John Davis (producer)

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

Background

Davis was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, the son of Barbara Davis (née Levine), a philanthropist, and former 20th Century Fox owner Marvin Davis (1925–2004).^[1] He has four siblings: Patricia Davis Raynes, Nancy Davis Rickel, Gregg Davis, and Dana Davis. 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 the Harvard Business School.

Career

John Davis, Chairman of Los Angeles-based Davis Entertainment, has been a producer on more than 90 feature films and movies for television that have earned more than $4.8 billion worldwide.^[2]

Davis Entertainment produces projects for all studios and mini-majors, though the company has had a first-look production deal at 20th Century Fox since 1994. Davis's arrangement with Fox is among the two longest-standing of any active producer at any studio.

Davis Entertainment's 2015 films include a big screen version of the 1960s TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, for Warner Bros.,^[3] and Victor Frankenstein, a re-imagining of the horror classic Frankenstein, starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy for Fox.^[4] Additionally, Davis Entertainment co-produced 5 time Oscar nominated director David O. Russell's biographical comedy-drama Joy (2015), starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper, for 20th Century Fox.

Some of Davis's many feature film productions include the $100 million-plus micro-budgeted Chronicle; the sci-fi thriller I, Robot, starring Will Smith; the Jim Carrey starrer Mr. Popper's Penguins; Norbit, the comedy starring Eddie Murphy for DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures; the blockbuster The Firm, starring Tom Cruise; the two Dr. Dolittle films, starring Eddie Murphy; the Jack Black adventure comedy Gulliver's Travels; Courage Under Fire, starring Denzel Washington; the Garfield franchise series for Fox; Waterworld, starring Kevin Costner; the Eddie Murphy comedy Daddy Day Care; Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; the Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau trilogy Out to Sea, Grumpy Old Men, and Grumpier Old Men; Behind Enemy Lines, starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman; Predator 2, John Woo's Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, for Paramount Pictures; and Alien vs. Predator, an action thriller combining the two iconic cinematic aliens, among many others.

For television, Davis Entertainment developed and executive produced the NBC hour long drama The Blacklist, a Sony Television production,^[5] as well as NBC's action drama The Player and ABC's hit comedy Dr. Ken starring Ken Jeong.

Other projects

Davis’ successful business ventures include the unique fast casual pizza franchise, Blaze Pizza, one of the fastest growing companies in America and the fastest growing in Los Angeles, as seen in Los Angeles Business Journal. His partners for Blaze Pizza include Elise and Rick Wetzel (founder of Wetzel's Pretzels), Maria Shriver, professional basketball player LeBron James, and Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner. There are currently more than 100 locations in California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Washington DC. Davis has multiple new food concepts that his company is about to launch.

Personal life

Davis has three children: Jack, Catherine and Jensen, as mentioned in the Garfield: The Movie DVD commentary. Davis's three children said that the CG version of Garfield looked "evil" when they first saw him.

Filmography

All films, he was producer unless otherwise noted.

References

External links

• John Davis at the Internet Movie Database