3. Hammer Film Productions
Production company
Industry:
• Film
• TV
• Theatre
• Publishing
Founded November 1934
Founder – William Hinds & James Carreras
HQ – London, England
CEO & President – Simon Oakes
4. 1950s
• The success of The Quatermass
Xperiment allowed Hammer to
switch focuses from crime thriller
pictures to horror.
• With it’s first full colour creature
feature The Curse of Frankenstein,
the company made history.
• The success of this film was
followed by an even greater box
officer haul of Horror of Dracula a
year later.
• These two films alone cemented
the company name within the
audiences, film critics and censors
alike.
• Hammer Film Productions is
one of the oldest film
companies founded in
November 1934.
• However following the
outbreak of World War II,
production ground to a halt.
• 1940s
• With a growing demand for
British-produced supporting
movies after the Second World
War, Hammer was re-formed
and began to dabble in crime
capers, and boy's own
adventure stories.
Early History
5. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the loss of American funding forced changes to
Hammer, varying the success that it created.
The company eventually ceased production in the mid-80s.
In 2000, the company was bought by a group including Charles Saatchi (advetising,
executive art collector) and Neil Mendoza aand William Sieghart (publishing
millionaires). The initial plans were to begin making films again after thiws but
none were produced.
In May 2007, the company was sold again however this time to John de Mol (Dutch
media tycoon) who stated he would spend $50m on new horror films. .
Since then it has produced the feature films Let Me In (2010), The Resident (2011)
and The Woman in Black (2012).
