Mutual Film Company

Not to be confused with Mutual Film.

Mutual Film Company, LLC

Formerly	Classico Entertainment (1989-1995) Cloud Nine Entertainment (1995-1997)
Company type	Production company
Industry	Film
Founded	1989; 36 years ago (1989)
Founders	Gary Levinsohn
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, United States
Key people	Mark Gordon Gary Levinsohn Don Granger
Products	Film

Mutual Film Company, LLC is an American film production company based in Hollywood, California. The company was initially founded by financer Gary Levinsohn in 1989 as Classico Entertainment, before combining with The Mark Gordon Company in 1995 to form Cloud Nine Entertainment. Mutual is a film financier that was involved in the co-production of feature films. Mutual notably co-produced and financed several feature films for Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios.

History

Classico Entertainment

In 1989, following the shutdown of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, Gary Levinsohn launched its own company Classico Entertainment and it served as a sales agent of Dino de Laurentiis Communications.^[1]

In 1994, Classico signed a deal with Atlas Entertainment, whereas Classico could finance films for the company.^[2]

Mutual Film Company

In 1995, film producers Mark Gordon and Gary Levinsohn decided to merge their own companies into Cloud Nine Entertainment,^[3] a production company that would be involved in the co-production and financing of feature films.^[4] The company opened its office at Raleigh Studios on Melrose Avenue near the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, California.^[5]

Following Cloud Nine's establishment, the company created an international sales division, and finalized a multi-year equity partnership with four companies — the United Kingdom's BBC, Germany's Tele-München, Japan's Toho-Towa/Marubeni and France's UGC-PH. These four companies financed 60% (15% each) of the films' budgets,^[6] in exchange for distribution rights in their respective territories and equity stakes in the films on a worldwide basis.^[5]

The company's first film under the new regime was 1997's The Relic.^[4]

Eighteen months after forming Cloud Nine, Gordon and Levinsohn renamed the company to Mutual Film Company. The new name was meant to reflect the joint venture and the profits it would share with its international investors.^[4]

Mutual notably financed films for Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures. On several occasions, films developed by Mutual, such as Saving Private Ryan (1998) and The Patriot (2000), were financed by major studios.^[7]

In 2000, three of Mutual's partners, Tele Munchen Gruppe, BBC, and Toho, negotiated with a banking consortium led by Union Bank of California and secured a $200 million revolving credit line that would allow Mutual to produce and finance films without approval from a major film studio.^[7] Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, released in 2001, became the second highest-grossing film produced by Mutual (after Saving Private Ryan), while its sequel, subtitled The Cradle of Life, underperformed. Mutual's investors left the company, citing the poor box office performances of the many films produced.^[6]

In September 2000, Gordon left Mutual to relaunch his own company, the Mark Gordon Company.^[8] Film producer Don Granger joined the company, working alongside Levinsohn.^[6]

Filmography

Mutual Film Company has produced 21 films. Of these, only two of them, Blue Ice and The Ripper were made-for-television productions. Note that in some cases the distributor or distributors are also co-producers. The box office column reflects the worldwide gross for the theatrical release of the films in United States dollars.

Year	Title	Director	Co-production company(s)	Distributor(s)	Box office	Ref.
1992	Blue Ice ^1	Russell Mulcahy	Bregman Productions, M&M Productions and Guild Film Distribution	HBO	—	[9]
1993	The Real McCoy ^2	Russell Mulcahy	Bregman/Baer Productions, Capella International	Universal Pictures	$6,484,246	[10]
1995	12 Monkeys	Terry Gilliam	Atlas Entertainment	Universal Pictures	$168,839,459	[11]
1995	Angus	Patrick Read Johnson	Atlas Entertainment, Turner Pictures; in association with BBC, and Tele-München	New Line Cinema	$4,821,759	[12]
1997	The Relic	Peter Hyams	Marubeni/Toho-Towa, Tele-München and BBC	Paramount Pictures; Universal Pictures	$33,956,608	[13]
1997	The Jackal	Michael Caton-Jones	Alphaville Films	Universal Pictures	$159,330,280	[14]
1997	The Ripper ^1	Janet Meyers		Universal Television	—	[15]
1998	Hard Rain	Mikael Salomon	Marubeni/Toho-Towa, Tele-München, BBC UGC-PH and Nordisk Film	Paramount Pictures Universal Pictures	$19,870,567	[16]
1998	Primary Colors	Mike Nichols	Icarus Productions	Universal Pictures	$52,090,187	[17]
1998	Paulie	John Roberts		DreamWorks Pictures	$26,875,268	[18]
1998	Black Dog	Kevin Hooks		Universal Pictures	$12,951,088	[19]
1998	Saving Private Ryan	Steven Spielberg	Amblin Entertainment	DreamWorks Pictures; Paramount Pictures	$481,840,909	[20]
1998	A Simple Plan	Sam Raimi	Savoy Pictures, in association with BBC, Marubeni, Tele-München, Toho-Towa and UGC-PH	Paramount Pictures	$16,316,273	[21]
1999	Virus	John Bruno	Valhalla Motion Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment	Universal Pictures	$30,652,005	[22]
1999	Man on the Moon	Miloš Forman	Jersey Films, Shapiro/West Productions, in association with Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa	Universal Pictures Warner Bros.	$47,434,430	[23]
2000	Isn't She Great	Andrew Bergman	Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa	Universal Pictures	$3,003,296	[24]
2000	Wonder Boys	Curtis Hanson	Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa	Paramount Pictures Warner Bros.	$33,426,588	[25]
2000	The Patriot	Roland Emmerich	Centropolis Entertainment	Columbia Pictures	$215,294,342	[26]
2001	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	Simon West	Lawrence Gordon Productions, Eidos Interactive, in association with Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa	Paramount Pictures	$274,703,340	[27]
2003	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life	Jan de Bont	Lawrence Gordon Productions, Eidos Interactive, in association with Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa	Paramount Pictures	$156,505,388	[28]
2003	Timeline	Richard Donner	Cobalt Media Group, The Donners' Company, Artists Production Group	Paramount Pictures	$43,935,763	[29]
2006	Snakes on a Plane	David R. Ellis		New Line Cinema	$62,022,014	[30]
2012	Deadfall	Stefan Ruzowitzky	StudioCanal, 2929 Productions	Magnolia Pictures	$66,351	[31]
2012	Jack Reacher ^2	Christopher McQuarrie	Skydance Productions, Cruise/Wagner Productions	Paramount Pictures	$218,340,595	[32]
Box office total:					$2,038,199,808	—'

¹ Released as a made-for-television film
² Uncredited

References

1. "Production notes". ininet.org. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
2. "COMPANY TOWN ANNEX". Los Angeles Times. 1994-05-09. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
3. Dawtrey, Adam (1995-12-11). "Levinsohn, Gordon team up in Par pic prod'n pact". Variety. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
4. Hindes, Andrew (June 27, 1997). "At Cloud 9, the feeling is Mutual". Variety. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
5. Hindes, Andrew (February 4, 1998). "Mutual agreement". Variety. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
6. Harris, Dana (February 13, 2001). "Split personalities get shrink". Variety. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
7. Brown, Colin (May 9, 2000). "Mutual's foreign partners strike $200m credit line". Screen Daily. Media Business Insight. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
8. Fleming, Michael; Brodesser, Claude (2000-09-07). "Mutual team to part ways". Variety. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
9. Elley, Derek (1992-10-14). "Blue Ice". Variety. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
10. "The Real McCoy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
11. "12 Monkeys". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
12. "Angus". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
13. "Movie The Relic – Box Office Data". The Numbers. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
14. "Box Office Mojo: The Jackal". Retrieved February 11, 2015.
15. Scott, Tony (December 7, 1997). "The Ripper". Variety. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
16. "Hard Rain (1998)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
17. "Primary Colors (1998)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
18. "Paulie (1998)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
19. "Black Dog (1998)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
20. "Saving Private Ryan". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
21. "A Simple Plan – Box Office Data, DVD and Blu-ray Sales, Movie News, Cast and Crew Information – The Numbers". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
22. "Virus (1999)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
23. "Man on the Moon (1999)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
24. "Isn't She Great (2000)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
25. "Wonder Boys (2000)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
26. "The Patriot (2000)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
27. "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2000)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
28. "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2000)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
29. "Timeline (2003)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
30. "Snakes on a Plane (2006)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
31. "Deadfall (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
32. "Jack Reacher (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 11, 2015.