Touchstone Pictures would build a new niche and usher in a new era of films starting in the ’80s. In this video I explore the studios beginnings and their early years of operation from 1984-1986.
Anyone who has watched a movie or two over the years can remember the iconic blue and yellow Touchstone Pictures logo. The studio is now defunct. But the legacy of movies left behind from this label will stand the test of time. Created by Disney, Touchstone Pictures would kick-off its run of production in the mid-80s and pump out quality movies until they ceased operations in 2016. In this video I’ll be breaking down the Touchstone filmography from its splashy beginnings in 1984 through 1986. So, let’s take a ride back in cinematic time!
What’s up out there guys it’s awesome to have you back. If you’re new here. Welcome to Movies Never Say Die. Your home for 80s and 90s retro movie content and Touchstone Pictures is certainly cemented in the legacy of retro cinema history. It had a few variations over the years but when that familiar logo would scroll across the bottom of the screen you knew you were more than likely in for an entertaining movie. But before we start diving into this studio’s extensive filmography, let’s quickly cover the origins of Touchstone Pictures.
Now we all know the Disney label has always been known for kids content and they made a pretty penny from that. During the late 70s however, that kid-friendly reputation of Disney was beginning to hurt the company at the box-office and the genre that once brought them money (kids content) was now sort of boxing them in financially. Disney began tinkering with films that would hope to aim for an older audience beginning with Escape to Witch Mountain in 75 as well as its sequel in 78. These were still G-rated films though, and didn’t bring in the returns the studio had hoped for. So, closing out the 70s and heading into the early 80s, Disney would continue to work on more PG-rated films under distribution deals with both Paramount Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution.
This was a way for Disney to profit from adult content while still maintaining their sugary clean image for kids and parents. From the late 70s till around early 83, films like Night Crossing, Tron, Trenchcoat, Midnight Madness, The Devil and Max Devlin, and others would be released but none moved the financial needle. Disney co-produced Dragonslayer and Popeye with Paramount Pictures but neither took off at the time. So, between 1982 and 83, Disney would lose in excess of $60M from their ventures into “edgier” PG-rated films. Which to me is where the problem existed for Disney in the first place. They fact they considered edgier content simply meaning soft PG rated films.
And the public wasn’t fooled. They never felt this was edgy content and everyone knew Disney was known for younger themed movies. Just because they were coming out with PG rated films didn’t mean they were necessarily coming out with adult themed content. Disney had been trying to play both sides and it cost them a small fortune. So, it was decided they needed a new distribution brand to produce films for the grown folk. First announced late in 82 Disney VP of Production Tom Wilhite said the studio had plans to release more mature films under a completely new banner. Wilhite expanded saying this would allow them a wider latitude with mature content and subject matter. They would still refrain from raunchy and graphic content, but the possibility of R-rated releases was never taken off the table.
After a little over a year of development, in February of 84 then-Disney CEO Ron Miller founded Touchstone Films. Now Touchstone was simply a pseudonym and not a distinct business operation. The Touchstone Films name was just a banner. These films would be produced on Disney’s dime, and they planned to release around 4 movies a year for adult audiences under Touchstone Films. And with the Disney connection the ability to amass stars to their projects came relatively easy and they would shoot out of the gate hot with their first movie.
The romantic comedy Splash would be directed by Ron Howard. Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah were in the leads. With John Candy and Eugene Levy in supporting roles. So, it had all the right pieces for success. Now, to be honest, this movie was never really to my taste. I think it’s ok, but I’m not as high on it as the majority. However, this tale of a dude falling in love with a mermaid captured the hearts of moviegoers. It was well received by critics and killed it at the box-office throughout the spring and into the summer making Touchstone Films a seeming instant success.
Splash would drop into theaters on March 9th, 1984, and take the #1 spot with a $6.1M weekend on just 829 screens. This movie had a staggering $7,400 per theater average. Which meant the theaters were full to the max, for each showing, everywhere, all day. Splash would spend 8 weeks in the top 5 and would end its theatrical run with $69.8M worldwide on a measly $11M budget. And this charming little story of love between Hanks and Hannah would end up being the 10th highest grossing film of the year, and it would earn an Oscar Nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
From a widely accessible commercial hit, Touchstone Films would venture to the opposite side of the spectrum with a much smaller and more serious film called Country. A drama co-produced with Far West Productions, and the Pangea Corporation. Country is a movie I haven’t actually seen but it was clearly Touchstone’s attempt at dabbling with an awards film given the topic and Sept 28th, a time of year that generally signals the beginning of awards season for filmmaking.
Jessica Lange starred in this movie alongside her real-life man at the time Sam Shepard as a rural couple fighting to keep a hold on their farm during the shifts in economic times. This was something really being experienced by American farmers in the 80s and even president at the time Ronald Reagan stated that the film was blatant propaganda against government agricultural programs. Jessica Lange was actually so involved in this project that she was brought before a U.S. Congressional panel to testify as an expert about living and working on family farms. Not overly intrigued however were the audiences. Country would get a staggered release. Opening in a few of the major markets before getting a slow roll out and it never really caught on with movie goers pulling in only $9.6M on a $10M budget and Lange would get an Oscar nom for best actress.
However outside of that and a few other nominations from various smaller guilds and critics circles during awards season, this Jessica Lange passion projection Touchstone Films had acquired from The Ladd Company did little to move the needle. Quickly bringing Disney executives back down-to-earth after riding the high of Splash’s financial & critical success.
Then came 1985. With a new year Touchstone Films would take things back to…basics? Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend would be released in late March of 1985. The story centered on a couple who discover a mother and baby brontosaurus in Africa and of course fight to protect them from vicious hunters. This heartwarming dino-adventure was sadly not the crowd pleaser Touchstone Films had hoped to kick the year off with.
aby: Secret of the Lost Legend would open with a $4M weekend. But it was also competing with The Last Dragon, Porky’s Revenge, and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. All of which opened the weekend of the 22nd. So, competition was tough, and this movie would only manage to take the #5 spot at the box office. And after just three weeks it was out of theaters with a meager $14.9M take home on a $13M budget. Now this is a decent film, I enjoyed it as a kid and watched it a ton. But what does that tell you? Touchstone was regressing back to kids’ movies with adult themes, and it failed. This movie would get a recut and a new name, Dinosaur: Secret of the Lost Legend and would be played on NBC’s The Magical World of Disney so I assume that’s where I watched it the most.
This movie seemed to be on cable every weekend around lunch time in the mid-80s. It’s your typical emotionally driven adventure for kids. The cast is solid and the scoring from Jerry Goldsmith is perfectly calibrated to the dramatic undercurrent plot. The effects are naturally dated and it’s a little dark in places like many kid-themed movies were during the era. And today, it certainly has its nostalgia factor. But for Touchstone Films at the time, it was a financial disappointment.
Something popular with moviegoers in 1985 was the teen science-fiction adventure flick. Movies like Real Genius, Weird Science, and Back to the Future were hot studio properties and Touchstone Films wanted to get into the mix with My Science Project. A comedy adventure about a teenager who steals a piece of government equipment to use for his science project and realizes he has something much more life changing in his possession.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed this movie. I don’t like it as much as the other films I just mentioned but I do think it’s a charming adventure filled with action and teen humor. The dated effects are nostalgic and when the movie kicks into gear it’s a blast. To me the problem was the moments in between felt a bit too borrowed and unfortunately not quite as good as what they were borrowed from. The pacing is a bit uneven and maybe Stockwell wasn’t the most impressive lead, but the movie has a ton of lively 80s teen energy and comical adventure. But really the problem for My Science Project was it just came out at the wrong time. My Science Project would land in the 14 spot with a $1.5M weekend and only have a two week run pulling in only $4.1M on an $8M budget. Released on August 9th this movie faced serious competition. Summer Rental, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and coincidentally, Real Genius. Then there was other recently released films like Back to the Future, Weird Science, Fright Night, and National Lampoon’s European Vacation to contend with. So, this was another miss for Touchstone.
As we know, Touchstone was a division of Disney and there were a lot of corporate movements in the early 80s. Walt Disney passed in ‘66, Roy Disney passed in ‘71 and with Ron Miller in charge, the company had lost millions and barely survived a series of takeover attempts. Stockholders were naturally displeased with where the company was going so it was announced that a change would be made.
Miller was given the boot and Paramount CEO Michael Eisner was brought in to be the new CEO in ‘84. He believed in taking chances to achieve success and built a team around himself to turn Disney and subsequently Touchstone Films around. Because it was clear the Touchstone venture was sputtering out of the gate so far outside of Splash.
With Eisner’s first year in charge things were a little rough at the cinema and 1985 was another crappy year business-wise. But to his credit he’d just gotten there and these were all projects in motion prior to his hiring. There were moments behind the scenes though. Disney would partner with E.F. Hutton, an investment firm, and Silver Screen Partners II would be formed as a medium to raise over $150M for future films. This would be split between Disney and Touchstone projects with Eisner projecting around 4 films per year from Disney and 8-10 films under the Touchstone label. Naturally with that many projects the budgets would need to be manageable. Which is something we’ll get more into here in a minute.
1986 would begin and Eisner and his team were already at work with the first film under their regime and the first R-rated movie to come from under the Disney umbrella. Down and Out in Beverly Hills starring Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, and Richard Dreyfuss. This movie centered on a highly dysfunctional rich couple that saves a homeless man who tries to drown himself in their pool. This movie is wildly humorous, the premise is simple, unique, the performances go all-in on these eccentric characters, and I remember watching this movie so many times on cable as a kid.
The writing is so sharp witted and clever and with the team of Dreyfuss, Midler, and Nolte there is no shortage of charisma and personality. It’s absurd in all the silly ways you would hope from this parody of socialite life and audiences dug it. Down and Out in Beverly Hills hit theaters on Jan 31st taking the #1 spot with a $5.7M weekend dethroning The Color Purple from the top position and beating out other movies opening that weekend such as Youngblood and The Best of Times. Down and out would spend 4 weeks in the #1 position and 7 weeks in the top 5. Ending its box-office run with $62.1M on just a $14M budget. So, with the first film under Eisner leadership Touchstone Films was sitting on another box-office hit and to me this is when the Touchstone Films brand would really take off.
1986 would be a big year as Touchstone would release another 4 films. Down and Out would be made for just $14M and it was because Eisner had a methodology to keep budgets down. He would target stars either fading from popularity, just on the rise, or dealing with legal issues that would work for cheap. Also, in 1986 a 5-year deal was signed with Showtime for exclusive airing rights. A deal reportedly worth well up into the 9 figures for all Touchstone films to be aired on Showtime and The Movie Channel.
Things were starting to change for the label as they finally stepped into what the majority of the world considered teen and adult targeted movies, something it appeared Eisner actually knew the definition of. It wasn’t the ‘50s anymore. It was the 80s people were spending money, having recreational sex, blowing through coke, partying, and moving out to the burbs to settle down and they wanted movies to represent such.
A few months after the release of Down and Out, Touchstone Films would release a small comedy called Off Beat starring Judge Reinhold, Meg Tilly, John Turturro, Joe Mantegna, and Harvey Keitel. The plot of this one revolves around a young man who poses as a cop for his friend who was selected to do a dance performance and ends up falling in love and getting roped up in silly comedic hijinks.
Now I’ll be honest I completely forgot about this movie until I made this video. I remember watching it on cable many times as a kid. I was always a fan of Reinhold, and it felt like this movie was always playing during late weekend mornings. Off Beat would open on April 11th in the #5 spot with a $2M weekend right in between Band in the Hand and Critters that also opened. It would only pull in $4.1M on a $10M budget. So, it wasn’t a film that banked for Touchstone but as I said it streamed on cable countless times, which I now can assume was showtime. It was relatively well received from critics but clearly never took off. However, I watched it again for this video and I enjoyed it and think its silly lighthearted spirit still holds up.
Just two months later Touchstone Films would release its next movie and instantly the studio would have another bonafide hit on their hands with Ruthless People starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Helen Slater, Judge Reinhold, and Bill Pullman in his first feature film. This wild comedy centered on a clothing manufacturer who plans to kill his wife to inherit a fortune but discovers she’s been kidnapped by a couple he stole a garment design from when he attempts to complete his plan.
Ruthless People would drop into theaters in the middle of the summer on June 27th of 86 and it would take the #4 spot with a $5.2M weekend. Not a bad spot given the competition from The Karate Kid II, Back to School, and the biggest movie of the year Top Gun which was just vacuuming up the bulk of the summer box office profitability. Ruthless People however was a textbook example of why sometimes it’s just as beneficial to have legs at the theater rather than a quick burst for a couple of weeks only to flatline after.
Ruthless would spend 5 weeks in the box-office top 5, and a total of 15 weeks in the top ten to close out its run with $71.6M on just a $13M budget. Eisner’s ‘hire cheap’ philosophy was working. Midler was signed to a multi-picture arrangement after the success of Down and Out. And the studio passed on Jack Nicholson for the lead role in Ruthless People due to his $4M salary demand. Which turned out to be a great decision. DeVito and Midler were such a charming duo for this simple premise, and it would end up being a comedic gem and would end up being the 9th highest grossing movie on the worldwide box-office list in 1986.
With Ruthless People still charming audiences on the big screen, Touchstone’s next movie would be released on the first weekend of October. However, there would be a slight change as Ruthless People would be the last movie to be released as Touchstone Films. Eisner and his team had lobbied for a name change for several months. Their initial recommendation was to change the name to Hollywood Pictures. This studio label would actually come to fruition later in 1989 but at the time it was not voted in. I’d assume they didn’t want such a drastic name change after only a few years into existence it was decided all future movies would be released as Touchstone Pictures.
The crime comedy Tough Guys would feature a couple of Hollywood legends when Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas would team up to play a couple of old gangsters who are released from a 30 year prison stint to find somethings in the world have changed, but the ability to get into trouble is just the same. I remember pieces of this movie from seeing it playing on tv over the years but had never seen it all the way through until this video and I had a blast with the skillful delivery of the humor, the adventurous plot, and the charm of Lancaster and Douglas as a couple of golden-era tough guys dropped into a modern world.
Tough Guys would drop into theaters on October 3rd of 86 and take the #2 spot with a $4.6M weekend but nothing was beating Crocodile Dundee on his 2nd weekend in the #1 where it would remain for another 7 weeks. As for Tough Guys, it was able to find its audience. This was the 7th movie Lancaster and Douglas had done together. They’d been teaming up since the late 40s and were known as something of a team during their era so there’s no doubt their final pairing in Tough Guys gave this movie a built-in section of the audience. It would spend 5 weeks in the top 5 and go on to earn a respectable $21.5M on a $10M budget giving Touchstone Pictures another film in the green under their belt.
So, as you can see, Touchstone Pictures was having a great year with two sizable box-office hits. There were only a few months left in 1986, but Touchstone would have one last movie to close out their year. There had been a little sequel being shopped around in Hollywood, but it wasn’t getting any bites. Columbia Pictures passed on it. As did 20th Century Fox. Touchstone Pictures liked the project, would greenlight its production and when they did Touchstone Pictures would officially have an Awards film.
Martin Scorsese’s sequel to The Hustler – The Color of Money starring Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio would be Touchstone’s next release. Newman would reprise his role as “Fast Eddie” Felson who takes a new pool prodigy under his wing to make some money hustling and winning tournaments, and the result is in my opinion a timeless classic.
I love this movie, it’s soaked with atmosphere, great performances, pristine direction and it made pool cool with billiard rooms across the country suddenly filling up after this film’s release. The Color of Money would be released on October 17th and take the #2 spot with a $6.4M weekend, with that damn Crocodile Dundee still locked in the #1 spot in its 4th week. The Color of Money would spend 7 weeks in the top 5 and would finish its theatrical run with $52.3M on just a $14.5M budget. The critics were high on this movie, audiences were as well, The Color of Money would get 4 Oscar nominations and Paul Newman would get his first Academy Award for Best Actor.
This would wrap up the year for Touchstone Films and you would have to say the impression of Michael Eisner on the Touchstone side of his Disney CEO positions was a success. Disney had officially been able to create films that could and were connected to adult audiences. Touchstone had its deal with Showtime, funding for their films was solidified with Silver Screen Partners II.
Disney wasn’t done with 86 just yet though. Silver Screen Partners, which had already raised $200M for their 85/86 films slate would enter into one of the largest film-underwriting ventures in history when they would attempt to raise $300M for a proposed 18 projects between Disney/Touchstone. And they would get it. Touchstone would officially kick off their original production schedule projections. 1987 would see the release of 9 movies. 1988 would deliver another 10 movies. With 8 more in 1989. And many of these films are timeless classics from the 80s that will never go out of style.
Anthony J. Digioia II © 2025 SilverScreen Analysis & Movies Never Say Die
