)
- New Attitude (1990)
- Partners in Life (1990)
- Morton & Hayes (1991)
- My Old School (1991)
- Sessions (1991)
- Please Watch the Jon Lovitz Special (1992)
- The Powers That Be (1992) (with ELP Communications and Columbia Pictures Television)
- Great Scott! (1992)
- Thea (1993–1994) (Sony Pictures Television currently owns distribution rights)
- The Second Half (1993–1994)
- 704 Hauser (1994, pilot only)
- The Single Guy (1995–1997)
- The Lazarus Man (1996)
- Boston Common (1996-1997)
- Reunited (1998)
- The Army Show (1998)
- Mission Hill (1999–2002)
- Movie Stars (1999)
- The Michael Richards Show (2000–2001)
- Zero Effect (2001, pilot) (with Warner Bros. Television)
- Bliss (2002–2004) (with Warner Bros. Television)
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