Franchise Pictures, LLC was an American independent motion picture production and distribution company, founded in 1997 by Elie Samaha, Ashok Amritraj, and Andrew Stevens. They were known for their production in the action film genre. The company also had a short-lived video game arm, Franchise Interactive.
 | |
| Industry | Independent film studio |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Elie Samaha Andrew Stevens Ashok Amritraj |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Fate | Chapter 11 bankruptcy |
| Successor |
|
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States[1] |
Key people | Elie Samaha Andrew Stevens |
| Subsidiaries | Franchise Interactive Phoenician Entertainment[2] Franchise Pictures Classics[2] |
In 2004, in a case heard before a jury in a Los Angeles federal courtroom, Intertainment Licensing GmbH v. Franchise Pictures, et al.,[3] Judge Stotler awarded a plaintiff's verdict for $121.7 million against Franchise Pictures and Elie Samaha for fraudulent accounting. Samaha vowed to appeal but the fraud judgment destroyed Franchise's viability; the company and its subsidiaries all filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions on August 18, 2004.[4]
As of 2021, half of the Franchise Pictures library, along with that of ThinkFilm, is now owned by Orange Holdings LLC.[5] Another half of the Franchise Pictures library is owned by Revolution Studios (via Morgan Creek Entertainment).[6][7]
History
editFranchise Pictures was started in November 1997, with Phoenician Entertainment serving as subsidiary for lower-budget films. Its initial employees were Elie Samaha and Ashok Amritraj, who would leave two years later to start Hyde Park Entertainment.[8]
On October 8, 1998, they signed a distribution agreement with Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures, in which Franchise paid the distribution rights to both Morgan Creek and Warner Bros. for North America and the United Kingdom.[9] On May 19, 1999, the company had signed a deal with Intertainment in order to bring all 60 motion pictures that Franchise had been receiving to Germany.[10] A month later, Intertainment had struck a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, in order to secure the rights to 60 motion pictures for worldwide distribution.[11]
On July 2, 2001, Morgan Creek and its CEO James G. Robinson sued Franchise Pictures for breach of contract, resulting in Morgan Creek ending their partnership with Franchise Pictures after the release of Heist (2001).[12]
During Franchise's partnership with Morgan Creek, by 2000, the companies had financial success with the film The Whole Nine Yards. However, they also suffered a huge flop with Battlefield Earth starring John Travolta, which received bad word-of-mouth and grossed $29.7 million on a $75 million budget.[13]
Bankruptcy
editFollowing the failure of Battlefield Earth and other films independently produced by Franchise Pictures, The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI was probing "the question of whether some independent motion picture companies have vastly inflated the budget of films in an effort to scam investors".[14] In December 2000, the German-based Intertainment AG filed a lawsuit alleging that Franchise Pictures had fraudulently inflated budgets in films including Battlefield Earth, which Intertainment had helped to finance.[15] Intertainment had agreed to pay 47% of the production costs of several films in exchange for European distribution rights, but ended up paying for between 60 and 90% of the costs instead. The company alleged that Franchise had defrauded it to the tune of over $75 million by systematically submitting "grossly fraudulent and inflated budgets".[16]
The case was heard before a jury in a Los Angeles federal courtroom in May–June 2004. The court heard testimony from Intertainment that according to Franchise's bank records the real cost of Battlefield Earth was $44 million, not the $75 million declared by Franchise. The remaining $31 million had been fraudulent padding. Intertainment's head Barry Baeres told the court that he had only funded Battlefield Earth because it was packaged as a slate that included two more commercially attractive films, the Wesley Snipes vehicle The Art of War and the Bruce Willis comedy The Whole Nine Yards.[17] Baeres testified that "Mr. Samaha said, 'If you want the other two pictures, you have to take Battlefield Earth — it's called packaging' ... We would have been quite happy if he had killed [Battlefield Earth]".[18]
Intertainment won the case and was awarded $121.7 million in damages. Samaha was declared by the court to be personally liable for $77 million in damages.[19][20] The jury rejected Intertainment's claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statute, which would have tripled the damages if Franchise had been convicted on that charge.[21] The judgment forced Franchise into bankruptcy on August 18, 2004.[22][19] The failure of the film was reported to have led, in 2002, to Travolta firing his manager Jonathan Krane, who had set up the deal with Franchise in the first place.[23]Filmography
edit| Release Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| July 6, 1999 | A Murder of Crows | First Franchise Pictures production Also distributor |
| September 10, 1999 | Storm Catcher | Co-production with Phoenician Entertainment |
| October 9, 1999 | Five Aces | Co-production with Phoenician Entertainment |
| December 29, 1999 | The Third Miracle | First theatrical release Co-production with Sony Pictures Classics |
| January 21, 2000 | The Boondock Saints | Distribution Also co-producer |
| February 11, 2000 | Mercy | |
| February 18, 2000 | The Whole Nine Yards | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment First film under Morgan Creek pact and the first to be released by Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox handled select international distribution rights Directed by Jonathan Lynn |
| April 28, 2000 | The Big Kahuna | Co-production with Lions Gate Entertainment |
| May 12, 2000 | Battlefield Earth | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment Directed by Roger Christian Winner of the Razzie Award for Worst Picture |
| July 4, 2000 | Jill Rips | Co-production with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Also distributor |
| August 25, 2000 | The Art of War | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment 20th Century Fox handled select international distribution rights |
| September 14, 2000 | Auggie Rose | |
| October 6, 2000 | Get Carter | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment |
| October 13, 2000 | Animal Factory | Co-production with Phoenician Entertainment Directed by Steve Buscemi |
| January 19, 2001 | The Pledge | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment Directed by Sean Penn |
| February 23, 2001 | 3000 Miles to Graceland | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment Nominee of the Razzie Award for Worst Picture |
| March 2, 2001 | The Caveman's Valentine | Distributed by Universal Focus through Universal Pictures |
| March 11, 2001 | Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her | Co-production with United Artists |
| April 10, 2001 | Agent Red | Co-production with Phoenician Entertainment |
| April 27, 2001 | Driven | Co-production with Warner Bros. Directed by Renny Harlin Nominee of the Razzie Award for Worst Picture |
| May 18, 2001 | Angel Eyes | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment and The Canton Company |
| June 15, 2001 | Viva Las Nowhere | Co-production with Jason Bloom Productions |
| November 9, 2001 | Heist | Co-production with Morgan Creek Entertainment Last film under Morgan Creek pact Directed by David Mamet |
| May 1, 2002 | Green Dragon | Co-production with Columbia Pictures Released under Franchise Pictures Classics |
| May 21, 2002 | Desperate But Not Serious | Released on DVD under the title Reckless + Wild Co-production with Phoenician Entertainment |
| July 9, 2002 | Zig Zag | Released under Franchise Pictures Classics |
| August 30, 2002 | FeardotCom | North American, Japanese and Thailand co-distribution with Warner Bros. Co-production with Horrorhouse Pictures Columbia Pictures handled the international distribution rights Directed by William Malone |
| August 30, 2002 | Avenging Angelo | Co-production with Martyn Burke Productions |
| September 3, 2002 | If... Dog... Rabbit... | |
| September 6, 2002 | City by the Sea | Co-production with Warner Bros. and Brad Grey Pictures Touchstone Pictures handled the Spanish distribution rights through Buena Vista International |
| September 20, 2002 | Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever | Co-production with Warner Bros. Dimension Films handled the Spanish distribution rights through Buena Vista International Directed by Wych Kaosayananda |
| November 15, 2002 | Half Past Dead | Co-production with Screen Gems Directed by Don Michael Paul |
| November 22, 2002 | The 4th Tenor | Home media co-distribution with Warner Bros. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer handled the theatrical distribution rights |
| January 28, 2003 | The Foreigner | Co-production with TriStar Pictures Directed by Michael Oblowitz |
| May 23, 2003 | The In-Laws | Co-production with Warner Bros. |
| June 20, 2003 | Alex & Emma | Co-production with Castle Rock Entertainment and Escape Artists Directed by Rob Reiner |
| October 21, 2003 | Final Examination | Co-production with Artisan Entertainment and Horrorhouse Pictures |
| March 12, 2004 | Spartan | Directed by David Mamet |
| April 9, 2004 | The Whole Ten Yards | Co-production with Warner Bros. Sequel to The Whole Nine Yards Directed by Howard Deutch |
| July 20, 2004 | Out of Reach | Directed by Po-Chih Leong |
| September 17, 2004 | Funky Monkey | Co-production with Harry Basil Productions |
| January 14, 2005 | Retrograde | |
| February 15, 2005 | Into the Sun | Co-production with Destination Films |
| September 2, 2005 | A Sound of Thunder | Last Franchise film to be released by Warner Bros. |
| January 13, 2006 | Tristan & Isolde | Co-production with 20th Century Fox and Scott Free Productions Directed by Kevin Reynolds |
| May 18, 2007 | The Wendell Baker Story | Directed by Andrew & Luke Wilson Final Franchise Pictures release |
References
edit- ^ Los Angeles
- ^ a b "Franchise". Hausegenealogy.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2017-08-21.
- ^ Adler, Michael S. (n.d.). "Intertainment Licensing GmbH v. Franchise Pictures, et al". morelaw.com. MoreLaw. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
Franchise admitted that the budgets were inflated but contended that Intertainment did not agree to pay on the basis of the budgets.
- ^ Shprintz, Janet; Dana Harris (August 23, 2004). "Elie's new chapter: Samaha's Franchise files for bankruptcy". Variety. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ "WebVoyage Record View 1". Cocatalog.loc.gov. 2016-06-06. Retrieved 2017-08-21.
- ^ "Morgan Creek wins rights to Franchise pics". IMDb.
- ^ "Films". Morgan Creek Entertainment.
- ^ Carver, Benedict (1999-02-25). "Amritraj bows out of Franchise Pics". Variety. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ Carver, Benedict (1998-10-08). "Franchise, Morgan to ink distrib'n pact". Variety. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ "Intertainment inks Franchise pact". Variety. 1999-05-19. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ "Intertainment stock up with WB distribution deal". Variety. 1999-06-21. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ Shprintz, Janet (2001-07-03). "Morgan Creek sues Franchise". Variety. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ Battlefield Earth movie
- ^ Staff (June 6, 2002). "FBI Probes Big Indie Budgets". Internet Movie Database. pp. StudioBriefing. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
- ^ Randall, Laura (December 22, 2000). "Franchise, Intertainment duel; Countersuits ask $75 million-plus each in film licensing dispute". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ "$75M Battlefield Over Film Flops". New York Post. January 19, 2001.
- ^ Shprintz, Janet (July 31, 2009). "Legal eagle says Elie fudged budgets". Variety.
- ^ Hiestand, Jesse (May 10, 2004). "Baeres: No secret budget deal". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ a b Parish, James Robert (2006). Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops. Wiley. pp. 275–291. ISBN 978-0-470-09829-5.
- ^ Shprintz, Janet (June 20, 2004). "Intertainment's attempt to collect". Variety. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
- ^ Shprintz, Janet (June 16, 2004). "Samaha Slammed". Variety. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
- ^ Shprintz, Janet; Dana Harris (August 23, 2004). "Elie's new chapter: Samaha's Franchise files for bankruptcy". Variety. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
- ^ "Krane Gives John No Lift". Daily Mirror. April 2, 2002.