Frank Yablans
Frank Yablans (August 27, 1935 – November 27, 2014) was an American studio executive, film producer, and screenwriter. Yablans served as an executive at Paramount Pictures, including President of the studio, in the 1960s and 1970s.
Early life
Frank Yablans was born in Brooklyn, New York to Annette and Morris Yablans. Yablans' father was a taxi driver. His older brother, Irwin Yablans, produced Halloween (1978).[1] Yablans was Jewish.[2][3][4][5]
Career
Yablans entered the motion picture business in 1956, joining Warner Bros. sales.[6] In 1959, he joined Buena Vista as the Milwaukee sales manager where he stayed until 1966.[6] He joined Sigma III and later transitioned to Filmways after it acquired Sigma III.[6]
He became executive vice president of sales for Paramount Pictures in June 1969,[6] where his marketing of the film Love Story (1970), led to his appointment as Paramount Studios' president on May 10, 1971.[6]
As head of Paramount, he oversaw the release and marketing of The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), and Chinatown (1974).[7] He also personally supervised the 100th birthday celebrations of studio founder Adolph Zukor in January 1973. Following a reorganization at Paramount in which Charles Bluhdorn, the chairman and CEO of Gulf & Western Industries, was replaced by Barry Diller, Yablans announced his resignation as president on November 8, 1974.
After leaving Paramount he became an independent producer, working primarily through Paramount and 20th Century Fox. He was executive producer of Silver Streak (1976), The Other Side of Midnight (1977), Congo (1995), and the HBO series Rome. He also produced and adapted the screenplays for North Dallas Forty (1979) and Mommie Dearest (1981), both based on books. The latter won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay.
Yablans was recruited by Kirk Kerkorian to head his troubled and debt-laden film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).[8] While Yablans' reorganization of MGM and United Artists (UA) into a single entity (as MGM/UA) served to reduce costs and overhead, the company continued to lose value, and in 1986 was purchased by Ted Turner Productions for a reported $1.25 billion.[9] He then formed Northstar Entertainment Corporation, with a partnership at Producers Sales Organization.[10] In 1986, he set up a two-year, seven-picture agreement with low-budget studio Empire International to produce feature films.[11] In 1987, director Arthur Seidelman partnered with Yablans to produce feature films.[12]
In 2000, Yablans and partners Cindy Bond, Charlie Stuart Gay and Ron Booth founded Promenade Pictures, a production and marketing company committed to "family-friendly" entertainment. Its most ambitious project was the "Epic Stories of the Bible" series of CGI-animated features, starting with The Ten Commandments (2007) and Noah's Ark: The New Beginning (2012).
Death
Yablans died on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2014, from natural causes at the age of 79.[13][14] He had three children – Robert Yablans (deceased), Sharon Abrams, and Edward Yablans.[14]
References
- ^ "Show Business: The Promoter: Frank Yablans". Time. 18 March 1974. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
- ^ Arnold, Gary (March 19, 1978). "Frank Yablans - 'Someone Has To Play the Heavy'". The Washington Post.
- ^ Erens, Patricia (August 22, 1988). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. p. 392. ISBN 9780253204936.
- ^ Cones, John (April 2015). Motion Picture Biographies: The Hollywood Spin on Historical Figures. Algora Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 9781628941166.
- ^ Biskind, Peter (April 4, 1999). Easy Riders Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. Simon & Schuster. p. 145. ISBN 9780684857084.
- ^ a b c d e Murphy, A.D. (November 13, 1974). "Frank Yablans Resigns Par Presidency". Variety. p. 3.
- ^ Cieply, Michael (28 November 2014). "Frank Yablans, Paramount Executive in Fertile '70s, Dies at 79". The New York Times.
- ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (20 June 1990). "Books of The Times; What Went Wrong at M-G-M, by a Participant - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
- ^ Friendly, David T. (13 November 1986). "LEO ROARS HIS LAST AT THE OLD MGM STAND : Culver City Sound Stages Lose Some Old Trademarks and Take On a New Identity With New Owners ". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Frank Yablans Unveil Prod. Plans In PSO Coventure". Variety. 1985-05-15. p. 5.
- ^ Klein, Richard (1986-10-22). "Empire Has 40 To Lure Buyers". Variety. pp. 13, 312.
- ^ Silverman, Marie Saxon (1987-01-28). "Vet Director Arthur Seidelman Teams Up With Frank Yablans". Variety. p. 14.
- ^ Barnes, Mike. "Former Paramount President Frank Yablans Dies at 79". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ^ a b Saperstein, Pat (27 November 2014). "Frank Yablans, Former Paramount President, Dies at 79". Variety. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
External links
- Frank Yablans at IMDb
- v
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- Bronte Woodard and Allan Carr – Can't Stop the Music (1980)
- Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, Tracy Hotchner, and Robert Getchell – Mommie Dearest (1981)
- Robin Moore and Laird Koenig – Inchon (1982)
- John Kershaw, Shawn Randall, and Ellen Shephard – The Lonely Lady (1983)
- John Derek – Bolero (1984)
- Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron, and Kevin Jarre – Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
- Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz – Howard the Duck (1986)
- Jonathan Reynolds and Bill Cosby – Leonard Part 6 (1987)
- Heywood Gould – Cocktail (1988)
- Eddie Murphy – Harlem Nights (1989)
- Daniel Waters, James Cappe, and David Arnott – The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
- Steven E. de Souza, Daniel Waters, Bruce Willis, and Robert Kraft – Hudson Hawk (1991)
- Blake Snyder, William Osborne, and William Davies – Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)
- Amy Holden Jones – Indecent Proposal (1993)
- Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, Steven E. de Souza, and various others – The Flintstones (1994)
- Joe Eszterhas – Showgirls (1995)
- Andrew Bergman – Striptease (1996)
- Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland – The Postman (1997)
- Joe Eszterhas – An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998)
- Jim Thomas, John Thomas, S. S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price, and Peter S. Seaman – Wild Wild West (1999)
- Corey Mandell and J. David Shapiro – Battlefield Earth (2000)
- Tom Green and Derek Harvie – Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
- George Lucas and Jonathan Hales – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
- Martin Brest – Gigli (2003)
- Theresa Rebeck, John Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers – Catwoman (2004)
- Jenny McCarthy – Dirty Love (2005)
- Leora Barish and Henry Bean – Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
- Jeffrey Hammond – I Know Who Killed Me (2007)
- Mike Myers and Graham Gordy – The Love Guru (2008)
- Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
- M. Night Shyamalan – The Last Airbender (2010)
- Steve Koren, Adam Sandler, and Ben Zook – Jack and Jill (2011)
- David Caspe – That's My Boy (2012)
- Steve Baker, Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda, Bob Odenkirk, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark – Movie 43 (2013)
- Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey – Saving Christmas (2014)
- Kelly Marcel – Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
- Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
- Tony Leondis, Eric Siegel, and Mike White – The Emoji Movie (2017)
- Niall Leonard – Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
- Lee Hall and Tom Hooper – Cats (2019)
- Tomasz Klimala, Barbara Białowąs, Tomasz Mandes, and Blanka Lipińska – 365 Days (2020/21)
- Joe DiPietro and David Bryan – Diana: The Musical (2021)
- Andrew Dominik – Blonde (2022)
- Rhys Frake-Waterfield – Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)