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| Formerly | South Side Amusement Company(1984–1997) ImageMovers Digital(2007–2011) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Motion pictures,motion-capture &Computer animation |
| Founded | March 1, 1984; 41 years ago (1984-03-01) (as South Side Amusement Company; in-name only) 1997; 28 years ago (1997) (officially registered as ImageMovers, L.L.C.) |
| Founders | Robert Zemeckis |
| Headquarters | Novato, California, U.S. |
Key people | Robert Zemeckis,Doug Chiang,Steve Starkey,Jack Rapke |
| Products | Motion pictures |
Number of employees | 450 (2011) |
| Divisions | Compari Entertainment |
ImageMovers, L.L.C.[1] (IM) (formerly known asSouth Side Amusement Company), is an Americanproduction company which produces CGI animation, motion-capture, live-action films and television shows. The company is known for producing such films asCast Away (2000),What Lies Beneath (2000),The Polar Express (2004),Monster House (2006), andBeowulf (2007). From 2007 to 2011,The Walt Disney Company and ImageMovers founded ajoint venture animation facility known asImageMovers Digital which produced twomotion-captured CGI-animated films:A Christmas Carol (2009) andMars Needs Moms (2011) forWalt Disney Pictures, neither of which were financially successful. This eventually caused the company to cut ties with Disney and scrapped both a live-actionYellow Submarine remake and aRoger Rabbit sequel, which were in development at the time.
On March 1, 1984,Robert Zemeckis incorporated and founded the company as South Side Amusement Company. The company was in-name only from the beginning.
In the early 1990s, Zemeckis signed a production deal withUniversal Pictures, to produce films under the South Side Amusement Company banner. There, it is one of the producers ofDeath Becomes Her,Trespass,The Public Eye andThe Frighteners while Zemeckis 1997 filmContact was produced withWarner Bros. Pictures.
In 1997, it was announced that South Side Amusement Company was rebranded as ImageMovers, and hiredCreative Artists Agency employeeJack Rapke and producerSteve Starkey (who was a producer on Zemeckis's films since his stint as associate producer on 1988'sWho Framed Roger Rabbit) came on board to join the company. It was also announced that ImageMovers signed a non-exclusive feature film deal withDreamWorks Pictures.[2]
In 2001, ImageMovers tried to sign a deal withWarner Bros., but they ultimately failed.[3] After the Warner Bros. deal collapsed, ImageMovers reupped a first-look deal withDreamWorks to produce more films from that time.[4][5]
ImageMovers's first eight films under the name wereWhat Lies Beneath (withHarrison Ford andMichelle Pfeiffer),Cast Away (withTom Hanks),Matchstick Men (withNicolas Cage),The Polar Express (also withTom Hanks),The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (withJulianne Moore),Last Holiday (withQueen Latifah),Monster House (withMitchel Musso,Sam Lerner,Spencer Locke, andSteve Buscemi), andBeowulf (withRay Winstone,Anthony Hopkins,John Malkovich,Robin Wright Penn, andAngelina Jolie).
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| Company type | Joint venture |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007; 18 years ago (2007) |
| Founders | Robert Zemeckis |
| Defunct | 2011; 14 years ago (2011) |
| Headquarters | Novato, California, U.S. |
Key people | Robert Zemeckis |
| Owners | ImageMovers The Walt Disney Company |
Number of employees | 450 |
In 2007, ImageMovers partnered withThe Walt Disney Company to establishImageMovers Digital (IMD). Based in two converted aircraft hangars inMarin County, this joint venture based film focused on producing animated films usingmotion capture.[6]
IMD's first film,A Christmas Carol, was released on November 6, 2009. Based on theCharles Dickens novellaof the same name, it starredJim Carrey,Gary Oldman,Bob Hoskins,Robin Wright, andCary Elwes, each in multiple roles.
On March 12, 2010, Disney announced that IMD would cease operations following the completion of its second film,Mars Needs Moms. This resulted in the layoff of approximately 450 employees.[7] Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said, "Given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model."[8]
Prior to its shutdown, IMD had several projects in development, including an original film titledCalling All Robots,[9] a remake ofYellow Submarine,[10] a sequel toWho Framed Roger Rabbit,[11] and an adaptation ofThe Nutcracker.[12] All were scrapped due to the disastrous box-office performance ofMars Needs Moms.[13]
In August 2011, it was announced that ImageMovers has entered a two-year first-look producing deal withUniversal Pictures.[14]
ImageMovers's first foray into television production wasThe Borgias, which aired onShowtime from 2011 to 2013. On August 25, 2016, Compari Entertainment, the company's television division, was founded, withNBC'sManifest, which premiered on September 24, 2018, as their first television series.[18]
| Year | Series | Creator(s) / Developer(s) | Co-production | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–13 | The Borgias | Neil Jordan | Myriad Pictures Amblin Television Octagon Entertainment Take 5 Productions CTV Bell Media Showtime Networks | Showtime (United States) Bravo (Canada) | Produced as ImageMovers[19] |
| 2018–23 | Manifest | Jeff Rake | Jeff Rake Productions Universal Television (seasons 1–3) Warner Bros. Television | NBC (seasons 1–3) Netflix (season 4) | [20] |
| 2018 | Medal of Honor | Allentown Productions | Netflix | [21] | |
| 2019–20 | Project Blue Book | David O'Leary | A&E Studios | History | [22] |
| 2019 | What/If | Mike Kelley | Page Fright Atlas Entertainment Warner Bros. Television | Netflix | Miniseries[23] |
Thismotion capture remake ofthe 1968 Beatles film was developed byRobert Zemeckis. Disney canceled the project due to the box office failure of the Zemeckis-produced motion capture filmMars Needs Moms and aesthetic concerns about the technology.[24] After its cancellation at Disney, Zemeckis then tried to pitch the film to other studios, before eventually losing interest in the project.[25]
On March 26, 2008,Michael Dougherty was set to direct the animated sci-fi adventure filmCalling All Robots with Zemeckis producing the film throughImageMovers Digital forWalt Disney Pictures.[26]
In December 2007, Marshall stated that he was still "open" to the idea,[27] and in April 2009, Zemeckis revealed he was still interested.[28] According to a 2009MTV News story, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were writing a new script for the project, and the animated characters would be in traditional two-dimensional, while the rest would be inmotion capture.[29] However, in 2010, Zemeckis said that the sequel would remain hand-drawn animated and live-action sequences will be filmed, just like in the original film, but the lighting effects on the cartoon characters and some of the props that the toons handle will be done digitally.[30] Also in 2010, Hahn, who was the film's original associate producer, confirmed the sequel's development in an interview withEmpire. He stated, "Yeah, I couldn't possibly comment. I deny completely, but yeah... if you're a fan, pretty soon you're going to be very, very, very happy."[31] In 2010,Bob Hoskins stated he was interested in the project, reprising his role as Eddie Valiant.[citation needed] However, he retired from acting in 2012 after being diagnosed withParkinson's disease a year earlier, and died frompneumonia in 2014.[32] Marshall confirmed that the film would be a prequel, similar to earlier drafts, and that the writing was almost complete.[33] During an interview at the premiere ofFlight, Zemeckis stated that the sequel was still possible, despite Hoskins' absence, and the script for the sequel was sent to Disney for approval from studio executives.[34]
On November 26, 2009, Zemeckis had signed on to produce and direct the motion capture animated film adaptation ofE.T.A. Hoffmann’sThe Nutcracker throughImageMovers Digital forWalt Disney Pictures.[35] On July 21, 2016,Universal Pictures revived the adaptation, which may or may not use motion capture, with Zemeckis only set to produce the film andEvan Spiliotopoulos was hired to write the script.[36] There has been no information since.
On April 14, 2011, Zemeckis had signed on to produce and potentially direct the live-action/animated hybrid film adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino's bookHow to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack along withThe Gotham Group andSony Pictures Animation.[37] In November that year, Chad Damiani and JP Lavin were hired to write the script.[38]
On October 29, 2019, at theHBO Max launch event, it was announced that a live-action/animated hybrid TV series featuring Looney Tunes andHanna-Barbera characters to be produced byWarner Bros. Animation, the series was in development after it was announced asTooned Out, to be released on the then upcoming WarnerMedia streaming service. Zemeckis teamed up withJared Stern to write the series.[39] The last known update of the series was in 2022 with no other announcements as of 2025.
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