TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/070191/0701203.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.4 KB | 116 lines

                                                                                BUSINESS, Page 53

HOLLYWOOD

From Subarus to Celluloid


Scoring big with the summer hit Robin Hood, a former auto
distributor becomes Hollywood's hottest new mogul

By MARTHA SMILGIS/LOS ANGELES


    The son of an auto mechanic and a former car distributor
himself, James Robinson is a hands-on guy. So it was natural for
him, in his new role as Hollywood's hottest independent
producer, to do some fine-tuning on his $57 million movie Robin
Hood: Prince of Thieves when he felt that the editing left
something to be desired. "I went in ((to the editing room)) with
the smallest pocketknife," he explains figuratively. "The
Sheriff of Nottingham's death scene was so prolonged it was
almost comedic. I don't think you need to see a knife twisting
16 times in a guy's gullet. If you've got to kill him, kill him
quickly and move on with the story."

    Robinson, a centimillionaire based in Baltimore, now
spends three days a week in Los Angeles making movies -- almost
all of them successful. In less than four years his independent
film company, Morgan Creek Productions, has produced a sizzling
track record of 10 profitable films out of 11 releases. That is
a notable feat at a time when several independent filmmakers and
two major studios, Orion and MGM, are verging on bankruptcy.
Despite mostly negative reviews, Robin Hood took in nearly $26
million during its first weekend, the eighth best film opening
of all time. Industry experts predict that Robin Hood, which is
distributed and partly financed by Warner Bros., could approach
$150 million in box-office revenues.

    Since Robin Hood will start to break even when its booty
reaches $80 million, the movie is likely to provide ample
profits to finance Morgan Creek's eight other movies in various
stages of production. Robinson, 56, attributes his success to
swift decision making and the fact that his own money is on the
line. He has invested about $80 million in Morgan Creek and has
attracted $200 million from outside investors. "If studio
executives lost 25% of their own money on a film," he says,
"they'd make better movies." Robinson spent only 20 hours
considering whether to buy the Robin Hood script for $1.2
million, and even less time deciding whether to hire Kevin
Costner to play the lead for $7.5 million. Deriding some studio
executives as dithering bureaucrats, he declares, "I'm never
going to have to ask some guy who makes $250,000 a year if I can
make a film."

    Robinson's affinity for pictures began at age 8 with an
Ansco camera; he went on to become an Army photographer. With
a bankroll of $40,000 from later work as a still photographer,
he bought his first business, a bankrupt Baltimore company that
removed shipping wax from imported autos. Over the ensuing
years, he bought and expanded a Subaru distributorship and
developed commercial office space. "In 1987 I looked at the
economy and said it's time to be out of the automotive business.
I sold my distributorship, lightened up on my real estate and
moved to Hollywood. I think entertainment is a good business to
be in."

    Unlike some passive investors who have got fleeced in
Hollywood, Robinson put his own sweat behind his equity and
teamed up with veterans like Joe Roth, who has since gone on to
head 20th Century Fox Films. Robinson's new company, named after
the 1943 Preston Sturges film The Miracle of Morgan's Creek,
scored a hit in 1988 with its first effort, Young Guns. The
company went on to produce such other moneymakers as Major
League and Pacific Heights, as well as a dud, Coupe de Ville,
which took in only $5 million at the box office.

    For all his maturity in business, Robinson is a kid when
it comes to movies. He wants them to have heroes. "People
admire honesty, integrity and bravery," he says. "We don't need
to step down; we need to step up. I may make a movie I won't
take my child to see, but I'll never make a movie that I
wouldn't take my mother to see. If I make a movie and Hitler's
in it, he's the bad guy, and I promise you he will die in the
end."

    Robinson is a demon for details, beginning with a movie's
script. "A lot of companies start with an imperfect script,
which is like drawing a road map while on a trip," he says.
Other steps get just as much scrutiny, from choosing a director
to arranging a sound track. "You don't know how good your movie
will be, but you can avoid making a bad one," says Robinson. He
tries to avoid the movie industry's all-consuming politics.
"People don't go to the movies to see pitches and deals, they
go to see good films," he says.

    Morgan Creek has its lenses focused on more than just
movies. The company has already produced MTV videos, toys,
Nintendo games and hard- and soft-cover books. A Robin Hood
sound-track album is the first offering from Morgan Creek
Records, and a planned animated series will initiate a TV
division.

    Yet Robinson's roots keep him grounded. He spends two days
of each workweek at his Baltimore offices, which handle his
trucking, port-servicing and real estate interests. Married for
27 years, he talks to his five children daily and says his
offspring must gain business experience before coming to
Hollywood. But Robinson does harbor at least one more fantasy:
to be born again as a cinematographer. Whoever said there were
no second acts in American life?