Gramercy Pictures
Encyclopedia
Gramercy Pictures was a film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 distributor launched in 1992, a joint venture of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment was a film studio, founded in 1979 as a European competitor to Hollywood, but eventually sold and merged with Universal Pictures in 1999....

 and Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

. Gramercy, a so-called "mini-major," was the distributor of PolyGram movies in the United States and Canada. Due to the Universal acquisition by Seagrams in 1999, Gramercy was merged with October Films
October Films
October Films was an American independent film production company and distributor founded in 1991 by Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky as a means of distributing the 1990 film Life Is Sweet...

 to briefly become USA Films, until USA Films was transformed into Focus Features
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....

 in 2002.

Gramercy Pictures released its first film, the Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles
Mario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...

 western Posse
Posse (1993 film)
Posse is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast of mostly African-American actors, the film is about a posse of black soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The title of the film refers...

, in May 1993. The distributor also had box office hits in 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...

, 1996's Fargo
Fargo (film)
Fargo is a 1996 American dark comedy-crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides, William H...

 and 1997's Bean. (co-production with PolyGram Pictures) Several Gramercy releases of the 1990s have grown in stature to become cult classics in the present day: The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...

, Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused
"Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

, Clay Pigeons
Clay Pigeons
Clay Pigeons is a 1998 German/American crime-comedy film written by Matt Healy and directed by David Dobkin. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as Clay Bidwell, Vince Vaughn as Lester Long, and Janeane Garofalo as Agent Shelby.-Plot:...

 and Mallrats
Mallrats
Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

. In addition, 1996's The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite....

 won two Oscars, for Best Original Screenplay (Christopher McQuarrie
Christopher McQuarrie
Christopher McQuarrie is an American screenwriter, producer and director. His screenplays include The Usual Suspects, for which he won the 1996 Academy Award, The Way of the Gun and Valkyrie....

) and Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

 (Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...

).

Some of Gramercy's releases:
Title Release Date
Posse
Posse (1993 film)
Posse is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast of mostly African-American actors, the film is about a posse of black soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The title of the film refers...

 
May 14, 1993
King of the Hill
King of the Hill (film)
King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...

 
August 20, 1993
Kalifornia
Kalifornia
Kalifornia is an American thriller/road film, directed by Dominic Sena and starring Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes. The film focuses on an aspiring writer and his photographer girlfriend who are traveling cross-country to research serial killers...

 
September 3, 1993
Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused
"Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

 
September 24, 1993
A Home of Our Own  November 5, 1993
A Dangerous Woman
A Dangerous Woman (1993 film)
A Dangerous Woman is a 1993 film from Amblin Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written for the screen by his then wife Naomi Foner...

 
December 3, 1993
Romeo Is Bleeding
Romeo Is Bleeding
Romeo Is Bleeding is a darkly comic 1993 crime film starring Gary Oldman and Lena Olin, directed by Peter Medak. The film's title was taken from a song by Tom Waits....

 
February 4, 1994
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...

 
March 9, 1994
Backbeat
Backbeat (film)
Backbeat is a 1994 British-German drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon , and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr...

 
April 15, 1994
Dream Lover
Dream Lover (1994 film)
Dream Lover is a 1994 film, starring James Spader and Mädchen Amick. It was directed and written by Nicholas Kazan.-Plot:The movie opens on divorce proceedings involving Ray Reardon , a successful architect, and his first wife...

 
May 6, 1994
Foreign Student  July 29, 1994
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot is based on the journey of three drag queens who travel across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named...

 
August 10, 1994
A Good Man in Africa
A Good Man in Africa (film)
A Good Man in Africa is a 1994 film, based on the novel A Good Man in Africa , and directed by Bruce Beresford.-Synopsis:...

 
September 9, 1994
Jason's Lyric
Jason's Lyric
Jason's Lyric is a 1994 romantic drama film, written by Bobby Smith, Jr., and directed by Doug McHenry. The film marks the directorial debut of McHenry, who co-produced the film with George Jackson...

 
September 28, 1994
Drop Squad
Drop Squad
Drop Squad is an American film released in 1994. The film depicts a team of African Americans who kidnap fellow black people who have betrayed their community and seek to "deprogram" them so that they will change their ways. In the film, the squad's acronym DROP stands for "Deprogramming and...

 
October 28, 1994
Double Dragon
Double Dragon (film)
Double Dragon is a 1994 live-action film loosely based on the Double Dragon video game series. This film was directed by James Yukich and stars Mark Dacascos and Scott Wolf as brothers Jimmy and Billy Lee, along with Alyssa Milano as Marian Delario and Robert Patrick as antagonist Koga Shuko...

 
November 4, 1994
S.F.W.
S.F.W.
S.F.W. is a 1994 film directed by Jefery Levy. It is based on a novel by Andrew Wellman, and stars Stephen Dorff, Jake Busey and Reese Witherspoon, in one of her first lead roles.-Plot:...

 
January 20, 1995
Shallow Grave
Shallow Grave
-Track listing:# Leftfield – "Shallow Grave" – 4:38# Simon Boswell – "Shallow Grave Theme" – 3:30# Nina Simone – "My Baby Just Cares for Me" – 3:38# Simon Boswell – "Laugh Riot" – 3:02# Leftfield – "Release the Dubs" – 5:45...

 
February 10, 1995
Before the Rain
Before the Rain (film)
Before the Rain is a 1994 Macedonian film starring Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Šerbedžija, Grégoire Colin, and Labina Mitevska. It was directed and written by Milčo Mančevski. The music was created by the band Anastasia.-Plot:...

 
February 24, 1995
Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh  March 17, 1995
New Jersey Drive
New Jersey Drive
New Jersey Drive is a 1995 film about black youths in Newark, New Jersey, the official "car theft capital of the world". Their favorite pastime is that of everybody in their neighborhood: stealing cars and joyriding. The trouble starts when they steal a police car and the cops launch a violent...

 
April 19, 1995
The Underneath  April 28, 1995
Panther
Panther (film)
Panther is a 1995 film directed by Mario Van Peebles, from a screenplay adapted by his father, Melvin Van Peebles, based on his book. The film dramatizes the story of The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense...

 
May 3, 1995
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite....

 
August 16, 1995
Canadian Bacon
Canadian Bacon (film)
Canadian Bacon is a 1995 comedy film which satirizes Canada – United States relations along the Canada – United States border written, directed and produced by Michael Moore, his only non-documentary feature...

 
September 22, 1995
Moonlight and Valentino
Moonlight and Valentino
Moonlight and Valentino is a 1995 American dramedy film directed by David Anspaugh. The screenplay by Ellen Simon is based on her semi-autobiographical play of the same title staged at Duke University six years earlier.-Plot:...

 
September 29, 1995
Mallrats
Mallrats
Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

 
October 20, 1995
Carrington
Carrington (film)
Carrington is a biographical film written and directed by Christopher Hampton about the life of the English painter Dora Carrington , who was known simply as "Carrington"...

 
November 10, 1995
Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking (film)
Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American drama film directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name...

 
January 12, 1996
La Haine
La Haine
La Haine is a 1995 French black-and-white film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. It is commonly released under its French title in the English-speaking world, although its American VHS release was entitled Hate. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live in...

 
February 23, 1996
Jack and Sarah
Jack and Sarah
Jack and Sarah is a 1995 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Tim Sullivan. The film was originally released in the UK on 2 June 1995.The theme song in this film is Stars by British pop group Simply Red.- Plot :...

 
March 22, 1996
Land and Freedom
Land and Freedom
Land and Freedom is a 1995 film directed by Ken Loach and written by Jim Allen. The film narrates the story of David Carr, an unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who decides to fight for the republican side in the Spanish Civil War...

 
March 22, 1996
Fargo
Fargo (film)
Fargo is a 1996 American dark comedy-crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides, William H...

 
April 5, 1996
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is a 1996 theatrical adaptation of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, produced and set between seasons 6 and 7 of the show. It was released by Gramercy Pictures and Best Brains with distribution held by Universal Pictures...

 
April 19, 1996
Barb Wire
Barb Wire (film)
-Cast:* Pamela Anderson Lee as Barbara "Barb Wire" Kopetski* Temuera Morrison as Axel Hood* Victoria Rowell as Dr. Corrina "Cora D" Devonshire* Jack Noseworthy as Charlie Kopetski* Xander Berkeley as Alexander Willis* Udo Kier as Curly...

 
May 3, 1996
The Trigger Effect
The Trigger Effect
The Trigger Effect is a 1996 movie starring Kyle MacLachlan, Elisabeth Shue and Dermot Mulroney.-Plot:The story starts off with a young married couple, Annie and Matthew, played by Elizabeth Shue and Kyle MacLachlan, returning home from the movies to find their infant child screaming with a high...

 
August 30, 1996
Grace of My Heart
Grace of My Heart
Grace of My Heart is a 1996 film written and directed by Allison Anders, set in the pop music world, starting off in New York's Brill Building early 1960s era, weaving through the California Sound of the mid '60s and culminating with the adult-contemporary scene of the early 1970s.The plot follows...

 
September 13, 1996
Loch Ness
Loch Ness (film)
Loch Ness is a 1996 family drama film starring Ted Danson and Joely Richardson. It was written by John Fusco and directed by Jon Henderson.-Plot:...

 
September 20, 1996
Bound
Bound (film)
Bound is a 1996 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by the Wachowski brothers. Violet , who longs to escape her relationship with her mafioso boyfriend Caesar , enters into a clandestine affair with alluring ex-con Corky , and the two women hatch a scheme to steal $2 million of mafia money.Bound...

 
October 4, 1996
Jude
Jude (film)
Jude is a 1996 English film, based on the novel Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy and directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is written by Hossein Amini...

 
October 18, 1996
I'm Not Rappaport
I'm Not Rappaport (film)
I'm Not Rappaport is 1996 film adaptation by Herb Gardner of his play by the same name. Also directed by Gardner, the film starred Walter Matthau, Ossie Davis, Amy Irving, Craig T...

 
December 24, 1996
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady (film)
The Portrait of a Lady is a 1996 film adaptation of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady directed by Jane Campion.The film stars Nicole Kidman, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Duvall, Richard E...

 
January 17, 1997
Gridlock'd
Gridlock'd
Gridlock'd is a 1995 crime dramedy starring Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, and Thandie Newton. It was the directorial debut of Vondie Curtis-Hall, who also wrote the story and screenplay. The film's opening was relatively low, despite critical acclaim; its opening weekend netted only $2,678,372 and it...

 
January 29, 1997
When We Were Kings
When We Were Kings
When We Were Kings is a 1996 documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The fight was held in Zaire on October 30, 1974.The film features a number of celebrities, including James Brown, Jim...

 
February 14, 1997
The Eighth Day  March 7, 1997
Keys to Tulsa
Keys to Tulsa
Keys to Tulsa is a 1997 film directed by Leslie Greif, and starring Eric Stoltz and James Spader. It is based on the novel of the same name by Bryan Fair Berkey.-Plot:The story revolves around a perpetual loser named Richter Boudreau...

 
April 11, 1997
Commandments
Commandments
Commandments is a 1997 romantic comedy-drama which was written and directed by Daniel Taplitz and stars Aidan Quinn, Courteney Cox and Anthony LaPaglia. Its executive producer was Ivan Reitman.-Synopsis:...

 
May 2, 1997
Twin Town
Twin Town
Twin Town is a 1997 revenge comedy film made and set in South West Wales. It was directed by Kevin Allen and had a working title of Hot Dog; a hot dog van features in a number of scenes in the film. It stars real-life brothers Rhys Ifans and Llŷr Ifans and also features Dougray Scott...

 
May 9, 1997
Def Jam's How to Be a Player  August 6, 1997
Going All the Way
Going All the Way
Going All the Way is a 1997 film directed by Mark Pellington. The film was written by Dan Wakefield, based on his 1970 novel. It won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.-Plot:...

 
September 19, 1997
The MatchMaker
The MatchMaker (1997 film)
The MatchMaker is a 1997 film comedy film set in Ireland.-Plot:Marcy Tizzard is assistant to Senator John McGlory from Boston, Massachusetts...

 
October 3, 1997
Body Count  November 1997
Bean (co-production with PolyGram Pictures) November 7, 1997
Guy
Guy (film)
Guy is a 1997 film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and written by Kirby Dick. The drama stars Hope Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lucy Liu, Sandy Martin, Michael Massee, John F. O'Donohue and Richard Portnow. The movie was initially released in the United States on 17 December 1997. It's United Kingdom...

 
December 17, 1997
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...

 
March 6, 1998
No Looking Back
No Looking Back
No Looking Back is a 1998 American drama-genre film directed, written, produced, and starring Edward Burns. The film centers on the relationship of Charlie and Claudia . The film had a limited theatrical release and grossed less than $250,000 domestically.-Plot:Claudia is a waitress in a seaside...

 
March 27, 1998
Go Now
Go Now
Go Now is a 1995 television film directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Robert Carlyle as an MS-afflicted soccer player/construction worker struggling with the onset of multiple sclerosis....

 
May 1, 1998
The Last Days of Disco
The Last Days of Disco
The Last Days of Disco is a 1998 sardonic comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. The film concerns a group of Ivy League and Hampshire graduates falling in and out of love in...

 
May 29, 1998
The Land Girls
The Land Girls (film)
The Land Girls is a 1998 movie directed by David Leland and starring Catherine McCormack, Rachel Weisz, Anna Friel, Steven Mackintosh and Ann Bell. It is based on the book Land Girls by Angela Huth.-Synopsis:...

 
June 12, 1998
Your Friends & Neighbors
Your Friends & Neighbors
Your Friends & Neighbors is a 1998 comedy-drama film written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Jason Patric, and Ben Stiller in an ensemble cast. This film was the first to be reviewed on the website Rotten Tomatoes...

 
August 21, 1998
Clay Pigeons
Clay Pigeons
Clay Pigeons is a 1998 German/American crime-comedy film written by Matt Healy and directed by David Dobkin. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as Clay Bidwell, Vince Vaughn as Lester Long, and Janeane Garofalo as Agent Shelby.-Plot:...

 
September 25, 1998
Reach the Rock
Reach the Rock
Reach the Rock is a 1998 film directed by William Ryan.-Plot:A small town troublemaker , directionless and alienated, ends up spending a night in a jail cell, where he and the police chief engage in a battle of wills and wit.The soundtrack featured a compilation of Chicago-based Post-Rock artists,...

 
October 16, 1998
Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American black comedy-fantasy film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. It stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich, who plays a fictional version of himself...

 
October 29, 1999
Elizabeth
Elizabeth (film)
Elizabeth is a 1998 biographical film written by Michael Hirst, directed by Shekhar Kapur, and starring Cate Blanchett in the title role of Queen Elizabeth I of England, alongside Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Sir John Gielgud, Fanny Ardant and Richard Attenborough...

 
November 22, 1998
The Hi-Lo Country
The Hi-Lo Country
The Hi-Lo Country is a 1998 American Western/drama film directed by Stephen Frears, starring Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, Cole Hauser, Sam Elliott, Patricia Arquette, Penelope Cruz, Enrique Castillo, and Katy Jurado...

 
January 22, 1999
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a 1998 British crime film directed and written by Guy Ritchie. The story is a heist film involving a self-confident young card sharp who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a rigged game of three card brag...

 
March 5, 1999
Plunkett & Macleane
Plunkett & Macleane
Plunkett & Macleane is a 1999 British historical action comedy film directed by Jake Scott, and starring Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Liv Tyler. It follows the story of Captain James Macleane , and Will Plunkett , two men in eighteenth century Britain who are both struggling to survive...

 
October 2, 1999
Pitch Black  February 18, 2000
Waking the Dead
Waking the Dead (film)
Waking the Dead is a 2000 American drama film directed by Keith Gordon. The screenplay by Robert Dillon is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Scott Spencer.-Plot:...

 
March 24, 2000
Where the Dead Is  April 14, 2000
Mad About Mambo
Mad About Mambo
Mad About Mambo is a 2000 British/Irish co-production, filmed in Dublin but set in Belfast, written and directed by John Forte. It stars William Ash, Keri Russell and Brian Cox.-Plot summary:...

 
August 4, 2000
Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Neil LaBute starring Renée Zellweger as a sweet Kansas waitress who undergoes a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's murder, and starts obsessively pursuing her favorite soap actor....

 
September 8, 2000
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 neo-noir film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Billy Bob Thornton stars in the title role. Also featured are James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, Scarlett Johansson, Adam Alexi-Malle and Coen regulars Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, and Jon...

 
November 2, 2001

Earlier company

There was an earlier, unrelated company which went by the same name in the late 1950s. One of the films they produced was The Monster That Challenged the World
The Monster That Challenged the World
The Monster That Challenged the World is a science-fiction monster movie, about an army of giant mollusks that emerge from the Salton Sea, California. Directed by Arnold Laven, the film starred Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton....

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK