On March 1, 1984, Robert Zemeckis incorporated and founded the company as South Side Amusement Company. The company was in-name only from the beginning. In the early 1990s, Zemeckis signed a production deal with Universal Pictures, to release films under the South Side Amusement Company banner. There, it is one of the producers of Death Becomes Her, Trespass, The Public Eye, The Frighteners and Contact.
Early years as ImageMovers (1997–2007)
In 1997, it was announced that South Side Amusement Company was rebranded to ImageMovers, and hired Creative Artists Agency employee Jack Rapke and producer Steve Starkey came on board to join the company. It was also announced that ImageMovers signed a non-exclusive feature film deal with DreamWorks. In 2001, the studio tried to sign a deal with Warner Bros., but they ultimately failed. After the Warner deal collapsed, the studio is reupping a first-look deal with DreamWorks to produce more films from that time. ImageMovers' first eight films under the name were What Lies Beneath, Cast Away, Matchstick Men, The Polar Express, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, Last Holiday, Monster House, and Beowulf.
Disney/ImageMovers Digital (2007–2010)
In 2007, The Walt Disney Company and ImageMovers set up a joint venture animation facility known as ImageMovers Digital, a Marin County-based film company where Zemeckis would produce and direct 3Danimated films using performance capture technology. On November 6, 2009, ImageMovers Digital released their first film A Christmas Carol, a performance capture film based on the Charles Dickensbook of the same name and starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Cary Elwes each in multiple roles. On March 12, 2010, Disney and ImageMovers announced that ImageMovers Digital would close operations by January 2011 after production on Mars Needs Moms was completed. Resulting in a lay-off of approximately 450 employees, Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said, "...given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model." The company had previously been reported to have Calling All Robots, a Yellow Submarine remake, a Roger Rabbit sequel and The Nutcracker in development. Disney dropped all of these projects following the box-office failure of Mars Needs Moms.
Universal Pictures (2011–present)
In August 2011, it was announced that ImageMovers has entered a two-year first-look producing deal with Universal Pictures.
