Morgan Creek Entertainment
American film studio
Morgan Creek Entertainment, LLC is an American film production company , former sales agent and investor, that has released box-office hits including Young Guns , Dead Ringers , Major League , True Romance , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , The Crush , Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and The Last of the Mohicans . The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G. Robinson and Joe Roth .[ 1] Robinson leads the company as chairman and CEO. His two sons, Brian Robinson and David C. Robinson, run the day-to-day operations.[citation needed ] The company name comes from Roth's favorite film, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek .[ 2] Their most recent film is The Exorcist: Believer , which was released on October 6, 2023.
Morgan Creek generally releases their films through larger studios while retaining the copyrights, and making autonomous decisions on home video and television rights. Their logo contains a stylized creek.
Company history
Their initial slate of films from 1988 to 1990 were released by 20th Century Fox , except for Renegades and Coupe de Ville which were released by Universal and Major League which was released by Paramount , and some home video releases of its early titles going to Media Home Entertainment .[ 2] In 1991, beginning with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , they shifted their distribution of new films, as well as their previous catalog titles, to Warner Bros. , where they remained until early 2005. Later that year, beginning with Two for the Money , they released their newer films through Universal, though previous films were still handled in the United States by Warner.
In 1996, the company tried to expand into animated feature film production. Only one, The King & I was produced, and it flopped.[ 3]
On July 11, 1997, Gary Barber announced that he would leave the studio, and he subsequently went on to start out Spyglass Entertainment .[ 4] In 1998, Morgan Creek had a distribution deal with Warner Home Video to release its product through the Morgan Creek Video and the Morgan Creek DVD labels.[ 5]
On October 8, 1998, Morgan Creek and Franchise Pictures entered into an agreement where Morgan Creek would distribute Franchise's upcoming pictures domestically.[ 6] On July 2, 2001, Morgan Creek Productions sued Franchise Pictures for allegedly breaching an agreement giving the company the right of first refusal on some films.[ 7]
In October 2014, Morgan Creek sold the international distribution rights and copyrights to their films to Revolution Studios for $36.75 million.[ 8] In September 2015, Morgan Creek began negotiating the sale of rights for the remaining territories, though they intend to retain remake and television rights to the Ace Ventura , Major League , Young Guns , and Exorcist franchises.[ 9]
List of Morgan Creek filmography
Films
Release Date
Title
Director
Budget
Gross (worldwide)
Notes
August 12, 1988
Young Guns
Christopher Cain
$11 million
$45,661,556
first Morgan Creek production distributed by 20th Century Fox ; international and home media distribution by Vestron Pictures
September 23, 1988
Dead Ringers
David Cronenberg
$13 million
$8,038,508
co-production with Telefilm Canada and Mantle Clinic II
March 3, 1989
Skin Deep
Blake Edwards
$8.5 million
$19,674,852
April 7, 1989
Major League
David S. Ward
$11 million
$49,797,148
co-production with Mirage Productions; U.S. distribution by Paramount Pictures
June 2, 1989
Renegades
Jack Sholder
$16 million
$9,015,164
co-production with Interscope Communications ; distributed by Universal Pictures
December 13, 1989
Enemies, a Love Story
Paul Mazursky
$9.5 million
$7,754,571
February 16, 1990
Nightbreed
Clive Barker
$11 million
$8,862,354
March 9, 1990
Coupe de Ville
Joe Roth
N/A
$715,983
second and last Morgan Creek production distributed by Universal Pictures until 2005
August 1, 1990
Young Guns II
Geoff Murphy
$10 million
$44,143,410
August 17, 1990
The Exorcist III
William Peter Blatty
$11 million
$39,024,251
September 28, 1990
Pacific Heights
John Schlesinger
$18 million
$44,926,706
last Morgan Creek production distributed by 20th Century Fox
June 14, 1991
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Kevin Reynolds
$48 million
$390,493,908
first Morgan Creek production distributed by Warner Bros. ; the score would become the music for Morgan Creek's animated logo
January 17, 1992
Freejack
Geoff Murphy
$30 million
$17,129,000
April 24, 1992
White Sands
Roger Donaldson
$22 million
$9,011,574
August 14, 1992
Stay Tuned
Peter Hyams
$25 million
$10,736,401
September 25, 1992
The Last of the Mohicans
Michael Mann
$40 million
$75,505,856
co-production with 20th Century Fox
April 2, 1993
The Crush
Alan Shapiro
$6 million
$13,609,396
September 10, 1993
True Romance
Tony Scott
$13 million
$12,281,551
co-production with Davis Films and A Band Apart
February 4, 1994
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Tom Shadyac
$12 million
$107,217,396
March 30, 1994
Major League II
David S. Ward
$25 million
$30,626,182
April 22, 1994
Chasers
Dennis Hopper
$15 million
$1,596,687
September 9, 1994
Trial by Jury
Heywood Gould
N/A
$6,971,777
October 14, 1994
Imaginary Crimes
Anthony Drazan
N/A
$89,611
October 28, 1994
Silent Fall
Bruce Beresford
$30 million
$3,180,674
November 10, 1995
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Steve Oedekerk
$30 million
$212,385,533
January 12, 1996
Two If by Sea
Bill Bennett
N/A
$10,658,278
January 26, 1996
Big Bully
Steve Miner
$15 million
$2,042,530
March 22, 1996
Diabolique
Jeremiah S. Chechik
$45 million
$17,100,369
November 1, 1996
Bad Moon
Eric Red
$7 million
$1,055,525
July 2, 1997
Wild America
William Dear
N/A
$7,324,662
March 13, 1998
Incognito
John Badham
N/A
N/A
April 17, 1998
Major League: Back to the Minors
John Warren
$18 million
$3,572,443
August 21, 1998
Wrongfully Accused
Pat Proft
N/A
$9,623,329
co-production with Constantin Film
October 23, 1998
Soldier
Paul W. S. Anderson
$60 million
$14,594,226
co-production with Warner Bros. and Jerry Weintraub Productions
March 19, 1999
The King and I
Richard Rich
$25 million
$11,993,021
Morgan Creek's first and, so far, only animated film; co-production with Nest Family Entertainment , Rankin/Bass Productions and Rich Animation Studios
September 1, 1999
Chill Factor
Hugh Johnson
$34 million
$11,263,966
February 18, 2000
The Whole Nine Yards
Jonathan Lynn
$41.3 million
$106,371,651
co-production with Franchise Pictures , Rational Packaging and Lansdown Films; select international distribution by 20th Century Fox
May 12, 2000
Battlefield Earth
Roger Christian
$44 million
$29,725,663
co-production with Franchise Pictures
July 19, 2000
The In Crowd
Mary Lambert
$15 million
$5,217,498
August 25, 2000
The Art of War
Christian Duguay
$60 million
$40,400,425
co-production with Franchise Pictures and Amen-Ra Films; select international distribution by 20th Century Fox
October 6, 2000
Get Carter
Stephen Kay
$63.6 million
$19,412,993
co-production with Franchise Pictures and The Canton Company
January 19, 2001
The Pledge
Sean Penn
$35 million
$29,419,291
co-production with Franchise Pictures, Clyde Is Hungry Films and Epsilon Motion Pictures
February 23, 2001
3000 Miles to Graceland
Demian Lichtenstein
$62 million
$18,720,175
co-production with Franchise Pictures
May 18, 2001
Angel Eyes
Luis Mandoki
$53 million
$29,715,606
co-production with Franchise Pictures and The Canton Company
August 17, 2001
American Outlaws
Les Mayfield
$35 million
$13,342,790
November 9, 2001
Heist
David Mamet
$39 million
$28,510,652
co-production with Franchise Pictures
June 21, 2002
Juwanna Mann
Jesse Vaughan
$15 million
$13,802,599
August 1, 2003
I'll Be There
Craig Ferguson
N/A
N/A
August 20, 2004
Exorcist: The Beginning
Renny Harlin
$50 million
$78,000,586
May 20, 2005
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
Paul Schrader
$30 million
$251,495
last Morgan Creek production distributed by Warner Bros.
October 7, 2005
Two for the Money
D. J. Caruso
$35 million
$30,526,509
first Morgan Creek production distributed by Universal Pictures since Coupe de Ville
October 13, 2006
Man of the Year
Barry Levinson
$20 million
$41,237,658
December 22, 2006
The Good Shepherd
Robert De Niro
$85 million
$99,480,480
co-production with Universal Pictures, TriBeCa Productions and American Zoetrope
May 11, 2007
Georgia Rule
Garry Marshall
$20 million
$25,992,167
September 21, 2007
Sydney White
Joe Nussbaum
N/A
$13,620,075
March 3, 2009
Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective
David Mickey Evans
$7.5 million
N/A
Released by Warner Home Video
September 30, 2011
Dream House
Jim Sheridan
$50 million
$38,502,340
October 14, 2011
The Thing
Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
$38 million
$31,505,287
co-production with Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment
June 16, 2017
All Eyez on Me
Benny Boom
$45 million
$54,876,855
distributed by Lionsgate ; co-production with Summit Entertainment , Program Pictures and Codeblack Films
October 6, 2023
The Exorcist: Believer
David Gordon Green
$30 million
$136,998,069
co-production with Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions ; direct sequel to the 1973 film [ 10] [ 11] [ 12]
Upcoming/In development
Television series
In development
References
^ Masters, Kim (November 14, 2013). "Joe Roth's 'Third Act': From 'Gigli' to Billion-Dollar Producer and Pro Soccer Superstar" . The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
^ a b Harmetz, Aljean (April 25, 1989). "Producer Defies Rules, and Succeeds" . The New York Times . Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
^ Busch, Anita M. (1996-12-13). "Creek toons 'King and I' " . Variety . Retrieved 2024-05-16 .
^ Busch, Anita M. (1997-07-11). "Barber cuts out on Morgan Creek" . Variety . Retrieved 2021-12-22 .
^ Applefield Olson, Catherine (1998-06-13). "It's Quite a Production" (PDF) . Billboard . p. 78. Retrieved 2021-12-22 .
^ Carver, Benedict (1998-10-08). "Franchise, Morgan to ink distrib'n pact" . Variety . Retrieved 2021-12-22 .
^ Shprintz, Janet (2001-07-03). "Morgan Creek sues Franchise" . Variety . Retrieved 2021-12-22 .
^ Marc Graser (2014-10-07). "Revolution Buys Foreign Rights to Morgan Creek Films for $36.8 Million" . Variety. Retrieved 2016-12-03 .
^ Busch, Anita (2015-09-24). "Morgan Creek To Sell Film Library: 'Major League,' 'Ace Ventura', 'Exorcist' Remakes Next?" . Deadline. Retrieved 2016-12-03 .
^ Couch, Aaron (December 20, 2020). " 'Exorcist' Sequel in the Works with 'Halloween' Director David Gordon Green" . www.hollywoodreporter.com . Retrieved December 24, 2020 .
^ Katz, Brandon (December 20, 2020). "Exclusive: David Gordon Green in Talks to Direct 'Exorcist' Sequel for Blumhouse" . observer.com . Retrieved December 24, 2020 .
^ Pulliam-Moore, Charles (December 24, 2020). "Blumhouse Is Summoning Another Exorcist Movie to the Mortal Plane" . io9.gizmodo.com . Retrieved December 21, 2020 .
^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 29, 2024). "Mike Flanagan Set To Direct 'Radical New Take' On 'Exorcist' For Blumhouse, Morgan Creek" . Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved June 13, 2024 .
^ Couch, Aaron (May 29, 2024). "Next 'Exorcist' Movie Shifts Gears With Mike Flanagan Set to Direct a New Take" . The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved June 13, 2024 .
^ Squires, John (March 19, 2021). "Morgan Creek Developing a Remake of the Daniel Craig-Starring 2011 Horror Movie 'Dream House' " . Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved March 19, 2021 .
^ Ausiello, Michael (August 18, 2020). "Gender Swapped Dead Ringers Reboot Set at Amazon; Rachel Weisz to Star" . TVLine . Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020 .
^ Andreeva, Nellie (September 5, 2012). "Tribeca Sets Up 'The Good Shepherd' Series Adaptation At Showtime With Robert De Niro Directing & Eric Roth Writing" . Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 2013-10-13 .
^ a b Squires, John (March 19, 2021). "Morgan Creek Turning the Michael Keaton-Starring '90s Thriller 'Pacific Heights' into a Series" . Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved March 19, 2021 .
External links
Majors
Mini-majors
Horizontal production/ distribution companies Slate partners Production/ distribution companies
Defunct/former
Disney Lionsgate MGM Universal Paramount Sony Warner Bros. Others