New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema was established in 1967 by the then 27-year-old Robert Shaye as a film distribution company, supplying foreign and art films for college campuses in the United States. Shaye operated New Line's offices out of his apartment at 14th Street and Second Avenue in New York City. One of the company's early successes was its distribution of the 1936 anti-cannabis propaganda film Reefer Madness, which became a cult hit on American college campuses in the early 1970s. New Line also released many classic foreign-language films, like Stay As You Are, Immoral Tales and Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (which became the first New Line film to win an Oscar).^[7] The studio has also released many of the films of John Waters.

In 1976, New Line secured funding to produce its first full-length feature, Stunts (1977), directed by Mark L. Lester. Although not considered a critical success, the film performed well commercially on the international market and on television.^[8]

In 1980, Shaye's law school classmate Michael Lynne became outside counsel and adviser to the company and renegotiated its debt.^[7][9]

In 1983, Bryanston Distributing Company, the company that first distributed the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, lost the rights to that film, and the rights reverted to the original owners. New Line bought the rights and re-released the film to theatres that same year. It became very successful for the studio.^[10]

New Line expanded its film production in the early 1980s, producing or co-producing films including Polyester, directed by John Waters, and Alone in the Dark. Polyester was one of the first films to introduce a novelty cinema experience named Odorama, where members of the audience were provided with a set of "scratch and sniff" cards to be scratched and sniffed at specific times during the film, which provided an additional sensory connection to the viewed image.^[8] In 1983, Lynne joined the board.^[7] In 1984, Dawn Altyn and Jeff Youngs joined New Line, respectively as sales manager, eastern and southern divisions of New Line Distribution, and national print controller of the studio, to distribute new projects.^[11]

A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street was produced and released by New Line in 1984. The resulting franchise was New Line's first commercially successful series, leading the company to be nicknamed "The House that Freddy Built".^[6] The film was made on a budget of $1.8 million and grossed over $57 million.^[12] A year later, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge was released, and grossed $3.3 million in its first three days of release and over $30 million at the US box office. In 1986, the company went public, and held 1,613,000 shares of common stock.^[7][13] That year, New Line revamped their distribution network planned to release 12 films a year, aiming at five-to-seven in-house productions, and three to five acquisitions made for the studio.^[14]

On July 30, 1986, the studio had inked an agreement with Embassy Communications whereas Embassy would distribute five titles from the New Line catalog onto off-net syndication, which was destined for a spot on Embassy IV & V.^[15] The following year, on June 10, 1987, New Line Cinema had inked an agreement with Universal Pay Television, to receive 11 pictures under the agreement for pay television, and the pact provides significant minimum degrees in excess of $10 million, and line up licensing deals to the companies offered to Universal, such as HBO/Cinemax and Showtime/The Movie Channel.^[16] In the late 1980s, it set up a new international division, New Line International, to be headed by Andrew Milner, who will come in 1987 to the MIFED screens by its debut.^[17]

The third film in the series, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, was released in 1987, the studio's first national release,^[18] and opened at number one, grossing $8.9 million for the weekend, a record for an independent film at the time,^[19] and went on to gross almost $45 million at the US box office. A further six films have been made. The first six grossed $500 million worldwide^[12] and the next three $250 million, for a total of $750 million.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In 1990, Lynne became president and chief operating officer, with Shaye as chairman and chief executive officer.^[7] The same year, New Line released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which became the highest-grossing independent film of all-time with a gross of $135 million in the United States and Canada, until it was surpassed by The Blair Witch Project (1999).^[20][21][22] It was followed by a sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) which was the second highest-grossing^[23] with a gross of $78 million in the United States and Canada.^[24] A third, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III followed in 1993.

Expansion

In November 1990, New Line purchased a 52% stake in the television production company RHI Entertainment (now Sonar Entertainment), which would later be sold to Hallmark Cards in 1994.

In early 1991, Fine Line Features was set up as a wholly owned subsidiary headed by Ira Deutchman and released films including Jane Campion's An Angel at My Table and Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho.^[25] Halfway through the year, Carolco Pictures, entered into a joint venture with New Line to start Seven Arts, a distribution company which primarily released much of Carolco's low-budget output.^[26] In 1997, Shine received the studio's first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture^[7] and their second film to win an Academy Award with Geoffrey Rush's win for Academy Award for Best Actor.^[27]

In May 1991, New Line purchased the home video and foreign rights to 600 films held by Sultan Entertainment Holdings (aka Nelson Entertainment Group). The deal also included an 11-film distribution deal with Turner subsidiary Castle Rock Entertainment. On November 27, 1991, New Line purchased Sultan outright.^[28][29]

In 1992, Michael De Luca became executive vice-president and chief executive officer of the production unit.^[30]

Acquisition by Turner and Time Warner

On January 28, 1994, New Line Cinema was acquired by the Turner Broadcasting System for $500 million,^[31][32] which later merged with Time Warner in 1996. New Line Cinema was kept as its own separate entity, while fellow Turner-owned studios Hanna-Barbera Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment eventually became units of Warner Bros.

During its time as an entity separate from Warner Bros., New Line Cinema continued to operate several divisions, including theatrical distribution, marketing and home video.

The company's fortunes took a downturn in 1996 after losses on The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Long Kiss Goodnight.^[9]

The Lord of the Rings

New Line produced The Lord of the Rings film trilogy which became their most successful films to date, grossing over $2.9 billion worldwide.^[7] The films were nominated for 30 Academy Awards, including nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture for each film, and won 17, with the final picture, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) winning a (joint) record eleven, including Best Picture,^[7][33] as well as being the second highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release.^[34]

Despite the success of The Lord of the Rings films, Town and Country (2001) generated a loss of $100 million and De Luca left as production head to be replaced by Toby Emmerich.^[9] In 2001, Shaye and Lynne became co-chairmen and co-CEO.^[7]

The studio was also a partner in founding a new distribution company named Picturehouse in 2005. Specializing in independent film, Picturehouse was formed by Bob Berney, who left distributor Newmarket Films, New Line, who folded their Fine Line division into Picturehouse, and HBO Films, a division of HBO and a subsidiary of Time Warner, who was interested in getting into the theatrical film business.

Merger with Warner Bros.

On February 28, 2008, Time Warner's CEO at the time, Jeffrey Bewkes, announced that New Line would be shut down as a separately operated studio. Shaye and Lynne said that they would step down with a letter to their employees. They promised, however, along with Time Warner and Jeffery Bewkes, that the company would continue to operate its financing, producing, marketing and distributing operations of its own films, but would do so as a part of Warner Bros. and be a smaller studio, releasing a smaller number of films than in past years.^[35] The box office disappointment of The Golden Compass (2007) was largely blamed for the decision, in which New Line spent $180 million on its development, yet it only grossed $70 million in the United States market.^[36] In March, Emmerich became president and chief operating officer, whilst both founders Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne had left the company.

On May 8, 2008, it was announced that Picturehouse would shut down in the fall.^[37] Berney later bought the Picturehouse trademarks from Warner Bros. and relaunched the company in 2013.^[38]

New Line moved from its long-time headquarters on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles in June 2014 to Warner Bros.' lot Building 76, formerly used by Legendary Entertainment, a former Warner Bros. film co-financier.^[39] The last film released by New Line Cinema as a free-standing company was the Will Ferrell film Semi-Pro.

As for the company's future, Alan Horn, the Warner Bros. president at the time of the consolidation, stated, "There's no budget number required. They'll be doing about six per year, though the number may go from four to seven; it's not going to be 10." As to content, "New Line will not just be doing genre [...] There's no mandate to make a particular kind of movie."^[40]

Discover more about History related topics

Art film

Art film

An art film is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily for aesthetic reasons rather than commercial profit", containing "unconventional or highly symbolic content".

Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive component of cannabis, which is one of the 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD). Cannabis can be used by smoking, vaporizing, within food, or as an extract.

Reefer Madness

Reefer Madness

Reefer Madness is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana -- upon trying it, they become addicted, eventually leading them to become involved in various crimes such as a hit and run accident, manslaughter, murder, conspiracy to murder and attempted rape. While all this is happening, they suffer hallucinations, descend into insanity, associate with organized crime and commit suicide. The film was directed by Louis J. Gasnier and featured a cast of mainly little-known actors.

Immoral Tales (film)

Immoral Tales (film)

Immoral Tales is a 1973 French anthology film directed by Walerian Borowczyk. The film was Borowczyk's most sexually explicit at the time. The film is split into four erotic-themed stories that involve the loss of virginity, masturbation, bloodlust, and incest.

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs is a 1978 French romantic comedy film directed by Bertrand Blier and starring Carole Laure, Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere and Riton Liebman. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards.

Mark L. Lester

Mark L. Lester

Mark L. Lester is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known as a prolific director of cult films, including the disco musical Roller Boogie (1979), the vigilante thriller film Class of 1984 (1982), the Stephen King adaptation Firestarter (1984), the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Commando (1985), the action-comedy Armed and Dangerous (1986), starring John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Meg Ryan and the buddy movie Showdown in Little Tokyo, starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee.

Michael Lynne

Michael Lynne

Michael Lynne was an American film executive.

Bryanston Distributing Company

Bryanston Distributing Company

Bryanston Distributing Company was an American film distribution company that was active during the 1970s. The company was founded by Louis Peraino and Philip Parisi in 1972. It went bankrupt in 1976, amid the company's numerous legal troubles.

Polyester (film)

Polyester (film)

Polyester is a 1981 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk, whose work directly influenced this film, as well as a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s involving divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, foot fetishism, and the religious right.

John Waters

John Waters

John Samuel Waters Jr. is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). He wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was an international success and was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical. He has written and directed other films, including Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.

Alone in the Dark (1982 film)

Alone in the Dark (1982 film)

Alone in the Dark is a 1982 American slasher film co-written and directed by Jack Sholder in his directorial debut, and starring Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Donald Pleasence, Dwight Schultz, and Erland Van Lidth. The plot tells about a psychiatrist's family who are besieged by four escaped mental patients during a power blackout. Following Stunts and Polyester, it was one of the first films produced by New Line Cinema.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Johnny Depp in his film debut. The film's plot concerns a group of teenagers who are targeted by Krueger, an undead former child killer who can murder people through their dreams, as retribution against their parents who burned him alive.

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Film series

Highest-grossing films

*Includes theatrical reissue(s).

Discover more about Films related topics

List of New Line Cinema films

List of New Line Cinema films

This is a list of films produced, co-produced and/or distributed by New Line Cinema.

Evil Dead

Evil Dead

Evil Dead is an American horror film franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of five feature films and a television series. The series revolves around the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc upon a group of cabin inhabitants in a wooded area in Tennessee.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise)

A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American supernatural slasher-horror media franchise consisting of nine films, a television series, novels, comic books, and various other media. The franchise began with the film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), written and directed by Wes Craven. The overall plot of the franchise centers around the fictional character Fred "Freddy" Krueger, the apparition of a former-child killer who was burned alive by the vengeful parents of his victims, who returns from the grave to terrorize and kill the teenage residents of Springwood, Ohio in their dreams. Craven returned to the franchise to co-script the second sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and to write/direct New Nightmare (1994). The films collectively grossed $472 million at the box office worldwide.

Critters (franchise)

Critters (franchise)

The Critters franchise, includes American science fiction comedy-horror installments consisting of five feature films, and one television series. The original film was released in 1986 and received "two thumbs up" from Siskel and Ebert.

House Party (1990 film)

House Party (1990 film)

House Party is a 1990 American comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Christopher "Kid" Reid and Christopher "Play" Martin of the hip hop duo Kid 'n Play, and also stars Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou and B-Fine from Full Force, and Robin Harris. The film also stars Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, A.J. Johnson, Daryl "Chill" Mitchell and Gene "Groove" Allen, Kelly Jo Minter, John Witherspoon, with a cameo by funk musician George Clinton.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in film

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in film

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a fictional superhero team created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, have appeared in six theatrical feature-length films since their debut. The first film was released in 1990, at the height of the franchise's popularity. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a commercial success that garnered two direct sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in 1991 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993, both of which were modest successes.

Friday the 13th (franchise)

Friday the 13th (franchise)

Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films, a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and tie‑in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who was thought to have drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the killings. The original film, created to cash in on the success of Halloween (1978), was written by Victor Miller and was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The films have grossed over $468 million at the box-office worldwide. It was the highest-grossing horror franchise in the world until Halloween (2018) was released, putting the Halloween franchise in the top spot.

The Mask (franchise)

The Mask (franchise)

The Mask is an American media franchise based on the comic book series of the same name by Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse Entertainment

Dark Horse Entertainment

Dark Horse Entertainment is a motion picture and television production arm of American comic book publishing company Dark Horse Comics, founded in 1992. They also have a sub-label, Dark Horse Indie. They have their headquarters in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Dumb and Dumber (franchise)

Dumb and Dumber (franchise)

Dumb and Dumber is a series of comedy films starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. The films have been released from 1994 to 2014.

Mortal Kombat (film series)

Mortal Kombat (film series)

Mortal Kombat is an American series of martial arts action films based on the fighting video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The first film was produced by Lawrence Kasanoff’s Threshold Entertainment.

Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC is an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York, formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company since 2009, and is mainly known for its comic books by Marvel Comics, as well as its forays into films and television/streaming shows, including those within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).