<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%>
Profile of an Industry Leader: Joe Roth
Slim Pictures
Profile of an Industry Leader: Joe
Roth
by Scott Markus
Update:
Roth is producing the 76th Annual Academy Awards ceremony.
All images on this page compliments of WireImages. |
Over the past three years Revolution Studios
has gone from an idea in the head of a visionary to one of the most successful
production companies in America, associated with the biggest names in
the industry. Not even half way into the year of 2003, Revolution had
already released the horror flick “Darkness Falls,” Bruce
Willis’s gutsy military story “Tears of the Sun,” and
the biggest April opening of all time, “Anger Management.”
The second half of the year was a little more hit-and-miss with another
delay to the release of the first Flash animated movie, “'Lil' Pimp,”
the Eddie Murphy family comedy, “Daddy Day Care,” “Gigli,”
with Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, and “Hollywood Homicide,”
a Harrison Ford / Josh Hartnett buddy action film touted as the next,
next '48 HRS.' The calendar year closed out with Cuba Gooding Jr.’s
“Radio,” “Mona Lisa Smile,” with Julia Roberts,
and an epic retelling of “Peter Pan” complete with special
effects from Industrial Light and Magic.
It can be argued that none of these movies would be made,
nor would countless millions of dollars in revenue be generated if it
weren’t for the vision, business sense, and style of one man: Joe
Roth.
A native New Yorker, Roth’s first exposure to production
came when he made the move to San Francisco and took jobs as a production
assistant to a number of feature films and commercials. While he later
took a job as a booker for United Artists, his real break didn’t
come until he started setting lights for a Los Angeles-based improvisational
troupe called the Pitchel Players. Over time Roth began producing their
shows.
In the mid 1970s Roth used his limited resources and the
actors he’d met through working with the improv team, and produced
an independent film that spoofed television programming called “Tunnelvision.”
The members of the improvisational group featured in the film included
Ron Silver, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Howard Hesseman, Betty Thomas,
Tom Davis and Al Franken. The film had a modest budget of $250,000, but
ended up grossing $17 million over the several years since its initial
release.
Low budget films with young talent, yielding high returns
became Roth’s specialty over the next decade. He executive produced
“Bachelor Party,” one of the first films to give Tom Hanks
a mainstream spotlight, and he directed “Revenge of the Nerds II.” |
After establishing himself as a successful producer,
plus having directed two feature films, Roth partnered with Jim Robinson to
create Morgan Creek Productions in the late 1980s. Their first films “Dead
Ringers” and “Young Guns,” achieved varying degrees of success.
It was only a couple of years at the helm of Morgan
Creek Productions before the position of Chairman of 20th Century Fox’s
theatrical film division. While Roth was Chairman there he oversaw countless
hits and blockbusters including, “Sleeping with the Enemy,” “White
Men Can’t Jump,” "Edward Scissorhands,” “The Last
of the Mochicans,” "Hot Shots,” and "Home Alone.”
While at Fox, Roth worked with some of the most
important and most difficult talent to work with, but somehow found a way to
develop strong and respectful mutual friendships. His relaxed and easy-goin
managerial style is referred to by many as being “low-key and contemplative.
(Hollywood.com)” It is not common for a director, producer, or actor to
be enticed to work with a particular studio because they know they will be working
under a certain executive, but Roth started to change this perception.
Having the stigma of being ‘filmmaker-friendly,’
helped him weather the less successful fare released at Fox including the Robin
Williams flop “Toys” and “Hoffa.”
Roth elected to leave Fox,
choosing to team with Roger Birnbaum to create Caravan Pictures, which
was set up, with help from then Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, as an independent
production company housed with a commitment at Disney.
After a mere year and a half and with hits
from “Angels in the Outfield” and “Sleepless in Seattle,”
Roth ended up replacing Katzenberg as Disney’s CEO. He hit a home
run in his first time up to bat with Disney thanks to 1994’s “The
Santa Clause.”
At this point Joe Roth has gone from co-producing
low-budget comedies to leading the direction of one of the largest studios
in the world in the space of a mere three years. Becoming the CEO of Disney,
Roth became the first director to ever hold the top position in a major
studio.
Roth was not only associated with one of
the most powerful studios in the industry, but he had keys in hand and
sat behind the wheel. Overseeing the divisions of Disney, Touchstone,
Hollywood, Caravan, and Miramax, Roth first looked to make cuts. He closed
down the development and production of Hollywood Pictures and allowed
Caravan to shop their projects around. He also cut the slate of released
films per year to just 20, and, of the live-action films released, Roth
made an effort to lower their budgets. Roth, himself, decided to take
on additional tasks in Disney TV production, TV animation, and their home
video department.
|
Joe Roth with current Disney CEO Michael Eisner. |
Despite the many changes and deep cuts, Roth aimed
to please everyone whose job he eliminated or altered. He was successful, highly
due to pre-existing relationships and to his relaxed and welcoming demeanor.
Now, with the budget smaller and the overall Disney
system more streamlined, Roth set his sights on the international marketplace.
He believed that creating and displaying a recognizable brand name was secondary
to creating a story that people around the world would be able to connect with
and understand.
Disney brought in more money than any other studio
for five of his six years as Disney’s CEO. Blockbusters at Roth oversaw
include “Hercules,” “A Bug’s Life,” "Armageddon,”
and “The Sixth Sense.”
Shortly into the new millennium, Roth continued
his pattern of leaving a major studio to create his own company – Revolution
Studios. Unlike Caravan and Morgan Creek, his next company would be a virtual
money machine creating all genre of film and somehow finding nearly every audience.
While Joe Roth became a name with notoriety and
weight, no one, even him, can start a company on their own and expect results.
His business savvy came to the forefront when collecting startup revenue, while
his impeccable relationship skills landed the largest Hollywoodnames in his
office and attached to his studio.
 |
Bruce Willis, Adam Sandler, and the most
bankable name in Hollywood (according to the Hollywood Reporter) Julia
Roberts all agreed to multi-picture deals with his Santa Monica-based
company.
With big names attached, Roth promised his perspective
investors that he would create six films per year over the next six years
and he would make them for $10 million less than it would take any other
studio to make them. Knowing that at least nine of those films would include
one of the afore-mentioned names, Sony fronted $75 million and agreed
to promote and distribute Revolution’s films without distribution
fees in exchange for a 7.5% stake in the company. This deal was huge considering
that promotional costs are the fast growing expense in the film industry;
roughly $20-30 million per film today. Now, with two major departments
(promotion & distribution) doing all of their work without charging
anything more, it was an easy(er) sell to the biggest investors in town. |
Another $150 million came by way of Star Encore
who got a 15% stake and the pay-TV rights. Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV operation
purchased the broadcast and cable-TV rights to the yet unmade films for $25
million. They would also receive a 2.5% piece of Revolution Studios. In keeping
mindful of the international Marketplace, he negotiated deals with German-based
Senator Films and Toho-Tawa of Japan. Due to these and other deals, before Revolution
had even released its first film, the company was valued at exactly one billion
dollars.
This creates a unique situation with both Sony
and Fox invested; these two huge corporations are now pulling Revolution’s
success rather than competing against it. His next move was to secure international
distribution, which he did through
The first film released by Revolution reflected
back to Joe Roth’s start, the low-budget comedy “Tomcats.”
In 2002, Revolution released two more of the genre “Stealing Harvard”
and “The New Guy.” Though they both turned a nice profit, Revolution
has decided to steer clear of that genre, instead focusing on pretty much everything
else.
“Darkness Falls,” a $10 million thriller grossed over $30 million
in the domestic box office. Jennifer Lopez has worked on two Revolution films.
The one that has been released, “Maid in Manhattan,” matched Roth’s
own directorial success of “America’s Sweethearts,” grossing
nearly $100 million for each film domestically. The unique pairing of Jack Nicholson
and Adam Sandler in “Anger Management” has broken every opening
weekend record for comedies and the month of April and ended up being the eleventh
highest grossing film of 2003. It made $138 million, putting it in the range
of 2002’s blockbuster “XXX.”
In fact, it is largely thanks to Revolution Studios
films, particularly “XXX,” that, in 2002, Sony Pictures broke their
record for most money made in a single year. What’s very noteworthy is
that Sony set the $1.3 billion benchmark in August – with another four
months of the year remaining.
According to Columbia TriStar Marketing Group President
Geoffrey Ammer, "[Revolution has] a complete spectrum of films big, small
and medium that are succeeding, and there is a real diversity in the slate."
(Hollywood Reporter 1/7/03)
The diversity can’t be clearer then when
juxtaposing a movie like “XXX” with “Punch Drunk Love,”
a very low budget movie that earned Paul Thomas Anderson a Best Director Award
at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
While the success of Revolution Studios in the
near and far future seems almost certain, insiders speculate that it might not
be Roth at the helm for very much longer, as it he is in line to take over as
the Chief Executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment in the next few years when
current CEO John Calley retires.
A sampling of why Joe Roth and his Revolution Studios
has been such a success is said best by Ice Cube, who also recently signed to
a multi-picture deal with the company (possibly as many as six films in the
next three years):
“It's one of the coolest companies
to be in business with because you actually get to talk to the man [Roth]
— the guy who is running the company. He loves to make movies. His
whole team over there loves to make movies, and they are all excited about
putting movies together. That's the kind of people you want to be in business
with. And they share the same vision for my company and career as I do,
so hopefully we can take it to the next level. It's like a shoe that fits.
All I want is the opportunity to make a good movie, and this is the place
I want to be. You meet a lot of people, and you see who you really vibe
with, and I vibe well with Joe Roth.” (Kit) |
Sources
*Erickson, Hal. “Joe Roth Biography,” All Movie Guide.
20 April 2003. http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800111487&cf=biog&intl=us.
*Fuson, Brian. “April 'Anger' only hot flash: Boxoffice
can't match last year's record,” The Hollywood Reporter. 28 April 2003.
*Fuson, Brian. “Studios juggle summer skeds,” The
Hollywood Reporter. 09 April 2001.
*Fuson, Brian. “Sony laps field in historic year,”
The Hollywood Reporter. 19 August 2002.
*Brian Fuson. “'XXX's and 000s: $46 mil b.o.: Diesel actioner
fuels third-best August opening,” The Hollywood Reporter. 12 August 2002.
*Gardner, Chris and Mohr, Ian. “Revolution teams with Miramax
on 'Life' for Lopez,” The Hollywood Reporter. 08 January, 2003.
*Grove, Martin A. “Strong Revolution slate on heels of hit
'Punch',” The Hollywood Reporter. 16 October 2002.
*Grover, Ron. “Power Lunch,” Businessweek Online.
30 July 2002. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jul2002/nf20020730_8791.htm.
*Honeycutt, Kirk. “Tears of the Sun,” The Hollywood
Reporter. 03 March 2003.
*Joe Roth Biography, Hollywood.com. 20 April 2003. http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/bio/celeb/1674211.
*Kit, Zorianna. “Anticipating hit, Revolution revs sequel
to 'XXX,'” The Hollywood Reporter. 08 May 2002.
*Kit, Zorianna. “Ice Cube cool with Revolution,” The
Hollywood Reporter. 26 February 2003.
*Kit, Zorianna. “Revolution takes MGM's 'Hostage'; Willis
confirmed,” The Hollywood Reporter. 12 November 2002.
*“Sony Pictures spins a winning web: 'Spider-Man' sparks
a super year,” The Hollywood Reporter. Jan. 07, 2003.
*Sperling Nicole. “One last spring fling for H'wood: Four
wide openers duke it out before
summer tentpoles go up,” The Hollywood Reporter. 25 April 2003.
*“The Vine: Roth courted to be 'Willie' coach,” The
Hollywood Reporter. Mar. 06, 2003.
*All Box Office information gathered from www.BoxOfficeMojo.com