Centropolis Entertainment

Centropolis Entertainment
Company type	Private
Industry	Motion Pictures
Founded	July 26, 1985 (1985-07-26)
Founders	Dean Devlin; Roland Emmerich
Headquarters	Culver City, California, United States
Number of locations	Los Angeles, CA, United States; Berlin, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ute Emmerich; Marco Shepherd; Roland Emmerich
Products	Films
Divisions	Centropolis Television; Centropolis Interactive
Website	centropolis.com

Centropolis Entertainment is a German-American film production company founded in 1985 as Centropolis Film Productions by American film producer Dean Devlin and German film director Roland Emmerich.¹² As of 2001, the company is a subsidiary of Das Werk AG.³⁴

History

In 1996, Emmerich launched his special effects studio Centropolis Effects to provide VFX effects for its motion pictures. It was shut down in 2001.⁵

In 1997, the studio launched its television division Centropolis Television. Its first production was The Visitor, a show that was aired on Fox.⁶

In 1998, Centropolis entered a production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to produce motion pictures for its studio.⁷⁸

In the late 1990s, Centropolis' video game division, Centropolis Interactive, published online multiplayer games like Godzilla Online, ID4 Online, Darkness Falls: The Crusade, and Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict.⁹¹⁰

Dean Devlin, however ultimately left in 2001 in order to form Electric Entertainment. Electric inherited and finished development on the films he developed, including Eight Legged Freaks.¹¹¹²

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Director	Studio	Distributor	Name
1985	Making Contact	Roland Emmerich	Pro-ject Filmproduktion Bisokop Film Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen	New World Pictures	as Centropolis Film Productions
1987	Ghost Chase		Pro-ject Filmproduktion Hessicher Rundfunk Spectrum Entertainment	Filmverlag der Autoren
1990	Moon 44		Spectrum Entertainment	Warner Bros. CineVox
1992	Universal Soldier		Carolco Pictures The IndieProd Company	TriStar Pictures
1994	The High Crusade	Klaus Knoesel	Carolco Pictures	Overseas Filmgroup
1994	Stargate	Roland Emmerich	Carolco Pictures Le Studio Canal+	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1996	Independence Day		20th Century Fox		as Centropolis Entertainment
1998	Godzilla		TriStar Pictures, Fried Films¹³ Independent Pictures¹³	Sony Pictures Releasing¹³¹⁴
1999	The Thirteenth Floor	Josef Rusnak	Columbia Pictures
2000	The Patriot	Roland Emmerich	Columbia Pictures and Mutual Film Company
2002	Eight Legged Freaks	Ellory Elkayem	Village Roadshow Pictures Electric Entertainment	Warner Bros. Pictures
2004	The Day After Tomorrow	Roland Emmerich	The Mark Gordon Company Lionsgate Films	20th Century Fox
2007	Trade	Marco Kreuzpaintner	Lionsgate	Roadside Attractions
2008	10,000 BC	Roland Emmerich	Legendary Pictures	Warner Bros. Pictures
2009	2012		Columbia Pictures	Sony Pictures Releasing	as Centropolis
2011	Anonymous		Columbia Pictures Relativity Media Studio Babelsberg		as Centropolis Entertainment
2013	White House Down		Columbia Pictures Mythology Entertainment		as Centropolis Entertainment
2015	Stonewall		Goldcrest Films	Roadside Attractions	as Centropolis
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence		Electric Entertainment	20th Century Fox	as Centropolis Entertainment¹⁵
2019	Midway		Summit Entertainment Ruyi Media Starlight Culture Entertainment AGC Studios Street Entertainment Entertainment One Bona Film Group	Lionsgate
2022	Moonfall		Summit Entertainment AGC Studios Street Entertainment Huayi Brothers Media Tencent Pictures UK Moonfall LLP	Lionsgate (North America) AGC International (International)
2022	The Magic Flute	Florian Sigl	Flute Film Tobis Film	Tobis Film

TV series

Year	Title	Creator	Studio	Networks	Notes
1997–1998	The Visitor	Roland Emmerich Dean Devlin	20th Century Fox Television	Fox	as Centropolis Television
1998–2000	Godzilla: The Series	based on Godzilla by: Toho Co., Ltd. developed by: Jeff Kline Richard Raynis	Adelaide Productions Columbia TriStar Television	Fox Kids	as Centropolis Television
2024	Those About to Die	based on Those About to Die by: Daniel P. Mannix developed by: Robert Rodat	AGC Studios Hollywood Gang Productions Street Entertainment	Peacock

Centropolis Effects (CFX)

The Visitor (1997-1998)
The Faculty (1998)
Godzilla (1998)
End of Days (1999)
Stuart Little (1999)
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
The Secret Life of Girls (1999)
The Patriot (2000)¹⁶
What Women Want (2000)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)⁵
K-PAX (2001)
Monkeybone (2001)
61* (2001)
Rose Red (2002)
The Scorpion King (2002)
Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
Maid in Manhattan (2002)
Kung Pow! Enter the Fist (2002) (special thank)
Willard (2003)

References

"Roland Emmerich Principal: Centropolis Entertainment". Variety. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
"ZeniMax Media Profile". ZeniMax.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
"Profile on Bloomberg". Bloomberg. bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 24, 2016). "Roland Emmerich's Centropolis Elevates Marco Shepherd to Head Production & Development". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
Graser, Marc (2001-01-09). "It's off to Werk for f/x house Centropolis". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
Rice, Lynette (1997-03-24). "Fox struts its stuff" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
Cox, Dan (1998-02-19). "Calley sealed Centropolis". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
Fleming, Michael (1998-02-18). "'Godzilla' duo Devlin, Emmerich ink 3-year SPE pact". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
Hulsey, Joel (November 10, 1998). "Godzilla Goes Live". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on July 10, 2003. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
"Centropolis Goes Online". IGN. Ziff Davis. 10 April 1999. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
Fleming, Michael (2001-05-04). "Devlin plays new role as Electric man". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
Fleming, Michael (2001-05-09). "Devlin goes solo, plugs in Electric". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
"Godzilla (1998)". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
Stephen Holden (May 19, 1998). "Film Review; So, How Big Is It Again? Sizing Up the Lizard King". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
"Centropolis Entertainment". metacritic.com. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
"How Centropolis FX Creates Visual Effects". HowStuffWorks. 2000-07-07. Retrieved 2025-05-18.

External links

Centropolis Entertainment website

[1] "Roland Emmerich Principal: Centropolis Entertainment". Variety. Retrieved 28 July 2016.

[2] "ZeniMax Media Profile". ZeniMax.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001. Retrieved October 27, 2016.

[3] "Profile on Bloomberg". Bloomberg. bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 May 2019.

[4] Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 24, 2016). "Roland Emmerich's Centropolis Elevates Marco Shepherd to Head Production & Development". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 July 2016.

[:0-5] Graser, Marc (2001-01-09). "It's off to Werk for f/x house Centropolis". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.

[6] Rice, Lynette (1997-03-24). "Fox struts its stuff" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-01.

[7] Cox, Dan (1998-02-19). "Calley sealed Centropolis". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.

[8] Fleming, Michael (1998-02-18). "'Godzilla' duo Devlin, Emmerich ink 3-year SPE pact". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.

[9] Hulsey, Joel (November 10, 1998). "Godzilla Goes Live". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on July 10, 2003. Retrieved August 1, 2022.

[10] "Centropolis Goes Online". IGN. Ziff Davis. 10 April 1999. Retrieved 7 December 2023.

[11] Fleming, Michael (2001-05-04). "Devlin plays new role as Electric man". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.

[12] Fleming, Michael (2001-05-09). "Devlin goes solo, plugs in Electric". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-01.

[AFI-13] "Godzilla (1998)". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.

[14] Stephen Holden (May 19, 1998). "Film Review; So, How Big Is It Again? Sizing Up the Lizard King". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.

[15] "Centropolis Entertainment". metacritic.com. Retrieved 28 July 2016.

[16] "How Centropolis FX Creates Visual Effects". HowStuffWorks. 2000-07-07. Retrieved 2025-05-18.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16