The Geffen Film Company

The Geffen Company
The Geffen Film Company, Inc.
Geffen Pictures
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryFilm distributor and production company
Founded
  • 1982; 44 years ago (1982)
FounderDavid Geffen
Defunct1998; 28 years ago (1998)
FateFolded into Warner Bros.
SuccessorsDreamWorks Pictures
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, United States
Key peopleDavid Geffen
Eric Eisner
DivisionsGeffen Records (1980–1999)
Geffen Television
Logo used from 1982 to 1998, and again for its 2024 revival

The Geffen Film Company (also known as The Geffen Company, The Geffen Film Company, Inc., and later Geffen Pictures) was an American film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-founder of DreamWorks. The spherical Geffen Pictures logo, based on the logo of its record-label counterpart, was created by Saul Bass.[citation needed] Their most famous films are Risky Business (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Beetlejuice (1988) and its 2024 sequel, and Interview with the Vampire (1994).

History

Geffen founded the company in 1982, having recruited Eric Eisner as president, and distributed its films through Warner Bros. Geffen was operated as a division of Warner Bros. That same year, the company released its inaugural film Personal Best directed by Robert Towne.

In 1990, The Geffen Film Company was renamed and reorganized as Geffen Pictures.

In 1993, Geffen and MTV Productions struck a two-picture deal. This resulted in the 1996 films Joe's Apartment and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. In 1994, the fate of the company was sealed when Geffen teamed up with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to form DreamWorks Pictures, which combined from the ashes of Geffen Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.

The Geffen Pictures brand continued to be used on films by David Geffen until 1998, after the April release of The Butcher Boy, when it was folded into Warner Bros. film divisions. Today, the studio owns the rights to the original company's library, with the exception of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, which is owned by Paramount Pictures. Ironically, Paramount (Paramount Skydance Corporation) and Warner Bros. (Warner Bros. Discovery) would eventually merge together to form Skydance Corporation in October 2026, meaning that they completely own Geffen’s library.

In 2024, the company made a brief revival as a copyright holder and received studio credit for the release of the Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Filmography

Feature films

1980s

Release date Title Director Notes Names Budget Gross (worldwide)
February 5, 1982 Personal Best Robert Towne The Geffen Film Company $15 million $5.6 million
August 5, 1983 Risky Business Paul Brickman $6.2 million $63.5 million
March 15, 1985 Lost in America Albert Brooks $4 million $10.1 million
September 13, 1985 After Hours Martin Scorsese co-production with Double Play Productions $4.5 million $10.6 million
December 19, 1986 Little Shop of Horrors Frank Oz $25 million $39 million
March 30, 1988 Beetlejuice Tim Burton $15 million $74.2 million

1990s

Release date Title Director Notes Names Budget Gross (worldwide)
February 2, 1990 Men Don't Leave Paul Brickman The Geffen Film Company $7 million $6 million
March 22, 1991 Defending Your Life Albert Brooks Geffen Pictures N/A $16.4 million
December 13, 1991 The Last Boy Scout Tony Scott co-production with Silver Pictures $43 million $114.5 million
October 1, 1993 M. Butterfly David Cronenberg $17–18 million $1.4 million
November 11, 1994 Interview with the Vampire Neil Jordan $60 million $223.7 million
July 26, 1996 Joe's Apartment John Payson co-production with MTV Productions $13 million $4.6 million
October 11, 1996 Michael Collins Neil Jordan $25 million $27.5 million
December 20, 1996 Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Mike Judge co-production with Paramount Pictures and MTV Productions $12 million $63.1 million
July 13, 1997 The Butcher Boy Neil Jordan N/A $1.96 million

2020s

Release date Title Director Notes Names Budget Gross (worldwide)
September 6, 2024 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Tim Burton copyright holder and studio credit only; produced by Plan B Entertainment and Tim Burton Productions The Geffen Company $100 million $451.1 million

Television series

Years Title Networks Notes Names Seasons Episodes
1989–1996 Tales from the Crypt HBO Co-production with Tales from the Crypt Holdings Uncredited 7 93
1989–1991 Beetlejuice ABC (seasons 1–3)
Fox Kids (season 4)		 Co-production with Warner Bros. Television, Tim Burton, Inc. and Nelvana The Geffen Film Company (seasons 1–2)
Geffen Pictures (seasons 3–4)		 4 94

Unrealized projects

In 1994, Geffen began development on a feature film based on the children's television series Barney & Friends for a planned release in 1995. However, disagreements with The Lyons Group, the creator of the series, over marketing led to them selling the rights to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment in 1996. The film was eventually released by them as Barney's Great Adventure on April 3, 1998.

References

  1. 1 2 "David Geffen Fast Facts". CNN. March 8, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  2. ↑ McNary, Dave (November 11, 2015). "David Geffen Gives $100 Million for Academy at UCLA". Variety. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  3. ↑ Bart, Peter (October 22, 2012). "David Geffen a master of reinvention". Variety. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  4. ↑ Shewey, Don (July 21, 1985). "On the Go With David Geffen". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  5. ↑ Cieply, Michael (January 10, 1989). "Sean Daniel Quits Universal to Head Geffen's Film Unit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  6. ↑ Sloane, Leonard (March 4, 1982). "BUSINESS PEOPLE; Entrepreneurial Geffen Disparages Bureaucrats". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  7. ↑ Duka, John (October 3, 1982). "THE EGO AND THE ART OF DAVID GEFFEN". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Personal Best". Variety. December 31, 1981. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  9. ↑ Stevenson, Richard W. (March 15, 1990). "Geffen Records Sold to MCA For Stock Worth $550 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  10. ↑ Marx, Andy (July 7, 1993). "Geffen and MTV pair on 'Apartment'". Variety. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  11. ↑ "MTV Film Is Planned". The New York Times. July 7, 1993. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  12. ↑ Eller, Claudia (January 17, 1997). "The Geffen Camp Heh-Hehs All the Way to the Bank". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  13. ↑ Citron, Alan; Eller, Claudia (October 12, 1994). "Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg Plan New Studio". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  14. ↑ Citron, Alan; Eller, Claudia (October 13, 1994). "'Dream Team' Trio Outline Plans for Studio". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  15. ↑ Wolff, Ellen (September 29, 2016). "How Jeffrey Katzenberg Became Leader of the Animation Revolution". Variety. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  16. ↑ Dilworth, John R. (January 1997). "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery announce expected closing date". Paramount. October 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  18. ↑ Grobar, Matt (September 16, 2024). "Warner Bros. Execs Explain Maneuvers Tim Burton Made To Ensure 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's Theatrical Release". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  19. ↑ Broken Saw (November 20, 2024). Warner Bros. Pictures/The Geffen Company (2024) #2. Retrieved October 27, 2025 – via YouTube.
  20. ↑ Archerd, Army (May 23, 1994). "Geffen gets Barney pic". Variety. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  21. ↑ Burke, David (March 25, 1994). "Anti-Black statements don't make 'Barney' blue: Decatur native rejects KKK venom". Herald and Review. Retrieved September 2, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Archerd, Army (July 25, 1996). "Barney now a Polygramosaurus". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  23. ↑ Fleming, Michael (April 23, 1997). "Polygram grabs 'Barney'". Variety. Retrieved July 4, 2018.