Reading Joe Eszterhas' memoir made me think about Guy McElwaine when he was head of Columbia. He mentioned McElwaine only had one hit in that time, Jagged Edge.
1981 he becomes Columbia president Price had been CEO since March 1979.
Feb 1983 Price decides to stay on when thought he'd be fired. Oct 1983 he takes over as CEO from Frank Price. Price missed out on some big successes - Ghost busters and Karate Kid.
Dec 1983 he greenlights Out of Africa. Also overlooks recut of The Man Who Loved Women see here. And the bike film Yello Jersey.
The first film that started production under his reign at Columbia Studios was The New Kids. Columbia’s production increased during his reign with 14 films started in 1984 compared to 9 in 1983 but none of the 14 were hits when they were released. The biggest hit produced under his tenure was The Karate Kid Part II with a gross of $115 million.
June 1985 - rumours he would be fired but instead he was promoted to Chairman see here.
April 1986 - fired with 18 months left on contract. Replaced by David Puttnam in July.
Let's look at what they made around that time. (I pulled these from Wikipedia)
December 6, 1983 The Dresser
December 9, 1983 Christine
December 16, 1983 The Man Who Loved Women * (kind of)
March 2, 1984 Against All Odds
April 6, 1984 Moscow on the Hudson
May 4, 1984 Hardbodies
June 8, 1984 Ghostbusters (a Price movie)
June 22, 1984 The Karate Kid
August 17, 1984 Sheena *
September 14, 1984 A Soldier’s Story
October 19, 1984 The Razor’s Edge
October 26, 1984 Body Double
November 9, 1984 No Small Affair
December 14, 1984 Starman
December 21, 1984 Micki & Maude
January 18, 1985 The New Kids*
February 15, 1985 Fast Forward
March 15, 1985 Sylvester
March 29, 1985 The Slugger’s Wife
April 26, 1985 Just One of the Guys
June 7, 1985 Perfect*
June 14, 1985 D.A.R.Y.L. Distribution only
June 28, 1985 St. Elmo’s Fire*
July 10, 1985 Silverado
August 2, 1985 Fright Night
August 16, 1985 The Bride*
September 13, 1985 Agnes of God*
October 4, 1985 Jagged Edge*
November 22, 1985 White Nights*
December 13, 1985 A Chorus Line distribution only
December 25, 1985 Murphy’s Romance*
January 22, 1986 Desert Bloom
February 14, 1986 Quicksilver
March 14, 1986 Crossroads *
March 21, 1986 Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation Distribution only
April 11, 1986 Violets Are Blue
April 25, 1986 Crimewave distribution only
May 2, 1986 Saving Grace distribution only
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
May 30, 1986 Big Trouble
June 20, 1986 The Karate Kid Part II
June 27, 1986 American Anthem Distribution only
July 25, 1986 Out of Bounds
August 8, 1986 Stand by Me * (bought it from Norman Lear)
A Fine Mess Distribution only
August 15, 1986 Armed and Dangerous
August 22, 1986 One More Saturday Night
August 1986 Stewardess School
October 10, 1986 That’s Life! Distribution only
December 12, 1986 Where Are The Children?
February 13, 1987 84 Charing Cross Road
May 15, 1987 Ishtar *
He also greenlit Rites of Summer, Roxanne and Ishtar - see here. Also developed a sequel to Jagged Edge which became Physical Evidence. La Bamba and The Big Town apparently came through McElwaine
Apparently the failure of Crossroads led to him being sacked see here.
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