24 Facts About Carolco Pictures

1.

Carolco Pictures, Inc was an American independent film studio that existed from 1976 to 1995, founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G Vajna.

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2.

Carolco Pictures hit its peak in the 1980s and early 1990s, with blockbuster successes including the first three films of the Rambo franchise, Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Basic Instinct, Universal Soldier, Cliffhanger and Stargate.

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3.

The name "Carolco Pictures" was purchased from a defunct company based in Panama, and according to Kassar, "it has no meaning.

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4.

On May 15, 1984, Carolco Pictures entered into a long-time agreement with then-up-and-coming film distributor and fledging studio Tri-Star Pictures, whereas Tri-Star would distribute films in North America, whereas HBO handled pay cable TV rights, and Thorn EMI Video, which handled North American home video distribution rights.

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5.

On May 14, 1986, Carolco Pictures decided to restructure their corporation into a new structure with Peter Hoffman hired as president and CEO of the studio, and decided to set up subsidiaries and alliances within the branch of the own Carolco Pictures movie studio.

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6.

In 1986, Carolco Pictures purchased IVE in the hopes of "turning the company around.

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7.

On December 24, 1986, Carolco Pictures expanded into video retail holdings by acquiring Filk's Video, which was a Woolbridge, New Jersey video store that has been officially opened shortly and that they teamed up with Tom House of the New York-area American Video Enterprises chain, in order to expand the distribution channels of the Carolco Pictures material, and it would be simultaneously with Paramount's move into video retailers.

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8.

Carolco Pictures was then expanded in October 1987 to set up a London office that hired two ousted employees from the ousted Goldcrest studio, Greg Dinner, who will serve as vice president of development at Carolco Films International, and Barbara Booker was named manager of foreign sales administration.

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9.

Carolco Pictures acquired the rights to make a sequel to The Terminator from Hemdale Film Corporation in 1990.

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10.

Carolco Pictures re-hired Terminator director James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in a multi-million-dollar budgeted sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

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11.

Halfway through the year, Carolco Pictures entered into a joint venture with New Line Cinema to start Seven Arts, a distribution company which primarily released much of Carolco Pictures's low-budget output.

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12.

Carolco Pictures struggled for some years to secure the rights to Spider-Man, a property that Cameron was keen to produce as a film.

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13.

Carolco Pictures attempted to make Bartholomew vs Neff, a comedy film that was to have been written and directed by John Hughes and would have starred Sylvester Stallone and John Candy.

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14.

In 1992, Carolco Pictures went under a corporate restructuring, invested in by a partnership of Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera of Italy, Le Studio Canal+ of France, Pioneer, and MGM.

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15.

In 1993, Carolco Pictures was forced to sell its shares in LIVE Entertainment to a group of investors led by Pioneer; it was later renamed Artisan Entertainment, which was bought by Lions Gate Entertainment.

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16.

Cutbacks at Carolco Pictures forced the studio to make a deal with TriStar over the funding of the Stallone action film Cliffhanger: Carolco Pictures would have to sell full distribution rights in North America, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and France to TriStar in exchange for half of the film's budget.

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17.

However, Carolco Pictures was able to complete a merger with The Vista Organization in late October 1993.

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18.

Carolco Pictures attempted a comeback with the big-budget swashbuckler Cutthroat Island, with Michael Douglas in the lead.

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19.

In October 1994, Carolco Pictures ran out of funds and Pioneer invested another $8 million.

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20.

Carolco Pictures agreed to sell its assets to 20th Century Fox for $50 million.

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21.

The duo formed C2 Carolco Pictures and produced Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Basic Instinct 2, among other films.

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22.

However, on April 7, 2016, it was announced that both Bafer and Kassar had left the company, Kassar taking with him one of Carolco Pictures's planned projects, a remake of the 1999 Japanese horror film Audition which he was producing.

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23.

The ancillary rights to Carolco Pictures's library are held by French production company StudioCanal, since its parent company, Canal+ Group, owned a stake in Carolco Pictures, eventually buying out its partners.

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24.

In 1992, Carolco Pictures licensed television distribution rights to its library to Spelling Entertainment's Worldvision Enterprises in order to pay off debt.

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