Caravan Pictures was founded by
Roger Birnbaum and
Joe Roth as a production company at
Disney in 1992 to fill the Disney Studios' then-yearly 50 to 60 production and distribution slots. Caravan Pictures was given a five-year, 25-picture agreement with greenlight authority up to $30 million and an overhead budget of $3 million, and was expected to produce 5 to 7 films per year originally. After just releasing its first picture,
The Three Musketeers, on Christmas Day 1993, Caravan Pictures expected to release 10 films in 1994, which could accelerate the end of the deal in 2 1/2 years instead of 5 years. They were able to get the adaptation of
Angie, I Says that was in turnaround at
20th Century Fox, where they have previously worked. In 1993,
Jonathan Glickman, who came from the
USC's
Peter Stark Program, joined Caravan Pictures as an intern. In early 1994, Fox executive Riley Kathryn Ellis, of which was a close friend of Roth, joined the company. When three out of the next four films flopped at the box office, Roth promised to cover
I Love Trouble cost overruns pegged at $15 million if it did poorly. It eventually flopped as well. Roth moved on to be Disney studio chief on August 24, 1994, leaving Birnbaum in charge. Disney CEO Michael Eisner was so set on replacing
Jeffrey Katzenberg as Disney studio chief with Roth that he forgave the cost overrun debt and paid Roth $40 million of fees for 21 unproduced films under the deal. ==List of notable Caravan Pictures films==