The Ladd Company

Company type	Movie Studio
Industry	Film Production
Founded	August 18, 1979
Founder	Alan Ladd Jr.,Jay Kanter, andGareth Wigan
Defunct	December 19, 2007
Fate	Liquidation
Successors	Library: Warner Bros. (pre-1985 titles) Paramount Pictures (including films distributed byMiramax)
Headquarters	Hollywood, California

The Ladd Company was an American film production company founded byAlan Ladd Jr.,Jay Kanter, andGareth Wigan on August 18, 1979.

In 1979, the three founders were executives with20th Century Fox; Ladd was the president. They announced their intention to leave the company when their contracts expired in December 1980 and form a new production company to be financed byWarner Bros. (Ladd had reportedly been quarreling with other Fox senior executives). Fox subsequently cut their contracts short, ending on October 1, 1979.^[1] The day after the contracts expired, the trio placed ads for the newly named "Ladd Company" inThe Hollywood Reporter andVariety.^[2]

Under Warner Bros., The Ladd Company distributedChariots of Fire, which won the 1981Academy Award for Best Picture.^[3] Among the films it produced were theSpace Race epicThe Right Stuff, thespace westernOutland,Ridley Scott's science-fiction cult filmBlade Runner,neo-noir filmBody Heat, and the first twoPolice Academy films.

Police Academy proved very profitable. But the returns from the company's successes did not outweigh the box-office failures ofThe Right Stuff, the edited version ofSergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in America, and the animatedTwice Upon a Time (co-production withKorty Films andLucasfilm). On April 18, 1984, Alan Ladd Jr. and Warner Bros. parted ways, even though the former still had three years left on the studio's contract. From that point on, "the Ladd Company [would] become a non-exclusive production organization."^[4]

During a brief partnership withParamount Pictures in the mid-1990s, the company producedThe Brady Bunch Movie and theBest Picture Oscar winnerBraveheart.

Ladd's later releases are the 2005Lasse Hallström drama,An Unfinished Life, and the 2007Casey Affleck dramaGone Baby Gone, both distributed byMiramax Films.

The Ladd Company's co-founder Gareth Wigan died at his home inLos Angeles on February 13, 2010, at the age of 78.^[5][6] The Ladd Company's founder Alan Ladd Jr. died ofkidney failure at his home in Los Angeles on March 2, 2022, at the age of 84.^[7][8] The Ladd Company's co-founder Jay Kanter died at his home inBeverly Hills, California, on August 6, 2024, at the age of 97.^[9]

Alan Ladd Jr. had been a successful studio head of20th Century Fox, helping make films such asStar Wars,^[10]Julia,Alien,The Turning Point,Young Frankenstein,An Unmarried Woman andSilver Streak.^[11] He ran into conflict with the company's chairman,Dennis Stanfill and wanted to leave. He left the company in June 1979 to set up his own company along with fellow executivesJay Kanter andGareth Wigan. Under the terms of their severance with Fox, they were not allowed to start working until October 1, 1979.^[12]

The company was known as The Ladd Company and its symbol was a tree. "You could say it has a tie in with the tree of life," said Ladd.^[13] They signed a deal with Warner Bros who would finance and distribute their films, although the Ladd Company had creative control. Warner Bros would finance at least $75 million a year.^[13]

Ladd said he wanted to make "basically what I made at Fox. I don't think my attitude has changed. Those pictures went all over the place. There wasn't any specific theme to them," even films likeAlien andThe Omen, which he admits were "exploitation pictures." He believed he "tried to do it with more quality and style than just ripping off a theme."^[14]

On November 2, 1979, Ladd announced the company's first films: aBette Midler concert movie (Ladd greenlit Midler'sThe Rose while at Fox) andMadonna Red, a $10 millionJoseph L. Mankiewicz film starringPaul Newman as a Vietnam War veteran turned priest.^[15] Then they announcedFive Days in Summer fromFred Zinnemann, who had madeJulia, andTwice Upon a Time, a $3 million film from Lucasfilm.^[16][17]

The Midler film becameDivine Madness (1980), butMadonna Red was never made. The first dramatic film the company ended making wasOutland (1981), a science fiction film in the vein ofAlien shot in England underSandy Lieberson, the company's head of European operations. It was a commercial disappointment when released.^[18]

The Ladd Company's second film was going to be aBernardo Bertolucci film starringUgo Tognazzi.^[18] This was never made. However, the company had a critical and commercial hit withBody Heat (1981), the directorial debut ofLawrence Kasdan, then withChariots of Fire (1981), a British film the company helped finance.^[19]

Looker (1981), fromMichael Crichton, was a flop. The company helped makeBlade Runner (1982), directed byRidley Scott, which was a cult classic years after its theatrical release, but underperformed critically and commercially.Night Shift (1982), directed byRon Howard, was a minor success.

However the company made a series of flops:Love Child (1982),Five Days One Summer (1982),Lovesick (1983) andTwice Upon a Time (1983).

The Ladd Company hoped for a big hit with the $28 millionThe Right Stuff (1983) but it only returned $10 million to the company.^[20]Larry Gross later wrote,

The Ladd Company, a director-friendly bunch, went down withThe Right Stuff. Execs look very closely at what causes other companies to retire from the field. The levels of caution multiply.^[21]

Also unsuccessful wereStar 80 (1983) andMike's Murder (1983).^[22]

Ladd developedCountry but sold the film to another company.^[23] They also hadSplash from Ron Howard but put it in turnaround, as they didThe Big Chill (1983).^[24]

The company had a huge hit withPolice Academy (1984), made for $4.2 million which grossed $81 million and led to several sequels.^[25] Less successful werePurple Hearts (1984) andOnce Upon a Time in America (1984) which the company extensively edited without the cooperation ofSergio Leone.

The success ofPolice Academy came too late to save the company. On April 19, 1984, Warners announced its association with the Ladd Company was over and Ladd became a nonexclusive production organization.^[26]

By July 16, 1984, theNew York Times wrote that,

In essence, the Ladd Company no longer exists; although the label still exists, most of its executives have left. The company failed partly as a result of the dismal box-office record of many of its interesting, intelligent movies, includingThe Right Stuff, and partly because new management at Warner Brothers, which financed and distributed Ladd Company films, did not care to nurture the smaller movie company.^[27]

On July 18, 1984, Kanter left the company to become head of production atMGM/UA.^[28] Ladd followed, becoming head of MGM/UA in February 1985.^[29]

The last two films made by the company during its first incarnation werePolice Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985) andDoin' Time (1985).

Ladd was ousted from MGM/UA in the mid 1990's. He reformed The Ladd Company on February 17, 1995, and on May 24, 1995, produced the Oscar-winning filmBraveheart, a film he was able to take with him from MGM/UA. Around that same time Ladd also producedThe Phantom (1996) andA Very Brady Sequel (1996). The Ladd Company's final films wereAn Unfinished Life (2005) andGone Baby Gone (2007) before the revived company was liquidated on December 19, 2007.

The following films were produced by The Ladd Company:^[30]

• Entry at imdb.com
• The Ladd Company discography atDiscogs

• Companies based in Los Angeles
• Entertainment companies established in 1979
• Companies disestablished in 2007
• 1979 establishments in California
• Ladd family (show business)
• Film production companies based in California

• Articles with short description
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