The Playtone Company (stylized on-screen as PLAY•TONE; a.k.a. Playtone Productions, formerly Clavius Base Productions) is an American film and television production company established in 1987 and registered on January 23, 1998 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman, and based in Santa Monica, California.
The company was named after the fictional record company of the same name in the 1996 film That Thing You Do!, written and directed by Hanks; it also uses the same company logo, typically revealed on-screen with a brief instrumental snippet of the titular song itself, with some variations in each film depending on subject matter. The success of the film served as a spring-board to launch an actual Playtone Records label that year, with its first release being the film's soundtrack.
History In 1987, Tom Hanks formed its own production company, Clavius Base Productions, with a non-exclusive, first-look deal at the Walt Disney Studios. The company is named after the base from 2001: A Space Odyssey. After five years at Disney, the company signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox in 1992.
Although it was an in-name only operation, the company only produced one film under the original company name, the hit film That Thing You Do!, which inspired the later Playtone name. In 1995, the company produced the expensive HBO miniseries and its first foray into television, From the Earth to the Moon, in collaboration with Imagine Television, which was aired in 1998 and beginning of a long-running relationship between the company and HBO.
The success of the movie led Hanks to partner with Gary Goetzman, then of Jonathan Demme's production firm, to sign a deal with Universal Pictures in 1997, and eventually registered under the Playtone name, supplanting the earlier Clavius Base firm and adopted the firm, previously used for the Playtone Records label. The company then scored its hit with another HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers, which was released in 2001.
Filmography Feature films Year Film Directed by Co-production(s) Distributor(s) Released filmsas Clavius Base1996That Thing You Do!Tom HanksClinica Estetico20th Century Foxas Playtone 2000 Cast Away Robert Zemeckis ImageMovers 20th Century Fox (North America)DreamWorks Pictures (International) 2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding Joel Zwick Gold Circle Films, HBO Films and MPH Entertainment IFC Films 2004 The Polar Express Robert Zemeckis Castle Rock Entertainment, ImageMovers and Shangri-La Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures 2005 Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon Mark Cowen — IMAX 2006 Neil Young: Heart of Gold Jonathan Demme Reprise Records and Shangri-La Entertainment Paramount Classics The Ant Bully John A. Davis DNA Productions and Legendary Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures Starter for 10 Tom Vaughan BBC Films, HBO Films and Neal Street Productions Picturehouse (United States)Icon Film Distribution (United Kingdom) 2007 Charlie Wilson's War Mike Nichols Participant Productions and Relativity Media Universal Pictures 2008 The Great Buck Howard Sean McGinly Bristol Bay Productions and Walden Media Magnolia Pictures Mamma Mia! Phyllida Lloyd Relativity Media and Littlestar Universal Pictures City of Ember Gil Kenan Walden Media 20th Century Fox 2009 My Life in Ruins Donald Petrie — Fox Searchlight Pictures Where the Wild Things Are Spike Jonze Legendary Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures 2011 Larry Crowne Tom Hanks Vendôme Pictures Universal Pictures 2013 Parkland Peter Landesman American Film Company Exclusive Media Group 2016 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Kirk Jones Gold Circle Films and HBO Films Universal Pictures A Hologram for the King Tom Tykwer X-Filme Creative Pool and Primeridian Entertainment Lionsgate FilmsRoadside AttractionsSaban Films 2017 The Circle James Ponsoldt Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Likely Story EuropaCorpSTX Entertainment 2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Ol Parker Legendary Pictures and Littlestar Universal Pictures 2020 Greyhound Aaron Schneider Sony Pictures, Stage 6 Films, Bron Studios, FilmNation Entertainment, Sycamore Pictures and Zhengfu Pictures Apple TV+ News of the World Paul Greengrass Pretty Pictures Universal Pictures (United States)Netflix (International) 2023 A Man Called OttoMarc ForsterColumbia Pictures, Stage 6 Films, SF Studios, Artistic Films, 2DUX², Big Indie and STXfilmsSony Pictures Releasing My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Nia Vardalos Gold Circle Films and HBO Films Focus Features 2024 The Bloody Hundredth Mark HerzogLaurent Bouzereau Amblin Television and Herzog & Co. Apple TV+
Series Television series Year(s) Title Created by Co-production(s) Distributor Original Network Released series1998From the Earth to the MoonAndrew ChaikinImagine TelevisionWarner Bros. TelevisionHBO 2001 Band of Brothers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg DreamWorks Television 2003 My Big Fat Greek Life Nia Vardalos and Marsh McCall Brad Grey Productions / Marsh McCall Productions Sony Pictures Television CBS 2006–2011 Big Love Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer Anima Sola Productions Warner Bros. Television HBO 2008 John Adams David Coatsworth and Steve Shareshian High Noon Productions / Mid Atlantic Films 2010 The Pacific Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman DreamWorks Television 2012 Game Change Mark Halperin and John Heilemann HBO Films 2014 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout As Is Productions The Sixties Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog Herzog & Company CNN 2015 The Seventies 2016 The Eighties 2017 The Nineties 2018 The 2000s 2019 The Movies 2023 The 2010s 2024 Masters of the Air John Shiban and John Orloff Amblin Television / Apple Studios Apple Inc. Apple TV+
Web series Year(s) Title Created by Co-production(s) Distributor Original Network 2012 Electric City Tom Hanks 6 Point Harness / Reliance Entertainment Yahoo! Yahoo! Screen
Playtone Records releases That Thing You Do! soundtrack (1996) The Sopranos soundtrack (1999) Bring It On soundtrack (2000) The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs soundtrack (2001) Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack (2001) Band of Brothers soundtrack (2001) My Big Fat Greek Wedding soundtrack (2002) The Truth About Charlie soundtrack (2002) Starter for 10 soundtrack (2006)
See also List of record labels
References
External links