Robert Shaye

Robert Kenneth Shaye (born March 4, 1939) is an American businessman, film producer, actor, director, and writer. Shaye is the founder of New Line Cinema, a film production studio that was most successful for distributing The Lord of the Rings film series, based on the classic fantasy novel of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien and directed by New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson. He stepped down from New Line in 2008 after the studio was restructured as a unit of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Shaye was born to a Jewish family in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Dorothy and Max Mendle Shaye, a supermarket owner and artist. His mother was an immigrant from Russia. He is the brother of actress Lin Shaye.
Shaye graduated from Detroit's Mumford High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School. He also graduated from the Stockholm University as a Fulbright scholar. Shaye is a member of the New York State Bar Association, and he has served on the board of trustees for the Neurosciences Institute, the Legal Aid Society, the American Film Institute, and the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.
In 1967, Shaye formed New Line Cinema. The company started with a package of feature films and shorts rented to colleges. From there, New Line expanded to re-releases such as Reefer Madness and first-run domestic distribution of foreign films such as Get Out Your Handkerchiefs. In the 1980s and early 1990s, New Line released blockbuster films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1994, New Line was acquired by the Turner Broadcasting System for $500 million, with Shaye earning more than $100 in 1994 (equivalent to about $212 in 2024) million. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System became part of Time Warner.
In 1998, when New Zealand director Peter Jackson brought his 36-minute pitch reel for a big screen adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy classic The Lord of the Rings to New Line, hoping to turn the three volumes into two films, Shaye suggested that Jackson should make three films instead. Shaye subsequently greenlit a simultaneous production for all three installments. At the box office, the three films are among New Line's highest-grossing and most popular films, earning a combined total of nearly $3 billion worldwide. They were nominated for a total of thirty Academy Awards, winning seventeen, including eleven for The Return of the King at the 76th Academy Awards ceremony.
Independently and through his family office Lemoko Management Company he is an active investor in companies like Brat TV.
In February 2008, Shaye and New Line co-chairman Michael Lynne were dismissed from the company as part of a significant restructuring ordered by then-Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes. That June, Shaye and Lynne formed a new independent film company called Unique Features. The company's projects include The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Sony/Constantin), the TV series Shadowhunters (Freeform Television), When the Bough Breaks (Screen Gems), and Ambition, directed by Shaye.
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.