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Since founding New Line Cinema in 1967, Robert Shaye has guided the company’s growth from a privately-held art film distributor to one of the entertainment industry’s leading independent studios and a veritable box office force.
After beginning his filmmaking career at the age of 15 with a training film for employees of his father’s supermarket, Shaye found early success as a young filmmaker. He took First Prize at the prestigious Society of Cinematologists' Rosenthal Competition, where he and Martin Scorsese shared the Best Motion Picture by an American Director Under the Age of 25 honor.
While working at the Museum of Modern Art, Shaye began to explore the world of distribution and formed New Line Cinema, in his Greenwich Village apartment. Building on early re-releases such as Reefer Madness and first-run domestic distribution of foreign films, New Line broke out commercially with the release of such popular franchises as the Street Fighter series, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Those successful franchises set the stage for such later New Line hits as Rush Hour, Austin Powers, Dumb & Dumber, The Wedding Singer, Seven, Boogie Nights, and Blade.
With Shaye at the helm, New Line has developed a reputation for working miracles in niche markets and became a trailblazer in the industry thanks to its unconventional business strategies, many of which have since become industry norms.
The studio’s maverick style was never more evident than in 1998, when writer/director Peter Jackson brought his 25-minute pitch reel for a big screen epic of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings to New Line, hoping to turn the three volumes into two films. A long-time fan of the books, Shaye suggested Jackson make three films and greenlit an unprecedented simultaneous production for all three installments.
The results of the gamble are staggering. Combined, The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been nominated for 30 Oscars, winning 17, including a clean sweep of 11 awards for The Return of the King, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. At the box office, all three films are among the top 10 grossing films of all time and they have combined to earn nearly $3 billion worldwide.
But New Line’s recent success is not limited to the Rings phenomenon. 2003 marked the studio’s most successful year, with #1 films such as Elf, Freddy vs. Jason, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Lord of the Rings trilogy helping the studio outgross established major Hollywood studios to claim a 10 percent domestic market share and become the fifth-ranked studio in Hollywood.
This established New Line as the most successful independent film company ever and came on the heels of an equally impressive 2002 performance which featured such hits as Blade II, Austin Powers in Goldmember and the Oscar-nominated About Schmidt.
New Line has also maintained its commitment to art films through its Fine Line Features division, which formed in 1990 and has released such critically acclaimed pictures as American Splendor, Shine, The Sweet Hereafter and Dancer in the Dark.
A University of Michigan graduate with a degree in business administration and a J.D. degree from Columbia University Law School, Shaye is also a Fulbright Scholar, member of the New York State Bar, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Motion Picture Pioneers, the American Film Institute and the Legal Aid Society of New York. He is also a trustee of Columbia College (Chicago). | 