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Playtone
Company typePrivate
IndustryFilm production
Television production
FoundedJanuary 23, 1998; 26 years ago (1998-01-23) in Santa Monica, California, United States
FoundersTom Hanks
Gary Goetzman
Headquarters
Santa Monica, California
,
United States
Key people
Tom Hanks
(Co-founder & CEO)
Rita Wilson Hanks (CFO)[1]
OwnerTom Hanks
SubsidiariesPlaytone Records
Websitehttps://www.playtone-productions.com/

Playtone (stylized on-screen as PLAY•TONE; a.k.a. Playtone Productions and The Playtone Company)[2][3] is an American film and television production company established in 1998 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman.

It was named after the fictional record company of the same name in the 1996 film That Thing You Do!, written and directed by Hanks; it also uses the same company logo, typically revealed on-screen with a brief instrumental snippet of the titular song itself, with some variations in each film depending on subject manner. The success of the film served as a spring-board to launch an actual Playtone Records label. Playtone has had an exclusive television development deal with HBO since the company was formed. Over the course of that time, Playtone's projects for HBO have won 46 Emmy Awards, while garnering 113 Emmy Award nominations.

Films

Year Film Directed by Production partner(s) Distributor(s)
Released films
2000 Cast Away Robert Zemeckis ImageMovers 20th Century Fox (North America)
DreamWorks Pictures (International)
2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding Joel Zwick Gold Circle Films, HBO Films and MPH Entertainment IFC Films
2004 The Polar Express Robert Zemeckis Castle Rock Entertainment, ImageMovers and Shangri-La Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures
2005 Magnificent Desolation:
Walking on the Moon 3D 		Mark Cowen — IMAX
2006 Neil Young: Heart of Gold Jonathan Demme Reprise Records and Shangri-La Entertainment Paramount Classics
The Ant Bully John A. Davis DNA Productions and Legendary Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures
Starter for 10 Tom Vaughan BBC Films, HBO Films and Neal Street Productions Picturehouse (United States)
Icon Film Distribution (United Kingdom)
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Mike Nichols Participant Productions and Relativity Media Universal Pictures
2008 The Great Buck Howard Sean McGinly Bristol Bay Productions and Walden Media Magnolia Pictures
Mamma Mia! Phyllida Lloyd Relativity Media and Littlestar Universal Pictures
City of Ember Gil Kenan Walden Media 20th Century Fox
2009 My Life in Ruins Donald Petrie — Fox Searchlight Pictures
Where the Wild Things Are Spike Jonze Legendary Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures
2011 Larry Crowne Tom Hanks — Universal Pictures
2013 Parkland Peter Landesman American Film Company Exclusive Media Group
2016 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Kirk Jones Gold Circle Films and HBO Films Universal Pictures
A Hologram for the King Tom Tykwer X-Filme Creative Pool and Primeridian Entertainment Lionsgate Films
Roadside Attractions
Saban Films
2017 The Circle James Ponsoldt Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Likely Story EuropaCorp
STX Entertainment
2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Ol Parker Legendary Pictures and Littlestar Universal Pictures
2020 Greyhound Aaron Schneider Sony Pictures, Stage 6 Films, Bron Studios, FilmNation Entertainment, Sycamore Pictures and Zhengfu Pictures Apple TV+
News of the World Paul Greengrass Pretty Pictures Universal Pictures (United States)
Netflix (International)
2023 A Man Called Otto Marc Forster Columbia Pictures, Stage 6 Films, SF Studios, Artistic Films, 2DUX², Big Indie and STXfilms Sony Pictures Releasing
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Nia Vardalos Gold Circle Films and HBO Films Focus Features
Upcoming films
2024 Here Robert Zemeckis Miramax and ImageMovers Sony Pictures Releasing
TBA Beautiful TBA Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Releasing
Spring Awakening — TBA

Television series

Aired Series Created by Production partner(s) Distributor Original Network
Released series
2001 Band of Brothers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg DreamWorks Television Warner Bros. Television HBO
2003 My Big Fat Greek Life Nia Vardalos and Marsh McCall Brad Grey Productions / Marsh McCall Productions Sony Pictures Television CBS
2006–11 Big Love Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer Anima Sola Productions Warner Bros. Television HBO
2008 John Adams David Coatsworth and Steve Shareshian High Noon Productions / Mid Atlantic Films
2010 The Pacific Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman DreamWorks Television
2012 Game Change Mark Halperin and John Heilemann HBO Films
2014 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout As Is Productions
The Sixties Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog Herzog & Company CNN
2015 The Seventies
2016 The Eighties
2017 The Nineties
2018 The 2000s
2019 The Movies
2023 The 2010s
2024 Masters of the Air[4] John Shiban and John Orloff Amblin Television / Apple Studios Apple Inc. Apple TV+

Web series

Aired Series Created by Production partner(s) Distributor Original Network
2012 Electric City Tom Hanks 6 Point Harness / Reliance Entertainment Yahoo! Yahoo! Screen

Playtone Records releases

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Playtone Company - SI-COMPLETE - 02/08/2016". Scribd. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  2. ^ Chu, Karen (June 11, 2011). "Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions Announces Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods,' Mattel's 'Major Matt Mason,' Green Day's 'American Idiot' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  3. ^ "The Playtone Company". Open Corporates. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  4. ^ Guthrie, Marisa (January 18, 2013). "HBO Developing Third WWII Miniseries with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Playtone films.
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