| Silver Screen Partners L.P. | |
| Type: | Limited Partnership |
| Fate: | Dissolved |
| Successor: | Touchwood Pacific Partners |
| Foundation: | [1] |
| Founder: | Roland W. Betts |
Silver Screen Partners refers to four limited partnerships organized as an alternative funding source for film production originally formed by American investor Roland W. Betts as a collaboration with cable television network HBO in 1983. The managing general partner for the partnerships was Silver Screen Management, Inc.[2]
Silver Screen Partners entered into an agreement with The Walt Disney Company beginning in 1985 to collaborate with the Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Hollywood Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures studios to produce works such as The Great Mouse Detective; Return to Oz; The Black Cauldron; Volunteers; Down and Out in Beverly Hills; Three Men and a Baby; Good Morning, Vietnam; Cocktail; Oliver & Company; Dead Poets Society; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Turner & Hooch; The Little Mermaid; Pretty Woman; Dick Tracy; The Rescuers Down Under; Beauty and the Beast; and Encino Man. Despite a string of successful films, Silver Screen Partners became defunct in 1992.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush was a member of Silver Screen Management, Inc.'s board of directors from 1983 to 1993. This became a part of the campaign issue over Hollywood's "pervasiveness of violence", centered around Silver Screen Management Board's approval of the highly violent horror-suspense film The Hitcher, when Bush ran for president in 2000.[3]
The original Silver Screen Partners L.P. was organized by New York film investment broker Roland W. Betts to fund movies for HBO on April 19, 1983, and officially formed in Delaware on June 8 of that year. The limited partnerships (13,000) sold through EF Hutton were oversubscribed and raised $83 million. HBO made a 50 percent guarantee on their investment for exclusive cable rights. Another 40% was guaranteed by Thorn EMI, a British firm, for foreign distribution and foreign TV and videocassette markets. Additional income was lined up for domestic videocassette sales.[4] HBO's film division was just starting out so film output was slow.[5] For the Silver Screen/HBO films, the partnership was active in the process from selecting film pitches and negotiating release dates with the distributor. In 1984, the first HBO/Silver Screen movie, Flashpoint, was released through TriStar Pictures as were all the HBO/Silver Screen films.[4]
Silver Screen Partners II, L.P. began financing films for The Walt Disney Company in 1985 with $193 million[6] from 20,000 limited partners. Silver Screen was hands-off with Disney given its name and new management team led by Michael Eisner, formerly at Paramount. HBO was expecting that Silver Screen would return to them for its third limited partnership.[4] However, in January 1987, Silver Screen Partners III began financing movies for Disney with $300 million raised, the largest amount raised for a film financing limited partnership by EF Hutton.[6]
Silver Screen's fourth limited partnership, Silver Screen Partners IV, was also set up to finance Disney's studios. On October 23, 1990, The Walt Disney Company formed Touchwood Pacific Partners which supplanted the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary source of funding.[7]
In 1991, Silver Screen Partners III, L.P. was among a group of production companies were sued for copyright infringement over Who Framed Roger Rabbits "End Title" song.[8]
The partnerships paid for the movie's production costs and shared in the gross dollars in all markets from theater to television. Limited partners received their return before the production company could defray any of their expenses. This is preferred by investors as it guarantees some return if the film fails or has budget overrun and from the producer's overhead. Profits from a single film cannot be used to cover losses on other films, making the partnership somewhat risky.[5]
| Title | Release Date | Co-Production with | Budget | Gross | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Footloose | February 17, 1984 | ||||
| Flashpoint | August 31, 1984 | HBO Films | |||
| Heaven Help Us | February 8, 1985 | ||||
| March 22, 1985 | $14,972,297 | ||||
| Return to Oz | June 21, 1985 | $25,000,000 | $11,137,801 | ||
| The Black Cauldron | July 24, 1985 | $21,288,692 | |||
| My Science Project | August 9, 1985 | $4,122,748 | |||
| Volunteers | August 16, 1985 | ||||
| The Journey of Natty Gann | September 27, 1985 | N/A | $9,708,373 | ||
| Sweet Dreams | October 2, 1985 | ||||
| One Magic Christmas | November 22, 1985 | N/A | $13,677,222 | ||
| Head Office | January 3, 1986 | ||||
| Down and Out in Beverly Hills | January 31, 1986 | $14 million | $91,411,255 | ||
| The Hitcher | February 21, 1986 | ||||
| Odd Jobs | March, 1986 | ||||
| Off Beat | April 11, 1986 | $4,117,061 | |||
| Ruthless People | June 27, 1986 | $71,233,101 | |||
| The Great Mouse Detective | July 2, 1986 | $14 million | $38,625,550 | ||
| Tough Guys | October 3, 1986 | $18 million | $21,458,229 | ||
| The Color of Money | October 17, 1986 | $13,800,000 | $76,728,982 | ||
| Outrageous Fortune | January 30, 1987 | $25 million | $65,864,741 | ||
| Tin Men | March 6, 1987 | $11,000,000 | $25,411,386 | ||
| Ernest Goes to Camp | May 22, 1987 | $3,500,000 | $23,509,382 | ||
| Benji the Hunted | June 17, 1987 | Walt Disney Pictures and Mulberry Square Productions | $22,257,624 | ||
| Adventures in Babysitting | July 1, 1987 | $7 million | $34,368,475 | ||
| Stakeout | August 5, 1987 | $28,215,000 | $65,673,233 | ||
| Can't Buy Me Love | August 14, 1987 | Touchstone Pictures and The Mount Company | $31,623,833 | ||
| Hello Again | November 6, 1987 | $20,419,446 | |||
| Three Men and a Baby | November 25, 1987 | $15 million | $167,780,960 | ||
| Good Morning, Vietnam | December 23, 1987 | $13 million | $123,922,370 | ||
| Shoot to Kill | February 12, 1988 | $29,300,090 | |||
| D.O.A. | March 18, 1988 | $3.5 million | $12,706,478 | ||
| Return to Snowy River | April 15, 1988 | $13,687,027 | |||
| Big Business | June 10, 1988 | $20 million | $40,150,487 | ||
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit | June 22, 1988 | Touchstone Pictures and Amblin Entertainment | $50,587,000 | $329,803,958 | |
| Cocktail | July 29, 1988 | $6,000,000 | $171,504,781 | ||
| The Rescue | August 5, 1988 | $5,855,392 | |||
| Heartbreak Hotel | September 30, 1988 | $5,509,417 | |||
| The Good Mother | November 4, 1988 | $14 million | $4,764,606 | ||
| Ernest Saves Christmas | November 11, 1988 | $6,000,000 (estimate) | $28,202,109 | ||
| Oliver & Company | November 18, 1988 | $74,151,346 | |||
| Beaches | December 21, 1988 | Touchstone Pictures and All Girl Productions | $57,041,866 | ||
| Three Fugitives | January 27, 1989 | $15,000,000 | $40,586,886 | ||
| Disorganized Crime | April 14, 1989 | Touchstone Pictures and Kouf/Bigelow Productions | $20 million | $7,724,000 | |
| Dead Poets Society | June 9, 1989 | $16.4 million | $235,860,116 | ||
| Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | June 23, 1989 | $18 million | $222,724,172 | ||
| Turner & Hooch | July 28, 1989 | $42 million | $71,079,915 | ||
| Cheetah | August 18, 1989 | $5 million | $8,153,677 | ||
| An Innocent Man | October 6, 1989 | Touchstone Pictures and Sandollar Productions | $20,047,604 | ||
| Gross Anatomy | October 20, 1989 | $25 million | $11,604,598 | ||
| The Little Mermaid | November 17, 1989 | $40 million | $211,343,479 | ||
| Blaze | December 13, 1989 | $18 million | $19,131,246 | ||
| Where the Heart Is | February 23, 1990 | $22 million | $1,106,475 | ||
| Pretty Woman | March 23, 1990 | $14 million | $463,407,268 | ||
| Ernest Goes to Jail | April 6, 1990 | $9,000,000 | $25,029,569 | ||
| Spaced Invaders | April 27, 1990 | $5,000,000 | $15,369,573 | ||
| Fire Birds | May 25, 1990 | $14,760,451 | |||
| Dick Tracy | June 15, 1990 | $46 million | $162,738,726 | ||
| Betsy's Wedding | June 22, 1990 | $36 million | $19,740,070 | ||
| Taking Care of Business | August 17, 1990 | $14 million | $20,005,435 | ||
| Mr. Destiny | October 12, 1990 | $19 million | $15,379,253 | ||
| The Rescuers Down Under | November 16, 1990 | $27,931,461 | |||
| Three Men and a Little Lady | November 21, 1990 | $71,609,321 | |||
| Green Card | December 23, 1990 | $29,888,235 | |||
| White Fang | January 18, 1991 | Walt Disney Pictures and Hybrid Productions Inc. | $14 million | $34,793,160 | |
| Run | February 1, 1991 | $4,409,328 | |||
| Scenes from a Mall | February 22, 1991 | $3 million | $9,563,393 | ||
| The Marrying Man | April 5, 1991 | $26 million | $12,454,768 | ||
| Oscar | April 26, 1991 | $35 million | $23,562,716 | ||
| One Good Cop | May 3, 1991 | $11,276,846 | |||
| Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken | May 24, 1991 | Walt Disney Pictures and Pegasus Entertainment | $7,294,835 | ||
| The Rocketeer | June 21, 1991 | Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and The Gordon Company | $42,000,000 | $62,000,000 | |
| The Doctor | July 24, 1991 | $24 million | $38,120,905 | ||
| V.I. Warshawski | July 26, 1991 | $11,128,309 | |||
| True Identity | August 23, 1991 | $15 million | $4,693,236 | ||
| Deceived | September 27, 1991 | $30 million | $28,738,096 | ||
| Ernest Scared Stupid | October 11, 1991 | $9,600,000 | $14,143,280 | ||
| Beauty and the Beast | November 22, 1991 | $25 million | $418,460,691 | ||
| Blame It on the Bellboy | March 6, 1992 | $3,104,545 | |||
| Newsies | April 10, 1992 | $15 million | $2,819,485 | ||
| Encino Man | May 22, 1992 | $7 million | $40.7 million | ||