Handmade Films
Encyclopedia
HandMade Films is a British 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...

 production and distribution company. Through a series of sales, and acquisitions, the company now known as Handmade Plc owns all the rights and assets of the original HandMade Films Ltd. Notable films from the studio include Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...

, Time Bandits
Time Bandits
Time Bandits is a 1981 British fantasy film produced and directed by Terry Gilliam.Terry Gilliam wrote the screenplay with fellow Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin, who appears with Shelley Duvall in the small, recurring roles of Vincent and Pansy. The film is one of the most famous of more than...

, Withnail and I
Withnail and I
Withnail and I is a British black comedy made in 1986 by HandMade Films. It was written and directed by Bruce Robinson and is based on his life in London in the late 1960s. The main plot follows two unemployed young actors, Withnail and “I” who live in a squalid flat in Camden in 1969 while...

  and 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...

.

History

HandMade Films was formed by former Beatle
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

 and business partner Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien (producer)
Denis O'Brien is an American attorney, and was the business manager of George Harrison of The Beatles. Harrison and O'Brien founded the film production company HandMade Films in 1978 to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian, when the original financiers, EMI, pulled out at the last moment.-References:...

 in 1978 to finance the Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 film Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...

. When the original financiers of Brian, EMI Films
EMI Films
EMI Films was a British film and television production company and distributor. The company was formed after the takeover of Associated British Picture Corporation in 1968 by EMI....

, pulled out the creators had to find other financing. When asked why he wanted to finance the film, Harrison remarked that he wanted to see the film upon reading the script, to which Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....

 commented, "that must be the most expensive movie ticket in history." Harrison, a friend and fan of the Pythons, mortgaged his home in order to finance the feature. The first film started under the company was 1981's Time Bandits
Time Bandits
Time Bandits is a 1981 British fantasy film produced and directed by Terry Gilliam.Terry Gilliam wrote the screenplay with fellow Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin, who appears with Shelley Duvall in the small, recurring roles of Vincent and Pansy. The film is one of the most famous of more than...

. The company continued to produce films through the 1980s.

In 1994 the company was acquired by the Canadian company Paragon Entertainment, which restarted production under the HandMade name. The company's most notable release of that era was 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...

 (1998). In 1999 Patrick Meehan
Patrick Meehan (producer)
Patrick Meehan is a record producer who worked with Black Sabbath. He was also their manager until 1975.In 1970 Patrick Joseph Meehan , Patrick Anthony Meehan , Wilf Pine, Malcolm Koss, first Ian Nagl then Quintin Rozario made up the office of Worldwide Artiste Management, managers of Black...

 and Cartier Investments acquired HandMade from Paragon. In June 2006 the Equator Group plc acquired Handmade Holdings Limited, and in November of that year Sequence Film Limited (a film sales, marketing and financial packaging company) was also acquired. It was subsequently renamed Handmade Films International. The parent company, now known as HandMade plc, is currently publicly traded under the symbol HMF.

On 7 January 2010 the company's shares were suspended on the London AIM stock market pending financial restructuring.
In July 2010, Handmade was purchased for $6.1 million by a syndicate of Jersey based businessmen at which time wealth-manager David Francis was reported to be deciding what to do with the business.

Film library

  • Monty Python's Life of Brian
    Monty Python's Life of Brian
    Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...

     (1979)
  • The Long Good Friday
    The Long Good Friday
    The Long Good Friday is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. It was completed in 1979 but, because of release delays, it is generally credited as a 1980 film...

     (1980)
  • Time Bandits
    Time Bandits
    Time Bandits is a 1981 British fantasy film produced and directed by Terry Gilliam.Terry Gilliam wrote the screenplay with fellow Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin, who appears with Shelley Duvall in the small, recurring roles of Vincent and Pansy. The film is one of the most famous of more than...

     (1981)
  • Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
    Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
    Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 concert film in which the Monty Python team perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl. The show also included filmed inserts which were mostly taken from two Monty Python specials, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, which had been...

     (1982)
  • The Missionary
    The Missionary
    The Missionary is a 1982 British comedy directed by Richard Loncraine, produced by George Harrison, Denis O'Brian, Michael Palin and Neville C. Thompson. The film stars Palin as the Rev...

     (1982)
  • Privates on Parade
    Privates on Parade (film)
    Privates on Parade is a 1982 film adaptation of the Peter Nichols play of the same title about a fictional - and mostly gay - military entertainment group, the "Song and Dance Unit, Southeast Asia" assembled to entertain the troops in the Malayan jungle in the years after World War II.-Cast and...

     (1982)
  • Bullshot
    Bullshot (film)
    Bullshot is a 1983 film, based on the stage play "Bullshot Crummond". The name comes from a parody of the 1929 film, on which it is loosely based, Bulldog Drummond....

     (1983)
  • Scrubbers
    Scrubbers
    Scrubbers is a 1983 British drama film directed by Mai Zetterling and starring Amanda York and Chrissie Cotterill. It was shot primarily in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. It was inspired by the success of the 1979 film Scum.-Plot:...

     (1983)
  • A Private Function
    A Private Function
    A Private Function is a 1984 British comedy film starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film was predominantly filmed in Ilkley and Ben Rhydding, West Yorkshire. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival....

     (1984)
  • Water
    Water (1985 film)
    Water is a 1985 comedy film scripted by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, directed by Clement, and starring Michael Caine. This HandMade Films production was released in U.S. theatres in April 1986 by Atlantic Releasing.-Plot summary:...

     (1985)
  • Mona Lisa
    Mona Lisa (film)
    Mona Lisa is a 1986 British film about a petty criminal who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The movie was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan. It was produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films...

     (1986)
  • Shanghai Surprise
    Shanghai Surprise
    Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 British adventure comedy film starring then-newlyweds Madonna and Sean Penn, produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...

     (1986)
  • Withnail and I
    Withnail and I
    Withnail and I is a British black comedy made in 1986 by HandMade Films. It was written and directed by Bruce Robinson and is based on his life in London in the late 1960s. The main plot follows two unemployed young actors, Withnail and “I” who live in a squalid flat in Camden in 1969 while...

     (1987)
  • Five Corners (1987)
  • The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
    The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
    The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 drama film made by Handmade Films Ltd. and United British Artists starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by Richard Johnson and Peter Nelson with George Harrison and Denis O'Brien as executive producers...

     (1987)
  • Track 29
    Track 29
    Track 29 is a 1988 film directed by Nicolas Roeg. It was produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films with Rick McCallum. The film was nominated for and won a few awards at regional film festivals. The writer, Dennis Potter, adapted his own 1974 television play, Schmoedipus, changing the setting...

     (1988)
  • How to Get Ahead in Advertising
    How to Get Ahead in Advertising
    How to Get Ahead in Advertising is a 1989 British film written and directed by Bruce Robinson and starring Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward. The title is a pun and can be literally taken as "How to Get a Head in Advertising".-Plot:...

     (1989)
  • Powwow Highway
    Powwow Highway
    Powwow Highway is a 1989 comedic road movie based on a novel by David Seals. It features A Martinez, Gary Farmer, and Amanda Wyss. Wes Studi and Graham Greene, who were relatively unknown actors at the time, have small supporting roles.-Plot:...

     (1989)
  • Nuns on the Run
    Nuns on the Run
    Nuns on the Run is a 1990 British comedy film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, also featuring Camille Coduri and Janet Suzman. It was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by HandMade Films. Many of the outdoor scenes were shot in Chiswick...

     (1990)
  • The Wrong Guy
    The Wrong Guy
    The Wrong Guy is a 1997 Canadian comedy film directed by David Steinberg. It was co-written by Dave Foley of The Kids in the Hall and Newsradio fame, along with David Anthony Higgins and Jay Kogen...

     (1997)
  • 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...

     (1998)
  • Eloise
    Eloise: The Animated Series
    Eloise: The Animated Series or Me, Eloise is an animated television series, based on the Eloise series of children's books drawn and written by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight. This series features Mary Matilyn Mouser as Eloise, Lynn Redgrave as the Nanny, and Tim Curry as Mr. Salamone...

     (2006)
  • Manolete
    Manolete (film)
    The Passion Within , Blood and Passion , and A Matador’s Mistress , is a 2007 biopic of bullfighter Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez better known as Manolete, was written and directed by Menno Meyjes. This is the first film from HandMade Films since Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...

     (2007)
  • Fifty Dead Men Walking
    Fifty Dead Men Walking
    Fifty Dead Men Walking is a 2008 English-language crime thriller film written and directed by Kari Skogland. It is a loose adaptation of Martin McGartland's 1997 autobiography of the same name...

     (2008) (UK) aka Man on the Run (USA)
  • Planet 51
    Planet 51
    Planet 51 is a 2009 Spanish/British/American animated science fiction/family film directed by Jorge Blanco, written by Joe Stillman, and starring Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, Seann William Scott, and John Cleese. Produced by Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios and...

     (2009)
  • Cracks
    Cracks (film)
    Cracks is an independent drama film starring Eva Green, Juno Temple, María Valverde, and Imogen Poots, which was released theatrically in the UK and Ireland on December 4, 2009...

     (2009)
  • 127 Hours
    127 Hours
    127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah in April 2003....

    (2010)


External links

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