Icon Productions

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Icon Productions is an independent production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey, which, unlike most other independent production companies, funds most of its development and production costs, allowing it to retain creative control of its projects. Its headquarters are in Santa Monica, California.

In 2008–2009, the company's UK operations were sold off. After the acquisition of Dendy Cinemas, a separate company involved in film distribution only in Australia operated as Icon Film Distribution, using the original logo and still owned by Gibson and Davey. In 2016 Icon Productions reacquired the UK branch rendering Icon a complete company once more.

History
Icon started when Gibson was having trouble in financing the 1990 film Hamlet. According to Davey:"Mel wanted to make Hamlet and the (Hollywood) agent he had who was helping him with it lasted about five minutes. It's pretty hard to get someone to give you money to make Hamlet. I told him that if he wanted to make this happen, someone had to roll up their sleeves and find the (financing) and he asked me if I wanted to have a crack at it and I agreed."Unlike most other independents, Icon has always financed most of its development and packaging costs internally, mainly by Gibson, allowing it to retain creative control of projects through production. Felicia's Journey director Atom Egoyan praised the company's creative independence and risk-taking:"Mel's dream was to create an alternative to the studio system and make films free of interference. He's been able to use his celebrity status to set up a really viable company. Icon is able to take risks that studios won't broach."Gibson has explained that the company's name was chosen because icon means "image" in Greek, and that the inspiration came from a book on Russian icons in his den. The logo's artwork features a small crop of the mother's left eye from the Theotokos of Vladimir icon, an Eastern Orthodox icon of Mary, mother of God.[ citation needed]

The company also produces films in the UK and Australia and distributed cinema films through its British subsidiary and its Australian subsidiary.[ citation needed] It also owns a library of over 250 film titles. After the financial success of The Passion of the Christ, there was frequent mention of the ability of Icon to function as a mini-studio. However, Bruce Davey downplayed those expectations, saying, "The last thing we want is to become a studio. We don't want to become that top heavy. We want to be independent and passionate. We don't want to lose the magic".

The main executives at Icon are Mel Gibson (president), Bruce Davey (chairman of the board of directors), Mark Gooder (CEO 2008-2016, board of directors currently), and Vicki Christianson (CFO 1995-2016, currently CEO). In early 2008, Icon entered the exhibition business for the first time by purchasing Dendy Cinemas, Australia's largest independent film distributor and art house cinema chain.

Split
In September 2008, Davey and Gibson started negotiations for the sale of the Icon international sales and film distribution arms along with the Majestic library. UK operations were sold to US-based industrial group Access Industries (founded by Leonard Blavatnik), with former UK Film Council chairman Stewart Till as new CEO and equity holder in the business. The new company would continue to use the Icon name and would have a three-year first-look deal with Icon Productions to handle the international rights to its productions. The sale was completed in November 2009. The deal included Icon’s international sales company, the distribution operation based in the UK, and the Majestic Films & Television library, but not the Los Angeles operation Icon Productions LLC, which Gibson still owned outright with Davey, who relocated to Australia, nor the Dendy Cinemas were part of the acquisition deal.

In November 2011, Icon UK announced it was closing its distribution wing due to weak financial performance of its distributed films and a lack of financial support from Access. Icon UK moved to focus on financing and producing films with the UK division of Lionsgate taking over distribution and was said to be in talks to buy its back catalogue. In late 2012, Icon UK acquired the library of Producers Sales Organization from Lionsgate.

In 2013, it was announced that Icon UK could get backing from film fund Prescience. Earlier, the group hired Exclusive Media (later AMBI Group) to represent its library. In September 2013, Icon Film Distribution UK was purchased by investment company New Sparta and relaunched.

Remerger
In 2015, a group of investors, including Springbok Productions (who'd worked with Icon on the release of Apocalypto and struck a three-film deal with Icon that year ), James Packer and Larry Ellison, pooled together $7.5 billion to allow Icon to repurchase the UK group and relaunch Icon's television arm. The merger was closed in February 2016. In 2017 both Icon Productions and Springbok Productions filed a lawsuit against Voltage Pictures, the co-production company of The Professor and the Madman for interfering in the production and violating its agreement with Icon Productions. On August 11, 2017, in a motion of summary judgment, effectively abrogating a trial with witnesses (using only the lawyers' arguments and the documents laid before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruth Kwan), Voltage Pictures was found guilty of violating contracts and were ordered to honor the original agreement with Icon and Springbok.

Films

 * Hamlet (1990)
 * Forever Young (1992)
 * Airborne (1993)
 * The Man Without a Face (1993)
 * Immortal Beloved (1994)
 * Maverick (1994)
 * Braveheart (1995)
 * Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995)
 * One Eight Seven (1997)
 * Anna Karenina (1997)
 * FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
 * Felicia's Journey (1999)
 * An Ideal Husband (1999)
 * Payback (1999)
 * Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)
 * Bless the Child (2000)
 * Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000)
 * The Magic Pudding (2000)
 * The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
 * The Miracle Maker (2000) (as Icon Entertainment International) (with the participation of)
 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad (July 14, 2000) (Released in United Kingdom)
 * What Women Want (2000)
 * We Were Soldiers (2002)
 * The Singing Detective (2003)
 * Paparazzi (2004)
 * The Passion of the Christ (2004)
 * The Libertine (2005)
 * Romance & Cigarettes (2005) (as Icon Entertainment International) (in association with)
 * Seraphim Falls (2006)
 * Apocalypto (2006) (with Springbok Productions)
 * Black Sheep (2006)
 * Butterfly on a Wheel (2007)
 * The Black Balloon (2008) (as Icon Entertainment International) (presents)
 * Dragon Hunters (2008) (as Icon Entertainment International) (UK home video only)
 * Hunger (2008)
 * Infestation (2009)
 * Mary and Max (2009)
 * Nowhere Boy (2009)
 * Push (2009)
 * Black Dynamite (2009)
 * Triangle (2009) (as Icon Entertainment International)
 * Buried (2010)
 * Edge of Darkness (2010)
 * The Way (2010)
 * Coriolanus (2011)
 * The Artist (2011)
 * Get the Gringo (2012)
 * Upside Down (2012) (UK and Ireland home video distribution only)
 * You're Next (2013) (international distribution only)
 * Postman Pat: The Movie (2014)
 * Stonehearst Asylum (2014)
 * Mr. Holmes (2015)
 * The Neon Demon (2016)
 * The Nice Guys (2016) (UK and Ireland distribution only)
 * Road Games (2016) (UK and Ireland distribution only)
 * City of Tiny Lights (2016) (UK and Ireland distribution only)
 * Handsome Devil (2016)
 * Hacksaw Ridge (2016) (with Springbok Productions)
 * Finding Fatimah (2017)
 * The Jungle Bunch (2017)
 * Black Butler (2018) (with Springbok Productions and Annapurna Pictures)
 * Hotel Mumbai (2018) (Australian distribution only)
 * The Professor and the Madman (2019) (with Springbok Productions and Voltage Pictures)
 * Black Butler: Hell's Domain (2019) (with Springbok Productions and Annapurna Pictures)
 * The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection (2021)

Television

 * Clubhouse (2004 TV series) (in association with Spelling Television)
 * Complete Savages (2004 TV series) (in association with Nothing Can Go Wrong Now Productions and Universal Network Television)
 * Evel Knievel (2004 TV movie) (in association with Jaffe/Braunstein Films and Turner Network Television)
 * Kevin Hill (2004 TV series) (in association with O'Taye Productions and Touchstone Television)
 * Carrier (2008 TV series) (with Carrier Project)
 * Flory: Survival in the Valley of Death (2018 TV miniseries) (in association with Springbok Productions and Amblin Television)