SPYGLASS ENTERTAINMENT
by Hadley Rosenbaum
Courtesy of Spyglass
245 N Beverly Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Tel: 1 310 443 5800
Fax: 1 310 443 5912
History/Overview
Spyglass Entertainment, LLC is an American Film and Television production company that was co-founded by Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber in 1998. European media giants, Kirch Group in Germany, and Mediaset in Italy, were the founders of Spyglass and agreed to invest for 5 years in the films that were produced in the studio. The deal was estimated to be worth $250 million (1). This deal was backed by The Walt Disney Company, and they aimed to produce around 3 to 5 movies a year through “a combination of studio money, global alliances with international distributors and media companies, and backed by a large financial institution”(2). Cerberus Capital Management currently owns the company.
Key Figures (3)
CO-Founders of Spyglass Entertainment
Gary Barber- Co-Chairman
Courtesy of Spyglass Entertainment
Gary Barber is the co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment along with his partner Roger Birnbaum. He has produced and executive produced a handful of films and he has run many entertainment businesses, including production, music, foreign distribution etc. He is a true mastermind of the entertainment business. Before Spyglass, Barber was the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Creek, which is another American production studio. Even before Morgan Creek, Barber was the President of Vestron International Group, which focused on home video distribution. Barber received his college degrees fro the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. Mr. Barber was named Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. in December 2010, but he continues to serve as Co-Chairman of the Board of Spyglass.
Roger Birnbaum- Co-Chairman
Roger Birnbaum is the co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment along with his partner Gary Barber. Birnbaum started his career as Vice President of Arista Records and A&M Records before starting his career in the film industry. Before he co-founded Spyglass Entertainment, Birnbaum co-founded Caravan Pictures, where he helped to produce
Courtesy of Spyglass Entertainment
many box office hits like “Rush Hour,” “Inspector Gadget,” “ “The Three Musketeers,” “Angels in the Outfield” and “While You Were Sleeping.” Even before working at Caravan, Birnbaum was the President of Worldwide Production and Executive Vice President of Twentieth Century Fox, where he helped produce a multitude of great films, like“Home Alone,” “Sleeping with the Enemy,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “My Cousin Vinny,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Die Hard 2” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” among others. Lastly, prior to that, Birnbaum was President of Production for United Artists, where he helped to develop and produce the Oscar winning film “Rain Man.”
Jose Gutierrez
Jose is the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Executive officer. He takes care of everything financially- related to Spyglass entertainment- banking and financial reporting, day-to-day activities, etc.
Spyglass films have made a huge source of revenue in the box office, grossing over $5 billion worldwide to this day. Spyglass started its success with The Sixth Sense Spyglass was launched with the phenomenal box office success The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis, 
which grossed over $661 million and achieved six Academy Award nominations. It also had another 32 wins and 37 nominations across the board (7). Other successes include Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, 
which grossed over $485 million in worldwide box office and is considered one of the blockbuster comedies of all time, and Memoirs of a Geisha, 
based on the best-selling novel, which earned Spyglass three Oscar wins out of six nominations, bringing the company a total, to date, of 34 nominations.
MGM
A lot of the movies Spyglass Entertainment helped produce were in collaboration with other production companies, and have slowly stopped producing movies in their studio. This is because in 2010, Spyglass purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., which lifted the
MGM Logo
company out of bankruptcy. Spyglass Entertainment and its investor Carl Ichan wrote off around $5 billion in debts in exchange for the studio. I was announced that Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum would become co-chairmen and chief executive officers of the studio (4).
Metro- Goldwyn-Meyer Studio owns one of the largest modern collections of feature films in the world, including 4,100 theatrically released feature film titles and approximately 10,800 television episodes. Films in the MGM Library have won over 200 Academy Awards, including 15 Best Picture Awards (5). This iconic company has so many operating units, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Distribution Co., MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in domestic and international TV channels reaching over 130 countries (6).
Right Here, Right Now (8)
Spyglass Entertainment now serves as more of a distribution company of the movies they already have, and they have scaled back a lot on their movie production because of the merge. There are still some movies in production, just not 20 year.
One movie in production right now is Hercules: The Thracian Wars, which is set to start filming this upcoming may, and the release date is set for July 25th, 2014. The movie is based off of a comic book, and has Dwayne Johnson playing Hercules. It will basically be a comic book-action- spinoff.
Spyglass has a few movies right now currently in development. One is called The Undomestic Goddess, which is a comedy about an American attorney who loses her job and finds work as a housemaid in England. This is based off of a book, and has no set date to begin production.
Another movie in development for Spyglass is called The Game, which is going to be an action/comedy about a man who hires a professional seduction expert to help him become the world’s best pick-up artist. Brian Koppelman and David Levien are attached to the movie as the directors/writers, and this movie is based off of a novel.
One last movie Spyglass has signed on to co-produce is called The Brood, which is an adaption of a 1970’s horror television show, which is now being remade into a movie by Breck Eisner.
References
(1) http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/35507765.html?dids=35507765:35507765&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT
(3) http://www.spyglassentertainment.com
(4) http://www.globaltimes.cn/business/world/2010-12/603275.html
(5) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/CopyMGM.pdf
(6) http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mgm-restructuring-plan-becomes-effective-112209709.html
(7) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/
(8) http://pro.imdb.com/company/co0031181/