Touchstone Pictures

This article is about the feature film label. For the television production company formerly named Touchstone Television, see ABC Signature. For the television production company formerly named Fox 21 Television Studios, see Touchstone Television.

Touchstone Pictures
FormerlyTouchstone Films (1984–1986)
Company typeLabel[1]
IndustryMotion pictures
FoundedFebruary 15, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-02-15)
FounderRon W. Miller
DefunctSeptember 2, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-09-02)
FateDefunct
Headquarters500 South Buena Vista Street,
Burbank, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Sean Bailey[2] (2010–2016)
ProductsMotion pictures
ParentWalt Disney Studios

Touchstone Pictures was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featured more mature themes targeted at adult audiences than typical Walt Disney Pictures films.[3][4] As such, Touchstone was merely a pseudonym label for the studio and did not exist as a distinct business operation.[1]

Established on February 15, 1984,[5] by then-Disney CEO Ron W. Miller as Touchstone Films, Touchstone operated as an active film production division of Disney during the mid 1980s through the early 2010s, releasing a majority of the studio's PG-13 and R-rated films. In 2009, Disney entered into a five-year, thirty-picture distribution deal with DreamWorks Pictures under which DreamWorks' productions would be released through the Touchstone banner; the label then distributed DreamWorks' films from 2011 to 2016.[6][7] Following the release of The Light Between Oceans, the final film of the DreamWorks deal, the Touchstone label was retired.

  1. ^ a b Letter signed by Archived August 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Thomas O. Staggs (Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, The Walt Disney Company) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, March 1, 2007. Retrieved on May 6, 2013.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bailey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ McClintock, Pamela (September 24, 2015). "Will Steven Spielberg Drop the DreamWorks Name?". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  4. ^ Deitchman, Beth (March 7, 2014). "It's Been 30 Years Since Touchstone Pictures' Splash-y Debut". Disney D23. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  5. ^ Harmetz, Aljean (February 16, 1983). "Touchstone Label to Replace Disney Name on Some Films". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  6. ^ "The Walt Disney Company: 2011 Annual Financial Report" (PDF). The Walt Disney Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2012. Page 12
  7. ^ Graser, Marc; Siegel, Tatiana (February 9, 2009). "Disney signs deal with DreamWorks". Variety. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2019.