# The Donners' Company

The Donners' Company (formerly Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions) is the film production company of director Richard Donner and producer Lauren Shuler Donner, founded in 1986. It is notable for the Free Willy and X-Men franchises.

## History
### Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions

In 1986, film producer Lauren Shuler Donner announced that she would end her production deal with The Walt Disney Studios. She announced that she would merge with Warner Bros.-based Richard Donner Productions, to create Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions, to be operating on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California.
The first film released under the name was Radio Flyer, which was directed by Richard Donner, produced by Lauren, and it was released by Columbia Pictures in 1992. It flopped at the box office.
The banner made its first major success in 1993 with box office hits Dave and Free Willy. The latter's success spawned two sequels, and a television series. That year, the studio and Warner Bros. originally made a deal with Hammer Film Productions to produce remakes based on its existing UK film properties.
In 1994, the company produced its first television project, an animated adaptation of Free Willy; it aired on ABC for two seasons.

### The Donners' Company

In 1999, it was announced that Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions would be renamed to the better-sounding name The Donners' Company. On April 4, 2000, it signed a deal with NBC Studios to produce shows for the NBC television network.
That same year, the company scored a major success with X-Men, which was an instant box office hit, grossing over $296.8 million worldwide.
In 2001, The Donners' Company signed a deal with Winchester Films to produce its feature films from its own.
More recently, the company was producing two X-Men series for television, including Legion on FX, and The Gifted on Fox. In 2019, the latter was cancelled months before the former concluded its third and final season.
Richard Donner died on July 5, 2021. He was 91.

## Filmography
### 1990s

| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Notes | Budget | Gross (worldwide) |
| 1992 | Radio Flyer | Richard Donner | Columbia Pictures | first film; co-production with Stonebridge Entertainment | $35 million | $4.6 million |
| 1993 | Dave | Ivan Reitman | Warner Bros. | co-production with Northern Lights Entertainment | $28 million | $63.3 million |
| 1993 | Free Willy | Simon Wincer | Warner Bros. | co-production with Le Studio Canal+, Regency Enterprises and Alcor Films | $20 million | $153.6 million |
| 1994 | Maverick | Richard Donner | Warner Bros. | co-production with Icon Productions | $75 million | $183 million |
| 1995 | Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home | Dwight Little | Warner Bros. | as Shuler-Donner/Donner; co-production with Le Studio Canal+., Regency Enterprises and Alcor Films | $31 million | $30 million |
| 1995 | Assassins | Richard Donner | Warner Bros. | co-production with Silver Pictures | $50 million | $83.3 million |
| 1997 | Volcano | Mick Jackson | 20th Century Fox | as Shuler Donner/Donner; co-production with Fox 2000 Pictures and Moritz Original | $90 million | $122.8 million |
| 1997 | Free Willy 3: The Rescue | Sam Pillsbury | Warner Bros. | as Shuler Donner/Donner; co-production with Regency Enterprises | N/A | $3.4 million |
| 1997 | Conspiracy Theory | Richard Donner | Warner Bros. | as Shuler Donner/Donner Productions; last film released under Donner/Shuler-Donner insignia; co-production with Silver Pictures | $80 million | $137 million |
| 1998 | Bulworth | Warren Beatty | 20th Century Fox | uncredited; co-production with Mulholland Productions | $30 million | $29.2 million |
| 1998 | Lethal Weapon 4 | Richard Donner | Warner Bros. | as DoShuDo Productions; co-production with Silver Pictures | $100–150 million | $285.4 million |
| 1998 | You've Got Mail | Nora Ephron | Warner Bros. | as Lauren Shuler Donner | $65 million | $250.8 million |
| 1999 | Any Given Sunday | Oliver Stone | Warner Bros. | first film under the branding of The Donners' Company; co-production with Ixtlan Productions | $55 million | $100.2 million |

### 2000s

| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Notes | Budget | Gross (worldwide) |
| 2000 | X-Men | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment Group and Bad Hat Harry Productions | $75 million | $296.3 million |
| 2001 | Out Cold | The Malloys | Buena Vista Pictures | co-production with Touchstone Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment and Barber/Birnbaum | $24 million | $14.8 million |
| 2003 | Just Married | Shawn Levy | 20th Century Fox | uncredited; co-production with Robert Simonds | $18 million | $101.5 million |
| 2003 | X2 | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Enterprises and Bad Hat Harry Productions | $110 million | $407.7 million |
| 2003 | Timeline | Richard Donner | Paramount Pictures | co-production with Mutual Film Company, Cobalt Media Group and Artists Production Group | $80 million | $43.9 million |
| 2005 | Constantine | Francis Lawrence | Warner Bros. Pictures | co-production with Vertigo/DC Comics, Village Roadshow Pictures, Batfilm Productions, Weed Road Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment and di Bonaventura Pictures | $100 million | $230.9 million |
| 2006 | 16 Blocks | Richard Donner | Warner Bros. Pictures | uncredited; Alcon Entertainment, Millennium Films, Cheyenne Enterprises, Emmett/Furla Films, Equity Pictures and Nu Image Films | $55 million | $65.7 million |
| 2006 | She's the Man | Andy Fickman | Paramount Pictures | co-production with DreamWorks Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment | $20 million | $57.2 million |
| 2006 | X-Men: The Last Stand | Brett Ratner | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners | $210 million | $460.4 million |
| 2006 | Unaccompanied Minors | Paul Feig | Warner Bros. Pictures | co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures | $26 million | $21.9 million |
| 2008 | Semi-Pro | Kent Alterman | New Line Cinema | uncredited; co-production with Mosaic Media Group | $55 million | $43.9 million |
| 2008 | The Secret Life of Bees | Gina Prince-Bythewood | Fox Searchlight Pictures | co-production with Overbrook Entertainment | $11 million | $39.9 million |
| 2009 | Hotel for Dogs | Thor Freudenthal | Paramount Pictures | co-production with DreamWorks Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Cold Spring Pictures and The Montecito Picture Company | $35 million | $117 million |
| 2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | Gavin Hood | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Seed Productions, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners | $150 million | $373.1 million |
| 2009 | Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant | Paul Weitz | Universal Pictures | co-production with Relativity Media and Depth of Field | $40 million | $39.2 million |

### 2010s

| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Notes | Budget | Gross (worldwide) |
| 2011 | X-Men: First Class | Matthew Vaughn | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners, and Bad Hat Harry | $140–160 million | $353.6 million |
| 2013 | The Wolverine | James Mangold | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment and TSG Entertainment | $100–132 million | $414.8 million |
| 2014 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Bad Hat Harry, Simon Kinberg and TSG Entertainment | $200–220 million | $747.9 million |
| 2016 | Deadpool | Tim Miller | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Kinberg Genre and TSG Entertainment | $58 million | $782.6 million |
| 2016 | X-Men: Apocalypse | Bryan Singer | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Bad Hat Harry, Hutch Parker, Kinberg Genre and TSG Entertainment | $178 million | $543.9 million |
| 2017 | Logan | James Mangold | 20th Century Fox | co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Kinberg Genre, Hutch Parker and TSG Entertainment | $97 million | $619 million |
| 2018 | Deadpool 2 | David Leitch | 20th Century Fox | uncredited; co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Kinberg Genre, Maximum Effort and TSG Entertainment | $110 million | $785.8 million |
| 2019 | Dark Phoenix | Simon Kinberg | 20th Century Fox | uncredited; co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Kinberg Genre, Hutch Parker and TSG Entertainment | $200 million | $252.4 million |

### 2020s

| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Notes | Budget | Gross (worldwide) |
| 2020 | The New Mutants | Josh Boone | 20th Century Studios | uncredited; co-production with Marvel Entertainment, Kinberg Genre, Sunswept Entertainment and TSG Entertainment | $67–80 million | $49.2 million |

### Television

| Years | Title | Creator | Network | Notes | Seasons | Episodes |
| 1994–95 | Free Willy | Patrick Loubert based on Free Willy by: Keith A. Walker Corey Blechman developed by: Patsy Cameron Ted Anasiti | ABC | co-production with Le Studio Canal+, Nelvana, Regency Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television | 2 | 21 |
| 2017–19 | Legion | Noah Hawley based on Legion by: Chris Claremont Bill Sienkiewicz | FX | co-production with 26 Keys Productions, Kinberg Genre, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Marvel Television and FXP | 3 | 27 |
| 2017–19 | The Gifted | Matt Nix based on characters by: Stan Lee Jack Kirby | Fox | co-production with Flying Glass of Milk Productions, Kinberg Genre, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Marvel Television and 20th Century Fox Television | 2 | 29 |

## In development
### Television

| Title | Developer | Network | Notes |
| Our Time | Sarah Watson | Disney+ | co-production with The Jackal Group, Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Television |