Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its productions, needing the help of the studios that distributed it. Its logo features the silhouette of E.T. riding in the basket on Elliott's bicycle flying in front of the moon from the movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Amblin is named after Spielberg's first commercially-released film, Amblin' (1968), a short independent film about a man and woman hitchhiking through the desert. The film, which cost $15,000 to produce, was shown for Universal Studios and won Spielberg more directing roles. Although Spielberg owns shares in both Amblin and DreamWorks, it is Universal that distributes many Amblin productions and Amblin operates out of a building on the Universal lot.
In addition to various Spielberg films, Amblin has produced movies by other directors including Joe Dante (Gremlins, Small Soldiers, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Innerspace), Robert Zemeckis (the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Brian Levant (the Flintstones duology), Penelope Spheeris (the 1994 film remake of The Little Rascals), Brad Silberling (Casper), Don Bluth (An American Tail, The Land Before Time), Clint Eastwood (The Bridges of Madison County, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima), Gil Kenan (Monster House), Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro), Richard Donner (The Goonies), Jan de Bont (Twister), Barry Sonnenfeld (the Men in Black trilogy), Martin Scorsese (Cape Fear) and Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III).
The majority of these directors are close friends of Spielberg, who has an executive producer or producer credit on many but not all of Amblin's non-Spielberg films (his name does not appear on the credits of Small Soldiers, The Little Rascals, Cape Fear, for which he was an uncredited executive producer.). Amblin's most critically acclaimed production is Schindler's List (1993). The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture. A companion study guide, Facing History, was prepared through a grant from Amblin and Universal.
Amblin's television series credits include Amazing Stories, Tiny Toon Adventures, seaQuest DSV, Animaniacs, Earth 2, Pinky and the Brain, ER, Freakazoid, Back to the Future, Family Dog, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Fievel's American Tails and The Land Before Time. Fievel's American Tails and others were produced by Amblin's animation division Amblimation, which was active from 1991 until 1995. Another studio which has distributed many Amblin productions is Warner Bros. Entertainment. DreamWorks (which was co-founded by Spielberg) has distributed a number of Amblin productions since 1994. The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group has also collaborated with Amblin in such films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Arachnophobia, Noises Off, A Far Off Place and War Horse.
Motion pictures
| Title | Release Date | Main Studio 1 | Main Studio 2 | Other Production Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continental Divide | 09-18-1981 | Universal Studios | ||
| E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | 06-11-1982 | Universal Studios | ||
| Gremlins | 06-08-1984 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Fandango* | 01-25-1985 | Warner Bros. | ||
| The Goonies | 06-07-1985 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Back to the Future | 07-03-1985 | Universal Studios | U-Drive Productions | |
| Young Sherlock Holmes | 12-04-1985 | Paramount Pictures | ||
| The Color Purple | 12-18-1985 | Warner Bros. | The Guber-Peters Company | |
| The Money Pit | 03-26-1986 | Universal Studios | U-Drive Productions | |
| An American Tail | 11-21-1986 | Universal Studios | Sullivan Bluth Studios U-Drive Productions | |
| Harry and the Hendersons* | 06-05-1987 | Universal Studios | U-Drive Productions | |
| Innerspace | 07-01-1987 | Warner Bros. | ||
| *batteries not included | 12-18-1987 | Universal Studios | ||
| Empire of the Sun | 12-25-1987 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit | 06-22-1988 | Touchstone Pictures | Silver Screen Partners Walt Disney Feature Animation | |
| The Land Before Time | 11-18-1988 | Universal Studios | Lucasfilm Sullivan Bluth Studios U-Drive Productions | |
| Dad | 10-27-1989 | Universal Studios | Ubu Productions | |
| Back to the Future Part II | 11-22-1989 | Universal Studios | U-Drive Productions | |
| Always | 12-22-1989 | Universal Studios | United Artists | U-Drive Productions |
| Joe Versus the Volcano | 03-09-1990 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Back to the Future Part III | 05-25-1990 | Universal Studios | U-Drive Productions | |
| Gremlins 2: The New Batch | 06-15-1990 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Arachnophobia | 07-18-1990 | Hollywood Pictures | Tangled Web Productions | |
| A Brief History of Time* | 10-16-1991 | Triton Pictures | Anglia Television Channel Four Films NBC Tokyo Broadcasting System | |
| Cape Fear* | 11-13-1991 | Universal Studios | Cappa Films TriBeCa Productions | |
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | 11-22-1991 | Universal Studios | ||
| Hook | 12-11-1991 | TriStar Pictures | ||
| Noises Off...* | 03-20-1992 | Touchstone Pictures | Nothing On Productions Touchwood Pacific Partners | |
| A Far Off Place* | 03-12-1993 | Walt Disney Pictures | Touchwood Pacific Partners | |
| Jurassic Park | 06-11-1993 | Universal Studios | ||
| We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story | 11-24-1993 | Universal Studios | ||
| A Dangerous Woman* | 12-03-1993 | Universal Pictures | Gramercy Pictures (distributing label) Island World Rollercoaster Productions | |
| Schindler's List | 12-15-1993 | Universal Studios | ||
| The Flintstones* | 05-27-1994 | Universal Studios | Hanna-Barbera Productions | |
| The Little Rascals* | 08-05-1994 | Universal Studios | King World Productions | |
| Little Giants* | 10-14-1994 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Casper | 05-26-1995 | Universal Studios | The Harvey Entertainment Company | |
| The Bridges of Madison County | 06-02-1995 | Warner Bros. | Malpaso Productions | |
| To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar* | 09-08-1995 | Universal Studios | ||
| How to Make an American Quilt* | 10-06-1995 | Universal Studios | ||
| Balto | 12-22-1995 | Universal Studios | ||
| Twister | 05-17-1996 | Warner Bros. | Universal Studios | Constant c Productions |
| The Trigger Effect* | 08-30-1996 | Universal Studios | Gramercy Pictures (distributing label) | |
| The Lost World: Jurassic Park | 05-19-1997 | Universal Studios | ||
| Men in Black | 07-02-1997 | Columbia Pictures | Parkes/MacDonald Productions | |
| Small Soldiers* | 07-10-1998 | DreamWorks | Universal Studios | |
| The Mask of Zorro | 07-17-1998 | TriStar Pictures | David Foster Productions Global Entertainment Productions Zorro Productions | |
| Saving Private Ryan | 07-24-1998 | DreamWorks | Paramount Pictures | Mark Gordon Productions The Mutual Film Company |
| In Dreams* | 01-15-1999 | DreamWorks | ||
| The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas* | 04-28-2000 | Universal Pictures | Hanna-Barbera Productions | |
| A.I.: Artificial Intelligence | 06-29-2001 | DreamWorks | Warner Bros. | Stanley Kubrick Productions |
| Jurassic Park III | 07-18-2001 | Universal Studios | ||
| Minority Report | 06-21-2002 | 20th Century Fox | DreamWorks | Blue Tulip Productions Cruise/Wagner Productions |
| Men in Black II | 07-04-2002 | Columbia Pictures | Parkes/MacDonald Productions | |
| Catch Me If You Can | 12-25-2002 | DreamWorks | Kemp Company Parkes/MacDonald Productions Splendid Pictures | |
| The Terminal | 06-18-2004 | DreamWorks | Parkes/MacDonald Productions | |
| War of the Worlds | 06-29-2005 | DreamWorks | Paramount Pictures | Cruise/Wagner Productions |
| The Legend of Zorro | 10-28-2005 | Columbia Pictures | Spyglass Entertainment Tornado Productions | |
| Memoirs of a Geisha | 12-09-2005 | Columbia Pictures | DreamWorks | Red Wagon Productions Spyglass Entertainment |
| Munich | 12-23-2005 | Universal Studios | DreamWorks | Alliance Atlantis Barry Mendel Productions The Kennedy/Marshall Company Peninsula Films |
| Monster House | 07-21-2006 | Columbia Pictures | ImageMovers Relativity Media | |
| Flags of Our Fathers | 10-20-2006 | DreamWorks | Warner Bros. | Malpaso Productions |
| Letters from Iwo Jima | 12-20-2006 | Warner Bros. | DreamWorks | Malpaso Productions |
| Pocket Monsters | 04-04-2007 | Hollywood Pictures (domestic) | Columbia Pictures (international) | C2 Pictures |
| Pocket Monsters: Aim For the Thunder | 03-25-2009 | Hollywood Pictures (domestic) | Columbia Pictures (international) | C2 Pictures |
| Hereafter | 10-15-2010 | Warner Bros. | Malpaso Productions Kennedy/Marshall Company | |
| Pocket Monsters: Satoshi vs. the Psychic Girl | 04-01-2011 | Hollywood Pictures (domestic) | Universal Pictures (international) | C2 Pictures |
| Super 8 | 06-10-2011 | Paramount Pictures | Bad Robot Productions | |
| War Horse | 12-28-2011 | DreamWorks | Touchstone Pictures | The Kennedy/Marshall Company Focus Features International Shochiku |
| The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn | 12-23-2011 | Paramount Pictures | Columbia Pictures | Hergé Studios The Kennedy/Marshall Company WingNut Films Nickelodeon Movies |
| Men in Black III | 05-25-2012 | Columbia Pictures | Imagine Entertainment |
- Asteriked films indicate that Steven Spielberg is uncredited or uninvolved.
Television shows
Live-action
With DreamWorks Television
- On the Lot (2007)
- The Talisman (2009, miniseries)
With Universal Television
- Amazing Stories (1985–1987)
- Harry and the Hendersons (1991–1993, as MCA TV)
- seaQuest DSV (1993–1996)
- Earth 2 (1994–1995)
- Fudge (1995-1996 as MTE, 1996-1997 as Universal)
With Warner Bros. Television
- ER (1994-2009) production with John Wells Productions
With Paramount and Lucasfilm
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1996)
Animated
With Universal Animation Studios
- Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991–1992)
- Fievel's American Tails (1992, also with Nelvana)
- The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (1996–1998)
- The Land Before Time (2007–)
With Warner Bros. Television Animation
- Tiny Toon Adventures (1990–1995)
- The Plucky Duck Show (1992)
- Animaniacs (1993–1998)
- Freakazoid! (1995–1997)
- Pinky and the Brain (1995–1998)
- Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998–1999)
With Universal, WB and Nelvana
- Family Dog (1993)