Cruel And Unusual Films
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The Stone Quarry Inc. (formerly Cruel and Unusual Films, Inc.) is an American
production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...
established in 2004 by filmmaker
Zack Snyder Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with ''Dawn of the Dead (2004 film), Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead (1978 film), of the same name ...
, his wife Deborah Snyder and their producing partner Wesley Coller.


Establishment

Cruel and Unusual Films, Inc. was founded in 2004 by Zack Snyder, his wife Deborah Snyder, and producing partner Wesley Coller. The company is based at
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
, and is located in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
. The company signed a two-year production deal with Warner Bros. in 2007, prior to the theatrical release of ''
300 __NOTOC__ Year 300 ( CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1053 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 300 ...
'', a film in which Snyder served as director. Snyder and his wife, Deborah, are co-presidents of the company. Coller often serves as a producing partner. Snyder launched the company's official website on January 30, 2009, and invited artists to submit versions of the company logo. Apart from producing feature films, Cruel and Unusual Films has also assisted in the marketing of its films, based on the strong advertising backgrounds of Snyder and his wife, Deborah Snyder. By January 2019, Snyder announced the studio's new title, The Stone Quarry.


Background

To date, Cruel and Unusual/The Stone Quarry has served as an uncredited co-producer for films in which Snyder and his wife served as director and producer respectively. Following its establishment in 2004, the company produced '' Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name. In 2007, Cruel and Unusual Films produced ''
300 __NOTOC__ Year 300 ( CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1053 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 300 ...
'', an adaptation of Frank Miller's
graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
. In 2009, the company produced ''
Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...
'', an adaptation of the
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
limited series of the same name. Cruel and Unusual next produced '' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'', a computer-animated film based on the series of children's fantasy books ''
Guardians of Ga'Hoole ''Guardians of Ga'Hoole'' is a fantasy book series written by Kathryn Lasky and published by Scholastic. The series contains a total of 16 books and although originally intended to conclude with the 2008 publication of ''The War of the Ember ...
'' by Kathryn Lasky. ''Sucker Punch'' was co-written and directed by Snyder, who also produced the film with his wife Deborah Snyder. The film is the first that credits Cruel and Unusual as a producer. ''Sucker Punch'' was released on March 25, 2011. In 2014 the studio co-produced the sequel to 2007's ''300'', '' 300: Rise of an Empire''. In 2016 the studio co-produced the sequel to 2013's '' Man of Steel'', '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice''. In 2017 the studio co-produced ''
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...
'' and ''
Justice League The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived the ...
''. In July 2015 it was revealed that
Zack Snyder Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with ''Dawn of the Dead (2004 film), Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead (1978 film), of the same name ...
and Deborah Snyder will serve as producers and executive producers in the
DC Extended Universe The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that appear in American comic books published by DC Comic ...
. Since 2018,
DC Films DC Studios is an American film and television production company that is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). It is responsible for the production of live-action and animated films and television series, as well as video games, based ...
chairmen
Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash (comics), Flash, and Superman has drawn critical accl ...
and
Walter Hamada Walter Hamada is an American film executive and producer. He joined New Line Cinema in 2007, where he served as an executive producer on horror films such as ''The Conjuring'' (2013), ''Annabelle (film), Annabelle'' (2014), ''The Conjuring 2'' ( ...
will serve as executive producer on the future DC movies set in the DC Extended Universe, along with the Snyders. The studio was supposed to produce ''Army of the Dead'', a sequel to Snyder's ''Dawn of the Dead'' remake, in which Zack Snyder was supposed to assist in developing the story, while his wife to produce the film, and Joby Harold to write the screenplay. The story centers around a father trying to save his daughter in a zombie-infested Las Vegas. Due to the expensive production value, the production of the movie was cancelled by Warner Bros.


Future projects

Zack Snyder will also direct a remake of the 1969 film '' The Illustrated Man''. The company will also produce ''Horse Latitudes'', which was formerly known as ''The Last Photograph'', a film about a photograph that inspires two men to travel to South America. The film will be directed by Zack Snyder and will be produced by Snyder and his wife Deborah Snyder. In September 2017, it was confirmed that Zack Snyder is developing ''The Fountainhead'' adaptation, based on the 1943 novel from
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...
. In September 2020, it was announced that Netflix had greenlit a
prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...
based on ''Army of the Dead'', with
Matthias Schweighöfer Matthias Schweighöfer (; born 11 March 1981) is a German actor and filmmaker known for his work in several German and American film productions. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Franz Herber in the 2008 film ''Valkyrie''. In 2021, Sch ...
set to direct the film in addition to reprising his role as Ludwig. Shay Hatten will also pen the screenplay. It was also announced that an
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
prequel series was in the works titled '' Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas''. The series will serve as an origin story for Dave Bautista's character Scott Ward and his rescue team during the initial fall of Vegas as they confront the source of the zombie outbreak. Jay Oliva is set to serve as
showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...
for the series, with both Oliva and Zack Snyder set to direct two episodes each. In July 2021, the company signed a
first-look deal A first-look deal is any contract containing a clause granting, usually for a fee or other consideration that covers a specified period of time, a pre-emption right, right of first refusal, or right of first offer (also called a right of first neg ...
with Netflix.


Productions


Films


Television


Video games


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone Quarry, The American companies established in 2004 Mass media companies established in 2004 Film production companies of the United States Companies based in Pasadena, California 2004 establishments in California