Lorimar Productions

Lorimar was an American television production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1968-1993. It was founded by Merv Adelson, Irwin Molasky and Lee Rich, who named the company after Adelson's ex-wife Lori, and their last initials (M for Molasky, A for Adelson, R for Rich).

History

Early years

Lorimar's first major hit production was "The Waltons", which premiered in 1972 following a one-hour TV movie in 1971. Throughout the 1970s, Lorimar produced several other shows as well; of these, the most popular by far was "Dallas". In 1980, Lorimar purchased the bankrupt Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

Family-friendly sitcoms under Lorimar

In the 1980s, Lorimar's output swung toward family-friendly sitcoms; among these were "Perfect Strangers" and "Full House".

Lorimar-Telepictures

In 1986, Lorimar merged with television syndication firm Telepictures, becoming Lorimar-Telepictures; later that year, they purchased the MGM lot from Ted Turner.

Purchase by Warner Communications

In 1988, Lorimar-Telepictures became Lorimar Television. In 1989, Lorimar was purchased by Warner Communications, which was merging with Time Inc. to form Time Warner. Lorimar's distribution business was folded into Warner Bros. Television; since then, the Telepictures name has been resurrected as both a production company (circa 1990), and once again as a syndication company (1996, after the Turner merger).

The former MGM studio lot was sold to Sony to house Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Sony's other film operations. Lorimar continued as a production company until 1993, when it was absorbed into Warner Bros. Television. The last series to premiere under the Lorimar name was "Time Trax".

Key components owned by Lorimar

Additionally, Lorimar has owned key components of the film library of the defunct Allied Artists film studio (originally Monogram Pictures), which includes "Cabaret" and "Papillon"; these too are now owned by Warner.

TV productions

*"The Good Life" (with Screen Gems, 1971-1972)
*"The Waltons" (1972-1981)
*"Sybil" (TV movie) (1976)
*"Helter Skelter" (TV mini-series) (1976)
*"Eight Is Enough" (1977-1981)
*"Dallas" (1978-1991)
*"Knots Landing" (1979-1993)
*"Flamingo Road" (1980-1982)
*"The People's Court" (1981-1993)
*"Falcon Crest" (1981-1990)
*"King's Crossing" (1982)
*"ThunderCats" (1983)
*"SilverHawks" (1986)
*"Love Connection" (1983-1995, 1998-1999)
*"Hunter" (1984-1991)
*"Mama's Family" (1986-1990 version, distribution only)
*"The Hogan Family" (1986-1991)
*"Perfect Strangers" (1986-1993)
*"Full House" (1987-1995)
*"Midnight Caller" (1988-1991)
*"Freddy's Nightmares" (1988-1990)
*"Family Matters" (1989-1998)
*"Sisters" (1991-1996)
*"Step by Step" (1991-1998)
*"Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" (1992-1997)
*"Time Trax" (1993-1994)
*"Island City (film)" (TV movie) (1994)

Theatrical films

Lorimar not only specialized in producing television programs, they also produced (sporadically) a number of theatrical motion pictures starting in the late 1970's, most of which were originally distributed by other studios as noted. In the late 1980s they had a film production and distribution unit known as Lorimar Motion Pictures. In 1988, the film unit was reorganized as Lorimar Film Entertainment. At the same time, Lorimar made a distribution deal with Warner Bros. (oddly a year before Warner's takeover of Lorimar). Under Warner, Lorimar continued to make theatrical films until 1990.

The rights to most of the films noted here have been retained by their original distributors "(as noted with an * asterisk)", while others are now in the hands of Warner Bros. The television rights to "The Last Starfighter" are owned by Warner, while Universal holds theatrical and home video rights. In the UK, films produced by Lorimar in the late 1970's/early 1980's were distributed by ITC Entertainment.

*"The Choirboys" (1977, distributed by Universal.)*
*"Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?" (1978, originally distributed by Warner Bros.; WB summarily relinquished the rights, but reclaimed them after the Lorimar/WB merger)*
*"The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh" (1979, distributed by United Artists)
*"Being There" (1979, distributed by United Artists)
*"Cruising" (1980, distributed by United Artists)
*"The Big Red One" (1980, distributed by United Artists)
*""The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1981 film)" (1981, distributed by Paramount)
*"S.O.B." (1981, distributed by Paramount)
*"Victory" (1981, distributed by Paramount)
*"An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982) (Lorimar/Paramount co-production)*
*"The Last Starfighter" (1984, distributed and co-produced by Universal)*
*"The Morning After" (1986, distributed by 20th Century Fox)
*"The Boy Who Could Fly" (1986, distributed by 20th Century Fox)
*"Big Shots" (1987, distributed by 20th Century Fox)
*"Made In Heaven" (1987)
*"Return of the Living Dead Part II" (1988)
*"Action Jackson" (1988)
*"Running On Empty" (1988, distributed by Warner Bros.)*
*"Dangerous Liaisons" (1988, distributed by Warner Bros.)*
*"Bert Rigby, You're a Fool" (1989, distributed by Warner Bros.)*
*"Dead Bang" (1989, distributed by Warner Bros.)*
*"See You in the Morning" (1989, distributed by Warner Bros.)*
*"The Witches" (1990, distributed by Warner Bros.)*