# American Zoetrope

American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1990) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.
Opened on December 12, 1969, the studio has produced not only the films of Coppola (including Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Tetro), but also George Lucas's pre-Star Wars film THX 1138, as well as many others by avant-garde directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Wim Wenders and Godfrey Reggio. American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV.
Four films produced by American Zoetrope are included in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films. American Zoetrope-produced films have received 15 Academy Awards and 68 nominations.

## History

Initially located in a warehouse at 827 Folsom Street on the second floor of The Automatt building, the company's headquarters have, since 1972, been in the historic Sentinel Building, at 916 Kearny Street in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.
Coppola named the studio after a zoetrope he was given in the late 1960s by the filmmaker and collector of early film devices, Mogens Skot-Hansen. "Zoetrope" is also the name by which Coppola's quarterly fiction magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, is often known.
In 1980, the company bought General Service Studios in Hollywood, California, and became Zoetrope Studios, to produce and distribute films, as did later DreamWorks studio.
In 1999, it signed a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a first-look financing and production agreement. In 2000, it signed a ten-year financing pact with VCL Film + Medien to handle foreign sales of their own titles.
By 2007, ownership of American Zoetrope had been passed to Coppola's son and daughter, directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola.
In 2010, Lionsgate announced a deal to distribute American Zoetrope films, including classics like The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, in North America on DVD, Blu-ray, electronic-sell-through, VOD as well as broadcast distribution rights. The only movies from the Coppola canon that won't be released as part of the pact are The Godfather trilogy, which is owned by Paramount.
Zoetrope.com, the Coppola family's website, was created around 1996 and became an online community for writers. In 2016, Francis Ford Coppola announced its relaunch as a "virtual studio".
In 2024, American Zoetrope earned its first Tony Award for Best Musical as one of the producers of the 2023 stage musical adaptation of The Outsiders.

## Filmography
### Feature films

| Year | Title | Director | Company | Credit |
| 1969 | The Rain People | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1971 | THX 1138 | George Lucas | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1972 | The Godfather | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1972 | Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | American Zoetrope | Distributor |
| 1973 | American Graffiti | George Lucas | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1974 | The Conversation | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1974 | The Godfather Part II | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production facilities furnished through (as American Zoetrope San Francisco) |
| 1977 | Perfumed Nightmare | Kidlat Tahimik | American Zoetrope | Distributor |
| 1977 | Hitler: A Film from Germany | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Omni Zoetrope | Distributor |
| 1979 | Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford Coppola | Omni Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1979 | The Black Stallion | Carroll Ballard | Omni Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1980 | Sauve qui peut (la vie) | Jean-Luc Godard | Zoetrope Studios | Production company/distributor |
| 1980 | Kagemusha | Akira Kurosawa | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1982 | Parsifal | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Zoetrope Studios | Distributor |
| 1982 | The Escape Artist | Caleb Deschanel | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1982 | Passion | Jean-Luc Godard | Zoetrope Studios | Production company/distributor |
| 1982 | The Grey Fox | Phillip Borsos | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1982 | Koyaanisqatsi | Godfrey Reggio | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1982 | The Making of 'One from the Heart' | Tony St. John | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1982 | Hammett | Wim Wenders | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1982 | One from the Heart | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company/distributor |
| 1983 | The Outsiders | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1983 | Rumble Fish | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1983 | The Black Stallion Returns | Robert Dalva | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1984 | The Cotton Club | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1985 | Seven Minutes in Heaven | Linda Feferman | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1985 | Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters | Paul Schrader | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1986 | Peggy Sue Got Married | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1987 | Tough Guys Don't Dance | Norman Mailer | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1987 | Gardens of Stone | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1987 | Barfly | Barbet Schroeder | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1988 | Tucker: The Man and His Dream | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1989 | Wait Until Spring, Bandini | Dominique Deruddere | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1990 | The Godfather Part III | Francis Ford Coppola | Zoetrope Studios | Production company |
| 1991 | Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse | Fax Bahr, Eleanor Coppola, and George Hickenlooper | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1992 | Bram Stoker's Dracula | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1992 | Wind | Carroll Ballard | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1993 | The Secret Garden | Agnieszka Holland | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1994 | Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | Kenneth Branagh | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1994 | Don Juan DeMarco | Jeremy Leven | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1995 | Haunted | Lewis Gilbert | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1995 | My Family | Gregory Nava | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1996 | Jack | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1997 | The Rainmaker | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1997 | Buddy | Caroline Thompson | American Zoetrope | Production company (as An American Zoetrope Production) |
| 1999 | The Florentine | Nick Stagliano | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1999 | The Virgin Suicides | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1999 | The Third Miracle | Agnieszka Holland | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 1999 | Sleepy Hollow | Tim Burton | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2001 | Jeepers Creepers | Victor Salva | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2001 | CQ | Roman Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2001 | No Such Thing | Hal Hartley | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2001 | Suriyothai | Chatrichalerm Yukol | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2002 | Pumpkin | Anthony Abrams and Adam Larson Broder | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2002 | Assassination Tango | Robert Duvall | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2003 | Lost in Translation | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2003 | Jeepers Creepers 2 | Victor Salva | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2004 | Kinsey | Bill Condon | American Zoetrope | Production company (uncredited) |
| 2006 | Marie Antoinette | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2006 | The Good Shepherd | Robert De Niro | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2007 | Youth Without Youth | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2009 | Tetro | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2010 | Somewhere | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2011 | Twixt | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2012 | A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III | Roman Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2012 | On the Road | Walter Salles | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2013 | Palo Alto | Gia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2013 | The Bling Ring | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2014 | Life After Beth | Jeff Baena | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2015 | A Very Murray Christmas | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2015 | Last Days in the Desert | Rodrigo García | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2016 | Paris Can Wait | Eleanor Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2016 | Joshy | Jeff Baena | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2017 | The Beguiled | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2020 | Love Is Love Is Love | Eleanor Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2020 | On the Rocks | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2021 | Mainstream | Gia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2023 | Fairyland | Andrew Durham | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2023 | Priscilla | Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |
| 2024 | Megalopolis | Francis Ford Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production company |

### Television series

| Year | Title | Creator | Company | Credit | Network | Notes |
| 1990 | The Outsiders | characters by: S.E. Hinton developed by: S.E. Hinton Joe Byrne Jeb Rosebrook | Zoetrope Studios | Production Company | Fox | co-production with Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment |
| 1997 | The Odyssey | Andrei Konchalovsky based on Odyssey by: Homer | American Zoetrope | Production Company (as American Zoetrope San Francisco) | NBC | miniseries; co-production with Hallmark Entertainment |
| 1998 | Moby Dick | Anton Diether Franc Roddam Benedict Fitzgerald based on Moby-Dick by: Herman Melville | American Zoetrope | Production Company | USA Network | miniseries; co-production with Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Network Australia and USA Pictures |
| 1998–2001 | First Wave | Chris Brancato | American Zoetrope | Production Company | Sci-Fi Channel | co-production with Sugar Entertainment |
| 2003 | Platinum | John Ridley Sofia Coppola | American Zoetrope | Production Company | UPN | co-production with The Greenblatt/Janollari Studio, International Famous Players Radio Picture Corporation and Eye Productions |
| 2004–2007 | The 4400 | René Echevarria Scott Peters | American Zoetrope | Production Company | USA Network | co-production with Renegade 83, Viacom Productions (season 1), Paramount Network Television (season 2) and CBS Paramount Network Television (seasons 3–4) |
| 2014–2018 | Mozart in the Jungle | based on Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music by: Blair Tindall developed by: Roman Coppola Jason Schwartzman Alex Timbers Paul Weitz | American Zoetrope | Production Company | Amazon Video | co-production with Depth of Field, Picrow and Amazon Studios |

## Cafe Zoetrope

In the building lobby, Coppola operates a small Italian café, Cafe Zoetrope, featuring Inglenook Estate wine and memorabilia from his films. Earlier, the building had been the location of Enrico Banducci's "hungry i" nightclub.
The neighborhood is well known for its cafes and its writers. Coppola wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather in the nearby Caffe Trieste and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books is located up Columbus Avenue from the Sentinel Building.