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John Davis (producer)

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Not to be confused with John A. Davis.

John Davis
Born
John Andrew Davis

(1954-07-20) July 20, 1954 (age 70)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Alma materBowdoin College
Harvard Business School
OccupationFilm producer
Known forFounder of Davis Entertainment
SpouseJordan Davis
Children3
Parents

John Andrew Davis (born July 20, 1954) is an American film producer and founder of Davis Entertainment.

Background

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Davis was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He is the son of Barbara Davis (née Levine), a philanthropist, and former 20th Century Fox owner and oil and media industrialist Marvin Davis (1925–2004).[1] His interest in cinema began as a youth when his father purchased the neighborhood film theater, where he sold popcorn and subsequently viewed up to 300 films a year. Davis graduated from Bowdoin College, attended Amherst College, and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Davis is of Jewish descent.[2]

Career

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Davis, Chairman of Los Angeles–based Davis Entertainment, is one of the most prolific producers in film history. His film and television company has made more than 130 feature film and television projects, which have earned more than $8 billion worldwide.[3]

Davis Entertainment produces projects for all major studios, broadcast networks, and streaming companies.

Upcoming Davis Entertainment releases include the Lionsgate’s “Flight Risk,” starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace; Focus Features’ “Song Sung Blue,” starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson; Amazon Studios’ “The Pickup,” starring Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, and Keke Palmer; Paramount Pictures’ “Vertigo,” produced alongside Robert Downey Jr.’s Team Downey banner; Universal Pictures’ “Blood Runs Coal,” an adaption of Mark A. Bradley’s book of the same name and starring Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy; and Sony’s “On Your Feet!,” a feature adaptation of the Broadway musical telling the story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, written and directed by Lissette Feliciano. Upcoming television projects also include the half-hour Peacock comedy “Laid” starring and Executive Produced by Academy Award nominee Stephanie Hsu, and created by Nahnatchka Khan; “Rear Window,” a reimagining of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, also for Peacock; and Lifetime’s “Mary J. Blige’s Family Affair,” (working title), starring Ajiona Alexus and Da’Vinchi and Executive Produced by Mary J. Blige.

Davis’s recent productions include the Netflix film “Uglies,” starring Joey King and directed by McG, which also reached number one on Netflix and was watched by 67 million people; Sony Pictures’ “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” which starred Zachary Levi and Zooey Deschanel; Predator origin movie “Prey,” directed by Dan Trachtenberg for 20th Century Studios and Hulu. The movie was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie, among various other awards. Other Davis movies include Jaume Collet-Serra’s “Jungle Cruise,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, based on the Disney ride; “Dolemite Is My Name”, the Eddie Murphy starrer which was nominated for Best Comedy at the 77th Golden Globe Awards and won the Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy; the action comedy “Game Night,” starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams and Kyle Chandler; the Oscar-nominated biopic “Joy,” starring Jennifer Lawrence; the $100 million-plus-grossing micro-budgeted sci-fi thriller “Chronicle”; and the animated film “Ferdinand,” which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Past movies produced by Davis include his first movie, the first Predator film with Arnold Schwarzenegger that spawned the franchise, Grumpy Old Men, and Grumpier Old Men with Walter Matthau and Jack Lennon, The Firm with Tom Cruise, Courage Under Fire with Denzel Washington, I, Robot with Will Smith, Waterworld with Kevin Costner, Dr. Dolittle and Dr. Dolittle 2 with Eddie Murphy, and the hit micro-budget movie Chronicle.

His other film credits include “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” starring Jim Carrey; the international adventure comedy hit “Gulliver’s Travels,” starring Jack Black; the sci-fi thriller “I, Robot,” starring Will Smith; the “Garfield” film franchise; “Courage Under Fire,” starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan; the blockbuster drama “The Firm,” starring Tom Cruise; “Waterworld,” starring Kevin Costner; the Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau trilogy of “Out to Sea,” “Grumpy Old Men” and “Grumpier Old Men”; “Behind Enemy Lines,” starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman; John Woo’s “Paycheck,” starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman; and the “Predator” franchise films: “Predator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Predator 2,” and “Alien vs. Predator.”

New television projects include a pilot based on the Witch Mountain film franchise starring Bryce Dallas Howard that is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2023. Davis Entertainment has four series currently on the air - The Blacklist, a Sony Television production [4] in year ten, the CBS hit series The Equalizer with Queen Latifah, Magnum P.I. with Jay Hernandez, and the comedy series Blockbuster on Netflix.

Past Davis Entertainment television series include NBC's action drama Timeless, as well as ABC's hit comedies Dr. Ken starring Ken Jeong, and Alex, Inc. starring Zach Braff and Michael Imperioli.

Davis was honored as The Hollywood Reporter’s Producer of the Year in 2015[5] and ShoWest’s Producer of the Year in 2004.[6] He also won two People’s Choice Awards, for The Firm and Grumpy Old Men, and his films have received several Academy Award nominations, including a Best Animated Feature nomination for Ferdinand. He also earned a nomination for Outstanding Television Movie for Prey at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Other projects

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Aside from his entertainment career, Davis’ successful business ventures include Wetzel's Pretzels and the casual pizza franchise Blaze Pizza. His newest food ventures include Dave’s Hot Chicken, the fastest-growing food company in America, and PopUp Bagels, which was named twice the winner of the Brooklyn Bagel Fest for the best bagel in New York.

Davis has owned, operated, and started several small market television stations.

Personal life

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Davis is married to Jordan Davis. They have three children: Jack, Catherine, and Jensen, as mentioned in the Garfield: The Movie DVD commentary.[7] Davis' three children said that the CG version of Garfield looked "evil" when they first saw him.[citation needed]

Filmography

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He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Feature films

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Producer

Executive producer

Special thanks

Direct-to-video

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Producer

Executive producer

Television series

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Executive producer

Producer

Production supervisor

Television films

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Executive producer

Producer

Production manager

References

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  1. ^ Lyman, Rick (May 15, 2003). "A Movie Mogul's Son Who Is All Business". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  2. ^ Shapiro, Edward S. (May 30, 2005). We Are Many: Reflections On American Jewish History And Identity. Syracuse University Press. pp. 116–. ISBN 978-0-8156-3075-3. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  3. ^ Coakley, Jacob (July 11, 2013). "20th Century Fox Commits to Turning Films into Musicals". Stage Directions. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  4. ^ Rose, Lacey (July 29, 2013). "'The Blacklist' Producers Ink First Look Deal at Sony TV (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  5. ^ "'Joy' Producer John Davis Reveals Tales from a 30-Year Career". The Hollywood Reporter. December 18, 2015.
  6. ^ "John Davis named producer of the year at ShoWest 2004".
  7. ^ Lyman, Rick (May 15, 2003). "A Movie Mogul's Son Who Is All Business". The New York Times.
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