Mutual Film Company, LLC is an American film production company based in Hollywood, California. The company was initially founded by financer Gary Levinsohn in 1989 as Classico Entertainment, before combining with The Mark Gordon Company in 1995 to form Cloud Nine Entertainment. Mutual is a film financier that was involved in the co-production of feature films. Mutual notably co-produced and financed several feature films for Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios.

History

Classico Entertainment In 1989, following the shutdown of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, Gary Levinsohn launched his own company Classico Entertainment and it served as a sales agent of Dino de Laurentiis Communications.

In 1994, Classico signed a deal with Atlas Entertainment, whereas Classico could finance films for the company.

Mutual Film Company In 1995, film producers Mark Gordon and Gary Levinsohn decided to merge their own companies into Cloud Nine Entertainment, a production company that would be involved in the co-production and financing of feature films. The company opened its office at Raleigh Studios on Melrose Avenue near the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, California.

Following Cloud Nine's establishment, the company created an international sales division, and finalized a multi-year equity partnership with four companies — the United Kingdom's BBC, Germany's Tele-München, Japan's Toho-Towa/Marubeni and France's UGC-PH. These four companies financed 60% (15% each) of the films' budgets, in exchange for distribution rights in their respective territories and equity stakes in the films on a worldwide basis.

The company's first film under the new regime was 1997's The Relic.

Eighteen months after forming Cloud Nine, Gordon and Levinsohn renamed the company to Mutual Film Company. The new name was meant to reflect the joint venture and the profits it would share with its international investors.

Mutual notably financed films for Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures. On several occasions, films developed by Mutual, such as Saving Private Ryan (1998) and The Patriot (2000), were financed by major studios.

In 2000, three of Mutual's partners, Tele Munchen Gruppe, BBC, and Toho, negotiated with a banking consortium led by Union Bank of California and secured a $200 million revolving credit line that would allow Mutual to produce and finance films without approval from a major film studio. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, released in 2001, became the second highest-grossing film produced by Mutual (after Saving Private Ryan), while its sequel, subtitled The Cradle of Life, underperformed. Mutual's investors left the company, citing the poor box office performances of the many films produced.

In September 2000, Gordon left Mutual to relaunch his own company, the Mark Gordon Company. Film producer Don Granger joined the company, working alongside Levinsohn.

Filmography Mutual Film Company has produced 21 films. Of these, only two of them, Blue Ice and The Ripper were made-for-television productions. Note that in some cases the distributor or distributors are also co-producers. The box office column reflects the worldwide gross for the theatrical release of the films in United States dollars. Year Title Director Co-production company(s) Distributor(s) Box office Blue Ice 1Bregman Productions, M&M Productions and Guild Film DistributionHBO The Real McCoy 2Bregman/Baer Productions, Capella InternationalUniversal Pictures $6,484,246 12 MonkeysAtlas EntertainmentUniversal Pictures $168,839,459 AngusAtlas Entertainment, Turner Pictures; in association with BBC, and Tele-MünchenNew Line Cinema $4,821,759 The Relic Marubeni/Toho-Towa, Tele-München and BBC Paramount Pictures $33,956,608 The Jackal Alphaville Films Universal Pictures $159,330,280 The Ripper 1 Janet Meyers Universal Television Hard Rain Marubeni/Toho-Towa, Tele-München, BBC UGC-PH and Nordisk Film Paramount PicturesUniversal Pictures $19,870,567 Primary Colors Icarus Productions Universal Pictures $52,090,187 Paulie John Roberts DreamWorks Pictures $26,875,268 Black Dog Prelude Pictures Universal Pictures $12,951,088 Saving Private Ryan Amblin Entertainment DreamWorks Pictures;Paramount Pictures$481,840,909 A Simple Plan Savoy Pictures, in association with BBC, Marubeni, Tele-München, Toho-Towa and UGC-PH Paramount PicturesUniversal Pictures$16,316,273 Virus John Bruno Valhalla Motion Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment Universal Pictures$30,652,005 Man on the Moon Jersey Films, Shapiro/West Productions, in association with Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa Universal Pictures$47,434,430 Isn't She Great Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa Universal Pictures$3,003,296 Wonder Boys Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa Paramount PicturesUniversal Pictures$33,426,588 The Patriot Centropolis Entertainment Columbia Pictures$215,294,342 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Lawrence Gordon Productions, Eidos Interactive, in association with Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa Paramount Pictures$274,703,340 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life Lawrence Gordon Productions, Eidos Interactive, in association with Tele-München, BBC and Marubeni/Toho-Towa Paramount Pictures$156,505,388 Timeline Cobalt Media Group, The Donners' Company, Artists Production Group Paramount Pictures$43,935,763 Snakes on a Plane New Line Cinema$62,022,014 Deadfall StudioCanal, 2929 Productions Magnolia Pictures$66,351 Jack Reacher 2 Skydance Productions, Cruise/Wagner Productions Paramount Pictures$218,340,595 Box office total: $2,038,199,808 —'

1 Released as a made-for-television film2 Uncredited

References