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Bad Robot produced the FOX series ''Fringe'', created by Abrams, [[Alex Kurtzman]], and [[Roberto Orci]], and the NBC series ''Undercovers'', created by Abrams and Josh Reims. Further films include ''Morning Glory'' (2010), ''Super 8'' (2011), ''Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'' (2011), ''Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'' (2015), the television series ''Westworld'' (2016), ''10 Cloverfield Lane'' (2016), and ''God Particle'' (2017).
 
Bad Robot produced the FOX series ''Fringe'', created by Abrams, [[Alex Kurtzman]], and [[Roberto Orci]], and the NBC series ''Undercovers'', created by Abrams and Josh Reims. Further films include ''Morning Glory'' (2010), ''Super 8'' (2011), ''Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'' (2011), ''Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'' (2015), the television series ''Westworld'' (2016), ''10 Cloverfield Lane'' (2016), and ''God Particle'' (2017).
   
A major production partner became [[w:c:starwars:Lucasfilm Ltd.|Lucasfilm Ltd.]], a [[w:c:disney:The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Company]] subsidiary as of 2012, for the production of the revitalized ''[[Star Wars]]'' film franchise, starting in 2015 with the block buster ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'', directed by J.J. Abrams himself. Three ''Star Wars'' films have followed suit, with a fifth one slated for release in late 2019.
+
A major production partner became [[starwars:Lucasfilm Ltd.|Lucasfilm Ltd.]], a [[disney:The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Company]] subsidiary as of 2012, for the production of the revitalized ''[[Star Wars]]'' film franchise, starting in 2015 with the block buster ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'', directed by J.J. Abrams himself. Three ''Star Wars'' films have followed suit, with a fifth one slated for release in late 2019.
   
Prior to his involvement with the revived ''Star Wars'' franchise, Abrams had hoped to develop further ''Star Trek'' TV series and multimedia, in which Bad Robot would have a financial share. However, the merchandising rights to the original ''Star Trek'' were owned by CBS, which did not want to diminish its revenue stream in favor of new productions from Bad Robot. [http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Trek-Merchandise-Fights-Stopped-J-J-Abrams-From-Building-Massive-Trek-World-37587.html] [http://www.thewrap.com/how-web-star-trek-rights-killed-jj-abrams-grand-ambitions-91766/] After completing {{film|12}}, Abrams decided to abandon his plans for further ''Star Trek'', in part due to frustration at his inability to control ''Star Trek'' merchandising due to the CBS/Viacom ownership split. He retained the title of co-producer for {{film|13}}, but had little involvement in its development, turning his attention instead to ''Mission: Impossible'' and ''Star Wars''.
+
Prior to his involvement with the revived ''Star Wars'' franchise, Abrams had hoped to develop further ''Star Trek'' TV series and multimedia, in which Bad Robot would have a financial share. However, the merchandising rights to the original ''Star Trek'' were owned by [[CBS Studios]], which did not want to diminish its revenue stream in favor of new productions from Bad Robot/Paramount. [http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Trek-Merchandise-Fights-Stopped-J-J-Abrams-From-Building-Massive-Trek-World-37587.html] [http://www.thewrap.com/how-web-star-trek-rights-killed-jj-abrams-grand-ambitions-91766/] After completing {{film|12}}, Abrams decided to abandon his plans for further ''Star Trek'', in part due to frustration at his inability to control ''Star Trek'' merchandising due to the CBS/Viacom ownership split. He retained the title of co-producer for {{film|13}}, but had little involvement in its development, turning his attention instead to ''Mission: Impossible'' and ''Star Wars''.
   
 
Meanwhile, his former co-worker Alex Kurtzman had formed his own production company, [[Secret Hideout]] in 2014, with a television arm founded in 2016. Since Abrams had declined to exercise his contractual first option rights to make new ''Star Trek'' series, Kurtzman was able to produce {{s|DIS}} and subsequent series for [[CBS All Access]]. [http://www.thewrap.com/how-web-star-trek-rights-killed-jj-abrams-grand-ambitions-91766/] Secret Hideout is otherwise not affiliated with Bad Robot.
 
Meanwhile, his former co-worker Alex Kurtzman had formed his own production company, [[Secret Hideout]] in 2014, with a television arm founded in 2016. Since Abrams had declined to exercise his contractual first option rights to make new ''Star Trek'' series, Kurtzman was able to produce {{s|DIS}} and subsequent series for [[CBS All Access]]. [http://www.thewrap.com/how-web-star-trek-rights-killed-jj-abrams-grand-ambitions-91766/] Secret Hideout is otherwise not affiliated with Bad Robot.
   
In contrast, Bad Robot opted in November 2018 not to renew the development deal with Paramount, instead seeking a new overall deal with the other major Hollywood studios. [http://deadline.com/2018/11/jj-abrams-bad-robot-new-films-stefan-grube-logic-megan-amram-1202501991/] For Paramount, already plagued by severe financial setbacks, losing one of its most important production partners, for the ''Star Trek'' films in particular, became a major contributing factor for their decision to cancel [[Star Trek 4 (alternate reality)|''Star Trek'' 4]] in January 2019.
+
In contrast, Bad Robot opted in November 2018 not to renew the development deal with Paramount, in part motivated by the dismal performance of ''Beyond'' and Abrams' frustration with the franchise, instead seeking a new overall deal with the other major Hollywood studios. [http://deadline.com/2018/11/jj-abrams-bad-robot-new-films-stefan-grube-logic-megan-amram-1202501991/] For Paramount, already plagued by severe financial setbacks, losing one of its most important production partners, for the ''Star Trek'' films in particular, became a major contributing factor for their decision to cancel [[Star Trek 4 (alternate reality)|''Star Trek'' 4]] in January 2019.
   
 
== Bad Robot conglomerate ==
 
== Bad Robot conglomerate ==
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* {{twitter|bad_robot|Bad Robot|external}}
 
* {{twitter|bad_robot|Bad Robot|external}}
 
* {{Wikipedia}}
 
* {{Wikipedia}}
* {{IMDb-link|page=co0021593|type=company|name=Bad Robot}}
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* {{IMDb|company/co0021593|Bad Robot|external}}
   
 
[[de:Bad Robot Productions]]
 
[[de:Bad Robot Productions]]

Revision as of 03:47, 17 September 2019

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)
Bad Robot Productions logo

Bad Robot Productions, Inc. is the production company which co-produced the 2009 alternate reality Star Trek film Star Trek with Paramount Pictures. It is owned by the film's producer/director J.J. Abrams. Star Trek executive producer Bryan Burk is the company's Executive Vice President. The company also co-produced the 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness and the 2016 sequel Star Trek Beyond.

As Bad Robot Interactive it published the video game Star Trek D-A-C alongside Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Originally part of Touchstone Pictures, the company has worked on the development of motion picture projects for Paramount and Warner Bros. Pictures, starting in 2006. The US$60 million deal was up for renewal in 2018. [1] [2] In addition to Star Trek, Bad Robot oversaw production on the films Joy Ride (2001), Mission: Impossible III (2006), and Cloverfield (2008). On television, Bad Robot has produced the series Felicity, Alias, Six Degrees, What About Brian, Person of Interest, Alcatraz, and Revolution, all created or co-created by Abrams, and the hit ABC series Lost, co-created by Abrams and Damon Lindelof.

Bad Robot produced the FOX series Fringe, created by Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, and the NBC series Undercovers, created by Abrams and Josh Reims. Further films include Morning Glory (2010), Super 8 (2011), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), the television series Westworld (2016), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), and God Particle (2017).

A major production partner became Lucasfilm Ltd., a Walt Disney Company subsidiary as of 2012, for the production of the revitalized Star Wars film franchise, starting in 2015 with the block buster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams himself. Three Star Wars films have followed suit, with a fifth one slated for release in late 2019.

Prior to his involvement with the revived Star Wars franchise, Abrams had hoped to develop further Star Trek TV series and multimedia, in which Bad Robot would have a financial share. However, the merchandising rights to the original Star Trek were owned by CBS Studios, which did not want to diminish its revenue stream in favor of new productions from Bad Robot/Paramount. [3] [4] After completing Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams decided to abandon his plans for further Star Trek, in part due to frustration at his inability to control Star Trek merchandising due to the CBS/Viacom ownership split. He retained the title of co-producer for Star Trek Beyond, but had little involvement in its development, turning his attention instead to Mission: Impossible and Star Wars.

Meanwhile, his former co-worker Alex Kurtzman had formed his own production company, Secret Hideout in 2014, with a television arm founded in 2016. Since Abrams had declined to exercise his contractual first option rights to make new Star Trek series, Kurtzman was able to produce Star Trek: Discovery and subsequent series for CBS All Access. [5] Secret Hideout is otherwise not affiliated with Bad Robot.

In contrast, Bad Robot opted in November 2018 not to renew the development deal with Paramount, in part motivated by the dismal performance of Beyond and Abrams' frustration with the franchise, instead seeking a new overall deal with the other major Hollywood studios. [6] For Paramount, already plagued by severe financial setbacks, losing one of its most important production partners, for the Star Trek films in particular, became a major contributing factor for their decision to cancel Star Trek 4 in January 2019.

Bad Robot conglomerate

Incorporated on 18 September 2006 and at that time operating from Los Angeles before moving to Santa Monica ten years later [7] [8], the company became one of the more successful Hollywood production companies, which was reflected by the circumstance that many of its operations and activities were in the intervening years spun off into a myriad of separate independent subsidiaries and/or sister companies, quickly evolving into a multi-media conglomerate. The subsidiaries incorporated in 2006 came about because of the development deal Abrams struck with Paramount and Warner Bros. The ones incorporated in 2009 on the other hand, were established in order to cover legalities surrounding the production of the 2009 Star Trek film and its follow-ups, and which gave Bad Robot henceforth a considerable say – and thus a revenue stream – in the Star Trek film franchise as a whole, especially where its consumer merchandise, including the home media formats, were concerned.

As of 2019 the Bad Robot conglomerate encompasses (incorporation dates in parentheses):

  • Bad Robot Audio, Inc. (10 October 2013 [9])
  • Bad Robot Films, Inc. (18 July 2006 [10]); One of the two original conglomerate cornerstone companies, two months later subordinated to Bad Robot Productions, Inc.
  • Bad Robot Games, LLC (2 May 2018 [11]); Producer computer games, spun off from Bad Robot Interactive, specifically for those from the Star Wars franchise.
  • Bad Robot Interactive, LLC (27 January 2009 [12]); The co-producer/licensor of Star Trek computer games based on the alternate reality films.
  • Bad Robot IP, LLC (15 March 2007 [13]); Titular, legal and administrative holding company of several subsidiaries not directly linked to the motion picture industry production-wise.
  • Bad Robot Music & Video, LLC (19 July 2006 [14]); The co-producer/licensor of Bad Robot motion picture production home media format derivatives, including those of the Star Trek alternate reality films. It was this subsidiary that became (co-)implicated in the furor following the second "VAM controversy" resulting from the various 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray releases, which employed the by fans particularly loathed "retailer exclusive" format in a far more abundant manner than was hitherto commonplace for the franchise. It has resulted in the one year later Star Trek: The Compendium "mea culpa" release.
  • Bad Robot Optical, Inc. (7 August 2009 [15]); The original visual effects (VFX) subsidiary, superseded by Kelvin Optical, Inc.
  • Bad Robot Press, LLC (12 June 2009 [16]); The co-licensor of Bad Robot motion picture production print material derivatives, including those of the Star Trek alternate reality films.
  • Bad Robot Radio, Inc. (10 October 2013 [17])
  • Bad Robot Reels, Inc. (16 July 2016 [18])
  • Bad Robot Television, Inc. (18 July 2006 [19]); One of the two original conglomerate cornerstone companies, two months later subordinated to Bad Robot Productions, Inc.
  • Bad Robot Toys, LLC (18 May 2009 [20]; The co-licensor of Bad Robot motion picture production toy merchandise derivatives, including those of the Star Trek alternate reality films.
  • Good Robot (2017-2018, incorporation pending [21]); Bad Robot's charity organization.
Kelvin Optical logo
  • Kelvin Optical, Inc. (3 August 2012 [22]); VFX production company named after the USS Kelvin's namesake(s), co-credited for the VFX work on both Into Darkness and Beyond. Successor to Bad Robot Optical, Inc. While the company has done some pre-visualisation (which did not show up on screen) and graphics CGI work for both productions, their main responsibility entailed the coordination of the VFX work done by the other VFX companies – hence the "Intermediate" moniker carried in the titles of senior staffers Juan Ignacio Cabrera, Erin M. Davis and Peter Amies.
  • Live Robot (Autumn 2018, incorporation pending [23]); Live event company
  • Loud Robot (Spring 2019, incorporation pending [24]); Non-motion picture music recording company
  • Sisyphus Productions, Inc. (11 March 1991 [25]); J.J. Abrams' now defunct, but still registered original personal production company, superseded by the two July 2006 ones.
  • Sneaky Suspicions, Inc. (28 November 2017 [26])

Staff

Note: J.J. Abrams is Owner/Chairman/Chief Executive Officer/Member of the Board of the entire Bad Robot conglomerate, but is aided for the day-to-day operations by livelong confederate Randy O'Connor who serves alongside Abrams as President on most of the holdings, including Bad Robot Productions itself.
  • Bad Robot Productions
    • David Baronoff – Creative Executive/Associate Producer
    • Bryan Burk – Executive Vice President
    • Annie Jackson – Social Media Specialist
    • Raghav Tandon – Production Assistant
    • Lindsey Weber – Head, Film
  • Kelvin Optical, Inc.
    • Star Trek Into Darkness crew
      • Visual Effects Supervisor
        • Adam Gerstel
      • Digital Intermediate Supervisor
        • Juan Ignacio Cabrera
      • Main Title Design By
      • Flame Artist
        • Brian Battles
      • Senior Compositors
        • Olaf Wendt
        • Tim Ledoux
        • Ken Littleton
      • Compositors
        • Dave Wolegemuth
        • Michael Jackson
        • Brian Begun
      • Roto Artists
        • Andy Halseth
        • Lauren Hulsey
        • Carlos Rosario
      • CG Animation
      • Digital Artists
        • Alexander Alexandrov
        • Vintila Stefan Marius
        • Dustin Hudson
        • Fabian Buckreus
        • Robert Hommel
        • Robertino Hertz
        • Sérgio Gil
        • Thorsten Hary
      • Digital Intermediate Producer
      • Production Support
        • Andrew Lee
        • Josh Tate
        • Dave Codeglia
        • James Codeglia
        • Chris Tonick
        • Zack Rosenblatt
      • Operation Manager
        • Beth Waisler
      • Uncredited
    • Star Trek Beyond crew
      • Visual Effects Producer
        • Chrysta Marie Burton
      • Visual Effects Supervisors
        • Pauline Duvall
        • Stefano Trivelli
      • Compositing Supervisor
        • John Bowers
      • CG Supervisor
        • Gee Yeung (aka Tsz 'Gee' Yeung)
      • Art Director
        • Nick Hiatt (VFX Art Director)
      • Lighting Supervisor
        • JT Lawrence (aka James Travis Lawrence)
      • Animation Lead
        • John Kim
      • FX Lead
        • Youxi Woo
      • Consulting Visual Effects Supervisor
        • Luke McDonald
      • Heads Of Production
        • Cory Bennett Lewis
        • Michael Silver (aka Michael W. Silver)
      • Visual Effects Production Manager
        • Jessica Smith
      • Visual Effects Coordinators
        • Ali Lowndes
        • Diane Coote
      • Assistant Visual Effects Editor
        • Kristofer Cross
      • Assistant Visual Effects Coordinator
        • John Hockaday
      • Production Assistant
        • Eboni Price
      • Digital Artists
        • Andrew Kramer
        • Brady Doyle (Digital Compositor)
        • Brandon Kachel
        • Brandon Fayette (CG Supervisor/Production Lead)
        • Brock Stearn (aka Brock J. Stearn, Sr. CG Generalist/Lighter
        • Curtis Carlson
        • David Sudd
        • Daniel Bayona (Digital Matte Painter)
        • Daniel Fiske
        • Donna Lanasa
        • Eddie Martinez
        • Miro Skandera (Previsualization Artist)
        • Emerito Trevino
        • Eric Keller
        • Eva Flodstrom
        • Federico Rivia (Modeler)
        • Huey Carroll
        • Hunter Athey
        • James Little (aka James S. Little)
        • Jared Broddle (Lighting Lookdev Artist)
        • Jason Bidwell (Digital Compositor)
        • Jennifer German
        • Jeremiah Forkkio
        • Jia Kim (Senior Compositor)
        • Tyler Thomson
        • John Brubaker
        • John Hewitt
        • Jon Chesson (Senior Compositor)
        • Josh LaCross
        • Julia Hong
        • Kenneth Ibrahim (FX & Pipeline TD)
        • Lisa Deaner
        • Marie Denoga
        • Mattaniah Yip
        • Melissa Huerta
        • Nabil Schiantarelli
        • Nathaniel Morgan
        • Noll Linsangan
        • Roger Vizard
        • Soyoun Lee
        • Stephen Dobbs
        • Tanya Zaman
        • Victoria Livingstone
        • Wade Ivy (aka Travis Wade Ivy)
        • Wally Chin
        • Zach Miller
      • Production And Technical Support
        • Josh Tate
        • Holly Gosnell (Digital Compositor)
        • Sam Chapin
        • Ron Mednick
        • Andrew Lee
        • Sal Sciortino
        • Beth Waisler
        • Geoff Miller
        • John Sadad
        • Adam Goldman
        • Scott Struna
        • Zachary Medow
        • Mike Doutt
        • Tom Mendelboim
        • Armando Sanchez (aka Armando J. Sanchez)
        • Steven Friedman
        • Sean McCann
      • Additional Supervision And Production
        • Manuel Almelo
        • Nicholas Barnes
        • Olivier Blanchet
        • Jonathan Chad
        • Anthony Comb
        • Vanessa Delarosbil
        • Rémi Ducharme
        • Li Geng
        • Ara Khanikian
        • Isabelle Langlois
        • Raphael Letertre
        • Xu Li
        • Ting Lo
        • Josh Lu
        • Sébastien Moreau
        • Adam O'Brien-Locke
        • Jordan Soles
        • Tolly Swallow
        • Fabrice Vienne
        • Tiffany Wu
      • Flame Artist (under the general credits)
        • Brian Battles
      • Previs Supervisor (under the general credits)
        • Christopher Batty
      • Uncredited
        • Peter Amies – Barco Escape Digital Intermediate Supervisor
        • Eduardo Anton – Digital compositor
        • Justin Hammond – Lighting Artist & Generalist
        • Rachel Schreibman – Visual Effects Editor

External links