ImageMovers is a film studio run by director Robert Zemeckis. Founded in 1997, the studio produced such films as Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, and The Polar Express. From 2007 to 2010, Disney and ImageMovers ran a joint animation facility, ImageMovers Digital, which produced two performance captured animated films, A Christmas Carol, and Mars Needs Moms.

 

In August 2011, it was announced that ImageMovers has entered a two-year first-look producing deal with Universal Studios.

 

History

Beginnings

In 1997, by producer-writer-director Robert Zemeckis, along with partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey formed the production company ImageMovers. Among ImageMovers' productions were What Lies Beneath (with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer), Cast Away (with Tom Hanks), The Polar Express (also with Tom Hanks), and its last film, Beowulf (with Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn and Angelina Jolie).

 

Disney era

In 2007, The Walt Disney Company and Zemeckis set up ImageMovers Digital, a new Marin County-based film company, where Zemeckis would produce and direct 3D animated films using performance capture technology.

 

On November 6, 2009, ImageMovers Digital released A Christmas Carol, a performance capture film starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, and Cary Elwes, each in multiple roles. On March 12, 2010, Walt Disney Studios and ImageMovers Digital announced that they would close operations by January 2011, after the production was completed on Mars Needs Moms. Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said, "...given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model."

 

The company had previously been reported to have a Calling All Robots,Yellow Submarine remake, a Roger Rabbit sequel and The Nutcracker in development. Disney dropped Yellow Submarine following the box-office failure of Mars Needs Moms.

 

Universal era

In August 2011, it was announced that ImageMovers has entered a two-year first-look producing deal with Universal Studios.

 

Films

ImageMovers

Year	Film	Co-Production/Distributor	Budget	Gross
2000	What Lies Beneath	DreamWorks 20th Century Fox	$100 million	$291,420,351
	Cast Away		$90,000,000	$429,632,142
2003	Matchstick Men	Warner Bros.		$65,573,198
2004	The Polar Express		$165,000,000	$306,431,864
2005	The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio	DreamWorks		$627,844
2006	Last Holiday	Paramount Pictures	$45 million	$43,343,248
	Monster House	Columbia Pictures Amblin Entertainment	$75 million	$140,175,006
2007	Beowulf	Paramount Pictures (USA) Warner Bros. (non-USA)	$150 million	$196,393,745
2011	Real Steel	Touchstone Pictures DreamWorks	$110 million	$295,120,796
2012	Flight	Paramount Pictures Parkes/MacDonald	$50 million
TBA	How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack	Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Animation
	The Magic Catalogue	Walt Disney Pictures