Imagine Entertainment

Imagine Entertainment was born in November 1985 when producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard merged their respective shingles, Major H Productions and Brian Grazer Productions, into a single entity. The name itself evolved from Grazer's early pitch of "What If?", a nod to how many of his story ideas started as questions, which became "Imagine That" and finally "Imagine Entertainment." The company went public the next year as Imagine Films Entertainment, initially signing a first-look deal with Tri-Star Pictures. That partnership ended in July 1987, and by December the company had inked a long-term distribution pact with Universal Pictures, a relationship that would define its feature output for decades.

Beyond the core film and television divisions, Imagine has expanded into documentaries, kids and family programming, branded content, and audio. Imagine Audio launched in 2021 with an exclusive slate deal through iHeartMedia. The company also holds controlling stakes in Jax Media (acquired in February 2018) and Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions. Over the years, Imagine's productions have earned 10 Academy Awards and 36 Emmy Awards from hundreds of nominations, with standout titles like A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, 8 Mile, Arrested Development, and Empire.

Headquartered at 150 South El Camino Drive in Beverly Hills, with a second office in New York, the company remains privately owned by Grazer and Howard as co-chairmen. Justin Wilkes serves as president, Erica Huggins as co-president of production, and Steve Shikiya as COO. In 2021, acquisition talks valued the company at roughly $800–825 million, and in 2026 Imagine began working with an investment bank to explore a sale after receiving inbound interest. Current overall deals with Apple TV+ and Amazon MGM Studios keep its pipeline active across film, television, and emerging formats. [edit]