Touchstone Pictures facts for kids
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Formerly
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Touchstone Films (1984–1986) |
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| Label | |
| Industry | Motion pictures |
| Fate | Shut down, currently an in-name-only unit of Walt Disney Studios |
| Founded | February 15, 1984 |
| Founder | Ron W. Miller |
| Defunct | September 2, 2016 |
| Headquarters | 500 South Buena Vista Street,
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U.S.
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Sean Bailey (2010–2016) |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Parent | Walt Disney Studios |
Touchstone Pictures was a special film brand. It was owned by The Walt Disney Company. This brand was made to release movies for teenagers and adults. These films often had themes that were more grown-up. They were different from the usual family-friendly movies from Walt Disney Pictures.
Think of Touchstone as a separate name for certain movies. The films were still made by Walt Disney Studios. But they used the Touchstone name for movies with PG-13 or R ratings. This helped people know what kind of movie they were about to watch.
The Touchstone brand started on February 15, 1984. It was first called Touchstone Films. It made many movies from the 1980s to the early 2010s. From 2011 to 2016, Touchstone also helped release movies for DreamWorks Pictures. The brand stopped making new films after its last movie, The Light Between Oceans.
Contents
The Story of Touchstone Pictures
Why Disney Created a New Film Brand
In the 1970s, many people thought Disney only made movies for kids. Because of this, some of their other films did not earn much money. In 1979, Disney released The Black Hole. This was their first movie to get a PG rating.
Over the next few years, Disney tried making more PG-rated movies. Examples include The Watcher in the Woods and Tron. However, the company lost money on some of these films.
In 1982, a Disney leader said they would create a new brand. This brand would be for their more mature movies. He explained that a non-Disney name would let them explore more grown-up topics. This meant they could make movies for older audiences. It also avoided confusing people who expected classic Disney films.
How Touchstone Films Started
Touchstone Films began on February 15, 1984. It was started by Disney's CEO, Ron W. Miller. The plan was to release three or four movies for older audiences each year.
The very first Touchstone film was Splash. This movie was a huge success. It earned a lot of money. The name "Touchstone" was chosen from over 1,200 ideas. New leaders at Disney, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, almost called it "Hollywood Pictures." But that name was later used for a different Disney studio.
Becoming Bigger and Changing Its Name
In 1986, the brand released a successful R-rated movie called Down and Out in Beverly Hills. After this, the name changed to Touchstone Pictures. The studio kept releasing popular PG-13 and R-rated films. These included Ruthless People (1986) and Adventures in Babysitting (1987).
Thanks to Touchstone's successful movies, Disney became a top movie studio by 1988. To make even more films, Disney started another brand. This new brand was called Hollywood Pictures and began in 1989.
Even though Touchstone was successful, Disney started releasing more PG-13 movies under its main Disney name. An example is Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003. This meant fewer movies needed the Touchstone label. By 2006, Touchstone was only releasing two or three films a year.
Working with DreamWorks Movies
In 2009, Disney made a deal with DreamWorks Pictures. DreamWorks was a studio co-founded by Steven Spielberg. The deal meant that Disney would release DreamWorks' movies. They would use the Touchstone Pictures brand for this.
This partnership lasted from 2011 to 2016. During this time, Touchstone mainly helped distribute DreamWorks films. Besides live-action movies, Touchstone also released animated films not made by Disney. These included Gnomeo & Juliet and The Wind Rises.
The deal with DreamWorks ended in 2016. The last movie released under the Touchstone name was The Light Between Oceans. After that, Universal Pictures became the new company to distribute DreamWorks films.
Famous Touchstone Movies
Touchstone Pictures released many famous and successful movies. Some of the most well-known include:
- Splash (1984)
- Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
- Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
- Dead Poets Society (1989)
- Pretty Woman (1990)
- Sister Act (1992)
- Armageddon (1998)
- The Waterboy (1998)
- Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
- The Help (2011)
- Lincoln (2012)
- Bridge of Spies (2015)
The Touchstone film that earned the most money worldwide was Armageddon. It made over $553 million.
Most animated films from Walt Disney Studios are released by Walt Disney Pictures. However, Touchstone released a few animated movies. These include The Nightmare Before Christmas, Gnomeo & Juliet, and Strange Magic.
Six Touchstone films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. These were Dead Poets Society, The Insider, The Help, War Horse, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies.
Top-Earning Films
Here are the Touchstone films that earned the most money at the box office.
| Rank | Title | Year | Box office gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signs | 2002 | $227,966,634 |
| 2 | Armageddon | 1998 | $201,578,182 |
| 3 | Pearl Harbor | 2001 | $198,542,554 |
| 4 | Lincoln | 2012 | $182,207,973 |
| 5 | Pretty Woman | 1990 | $178,406,268 |
| 6 | The Help | 2011 | $169,708,112 |
| 7 | Wild Hogs | 2007 | $168,273,550 |
| 8 | Three Men and a Baby | 1987 | $167,780,960 |
| 9 | The Proposal | 2009 | $163,958,031 |
| 10 | The Waterboy | 1998 | $161,491,646 |
| Rank | Title | Year | Box office gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armageddon | 1998 | $553,709,788 |
| 2 | Pretty Woman | 1990 | $463,406,268 |
| 3 | Pearl Harbor | 2001 | $449,220,945 |
| 4 | Signs | 2002 | $408,247,917 |
| 5 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | 1988 | $351,500,000 |
| 6 | The Proposal | 2009 | $317,375,031 |
| 7 | Ransom | 1996 | $309,492,681 |
| 8 | Real Steel | 2011 | $299,268,508 |
| 9 | Lincoln | 2012 | $275,293,450 |
| 10 | The Village | 2004 | $256,697,520 |
Other Brands Connected to Touchstone
Touchstone Television
Touchstone Television was the TV version of Touchstone Pictures. It made many popular TV shows. These included The Golden Girls, Home Improvement, Scrubs, Lost, and Grey's Anatomy.
In 2007, Disney changed Touchstone Television's name to ABC Studios. This was to link it more closely with the ABC TV channel. The Touchstone Television name was briefly used again in 2020 for a different studio. But it was later combined into 20th Television.
Touchstone Interactive
In 2007, Disney's video game company created a short-lived brand. It was called Touchstone Interactive. Like the film studio, it was a brand for games for older players. The only game released under this name was the 2008 version of Turok.
See also
In Spanish: Touchstone Pictures para niños
