Weintraub Entertainment Group
Private corporation | |
Industry | Motion picture |
Fate | Bankruptcy |
Founded | July 1, 1986 |
Founder | Jerry Weintraub |
Defunct | September 30, 1990 |
Key people
|
Jerry Weintraub, Chair/CEO Kenneth Kleinberg, president/COO[1] Andrew Susskind, TV president[2] |
Products | films |
Services | distribution |
Owner | The Coca Cola Company US Tobacco Company[3] Columbia Pictures (15%; 1987-1989) Warner Bros. (15%; 1989-1990)[4] |
Weintraub Entertainment Group (WEG) was a film production company considered to be a mini-major studio founded by Jerry Weintraub.[1]
History
Weintraub Entertainment Group was formed in July 1, 1986 by Jerry Weintraub.[3] In February 1987, WEG received $461 million in financing from Columbia Pictures, Cineplex Odeon and others in the form of securities, bank loans and advances.[1] The Coca Cola Company and US Tobacco Company were principal investors.[3] WEG also arranged a $145-million, 7-year credit line with the Bank of America. WEG also signed a 20-year distribution deal with Columbia and planned to release seven or eight movies per year.[1]
In March 1987, WEG signed its first production and distribution deal, a three-year agreement with Robert Stigwood's RSO Films for multiple films budgeted in the $12-million to $15-million range.[5] With Stigwood's partnership, WEG was to finance a film version of Evita with Oliver Stone as writer/director and Meryl Streep as Eva Perón. However, the studio dropped the project.[6]
WEG purchased from The Cannon Group in May 1987 its 2,000-title British film library,[7] the Thorn-EMI Screen Entertainment Library, for $85 million with $50 million from a loan.[1] On July 20, Harry Usher joined the Group as President of the Weintraub International Enterprises division and as a senior vice president.[8]
In January 1988, Barney Rosenzweig was hired as chairman of the television unit, corporate vice president and a member of the executive committee.[9] In July, the Bank of America terminated its credit line with Weintraub after difficulties in syndicating parts of the loan to other banks due to the Thorn-EMI loan.[1] The Group's first release was The Big Blue in August; it grossed $1.6 million the opening weekend.[10]
In January 1989, Usher left his position as President of the Weintraub International Enterprises.[11] The Bank of America and WEG established a new credit line for two years and $95 million with Credit Lyonnais participating.[1]
In 1989, as a result of Sony/Columbia hiring Peter Guber and Jon Peters away from Warner Bros., Sony/Columbia traded its 15% share in WEG.[4]
In September 1990, WEG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Later that month, Jerry Weintraub left the company and forged a deal with Warner Bros., while Columbia still remained indebted to releasing WEG films.[12]
Film Asset Holding Co., a company formed by WEG's two primary bank creditors, sued Weintraub over his structuring of a sale of the Peter Pan story to Sony Pictures Entertainment in the fall of 1990. Weintraub and Film Assets settled in January 1992.[13]
In August 1998, a jury verdict for $7 million was lost by Bear Stearns Cos. to investors who had been misled by the brokerage's $83 million bond issue prospectus for the now-bankrupt Weintraub Entertainment Group.[14]
Production/release library
- The Big Blue (1988): distribution rights, $3 million
- Fresh Horses (1988): first original production, grossed only $7 million
- My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988): $26 million budget, grossed $10 million
- The Karen Carpenter Story (1989): a TV movie release on CBS[1]
- Listen To Me (1989)
- She's Out of Control (1989)
- Troop Beverly Hills (1989)
- The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)
Since Sony Pictures owns its rights to their films, Paramount handles TV and digital rights to the films with Trifecta Entertainment and Media.[citation needed]
References
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External links
- Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015
- Film distributors of the United States
- Film production companies of the United States
- Entertainment companies based in California
- Companies based in Los Angeles, California
- Defunct companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area
- Entertainment companies established in 1986
- 1986 establishments in California
- 1998 disestablishments in California
- Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990