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| Former type | motion picture |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Successor | Cinergi C2 Pictures StudioCanal |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Headquarters |  United States |
| Key people | Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Products | Motion Pictures |
| Revenue | Unknown |
| Net income | Unknown |
Carolco Pictures, Inc., Carolco International N.V., or Anabasis Investments was an independent production company, that within a decade went from producing such blockbuster successes as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the first three movies of the Rambo series (First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III) to being made bankrupt by bombs such as Cutthroat Island and Showgirls.
Contents |
History
The company was founded by two film investors, Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna, as Anabasis Investments. Their goal was to make their new studio a major independent production company producing A-movie product. Their earliest films were co-produced with Canadian theater magnate Garth Drabinsky.
Jose Menendez was a member of the Board of Directors of Carolco until August 1989, when he and his wife were murdered by their sons Lyle and Erik Menendez.
One of the first Anabasis/Carolco films was First Blood (1982), followed by the sequel Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) (released the year it was renamed Carolco) with Sylvester Stallone (who later signed a ten-picture deal with the studio). The release of Rambo: First Blood Part II was so instrumental to Carolco's financial success that from then on, the music of the company's logo utilizes the first stanza of its famous score, written by Jerry Goldsmith.
Also in 1985, Carolco started a distribution deal with then-fledging production company TriStar Pictures. TriStar released a majority of Carolco's films from that point on (but not all) in the U.S. and some international countries until 1994.
In 1990, Carolco went on to acquire the rights to the Terminator franchise from Hemdale Film Corporation. The company re-hired Terminator director James Cameron (who had also worked as a screenwriter on Rambo), and Arnold Schwarzenegger to star, in a multi-million-dollar budgeted sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (released in 1991). It was the highest-grossing film of its year, and as it turned out, the most successful film in Carolco's history. Also in 1990, Carolco started a joint venture with New Line Cinema to start Seven Arts Pictures, a distribution company which primarily released many of Carolco's low-budget output.
After his partnership with Kassar, Vajna created a sister studio to Carolco, Cinergi Pictures, on November, 1989. Cinergi started to release films with The Walt Disney Company through Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone Pictures.
In later years, Carolco acquired television syndicator Orbis Communications and initiated television production and distribution. They also purchased the former De Laurentiis Entertainment Group production facility in Wilmington, North Carolina (where the television series Matlock and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was partially filmed), and established a home video division (with LIVE Entertainment, later Artisan Entertainment and Lions Gate Home Entertainment, as output partner).
Carolco struggled for some years to secure the rights to Spider-Man, a property that James Cameron was keen to produce as a film. Plans fell through, although it would eventually be made as a Sam Raimi film for Columbia Pictures.
As budgets for their feature films grew, the box-office intake fell. Following the disastrous releases of Cutthroat Island and Showgirls by new distribution partner MGM in 1995, Carolco went bankrupt and the company closed soon after. Carolco's assets were purchased by 20th Century Fox for $50 million.[1]
Out of the ashes rose a new partnership between Carolco's owner (Mario Kassar) and Cinergi's owner (Andrew G. Vajna) in 2002: C2 Pictures.
Carolco's library today
The assets of Carolco were later sold off to other companies, most already sold during Carolco's existence. Today, the ancillary rights to a majority of Carolco's library are held by French production company StudioCanal, since its parent company, Canal+ Group, owned a stake in Carolco (eventually buying out its partners). In the United States, television and internet rights to the theatrical library are held by Paramount Pictures, with Trifecta Entertainment & Media (inherited from CBS Television Distribution and predecessor company Worldvision Enterprises, once a Spelling Entertainment company) handling TV syndication on Paramount's behalf. However, there are certain exceptions, such as Cliffhanger, which Sony Pictures Television distributes. CBS also continues to distribute Orbis/Carolco's television library.
Lionsgate continues to hold the U.S./Canadian home video rights (via a new output deal with StudioCanal), while the international home video rights are held by a different company for each country. For example, the UK rights are with Momentum Pictures (a subsidiary of Alliance Atlantis) (although StudioCanal's acquisition of Optimum has seen some of Momentum's versions re-issued under Optimum) and the Australian rights rest with Universal Studios. Also, Lionsgate spun off its Canadian distribution arm as Maple Pictures in 2005, hence the Canadian video rights rest with Maple.
The only Carolco films not included in the deal are Cliffhanger, Aces: Iron Eagle III, Last of the Dogmen, Showgirls, and the television rights to Cutthroat Island and Stargate.; the rights to these have been retained by their original theatrical distributors (TriStar Pictures, New Line Cinema, Savoy Pictures/HBO, and MGM/United Artists, respectively). However, Lionsgate does own some ancillary rights to the original Stargate, and full rights to Wagons East.
Filmography
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This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (May 2008) |
1970s
1978
1980s
1980
1982
- Superstition (with Panaria and Almi Pictures)
- First Blood (with Orion Pictures)
1985
1987
- Angel Heart (with TriStar Pictures)
- Extreme Prejudice (with TriStar Pictures)
- Nightflyers (with The Vista Organization)
- John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (Universal Pictures handled American and Canadian distribution, Carolco distributed the film in all other territories)
1988
- Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw (with TriStar Pictures and The Maltese Companies)
- Rambo III (with TriStar Pictures)
- Red Heat (with TriStar Pictures)
- Iron Eagle II (with TriStar Pictures)
- John Carpenter's They Live (Universal Pictures handled American and Canadian distribution, Carolco distributed the film in all other territories)
- Watchers (with Universal Pictures)
1989
- DeepStar Six (with TriStar Pictures)
- Pathfinder (subtitled version) (made in Norway)
- Food of the Gods II (with New Line Cinema and Seven Arts Pictures)
- Lock Up (with TriStar Pictures and White Eagle)
- Johnny Handsome (with TriStar Pictures)
- Shocker (with Universal Pictures)
- Music Box (with TriStar Pictures)
1990s
1990
- Mountains of the Moon (with TriStar Pictures)
- Dangerous Passion (made for TV)
- Shattered Dreams (made for TV)
- Total Recall (with TriStar Pictures)
- Air America (with TriStar Pictures)
- Jacob's Ladder (with TriStar Pictures)
- Narrow Margin (with TriStar Pictures)
- Repossessed (with New Line Cinema and Seven Arts Pictures)
- Babies (made for TV)
- Hamlet (with Warner Bros. Pictures, Icon Productions, and Nelson Entertainment, although Carolco was solely responsible for international distribution)
1991
- Queens Logic (with New Line Cinema and Seven Arts Pictures)
- L.A. Story (with TriStar Pictures)
- The Doors (with TriStar Pictures, Bill Graham Films, and Imagine Entertainment)
- The Dark Wind (with New Line Cinema, Le Studio Canal+, and Seven Arts Pictures, Columbia Pictures re-released the film in 1993)
- Rambling Rose (with New Line Cinema and Seven Arts Pictures)
- Get Back (with New Line Cinema and Seven Arts Pictures)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (with TriStar Pictures and Lightstorm Entertainment)
- Chernobyl: The Final Warning (made for TV) (with Turner Pictures)
1992
- Basic Instinct (with TriStar Pictures and Le Studio Canal+)
- Aces: Iron Eagle III (with New Line Cinema and Seven Arts Pictures)
- Mario and the Mob (made for TV) (with Warner Bros. Television and American Broadcasting Company)
- Universal Soldier (with TriStar Pictures)
- Chaplin (with TriStar Pictures)
1993
- Cliffhanger (with TriStar Pictures and Le Studio Canal+)
1994
- Mona Must Die
- Wagons East! (with TriStar Pictures)
- Stargate (with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Le Studio Canal+)
1995
- Showgirls (with United Artists and Le Studio Canal+)
- Last of the Dogmen (with Savoy Pictures)
- Cutthroat Island (with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
