The Donners' Company


The Donners' Company is the film production company of director Richard Donner and producer Lauren Shuler Donner, in the early 1990s. It is notable for the X-Men film series.

History

Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions

In the late 1980s, film producer Lauren Shuler Donner announced that she would end her production deal with The Walt Disney Studios. She announced that she would merge with Warner Bros.-based Richard Donner Productions, to create Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions, to be operating on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California.
The first film released under the name was Radio Flyer, which was directed by Richard Donner, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, and it was released by Columbia Pictures. It flopped at the box office.
The banner made its first major success in 1993, with the box office hit Free Willy. Its success spawned two sequels, and a television series.
The same year, the studio and Warner Bros. made a deal with Hammer Film Productions to do remake film projects based on its existing UK film productions.
In 1994, the studio hit its first television project, with an animated adaptation of the motion picture Free Willy, and it was aired on ABC for two seasons.

The Donners' Company

In 1999, it was announced that Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions was renamed to the better-sounding name The Donners' Company. On April 4, 2000, it was signed a deal with NBC Studios to produce shows for the NBC television network.
That same year, the studio scored their first major success with X-Men, which was an instant box office hit, grossing over $296.8 million worldwide.
In 2001, The Donners' Company signed a deal with Winchester Films to produce its feature films from its own.
More recently, the company was producing two X-Men series for television, including Legion on FX, and The Gifted on Fox, both of which received cancellations in 2019.

Filmography

1990s

2000s

2010s

Upcoming

Television