Syncopy Inc.

Last updated

Syncopy Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Motion picture
FoundedFebruary 27, 2001;23 years ago (2001-02-27)
Founders Emma Thomas
Christopher Nolan
Headquarters
OwnersEmma Thomas
Christopher Nolan
Number of employees
4 (2018)

Syncopy Inc. [1] is a British-American film production company founded and operated by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan. The name of the company is a play on syncopation and was suggested to Nolan by his late father, who was a classical music fan. [2] It has offices in London [3] and Los Angeles. [4]

Contents

The on-screen logo contains a maze with the company name.

History

Founded on 27 February 2001, [5] the majority of Syncopy's productions have been distributed by Warner Bros. [6] They partnered with Legendary Pictures to produce Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). In 2013, Syncopy released Zack Snyder's Man of Steel , and in 2015, they formed a joint venture with Zeitgeist Films to release Blu-ray editions of Zeitgeist's prestige films. The first title in their partnership was Elena (2011), from director Andrey Zvyagintsev. [7] Later on the production company has produced the science fiction film Interstellar (2014), the documentary short Quay (2015), the war film Dunkirk (2017), and the spy film Tenet (2020), all directed by Christopher Nolan. [8]

Other than Nolan and Thomas, the company employs only two people. In a 2018 interview for Vanity Fair , Thomas said, "We're not empire builders, we're about the individual film." [9] [10] In October 2021, it was announced that Nolan's next film, titled Oppenheimer , would be shot in IMAX and 65mm film. It was released on 21 July 2023. The film stars Cillian Murphy in the title role, with Hoyte van Hoytema, Jennifer Lame, and Ludwig Göransson all returning in their respective technical roles. [11] This is Nolan's first film distributed by Universal Pictures [12] and his first Best Picture and Best Director Oscar win at the 96th Academy Awards. [13]

Filmography

Feature films

YearTitleDirectorCo-production companyDistributorBox officeRef.
2005 Batman Begins Christopher Nolan Legendary Pictures, DC Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures $375 million [14]
2006 The Prestige Touchstone Pictures, Newmarket Films Warner Bros. Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures $109 million [15]
2008 The Dark Knight Legendary Pictures, DC EntertainmentWarner Bros. Pictures$1 billion [16]
2010 Inception Legendary Pictures$839 million [17]
2012 The Dark Knight Rises Legendary Pictures, DC Entertainment$1.11 billion [18]
2013 Man of Steel Zack Snyder Legendary Pictures, DC Entertainment, Peters Entertainment $670 million [19]
2014 Interstellar Christopher NolanLegendary Pictures, Lynda Obst Productions Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures $733 million [20]
2017 Dunkirk RatPac-Dune Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures$530 million [21]
2020 Tenet $365 million [22]
2023 Oppenheimer Atlas Entertainment Universal Pictures $975 million [23]
Box office total:$6.7 billion

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Further reading