The story
Founded by James G. Robinson and Joe Roth in 1988.1
In 1984, James G. Robinson, while working at Subaru, formed his first independent production company Independent Productions, Inc. The company produced The Stone Boy, Grunt! The Wrestling Movie, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Where the River Runs Black, and Streets of Gold. The company was supplanted in 1987 by Morgan Creek Productions.
Morgan Creek Productions' initial slate of films from 1988 to 1990 were released by 20th Century Fox, except for Renegades and Coupe de Ville, which were released by Universal Pictures and Major League, which was released by Paramount Pictures, and some home video releases of its early titles going to Media Home Entertainment. In 1991, beginning with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the company shifted distribution of new films, as well as previous catalog titles, to Warner Bros., where they remained until early 2005. Later that year, beginning with Two for the Money, newer films were released through Universal, though previous films were still handled in the United States by Warner Bros.
In 1996, Morgan Creek Productions tried to expand into animated feature-film production. Only one, The King and I, was produced, and it flopped.
On July 11, 1997, Gary Barber announced that he would leave Morgan Creek Productions; he subsequently went on to start out Spyglass Entertainment. In 1998, Morgan Creek Productions had a distribution deal with Warner Home Video to release its products through the Morgan Creek Video and Morgan Creek DVD labels.
In 1998, Morgan Creek Productions and Tribune Entertainment teamed up to make a TV series based on The Exorcist, but the project never got off the ground.
On October 8, 1998, Morgan Creek Productions and Franchise Pictures entered into an agreement whereby Morgan Creek Productions would distribute Franchise's upcoming films domestically via Warner Bros. On July 2, 2001, Morgan Creek Productions sued Franchise Pictures for allegedly breaching an agreement, giving the company the right of first refusal on some films.
In October 2014, following the bankruptcy of Inverness Distribution, Morgan Creek Productions' international distribution rights and copyrights to their films were sold to Revolution Studios for $36.75 million. In September 2015, Morgan Creek began negotiating the sale of rights for the remaining territories, though the company intended to retain remake and television rights to the Ace Ventura, Major League, Young Guns, and The Exorcist franchises. On February 15, 2026, co-founder and CEO James G. Robinson died aged 90.
From Wikipedia’s article on Morgan Creek Entertainment, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4