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| Formerly | Amblin Productions (1980–1984) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Film |
| Founded | 1980; 45 years ago (1980) |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Services | Film production |
| Parent | Amblin Partners (2015–present)[a] |
| Website | amblin |
Amblin Entertainment, Inc.,[1] formerly namedAmblin Productions, is an Americanfilm production company founded by filmmakersSteven Spielberg,Kathleen Kennedy, andFrank Marshall in 1980.[2] Its headquarters are located in Bungalow 477 of theUniversal Studios backlot inUniversal City, California. It distributes all of the films fromAmblin Partners under the Amblin Entertainment banner.[3]
Amblin is named afterSteven Spielberg's first commercially released film,Amblin' (1968), a short independent film about a man and womanhitchhiking through the desert. Costing $15,000 to produce, it was shown forUniversal Studios, giving Spielberg moredirecting roles.[4]
The company was established a year later, in 1969, and it was properly incorporated in 1970.[5][6] On July 14, 1975, Spielberg signed a four-picture agreement with Universal Pictures to produce its feature films through his Amblin label, aiming to build upon the success of its first two theatrical pictures,The Sugarland Express andJaws.[7] Although Amblin is an independent production company, Universal distributes many Amblin productions, and Amblin operates out of a building on the Universal lot.[8]
Amblin produced its first film,Continental Divide, in 1981, with Spielberg serving as executive producer.[9] The following year, Spielberg and Marshall caught the attention ofMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), for which they both producedPoltergeist with Amblin, but under the name Steven Spielberg Productions. The same year, Spielberg and Kennedy producedE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with Amblin uncredited (with Spielberg also directing it), which ended up being the highest-grossing film of the year.[10]
In 1983, Spielberg producedTwilight Zone: The Movie with Amblin (with Marshall credited as an executive producer), but the company was uncredited. The company was reincorporated asAmblin Entertainment the following year, and thetelevision division was formed that year. Amblin went on to produce a number of successful films throughout the 1980s, such asGremlins,Innerspace,Batteries Not Included,Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and theBack to the Future trilogy.[11]Gremlins was the first film to use the company's logo, which features the silhouette of Elliott flying in his bicycle with E.T. in the basket in front of the moon, fromE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
In 1985, Spielberg andDon Bluth started a partnership to produce animated feature films. The only two films that were made from the Spielberg-Bluth deal wereAn American Tail (1986) andThe Land Before Time (1988).[12]
On November 5, 1986,Walt Disney Pictures and Amblin Entertainment collaborated to produceWho Framed Roger Rabbit, its first collaboration of such after collaborations working with Universal Pictures andWarner Bros. Pictures, which had a pre-existing joint deal. The film was directed byRobert Zemeckis, and it was slated for a G-rated feature, but it was upped to a PG-rated feature under theTouchstone Pictures label.[13]
In 1987, Amblin Entertainment had named Brad Globe, former head ofLorimar's marketing division, as vice president of marketing at the production company, and Globe himself would be joined by two special consultants, which were Martin J. Lewy and Gerry Lewis, and will work closely with the marketing department of the companies that released Amblin's product.[14]
In 1989, a dispute over film-making budgets caused Spielberg and Bluth to part ways. Amblin established their own animation unit,Amblimation, which was headquartered in London.[15] The only three films that were released under the Amblimation banner wereAn American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991),We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story (1993) andBalto (1995).[16] The Amblimation label was shut down in 1997 and most of the studio staff was transferred toDreamWorks Animation, which Spielberg co-founded in 1994.[17] Two more films were in development at the time Amblimation was shut down. The first was an animated film adaptation of theAndrew Lloyd Webber musicalCats which was cancelled following the studio's closure in 1997. The other was an animated film adaptation of a book written byWilliam Steig,Shrek!, which was picked up by DreamWorks Animation and made into the 2001 animated filmShrek.
The same year, Amblin signed a deal withTurner Network Television to produce television films.[18]
In 1991, founding partner Frank Marshall left the company after 10 years.[19] The next year, Kathleen Kennedy left the company.[20]
In 1992, Amblin launched a visual effects studioAmblin Imaging, headed by visual effects pioneer John Gross. It was later shut down in 1995.[21]
In 1993,Walter Parkes andLaurie MacDonald joined the company.[22]
On June 21, 2021, it was announced that Amblin Entertainment signed a deal withNetflix to release multiple new feature films for thestreaming service. Under the deal, Amblin is expected to produce at least two films a year for Netflix for an unspecified number of years. It is possible that Spielberg may even direct some of the projects.[23]
| Years | Title | Distributor |
|---|---|---|
| 1984–present | Gremlins | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| 1985–1990 | Back to the Future | Universal Pictures |
| 1986–1999 | An American Tail | |
| 1988–2016 | The Land Before Time | |
| 1988–1993; 2013 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Inc |
| 1993–present | Jurassic Park | Universal Pictures |
| 1996–2024 | Twister | Universal Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures |
| 1997–2019 | Men in Black | Sony Pictures Releasing |
| 1998–2005 | The Mask of Zorro |
While Amblin has never had its own theme park, theme parks have made rides based on Amblin films and co-productions.
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