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 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks building | |
| Industry | Film Television |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Founders | Spike Lee Monty Ross |
| Headquarters | New York City |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Subsidiaries | 40 Acres and a Mule Musicworks Spike DDB |
| Website | 40acres |
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, sometimes shortened to 40 Acres, is an American production company founded by filmmakers Spike Lee and Monty Ross in 1979. It has produced all of Lee's films.
The company's name is a reference to forty acres and a mule, a section of military orders during the American Civil War which stated that certain recently emancipated black families on the Georgia coast were to be given some surplus army mules and lots of land no larger than 40 acres (160,000 m2). [1] The company's logo contains a circle with the icon "40a" and it has occasionally used a parody of the Mark VII Limited logo.
The company has produced all of Lee's films, starting in 1986 with She's Gotta Have It . [2] [3] [4] After the success of his films Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X , Lee expanded the company's brand by opening clothing stores featuring its merchandise.
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks has an advertising division with DDB called Spike DDB located in New York City. They have done Super Bowl, Nike, Lay's, and Eckō Unltd. commercial spots. They have produced commercials and music videos in addition to Lee's films. The company established a music branch, used to designate records, 40 Acres and a Mule Musicworks in 1993. [5]
In the late 1980s, the company sought a partnership with Universal Pictures, which was reupped in September 1992, and stayed on for five years, [6] which lasted until March 2, 1997, when it was moved to Columbia Pictures. [7] Sam Kitt was named president of production at the Sony-based studio on June 18, 1997. [8]
In 2004, the company moved all of its operations to New York City with headquarters on South Elliott Place in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2010, Lee's documentary If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise won a Peabody Award. [9] In 2021, the company had signed a multi-year creative partnership with Netflix to develop their film and television projects. [10]
| Date | Title | Director | Co-producer | Distributor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 8, 1986 | She's Gotta Have It | Spike Lee | Island Pictures | |
| February 12, 1988 | School Daze | Columbia Pictures | ||
| July 21, 1989 | Do the Right Thing | Universal Pictures | ||
| August 3, 1990 | Mo' Better Blues | |||
| June 7, 1991 | Jungle Fever | |||
| November 18, 1992 | Malcolm X | Warner Bros. (United States) Largo International (International) | ||
| May 13, 1994 | Crooklyn | Universal Pictures | ||
| October 28, 1994 | Drop Squad | David C. Johnson | Gramercy Pictures | |
| April 19, 1995 | New Jersey Drive | Nick Gomez | ||
| May 24, 1995 | Tales from the Hood | Rusty Cundieff | Savoy Pictures | |
| September 13, 1995 | Clockers | Spike Lee | Universal Pictures | |
| March 22, 1996 | Girl 6 | Fox Searchlight Pictures | Fox Searchlight Pictures | |
| October 16, 1996 | Get on the Bus | Columbia Pictures | Sony Pictures Releasing | |
| May 1, 1998 | He Got Game | Touchstone Pictures | Buena Vista Pictures | |
| July 2, 1999 | Summer of Sam | |||
| October 22, 1999 | The Best Man | Malcolm D. Lee | Universal Pictures | |
| April 21, 2000 | Love & Basketball | Gina Prince-Bythewood | New Line Cinema | |
| August 18, 2000 | The Original Kings of Comedy | Spike Lee | MTV Productions Latham Entertainment | Paramount Pictures |
| October 6, 2000 | Bamboozled | New Line Cinema | ||
| July 1, 2001 | 3 A.M. | Lee Davis | Prism Leisure Corporation | |
| December 19, 2002 | 25th Hour | Spike Lee | Touchstone Pictures 25th Hour Productions Gamut Films Industry Entertainment | Buena Vista Pictures |
| July 30, 2004 | She Hate Me | Sony Pictures Classics | ||
| March 24, 2006 | Inside Man | Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment | Universal Pictures | |
| September 26, 2008 | Miracle at St. Anna | Touchstone Pictures RAI Cinema On My Own Produzioni Cinematografiche | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | |
| August 10, 2012 | Red Hook Summer | Variance Films | ||
| November 27, 2013 | Oldboy | Good Universe Vertigo Entertainment | FilmDistrict | |
| January 25, 2015 | Cronies | Michael Larnell | Circa 1978 Productions | |
| February 14, 2015 | Da Sweet Blood of Jesus | Spike Lee | Gravitas Ventures | |
| December 4, 2015 | Chi-Raq | Amazon Studios | Roadside Attractions | |
| April 20, 2018 | Pass Over | Amazon Prime | ||
| August 10, 2018 | BlacKkKlansman | Blumhouse Productions Monkeypaw Productions QC Entertainment Legendary Entertainment Perfect World Pictures | Focus Features (United States) Universal Pictures (International) | |
| October 2, 2018 | Tales from the Hood 2 | Rusty Cundieff Darin Scott | Universal 1440 Entertainment Hood Productions, Inc. | Universal Pictures Home Entertainment |
| May 17, 2019 | See You Yesterday | Stefon Bristol | Netflix | |
| June 12, 2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Spike Lee | Rahway Road Lloyd Levin/Beatriz Levin Production | |
| October 17, 2020 | American Utopia | HBO Films Participant River Road Entertainment Warner Music Entertainment RadicalMedia Todomundo | HBO (United States/Canada) Universal Pictures (International) |
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015.
Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 until his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them were originally broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States.
Nelson George is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
4 Little Girls is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the murder of four African-American girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. The film was directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Good Fences is a 2003 American comedy-drama television film directed by Ernest Dickerson and written by Trey Ellis, based on the 1997 novel of the same name by his wife Erika Ellis. The film is about the stresses of prejudice on an upwardly mobile black family in 1970s Greenwich, Connecticut. Danny Glover plays the overworked, stressed husband and Whoopi Goldberg plays his steadfast wife.
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed in late August and early September 2005, and premiered at the New Orleans Arena on August 16, 2006 and was first aired on HBO the following week. The television premiere aired in two parts on August 21 and 22, 2006 on HBO. It has been described by Sheila Nevins, chief of HBO's documentary unit, as "one of the most important films HBO has ever made." The title is a reference to the blues tune "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor, known for films that deal with controversial social and political issues. Each of Lee's films is typically referred to as "A Spike Lee Joint" and the closing credits always end with the phrases "By Any Means Necessary," "Ya Dig," and "Sho Nuff."
King's Ransom: An 87th Precinct Mystery is a novel by Ed McBain published in 1959, part of his 87th Precinct series of police procedural novels and short stories. It centers on the moral dilemma faced by a wealthy man when he is forced to choose between using his wealth to fulfill a personal ambition or saving the life of a kidnapped child.
If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise is a 2010 documentary film directed by Spike Lee, as a follow-up to his 2006 HBO documentary film, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. The film looks into the proceeding years since Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans and Gulf Coast region, and also focuses on the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its effect on the men and women who work along the shores of the gulf. Many of the participants in Levees were also featured in this documentary.
Drop Squad is a 1994 American drama film directed by David C. Johnson and executive produced by Spike Lee via his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The plot depicts a team of African Americans who kidnap fellow black people who they feel have betrayed their community and seek to "deprogram" them so that they will change their ways. The acronym DROP stands for "Deprogramming and Restoration of Pride". The film has been described as "[p]art thriller, part social satire".
Red Hook Summer is a 2012 American film co-written and directed by Spike Lee. It is Lee's sixth film in his "Chronicles of Brooklyn" series following She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game.
iHQ Inc., doing business as SidusHQ is one of the leading talent management agencies in South Korea. It was founded in January 2001 by Teddy Hoon-tak Jung. The company is involved in talent management, and TV drama/music production.
42 is a 2013 American biographical sports film written and directed by Brian Helgeland. The plot follows baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the modern era. The title of the film is a reference to Robinson's jersey number, which was universally retired across all MLB teams in 1997. The ensemble cast includes Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, alongside Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, André Holland, Lucas Black, Hamish Linklater, and Ryan Merriman in supporting roles.
Monty Austin Ross is an American film producer and director. He is the co-founder of 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks alongside Spike Lee and has produced, She's Gotta Have It (1986), School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992) and Crooklyn (1994).
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a 2014 American horror film directed by Spike Lee. The plot is about a wealthy anthropologist who is stabbed by an ancient African dagger and turned into a vampire. Lee has said the film is about "[h]uman beings who are addicted to blood" and called it "[a] new kind of love story." The film is a remake of the 1973 film Ganja & Hess. It was the first of Lee's films to be funded through Kickstarter. The film was released on June 22, 2014, at the American Black Film Festival as the closing film, and was released in theaters and on VOD on February 14, 2015, by Gravitas Ventures.
The expression "...the creek don't rise" is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia that has historically isolated rural neighborhoods and interrupted travel.
Samuel D. Pollard is an American film director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. His films have garnered numerous awards such as Peabodys, Emmys, and an Academy Award nomination. In 2020, the International Documentary Association gave him a career achievement award. Spike Lee, whose films Pollard has edited and produced, described him as being "a master filmmaker." Henry Louis Gates Jr. characterizes Pollard's work in this way: "When I think about his documentaries, they add up to a corpus — a way of telling African-American history in its various dimensions."
NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½ is an American documentary miniseries. The series follows the chronicle of life and survival in New York City, ranging from the September 11 attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. It consists of four episodes and premiered on August 22, 2021, on HBO.
Geeta Gandbhir is an American filmmaker known for her work as a director, producer, and editor. She has won multiple awards including Emmy Awards and Peabody Awards.
High and Low is an upcoming American crime thriller film directed by Spike Lee. It is an English-language remake of the 1963 Japanese film High and Low, itself loosely based on the 1959 novel King's Ransom by Ed McBain. The film stars Denzel Washington, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, ASAP Rocky, and Dean Winters.
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