Amblin Entertainment
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film Television |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founders | Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Services | Film production |
| Parent | Amblin Partners |
| Divisions | Amblin Television |
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981.
Overview
Amblin is named after Spielberg's first commercially released film, Amblin' (1968), a short independent film about a man and woman hitchhiking through the desert. The film, which cost $15,000 to produce, was shown for Universal Studios and won Spielberg more directing roles. Although Amblin is an independent production company, Universal distributes many Amblin productions, and Amblin operates out of a building on the Universal lot.
Its logo features the silhouette of E.T. riding in the basket on Elliott's bicycle flying in front of the moon from the 1982 movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
In addition to various Spielberg films, Amblin has produced movies by other directors such as Joe Dante (Gremlins, Small Soldiers, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Innerspace), Robert Zemeckis (the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Brian Levant (the Flintstones duology), Matthew Robbins (*batteries not included), Barry Levinson (Young Sherlock Holmes), Penelope Spheeris (the 1994 film remake of The Little Rascals), Brad Silberling (Casper), Don Bluth (An American Tail, The Land Before Time), Clint Eastwood (The Bridges of Madison County, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Hereafter), Gil Kenan (Monster House), Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro), Richard Donner (The Goonies), Jan de Bont (Twister), Barry Sonnenfeld (the Men in Black trilogy), Martin Scorsese (the remake of Cape Fear), Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III), J. J. Abrams (Super 8), The Coen Brothers (True Grit), and Simon Wells (An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, Balto).
Most of these directors are close friends of Spielberg, who has an executive producer or producer credit on many but not all of the films that Amblin's produced and were not directed by Spielberg. Amblin's most critically acclaimed production is Schindler's List (1993), which was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture. A companion study guide for it, Facing History, was prepared through a grant from Amblin and Universal.
Amblin's television series credits include Amazing Stories, Tiny Toon Adventures, seaQuest DSV, Animaniacs, Earth 2, Pinky and the Brain, ER, Freakazoid!, Back to the Future, Family Dog, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Fievel's American Tails, The Land Before Time and Men in Black: The Series. The animated title Fievel's American Tails and others were produced by Amblin's animation division Amblimation, which was active from 1991 until 1995. Another studio which has distributed many Amblin productions is Warner Bros. Entertainment. DreamWorks (which was co-founded by Spielberg) has distributed a number of Amblin productions since 1994.
The Walt Disney Studios has also collaborated with Amblin in such films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Arachnophobia, Noises Off, A Far Off Place, War Horse, Lincoln, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Bridge of Spies, and The BFG.
Motion pictures
| Title | Release Date | U.S Distributor | International Distributor | Other Production Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continental Divide | September 18, 1981 | Universal Pictures | ||
| E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | June 11, 1982 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Gremlins | June 8, 1984 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Fandango* | January 25, 1985 | Warner Bros. | ||
| The Goonies | June 7, 1985 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Back to the Future | July 3, 1985 | Universal Pictures | U-Drive Productions | |
| Young Sherlock Holmes | December 4, 1985 | Paramount Pictures | ||
| The Color Purple | December 18, 1985 | Warner Bros. | The Guber-Peters Company | |
| The Money Pit | March 26, 1986 | Universal Pictures | U-Drive Productions | |
| An American Tail | November 21, 1986 | Universal Pictures | Sullivan Bluth Studios U-Drive Productions | |
| Harry and the Hendersons* | June 5, 1987 | Universal Pictures | U-Drive Productions | |
| Innerspace | July 1, 1987 | Warner Bros. | The Guber-Peters Company | |
| Empire of the Sun | December 9, 1987 | Warner Bros. | ||
| *batteries not included | December 18, 1987 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit | June 22, 1988 | Touchstone Pictures | Silver Screen Partners | |
| The Land Before Time | November 18, 1988 | Universal Pictures | Lucasfilm Sullivan Bluth Studios U-Drive Productions | |
| Dad | October 27, 1989 | Universal Pictures | Ubu Productions | |
| Back to the Future Part II | November 22, 1989 | Universal Pictures | U-Drive Productions | |
| Always | December 22, 1989 | Universal Pictures | United Artists | U-Drive Productions |
| Joe Versus the Volcano | March 9, 1990 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Back to the Future Part III | May 25, 1990 | Universal Pictures | U-Drive Productions | |
| Gremlins 2: The New Batch | June 15, 1990 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Arachnophobia | July 18, 1990 | Hollywood Pictures | Tangled Web Productions | |
| Cape Fear* | November 13, 1991 | Universal Pictures | Cappa Films TriBeCa Productions | |
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | November 22, 1991 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Hook | December 11, 1991 | TriStar Pictures | ||
| Noises Off* | March 20, 1992 | Touchstone Pictures | Nothing On Productions Touchwood Pacific Partners | |
| A Far Off Place* | March 12, 1993 | Walt Disney Pictures | Touchwood Pacific Partners | |
| Jurassic Park | June 11, 1993 | Universal Pictures | ||
| We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story | November 24, 1993 | Universal Pictures | ||
| A Dangerous Woman* | December 3, 1993 | Universal Pictures | Gramercy Pictures (distributing label) Island World Rollercoaster Productions | |
| Schindler's List | December 15, 1993 | Universal Pictures | ||
| The Flintstones | May 27, 1994 | Universal Pictures | Hanna-Barbera Productions | |
| The Little Rascals* | August 5, 1994 | Universal Pictures | King World Productions | |
| Little Giants* | October 14, 1994 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Casper | May 26, 1995 | Universal Pictures | The Harvey Entertainment Company | |
| The Bridges of Madison County* | June 2, 1995 | Warner Bros. | Malpaso Productions | |
| To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar* | September 8, 1995 | Universal Pictures | ||
| How to Make an American Quilt* | October 6, 1995 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Balto | December 22, 1995 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Twister | May 17, 1996 | Warner Bros. | Universal Pictures | Constant c Productions |
| The Trigger Effect* | August 30, 1996 | Universal Pictures | Gramercy Pictures (distributing label) | |
| The Lost World: Jurassic Park | May 19, 1997 | Universal Pictures | ||
| Men in Black | July 2, 1997 | Columbia Pictures | Parkes/MacDonald Productions | |
| Small Soldiers* | July 10, 1998 | DreamWorks | Universal Pictures | |
| The Mask of Zorro | July 17, 1998 | TriStar Pictures | ||
| Saving Private Ryan | July 24, 1998 | DreamWorks | Paramount Pictures | Mark Gordon Productions The Mutual Film Company |
| In Dreams*[1] | January 15, 1999 | DreamWorks | ||
| The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas* | April 28, 2000 | Universal Pictures | Hanna-Barbera Productions | |
| A.I. Artificial Intelligence | June 29, 2001 | DreamWorks | Warner Bros. | Stanley Kubrick Productions |
| Jurassic Park III | July 18, 2001 | Universal Studios | ||
| Minority Report | June 21, 2002 | 20th Century Fox | DreamWorks | Blue Tulip Productions Cruise/Wagner Productions |
| Men in Black II | July 4, 2002 | Columbia Pictures | Parkes/MacDonald Productions | |
| Catch Me If You Can | December 25, 2002 | DreamWorks | Kemp Company Parkes/MacDonald Productions Splendid Pictures | |
| The Terminal | June 18, 2004 | Parkes/MacDonald Productions | ||
| War of the Worlds | June 29, 2005 | DreamWorks | Paramount Pictures | Cruise/Wagner Productions |
| The Legend of Zorro | October 28, 2005 | Columbia Pictures | Spyglass Entertainment Tornado Productions | |
| Memoirs of a Geisha | December 9, 2005 | Columbia Pictures | DreamWorks | Red Wagon Productions Spyglass Entertainment |
| Munich | December 23, 2005 | Universal Pictures | DreamWorks Pictures | Alliance Atlantis Barry Mendel Productions The Kennedy/Marshall Company Peninsula Films |
| Monster House | July 21, 2006 | Columbia Pictures | ImageMovers Relativity Media | |
| Flags of Our Fathers | October 20, 2006 | Warner Bros. | DreamWorks | Malpaso Productions |
| Letters from Iwo Jima | December 20, 2006 | Warner Bros. | DreamWorks | Malpaso Productions |
| True Grit | December 22, 2010 | Paramount Pictures | ||
| Super 8 | June 10, 2011 | Paramount Pictures | Bad Robot Productions | |
| The Adventures of Tintin | December 21, 2011 | Paramount Pictures | Columbia Pictures | The Kennedy/Marshall Company WingNut Films Nickelodeon Movies |
| War Horse | December 25, 2011 | Touchstone Pictures | DreamWorks Pictures Reliance Entertainment The Kennedy/Marshall Company | |
| Men in Black 3 | May 25, 2012 | Columbia Pictures | Parkes/MacDonald ImageNation Media Magik Entertainment | |
| Lincoln | Limited: November 9, 2012 Wide: November 16, 2012 |
Touchstone Pictures | 20th Century Fox | DreamWorks Pictures Participant Media Reliance Entertainment The Kennedy/Marshall Company |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | August 8, 2014 | Touchstone Pictures | DreamWorks Pictures Reliance Entertainment Participant Media Image Nation Harpo Films | |
| Jurassic World | June 12, 2015 | Universal Pictures | Legendary Pictures | |
| Bridge of Spies | October 15, 2015 | Touchstone Pictures | 20th Century Fox | DreamWorks Pictures Participant Media Reliance Entertainment Marc Platt Productions |
| The BFG | July 1, 2016 | Walt Disney Pictures | DreamWorks Pictures Walden Media Reliance Entertainment | |
| Ready Player One | March 30, 2018 | Warner Bros. | DreamWorks Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures De Line Pictures[2] | |
- Asterisked films indicate that Steven Spielberg is uncredited or uninvolved.
Short films
- Tummy Trouble (1989)
- Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990)
- Trail Mix-Up (1993)
- I'm Mad (Animaniacs short) (1994)
Direct-to-video
- Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (1992)
- Wakko's Wish (1999)
Television shows
Theme park attractions
While Amblin has never had its own theme park, theme parks have made rides based on Amblin films and co-productions.
- Back to the Future: The Ride, a simulator ride at Universal Studios Japan. Also existed at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood.
- Gremlins Invasion, a ride at Warner Bros. Movie World and Warner Bros. Movie World Germany.
- Jurassic Park: The Ride, a water ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.
- Men in Black: Alien Attack, a dark ride at Universal Studios Florida.
- Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, a dark ride in Mickey's Toontown, a land at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland.
- Twister...Ride it Out, a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida.
- E.T. Adventure, a dark ride at Universal Studios Florida. Also existed at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan.
References
- ^ Copyright Application for In Dreams (January 27, 1999). United States Copyright Office. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
- ^ Anita Busch. "Steven Spielberg To Direct 'Ready Player One'; Book Is Sci-Fi Cult Favorite - Deadline". Deadline.
External links
- Steven Spielberg
- Television production companies of the United States
- Film production companies of the United States
- Companies based in Los Angeles County, California
- American companies established in 1981
- 1981 establishments in California
- Privately held companies based in California
- Media companies established in 1981