danielshooley
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2012
Hello everyone,
Danny here, with some very sad news: Touchstone Pictures, a banner of The Walt Disney Company producing adult-oriented theatrical Disney films such as "Splash," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" & "The Nightmare Before Christmas," died on September 21, 2016 at the age of 32.
Touchstone Pictures was born Touchstone Films on February 15, 1984 in Burbank, California, the brainchild of then-Disney CEO Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law), in order to release adult-oriented theatrical Disney films such as the aforementioned "Splash" (starring Daryl Hannah's naked ***).
In 1986, after the release of "Ruthless People," Michael Eisner (who took over Disney in September 1984, replacing Ron Miller as CEO) renamed Touchstone Films to Touchstone Pictures, starting with the theatrical release of the PG-rated "Tough Guys" (the final film pairing of Burt Lancaster and Issur Danielovitch, the latter of whom is the real name of Kirk Douglas).
In February 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced an agreement with DreamWorks Pictures for Disney to distribute live-action DreamWorks content under the Touchstone Pictures banner, eventually releasing theatrically live-action DreamWorks films such as "The Fifth Estate," "I Am Number Four" and Touchstone's final film, "The Light Between Oceans," released last month.
In its final years, besides DreamWorks films, Touchstone Pictures released a number of films e.g. "Gnomeo & Juliet" and "Strange Magic" (a joint venture between Touchstone and LucasFilm, the latter company owned by Disney since October 2012) that Disney felt embarrassed to have its own name and imprint on at the time.
As far as its fate, according to its Wikipedia entry via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_Pictures Touchstone Pictures was absorbed officially in October 2016 into Walt Disney Pictures.
In addition, Michael Eisner launched a spin-off banner, Touchstone Television (folded to ABC Studios in 2007 along with Walt Disney Television), in early 1985 to produce adult-oriented made-for-TV movies such as "Tuesdays with Morrie" (the final appearance of Jack Lemmon, who died of Cancer at age 76 a year after Walter Matthau's Massive Heart Attack in July 2000).
RIP Touchstone Pictures, and may you forever live on through Walt Disney Pictures.
Danny here, with some very sad news: Touchstone Pictures, a banner of The Walt Disney Company producing adult-oriented theatrical Disney films such as "Splash," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" & "The Nightmare Before Christmas," died on September 21, 2016 at the age of 32.
Touchstone Pictures was born Touchstone Films on February 15, 1984 in Burbank, California, the brainchild of then-Disney CEO Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law), in order to release adult-oriented theatrical Disney films such as the aforementioned "Splash" (starring Daryl Hannah's naked ***).
In 1986, after the release of "Ruthless People," Michael Eisner (who took over Disney in September 1984, replacing Ron Miller as CEO) renamed Touchstone Films to Touchstone Pictures, starting with the theatrical release of the PG-rated "Tough Guys" (the final film pairing of Burt Lancaster and Issur Danielovitch, the latter of whom is the real name of Kirk Douglas).
In February 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced an agreement with DreamWorks Pictures for Disney to distribute live-action DreamWorks content under the Touchstone Pictures banner, eventually releasing theatrically live-action DreamWorks films such as "The Fifth Estate," "I Am Number Four" and Touchstone's final film, "The Light Between Oceans," released last month.
In its final years, besides DreamWorks films, Touchstone Pictures released a number of films e.g. "Gnomeo & Juliet" and "Strange Magic" (a joint venture between Touchstone and LucasFilm, the latter company owned by Disney since October 2012) that Disney felt embarrassed to have its own name and imprint on at the time.
As far as its fate, according to its Wikipedia entry via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_Pictures Touchstone Pictures was absorbed officially in October 2016 into Walt Disney Pictures.
In addition, Michael Eisner launched a spin-off banner, Touchstone Television (folded to ABC Studios in 2007 along with Walt Disney Television), in early 1985 to produce adult-oriented made-for-TV movies such as "Tuesdays with Morrie" (the final appearance of Jack Lemmon, who died of Cancer at age 76 a year after Walter Matthau's Massive Heart Attack in July 2000).
RIP Touchstone Pictures, and may you forever live on through Walt Disney Pictures.
