Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by director Rob Reiner, Martin Shafer, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Reiner named the company in honor of the real-life Maine town of the same name that serves as the setting of several stories by Stephen King (which was named after Castle Rock itself, a mountain fort, in the William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies), after the success of his film Stand by Me, which was based on The Body, a novella by King.
Reiner and Scheinman already had a production company. They were friends with Shafer, who worked with Horn at 20th Century Fox at the time. Horn was disappointed at Fox and agreed to join the trio at forming the company. Horn brought along Padnick, who was an executive at Embassy Television. In Castle Rock, Horn became the CEO, Shafer ran the film division, Padnick ran TV, and Reiner & Scheinman became involved in the development of productions.
The company was originally backed by The Coca-Cola Company, the then-parent company of Columbia Pictures. Coke and the company's founders jointly owned a stake in the company. Months after the deal, Coke exited the entertainment business, succeeded by Columbia Pictures Entertainment (now Sony Pictures Entertainment).
In 1989, Castle Rock was supported by another backer, Group W, a subsidiary of Westinghouse. Castle Rock later struck a deal with Nelson Entertainment, the company that owned the domestic home video rights to Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, and The Princess Bride, to co-finance Castle Rock's films.
Under the deal, Nelson also distributed the films on video in North American markets, and handled international theatrical distribution, while Columbia, which Nelson forged a distribution deal with, would receive domestic theatrical distribution rights. Some of Nelson's holdings were later acquired by New Line Cinema, which took over Nelson's duty. Columbia, shortly after the company's formation, thereafter had to re-invest with a substantial change in terms when accumulated losses exhausted its initial funding.
Reiner has stated that Castle Rock's purpose was to allow creative freedom to individuals; a safe haven away from the pressures of studio executives. Castle Rock was to make films of the highest quality, whether they made or lost money.
Castle Rock has also produced several television shows, such as the successful sitcom Seinfeld and the animated sitcom Mission Hill.
Turner purchase and Warner Bros. ownership[]
On August 1993, Turner Broadcasting System agreed to acquire Castle Rock, along with co-financing partner (and eventual Castle Rock corporate sibling) New Line Cinema. The sale was completed on December 22, 1993. The motivation behind the purchase to allow a stronger company to handle the overhead. By 1994, Castle Rock launched a foreign sales operation, Castle Rock International, and planned to produce 12 to 15 films annually. Castle Rock also had aspirations to distribute its own films once its deal with Columbia expired in 1998.
Turner Broadcasting eventually merged with Time Warner in 1996. After a failed attempt to divest the company, Time Warner integrated Castle Rock Entertainment into Warner Bros., and cut its production slate to five films per year. On June 27, 1997, Castle Rock's staff was reduced to 60 employees and Castle Rock International was folded into Warner Bros.
In January 1998, Warner Bros. and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment formed a deal to co-finance and co-distribute Castle Rock films; that deal was taken over by Universal Pictures after the studio's parent company Seagram merged with PolyGram later that year. The Warner Bros./Universal deal expired in 2000.
In April 2002, Warner Bros. reduced Castle Rock's budget following a string of box office bombs. Castle Rock fired 16 of its 46 employees, and Castle Rock's physical production and public relations departments, back-office duties, and remaining employees were absorbed into Warner Bros.
Relaunch; under Warner Bros. Discovery[]
In May 2020, Rob and Michelle Reiner signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television Studios, and on October 1 of that year, it relaunched the company. On October 19, 2021, the feature division company was revived with a $175M film fund under which the studio will develop, produce and finance quality movies for global audiences. Castle Rock will produce films in a first-look deal with Warner Bros. on theatrical content, which has long been its home, in addition to their existing deal with Castle Rock television productions.
Following an addition $170 million investment from Derrick Rossi, Reiner announced his intention to relaunch Castle Rock through two films, one a sequel to his This is Spinal Taprock-documentary, and the other Albert Brooks: Defending My Life documentary, shopping both films at the 2022 Cannes festival.
Ownership of the Castle Rock library[]
Warner Bros. owns the copyrights and overall rights to most of the pre-2010 Castle Rock films and television shows, with a few notable exceptions. MGM owns the rights to the pre-1994 Castle Rock Entertainment films because of the acquisition of the pre-1996 PolyGram library where Nelson Entertainment was in it. Warner Bros., through Castle Rock, owns its post-1994 library and the TV rights to the pre-1994 library with the exception of Seinfeld and Thea.
Logo[]
It features the silhouette of the lighthouse on the coastal land with its light beam spins in front of the screen, forming the company name as the sun rises behind the lighthouse.
Since 1994, the logo is heavily redone in CGI with the camera zooming out.
Filmography[]
The following is a list of films produced, co-produced, and/or distributed by Castle Rock Entertainment.
Board of directors:Samuel DiPiazza (Chairman) • David Zaslav • Robert Bennett • Li Haslett Chen • Richard Fisher • Paul Gould • Debra Lee • John C. Malone • Fazal Merchant • Steven Miron • Steven Newhouse • Paula Price • Geoff Yang
Senior management:David Zaslav (President and CEO) • Toby Emmerich • Channing Dungey • Casey Bloys • Kathleen Finch • Chris Licht • JB Perrette • Gerhard Zeiler
from Turner:Audience Network • Boomerang (Germany) • Boomerang (Latin America) • Cable Music Channel • CNN+ (Channel) • CNNfn • CNNSI • CNN Airport • FilmStruck • Game Show Network (42%) • Great Big Story • Hulu (10%) • Retro • Super Deluxe • Toonami Channel (Asia) • Toonami India • TCM South East Asia • Turner Program Services • Turner South • WB India • Woohoo (Brazil) • Universal Wrestling Corporation • WPCH-TV from HBO:Festival • HBO Boxing Pay-Per-View • HBO Defined (India) • HBO Downtown Productions • HBO en Español • HBO España • HBO Hits • HBO Home Entertainment • HBO Independent Productions • HBO Latin America Group • HBO Netherlands • HBO Nordic • HBO Now • HBO NYC Productions • HBO Portugal • Red by HBO • Take 2 • Time Life Television from Discovery & Scripps:3net • 7food network • Animal Planet Italy • Canal 8 Sport • Canal+ DiscoveryJV (Poland) • Discovery Channel Radio • Discovery Channel Romania • Discovery Civilization • Discovery Digital Networks • Discovery Family (France) • Discovery Geschichte • Discovery Health Channel • Discovery Home & Health • Southeast Asia • UK & Ireland • Discovery Kids • Australia • Canada • Southeast Asia • United Kingdom • Discovery Kids on NBC • Discovery Networks • CEEMEA • Northern Europe • Discovery People • Discovery Real Time • France • UK and Ireland • Discovery Shed • Discovery Showcase HD • Discovery Travel & Living Europe • Discovery Turbo Asia • Discovery Wings • Discovery World Europe • DKids • Dplay • Eurosport 360° • Eurosport 2 Xtra Portugal • Eurosport DK • Eurosport News • Eurosport Pluss (Norway) • Fine Living Europe • FitTV • Focus • Food Network (New Zealand) • FYI Canada • Good Food • GXT • HowStuffWorks • Jeet Prime • PixL • Quest Arabiya • Ready Set Learn! • SBS Radio Nordic • Setanta Sports Asia • VivoltaJV (France)