Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Motion picture |
Founder | Paul Allen and Jody Allen |
Headquarters | |
Key people | Jody Allen (Founder and Interim Chairman) |
Products | Movies, documentaries, television films and specials |
Vulcan Productions produced documentary films, television programming and virtual reality experiences that drove awareness around environmental and social issues. The company was founded in 1997 by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his sister Jody Allen. It closed in 2021.
The company financed and co-produced films with directors such as Martin Scorsese, [1] Clint Eastwood [2] and Robert Redford. [3] Its films and TV series had aired on video on-demand services like Netflix, HBO and Hulu and across networks like The Discovery Channel and National Geographic. [4] Films produced by Vulcan Productions won Peabody Awards [5] and received Academy Award nominations. [6] The company focused on raising awareness on issues like mental health, girl's education, veterans, parenting, wildlife conservation, ocean health, climate change and modern-day slavery.
Vulcan Productions began under the name "Clear Blue Sky Productions" [7] and received its first critical success with the feature film Titus (1999). The company continued to produce feature films including Far From Heaven, [8] Where God Left His Shoes, [9] and Hard Candy. [10] With a name change in 2011, the then-Vulcan Productions shifted its measure of success from box office numbers and critical ratings to driving social impact and world change. [11] The company exclusively produced Social impact entertainment with a focus on topics ranging from wildlife and conservation, global health, contemporary social issues, science, technology, history and exploration.
As part of the larger Vulcan Inc. organization, Vulcan Productions’ mission was to “change minds and ignite action through the power of storytelling.”
On May 27, 2020 Vulcan Inc. announced that Vulcan Productions would be shutdown in 2021 citing the "economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis" [12] as well as "the ongoing transition after Paul Allen's passing in 2018." [13] A few weeks after winning top honors at the Sundance Film Festival for Summer of Soul, Vulcan Productions ceased operations. [14]
Year | Film | Type | Release Date | Director | Co-producers | Starring | Distributor | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | Inspirations (film) | Documentary film | 1997 | Michael Apted | Argo Films | |||
1999 | Titus (film) | Feature film | 25 December 1999 | Julie Taymor | Overseas Film Group | Anthony Hopkins | Fox Searchlight Pictures | |
Me & Isaac Newton | Documentary film | 1999 | Michael Apted | Gertrude B. Elion | First Look International | |||
2001 | Nova: Cracking the Code of Life | Television documentary | 17 April 2001 | Elizabeth Arledge | PBS | Robert Krulwich (Journalist) | PBS | |
Evolution | Television special | 2001 | David Espar "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" Susan K. Lewis "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" Joel Olicker "Great Transformations" Kate Churchill "Extinction!" Richard Hutton "Extinction!" Gail Wilumsen "Evolutionary Arms race" | PBS | Liam Neeson (Narrator) | PBS | ||
2003 | Far from Heaven | Feature film | 10 January 2003 | Todd Haynes | Focus Features | Julianne Moore | Focus Features | |
The Blues (film series) | Documentary series | 28 September 2003 | Martin Scorsese "Feel Like Going Home" Wim Wenders "The Soul of a Man" Richard Pearce (director) "The Road to Memphis" Charles Burnett (director) "Warming by the Devil's Fire" Marc Levin "Godfathers and Sons" Mike Figgis "Red, White and Blues" Clint Eastwood "Piano Blues" | Road Movies Filmproduktion | B.B. King Laurence Fishburne (Narrator) | PBS | ||
2004 | Black Sky: The Race For Space | Documentary film | 3 October 2004 | Sandy Guthrie Jill Shinefield Scott B Gail Willumsen | Discovery Channel Gemini Productions Antenna Films | Burt Rutan | Discovery Channel | |
Lightning in a Bottle | Documentary film | 5 August 2004 | Antoine Fuqua | Jigsaw Productions | Aerosmith | Sony Pictures Classics | ||
Strange Days on Planet Earth | Television series | 2004 | David Elisco | Sea Studios Foundation | Edward Norton (Narrator) | PBS | ||
2005 | Hard Candy (film) | Feature film | 21 January 2005 | David Slade | Launchpad Productions | Elliot Page [lower-alpha 1] | Lionsgate Films | |
Success at the Core | Educational film | 2005 | Richard Hutton | Education Development Center | Teaching Channel | |||
Rx For Survival | Documentary series | 2005 | Mike Beckham (Producer) “Disease Warriors” Sara Holt (Producer) “Rise of the Superbugs” Andy Young (Producer) “Deadly Messengers” Tabitha Jackson (Producer) “Back to the Basics” Rob Whittlesey (Producer) “How Safe Are We?” | WGBH Educational Foundation | Brad Pitt (Narrator) | PBS | ||
2007 | Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial | Documentary film | 13 November 2007 | Gary Johnstone Joseph McMaster | WGBH Educational Foundation | PBS | ||
Where God Left His Shoes | Feature film | 2007 | Salvatore Stabile | John Leguizamo | IFC Films | |||
2010 | This Emotional Life | Documentary series | 4 January 2010 | Matt Boatright-Simon | Kunhardt Films McGee Media | Daniel Gilbert (psychologist) | PBS | |
2013 | Girl Rising | Documentary film | 2013 | Richard E. Robbins | The Documentary Group Double Exposure Studios | Narration by Anne Hathaway | CNN Films | |
Pandora's Promise | Documentary film | Robert Stone (director) | Robert Stone Productions | CNN Films | ||||
2014 | We The Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford To Miss | Documentary film | 2014 | 22 directors including, but not limited to: | Cinelan | Morgan Spurlock among others | 45 different distribution partners Including, but not limited to: | |
2015 | Body Team 12 | Documentary film | 2015 | David Darg | RYOT Films | HBO | ||
Racing Extinction | Documentary film | 18 September 2015 | Louie Psihoyos | Oceanic Preservation Society Insurgent Docs | Elon Musk | Discovery Channel | ||
2016 | Midsummer in Newtown | Documentary film | 1 April 2016 | Lloyd Kramer | Participant Media | Jimmy Greene | ||
Naledi: A Baby Elephant's Tale | Documentary film | 5 June 2016 | Ben Bowie Geoffrey Luck | Off the Fence | Netflix | |||
The Ivory Game | Documentary film | November 12, 2016 | Richard Ladkani | Terra Mater Factual Studios Malaika Pictures | Elisifa Ngowi Craig Millar Andrea Crosta Hongxiang Huang Ofir Drori Ian Craig Georgina Kamanga | Netflix | ||
Ocean Warriors | Television series | 4 December 2016 | Marc Benjamin | Sundance Productions Brick City TV | Sid Chakravarty Peter Hammerstedt | Animal Planet | ||
2017 | Unseen Enemy | Documentary film | 7 April 2017 | Janet Tobias | Sierra/Tango Productions CNN Films | CNN Films | ||
2018 | Ballet Now | Documentary film | 4 June 2018 | Steven Cantor | Stick Figure Studios | Tiler Peck | Hulu | |
X-Ray Fashion | VR short | 29 August 2018 | Francesco Carrozzini | MANND | Francesco Carrozzini | |||
Chasing the Thunder | Documentary film | 2 February 2018 | Marc Benjamin | Brick City TV | Sid Chakravarty Peter Hammerstedt | Animal Planet | ||
Memphis Belle: The Restoration | Documentary film | 2018 | William Wyler | Creative Differences | ||||
2019 | USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter | Documentary film | 8 January 2019 | Kirk Wolfinger | Lone Wolf Media | PBS | ||
Everest VR | VR short | 10 April 2019 | Jon Griffith Matthew Dejohn | Alpine Exposures Legend 3D | Sherpa Tenji Jon Griffith | |||
Drop in the Ocean | VR short | 25 April 2019 | Philippe Cousteau Jr. | Vision3 | Philippe Cousteau Ashlan Cousteau | |||
Guardians of the Kingdom | VR short | 26 April 2019 | Sophie Ansel Christophe Bailhache | Underwater Earth Seaview 360 Projects for Good ITRAMAS Spinifex | Sylvia Earle Finau Molisi | |||
The Cold Blue | Documentary film | 6 June 2019 | Erik Nelson | Creative Differences | HBO | |||
Ghost Fleet | Documentary film | 7 June 2019 | Shannon Service Jeffrey Waldron | Seahorse Productions | Patima Tungpuchayakul Tun Lin Chutima "Oi" Sidasathian Bustar Maitar | TBD | ||
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life | Documentary film | August 31, 2019 | Ric Burns | Steeplechase Productions Motto Pictures PBS American Masters | Oliver Sacks | PBS American Masters [16] |
Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas
Paul Gardner Allen was an American businessman, computer programmer, researcher, investor, film producer, explorer, and philanthropist. He is best known for co-founding Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which helped spark the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Allen was ranked as the 44th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes with an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion at the time of his death in October 2018.
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