American Zoetrope
 | |
| Company type | Production company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motion pictures Television |
| Founded | December 12, 1969 (1969-12-12) |
| Founder | Francis Ford Coppola George Lucas |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Owner | Francis Ford Coppola Roman Coppola Sofia Coppola |
| Website | zoetrope.com |
American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1990) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.
Opened on December 12, 1969, the studio has produced not only the films of Coppola (including Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Tetro), but also George Lucas's pre-Star Wars film THX 1138, as well as many others by avant-garde directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Wim Wenders and Godfrey Reggio. American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV.
Four films produced by American Zoetrope are included in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films. American Zoetrope-produced films have received 15 Academy Awards and 68 nominations.
American Zoetrope is located in the Sentinel Building
Formation
Initially located in a warehouse at 827 Folsom Street on the second floor of The Automatt building, the company's headquarters have, since 1972, been in the historic Sentinel Building, at 916 Kearny Street in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.
Coppola named the studio after a zoetrope he was given in the late 1960s by the filmmaker and collector of early film devices, Mogens Skot-Hansen. "Zoetrope" is also the name by which Coppola's quarterly fiction magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, is often known.
In 1980, the company bought General Service Studios in Hollywood, California, and became Zoetrope Studios, to produce and distribute films, as did later DreamWorks studio.
In 1999, it signed a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a first-look financing and production agreement. In 2000, it signed a 10-year financing pact with VCL Film + Meiden to handle foreign sales of their own titles.
By 2007, ownership of American Zoetrope had been passed to Coppola's son and daughter, directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola.
In 2010, Lionsgate announced a deal to distribute American Zoetrope films, including classics like "The Conversation" and "Apocalypse Now," in North America on DVD, Blu-ray, electronic-sell-through, VOD as well as broadcast distribution rights. The only movies from the Coppola canon that won't be released as part of the pact are the "Godfather" trilogy, which is owned by Paramount.
Zoetrope.com, the Coppola family's website, was created around 1996 and became an online community for writers. In 2016, Francis Ford Coppola announced its relaunch as a "virtual studio".
Filmography
Feature films
Television series
| Year | Title | Creator | Company | Credit | Network | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | The Outsiders | characters by: S.E. Hinton developed by: S.E. Hinton Joe Byrne Jeb Rosebrook |
Zoetrope Studios | Production Company | Fox | co-production with Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment | |
| 1997 | The Odyssey | Andrei Konchalovsky based on Odyssey by: Homer |
American Zoetrope | Production Company (as American Zoetrope San Francisco) | NBC | miniseries; co-production with Hallmark Entertainment | |
| 1998 | Moby Dick | Anton Diether Franc Roddam Benedict Fitzgerald based on Moby-Dick by: Herman Melville |
Production Company | USA Network | miniseries; co-production with Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Network Australia and USA Pictures | ||
| 1998–2001 | First Wave | Chris Brancato | Sci-Fi Channel | co-production with Sugar Entertainment | |||
| 2003 | Platinum | John Ridley Sofia Coppola |
UPN | co-production with The Greenblatt/Janollari Studio, International Famous Players Radio Picture Corporation and Eye Productions | |||
| 2004–2007 | The 4400 | René Echevarria Scott Peters |
USA Network | co-production with Renegade 83, Viacom Productions (season 1), Paramount Network Television (season 2) and CBS Paramount Network Television (seasons 3–4) | |||
| 2014–2018 | Mozart in the Jungle | based on Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music by: Blair Tindall developed by: Roman Coppola Jason Schwartzman Alex Timbers Paul Weitz |
Amazon Video | co-production with Depth of Field, Picrow and Amazon Studios |
Cafe Zoetrope at ground level of the building
Cafe Zoetrope
In the building lobby, Coppola operates a small Italian café, Cafe Zoetrope, featuring Inglenook Estate wine and memorabilia from his films. Earlier, the building had been the location of Enrico Banducci's "hungry i" nightclub.
The neighborhood is well known for its cafes and its writers. Coppola wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather in the nearby Caffe Trieste and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books is located up Columbus Avenue from the Sentinel Building.
Further reading
- Davies, Tom S., "Impressive Failures: Mavericks of Film Authorship and the Impossibility of Success in Hollywood" (2017). City University of New York Academic Works.
References
- ^ Fog City Mavericks. Starz, Englewood, CO, USA. June 15, 2011. Television.
- ^ "Francis Ford Coppola". UCLA School of TFT. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
- ^ Howell, Daedalus (January 31, 2013). "American Zoetrope: 827 Folsom, San Francisco". Daedalus Howell. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
- ^ oneperfectshot. " The Rise and Revolution of American Zoetrope and New Hollywood". Twitter. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
- ^ Connelly, Sherilyn (October 24, 2011). "The City's First Dot-Com, 1969: George Lucas and Francis Coppola's American Zoetrope". SF Weekly. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
- ^ "American Zoetrope: Films". www.zoetrope.com. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
- ^ Exclusive Interview: Coppola Archivist James Mockoski, retrieved June 14, 2023
- ^ "Forerunner to Dreamworks, Coppola's risky Zoetrope Studios bucked system". Variety. November 11, 1997. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ Hellerman, Jason (October 26, 2020). "How Did Coppola's American Zoetrope Almost Change Hollywood?". No Film School. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
- ^ Higgins, Bill (June 4, 1999). "MGM-Coppola deal shifts". Variety. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
- ^ Dawtrey, Adam; Harris, Dana (May 16, 2000). "Zoetrope, VCL pact". Variety. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
- ^ Coppola stated this in an interview with Harry Knowles for Ain't It Cool News published on May 8, 2007.
- ^ "Lionsgate, Zoetrope ink distribution deal | THR". The Hollywood Reporter. July 26, 2010.
- ^ "Lionsgate Distributing Coppola Classics on DVD, Blu-ray | THR". July 26, 2010.
- ^ "Francis Ford Coppola Re-Launches Virtual Studio Zoetrope | Brent Land | The Wrap". July 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq "American Zoetrope: Films", zoetrope.com. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
- ^ American Zoetrope
- ^ Zoetrope Studios
- ^ "Last Days in the Desert". Cinefex. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
- ^ Goldsmith, Jill (March 3, 2020). "Tribeca Sets Feature Lineup Of Films For 2020 Fest". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 15, 2019). "Sofia Coppola And Bill Murray To Reteam For 'On The Rocks', Apple & A24's First Film". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
- ^ McNary, Dave (October 30, 2018). "Film News Roundup: Andrew Garfield Joins Gia Coppola's Romance Movie 'Mainstream'". Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (June 6, 2022). "Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy Star in 'Fairyland' Adaptation for American Zoetrope". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
- ^ Stanley, Alessandra (April 14, 2003). "TELEVISION REVIEW; 'Dynasty,' with a Hip-Hop Beat". The New York Times.
- ^ "Cafe Zoetrope". Archived from the original on May 25, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
External links
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