Carolco Pictures

Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an independent production company that within a decade went from producing such blockbuster successes as ' and the Rambo series to being made bankrupt by bombs such as Cutthroat Island and Showgirls.

Related Topics:
Rambo - Cutthroat Island - Showgirls

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The company was founded by two film investors Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna. Their goal was to make Carolco a major independent production company producing A-movie product.

Related Topics:
Mario Kassar - Andrew Vajna

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One of the first Carolco films was (1982), followed by the sequel (1985) with Sylvester Stallone (who later signed a ten-picture deal with Carolco). The film was a box-office success. This led to Carolco acquiring the rights to the Terminator franchise from Hemdale Film Corporation. The company re-hired Terminator director James Cameron (who had also worked as a screenwriter on Rambo), and Arnold Schwarzenegger to star, in a multi-million-dollar budgeted sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (released in 1991). It was the highest-grossing film of its year, and as it turned out, the most successful film in Carolco's history.

Related Topics:
Hemdale Film Corporation - James Cameron - Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Among the other films in Carolco's library were: Extreme Prejudice, Angel Heart, Cliffhanger (also starring Stallone), Chaplin, The Doors (directed by Oliver Stone), Total Recall (another Schwarzenegger box-office hit), Basic Instinct, Iron Eagle II, and Stargate. About 80% of their entire output was released through Tri-Star Pictures. At the time "Terminator 2" and "Total Recall" broke records for the largest production budget for a feature film.

Related Topics:
Angel Heart - Cliffhanger - Chaplin - The Doors - Oliver Stone - Total Recall - Basic Instinct - Iron Eagle II - Stargate - Tri-Star Pictures

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In later years, Carolco acquired television syndicator Orbis Communications and initiated television production and distribution. They also built a production facility in North Carolina (where the television series Matlock was partially filmed), and established a home video division (with Live Entertainment, later Artisan Entertainment and Lions Gate Home Entertainment, as output partner).

Related Topics:
Orbis Communications - Matlock - Live Entertainment - Artisan Entertainment - Lions Gate Home Entertainment

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Carolco struggled for some years to secure the rights to Spiderman a property that Cameron was keen to produce as a film.

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But as budgets for their feature films grew, the box-office intake fell. Following the disastrous releases of Cutthroat Island and Showgirls, Carolco went bankrupt and the company closed soon after.

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The assets of Carolco were later sold off to other companies, most already sold during Carolco's existence. Today, the ancillary rights to a majority of Carolco's library are held by French production company StudioCanal, while Paramount Domestic Television holds the television rights, and Lions Gate continues to hold the home video rights (via a new output deal with Studio Canal). The only Carolco films not included in the deal are Cliffhanger, Aces: Iron Eagle III, Last Of The Dogmen, and Showgirls, the rights to these have been retained by their original theatrical distributors (TriStar, New Line Cinema, Savoy Pictures/HBO, and United Artists, respectively).

Related Topics:
StudioCanal - Paramount Domestic Television - TriStar - New Line Cinema - Savoy Pictures - HBO - United Artists

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