John Davis (producer)

Davis was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He is the son of Barbara Davis (née Levine), a philanthropist, and former 20th Century Fox owner and oil and media industrialist Marvin Davis (1925–2004).[1] His interest in cinema began as a youth when his father purchased the neighborhood film theater, where he sold popcorn and subsequently viewed up to 300 films a year. Davis graduated from Bowdoin College, attended Amherst College, and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Davis is of Jewish descent.[2]

Davis, Chairman of Los Angeles-based Davis Entertainment, is one of the most prolific producers in film history. His film and television company has made more than 116 feature films and 13 television series, which have earned more than $8 billion worldwide.[3]

Davis Entertainment produces projects for all major studios, broadcast networks, and streaming companies.

Davis most recently produced Jungle Cruise with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, and Prey starring Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, and Dane DiLiegro. Prey broke Hulu's records for the most-watched premiere for a single release, beating every other Hulu film and TV series in 2022.[4] The film received six nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie. Davis is in post-production on Harold and the Purple Crayon for Sony Pictures and The Uglies for Netflix, the latter of which is a collaboration with his wife Jordan Davis. He is currently in development on The Pick Up, starring Eddie Murphy for Amazon Studios, and a Vertigo remake for Paramount Pictures as well as an untitled Jungle Cruise sequel. Davis also produced Dolemite Is My Name with Eddie Murphy for Netflix – his fifth movie with Eddie Murphy in their 25-year collaboration. The film won the Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Independent Motion Picture, and was nominated for Best Comedy at the Golden Globes. Dolemite Is My Name was one of Times Magazine's 10 best movies of 2019. Davis also made the hit comedy Game Night for Warner Bros Pictures.

Past movies produced by Davis include his first movie, the first Predator film with Arnold Schwarzenegger that spawned the franchise, Grumpy Old Men, and Grumpier Old Men with Walter Matthau and Jack Lennon, The Firm with Tom Cruise, Courage Under Fire with Denzel Washington, I, Robot with Will Smith, Waterworld with Kevin Costner, Dr. Dolittle and Dr. Dolittle 2 with Eddie Murphy, and the hit micro-budget movie Chronicle.

Other Davis movies include a sequel to Shaft that featured the return of both Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree; the Academy Award-Nominated animated film Ferdinand, directed by Carlos Saldanha; five time Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell's biographical dramedy Joy (2015), starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper, for 20th Century Fox; a big screen version of the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer for Warner Bros.;[5] Victor Frankenstein, a re-imagining of the horror classic Frankenstein, starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy for Fox;[6] Mr. Popper's Penguins starring Jim Carrey; Norbit, starring Eddie Murphy for DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures; the Garfield series voiced by Bill Murray for Fox; the Eddie Murphy comedy Daddy Day Care; the Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau trilogy Out to Sea; Behind Enemy Lines, starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman; John Woo's Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, for Paramount Pictures; and Alien vs. Predator, an action thriller combining the two iconic cinematic aliens, among many others.

New television projects include a pilot based on the Witch Mountain film franchise starring Bryce Dallas Howard that is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2023. Davis Entertainment has four series currently on the air - The Blacklist, a Sony Television production [7] in year ten, the CBS hit series The Equalizer with Queen Latifah, Magnum P.I. with Jay Hernandez, and the comedy series Blockbuster on Netflix.

Past Davis Entertainment television series include NBC's action drama Timeless, as well as ABC's hit comedies Dr. Ken starring Ken Jeong, and Alex, Inc. starring Zach Braff and Michael Imperioli.

Davis was honored as The Hollywood Reporter’s Producer of the Year in 2015[8] and ShoWest’s Producer of the Year in 2004.[9] He also won two People’s Choice Awards, for The Firm and Grumpy Old Men, and his films have received several Academy Award nominations, including a Best Animated Feature nomination for Ferdinand. He also earned a nomination for Outstanding Television Movie for Prey at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Aside from his entertainment career, Davis’ successful business ventures include Wetzel's Pretzels and the casual pizza franchise Blaze Pizza. His newest food ventures include Dave’s Hot Chicken, the fastest-growing food company in America, and PopUp Bagels, which was named twice the winner of the Brooklyn Bagel Fest for the best bagel in New York.

Davis has owned, operated, and started several small market television stations.

Davis is married to Jordan Davis. They have three children: Jack, Catherine, and Jensen, as mentioned in the Garfield: The Movie DVD commentary.[10] Davis' three children said that the CG version of Garfield looked "evil" when they first saw him.

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

• John Davis at IMDb