Bad Robot is an American film and television

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

founded on May 27, 1999 and led by J. J. Abrams and Katie McGrath as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

Alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the J ...

'', ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland *Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', ''

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

'', ''

Person of Interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no le ...

'', ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

,'' and ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

'' alongside the feature-length films '' Cloverfield'', ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'', '' Super 8'', ''

Star Trek Into Darkness ''Star Trek Into Darkness'' is a 2013 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. It is the 12th installment in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and the sequel to t ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'', '' Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'', ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

Episodes

VII VII or vii may refer to: the Roman numeral 7 Art and entertainment * The Vii, a video game console * vii, leading-tone triad, see diminished triad * ''VII'' (Blitzen Trapper album) * ''VII'' (Just-Ice album) * ''VII'' (Teyana Taylor album) * ...

'' and '' IX'', ''

10 Cloverfield Lane ''10 Cloverfield Lane'' is a 2016 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Dam ...

'', '' Star Trek Beyond'', ''

The Cloverfield Paradox ''The Cloverfield Paradox'' is a 2018 American science fiction horror film directed by Julius Onah and written by Oren Uziel, from a story by Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by J. J. Abramss Bad Robot Productions. It is the third film in th ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible – Fallout,'' and ''

Overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or ser ...

''.

History

Bad Robot was originally based at

Touchstone Television The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...

, but was moved by Abrams to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

, after his contract with ABC expired in 2006. Bad Robot produced ''

'' in association with

ABC Studios ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...

, formerly Touchstone Television. The two companies jointly produced '' Six Degrees'' and '' What About Brian''. The deal was first recommended and presented in 1999 as part of a presentation deal, with J.J. Abrams being contracted to Disney. In 2004, Thom Sherman joined Bad Robot Television as president of the studio. The company had developed presentation pitches for ABC and

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

, none of them would eventually got to series. Abrams is Chairman and Co-

Chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Bad Robot, and Katie McGrath serves as the Company's Co-

. In June 2017, Bad Robot announced that Brian Weinstein would become President and

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

, overseeing daily operations and spearhead the company's growth strategy in its existing businesses, while developing new areas of expansion across the entire Bad Robot platform and pursuing alternative financing options. In May 2015,

Ben Stephenson Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot Productions in the United States. Personal life Stephenson attended The H ...

left the BBC where he had been head of drama to helm Bad Robot Television. Lindsey Weber leads Bad Robot's feature film division. The

production logo A production logo, vanity card, vanity plate, or vanity logo is a logo used by movie studios and television production companies to brand what they produce and to determine the production company and the distributor of a television show or fil ...

has appeared since 2001, featuring a red rectangular headed robot running through a meadow silhouetted until it appears suddenly in front of the camera, followed by voices provided by two of Abrams's children, Henry and

Gracie Abrams Gracie Madigan Abrams (born September 7, 1999) is an American singer-songwriter. Her debut EP, '' Minor'', was released in July 2020 through Interscope Records. Her second EP, ''This Is What It Feels Like'', was released in November 2021, with s ...

, saying "Bad robot!" Although some fans believe that the name comes from a line in the animated film ''

The Iron Giant ''The Iron Giant'' is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1968 novel '' The Iron Man'' by Ted Hughes (which was pub ...

'', Abrams told ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' that it simply came to him during a writers' meeting. 1221olympicblvd

In February 2013, it was announced that Bad Robot would be partnering with the

Valve Corporation Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the franchises ''Half-Life'', '' C ...

to produce possibly a ''

Half-Life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ...

'' or ''

Portal Portal often refers to: *Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

'' film in the distant future. In August 2015, Valve released a new beta game mode to ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and ...

'', ''PASS Time'', which Bad Robot worked on. On July 7, 2016, the ''PASS Time'' game mode became official. Bad Robot released a trailer entitled "Stranger" (otherwise known as ''S.''), rumoured to be Abrams' next film or television project, perhaps even a ''

'' spin-off, but it was finally explained to be promoting '' S.'', Abrams and Doug Dorst's new novel, as a new trailer for ''S.'' was released. In February 2017, it was announced

Julius Avery Julius Avery is an Australian screenwriter and film director. Life and works After growing up in Pemberton, Western Australia, Avery attended The Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. He has written and directed several award winning ...

is attached to direct a Paramount coproduction, the World War II zombie film ''

'', from screenwriter Billy Ray. Bad Robot Productions is currently based in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

, in a building which is incorrectly labeled on purpose as the home of the fictional "National Typewriter Company" because Abrams "likes typewriters — and misdirection." In June 2018, the company announced a spin-off venture formed with the Chinese video game publisher

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the wo ...

to launch Bad Robot Games for the development of video games on mobile, computer and consoles, with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment as a minority investor. Bad Robot Games will develop and publish titles related to Abrams' works and other Bad Robot Production contents, with Tencent holding the rights for distribution in China. The division will be helmed by Dave Baronoff, who has worked on the '' Cloverfield'' franchise and in developing ''

Spyjinx Chair Entertainment Group, LLC (stylized as ChAIR) is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City. The company was acquired by Epic Games in 2008. History Chair Entertainment was formed in 2005 by Donald Mustard and Geremy Mustard ...

'' as a joint project between Bad Robot Productions and

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, ...

(also partially owned by Tencent), while Tim Keenan, who helped develop ''

Duskers ''Duskers'' is a strategy video game by independent developer Misfits Attic. It was released on May 18, 2016, for Linux, OS X, and Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, ...

'', will serve as the creative director. In 2006, Bad Robot teamed up with

and

for a $60 million development deal that lasted through 2018. In late 2018, it was announced that Bad Robot was leaving Paramount and seeking a new overall deal. In January 2019, it was announced that

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, and Warner Bros. were the top three studios battling it out for what could be a record breaking overall deal including theme parks, music labels, TV, merchandising, and streaming services as Bad Robot plans on ramping up production significantly in the coming years. It was also announced that Bad Robot would be co-producing a remake of the British series ''

The Wrong Mans ''The Wrong Mans'' is a British BBC Television comedy-drama series, co-produced with the American online television provider Hulu. It premiered on BBC Two on 24 September 2013 and in the United States on 11 November 2013. Considered a critica ...

'' for American network Showtime along with

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide ...

, but Showtime later cancelled the project. Bad Robot launched a subsidiary

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

called Loud Robot in late 2018, in partnership with

Capitol Music Group Capitol Music Group (CMG) is an American front line umbrella label distributed by Universal Music Group which oversees handling of record labels assigned to UMG's Capitol Records division. It was inherited from UMG's acquisition of EMI's catalog ...

. Loud Robot is headed by co-general managers McKee Floyd and Nicky Berger along with Charles Scott, who currently heads Bad Robot's music division and has been the leading music supervisor for the company's films. Artists signed to the label include

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

-born rapper Nnena,

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and con ...

singer/songwriter UMI,

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

-based

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

artist

Chaz Cardigan Chaz McKinney (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Chaz Cardigan, is an American singer and alternative rock artist based in Nashville, Tennessee, who describes his musical style as "pop songs with messy guitars." He is best known ...

, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

artist DWY. On September 12, 2019, Bad Robot officially announced a new five-year overall deal with

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

. According to ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'', WarnerMedia agreed to pay Bad Robot at least $250 million (plus various financial incentives) to produce feature films, television shows, video games, and digital content. On May 25, 2021, Abrams announced that a

film adaptation, which has been in development since 2013, was still in production and a script has been written for the film. In November 2021, the company launched its podcast division with a multi-year first-look deal at

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...

. On April 25, 2022, it was announced that Bad Robot will team up with Mattel Films and

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of li ...

to produce a live-action ''

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers h ...

'' film based on the toy line of the same name.

Productions

Films

TV series

Shorts

Video games

Awards and recognition

;Nominations * 2002 Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series (''Alias'') * 2005 Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series (''Lost'') * 2007 Golden Globe Award Nomination, Best Television Series – Drama (''Lost'') ;Wins * 2005 Emmy Award Winner, Outstanding Drama Series (''Lost'') * 2005 Emmy Award Winner, Outstanding Directing for A Drama Series (''Lost'') * 2006 Golden Globe Award Winner, Best Television Series – Drama (''Lost'')

References

External links

* * * iOS App Action Movie FX. On iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/action-movie-fx/id489321253?mt=8 * * {{Authority control Film production companies of the United States Television production companies of the United States J. J. Abrams Companies based in Santa Monica, California Mass media companies established in 1999