Rastar was an American film production company founded in 1966 [1] by Hollywood producer Ray Stark, who was involved in most of its productions. Its first film was 1968's Funny Girl . [2]
The company also produced films in the 1970s and 1980s, such as The Owl and the Pussycat , The Way We Were , Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams , Murder by Death , The Goodbye Girl , Seems Like Old Times , Annie and Blue Thunder . The company's most notable films include Steel Magnolias and the Smokey and the Bandit trio of films. 1996's Harriet the Spy and 2000's Alley Cats Strike , a film made for Disney Channel, were two of its last endeavors.
History
In 1966, Ray Stark grew frustrated, left Seven Arts Productions, due to the hatedom of the 10 of the 11 films he was producing, [3] to form an independent production company, Rastar, to produce feature films, stage plays and television shows in the model Seven Arts Productions had. [4] He set up his business at Columbia Pictures in 1966 to form a nearly 30-year partnership. [5] The company produced films based on Neil Simon's plays, as well as star vehicles for Barbara Streisand. The company begin venturing into television in 1969. [6]
In 1974, Rastar was acquired by Columbia Pictures, which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Pictures, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films, the reincarnation of Rastar Pictures and it was acquired by Columbia Pictures in 1980. [7] [8] In 1981, Rastar Television bought out the rights to Robert Ripley's collection Believe It or Not! for Columbia Pictures Television, whhich aired in 1982. [9]
In 1984, Rastar started producing movies for Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia, HBO and CBS. The first films to come out were Peggy Sue Got Married and Nothing in Common . [10] In 1985, it partnered with Ted Turner to produce television movies. [11]
Stark grew sour of its relations with Columbia when David Puttnam was appointed head of Columbia in 1986, but his successor Dawn Steel in 1987 was lenient than Puttnam and resumed relations with Rastar. [12] In 1986, Rastar agreed to a distribution deal with Universal Pictures in order to help finance more projects. [13] In late 1986, the company was nearly sold to Hal Roach Studios, [14] but the deal failed in early 1987. [15]
In 1989, Stark teamed up with Daniel Melnick of The IndieProd Company, to form a joint venture production company, Rastar/IndieProd, which was part of Carolco Pictures. [16] The venture was dissolved in 1991. [17] In 1993, the company begin making movies with Savoy Pictures. [18]
In 1996, executives Lawrence Turman and John Morrissey left Rastar to form his independent production company The Turman/Morrisey Company, at Columbia Pictures, with Stark's help. [19] The company closed its operations in 2004 when Ray Stark died. [20]
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