Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Italian pronunciation: [loˈrɛntso di ˌbɔnavenˈtuːra]; born January 13, 1957) is an American film producer and the founder and owner of Di Bonaventura Pictures. He is best known for producing the G.I. Joe and Transformers film series. The films he produced have earned over $7 billion at the box office.[1]
Lorenzo di Bonaventura | |
|---|---|
 di Bonaventura at Comic-Con in 2024 | |
| Born | January 13, 1957 New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Harvard University University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Children | 2 |
Life and career
edit
Di Bonaventura spent the 1990s as an executive in the film industry eventually rising to president of worldwide production for Warner Bros. Pictures. His production company, Di Bonaventura Pictures, is based at Paramount Pictures. His tenure at Warner Bros. included discovering and shepherding The Matrix into production, as well as purchasing the rights to the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.
In 2007, di Bonaventura purchased the film rights to the six-part series of fantasy novels The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.[2] Di Bonaventura said that Scott's "fantastic series is a natural evolution from Harry Potter".
In the documentary Side by Side, di Bonaventura criticized the ubiquitousness of inexpensive digital cameras that allow anyone to become a filmmaker, potentially saturating the media landscape with awful entertainment that the public wouldn't be able to distinguish from quality works. His argument stated that the new media landscape is flawed due to lack of a "tastemaker".
Personal life
editDi Bonaventura graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall and Harvard University, where he played soccer.[3] He later received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[4] His father, Mario di Bonaventura, was a symphony conductor, and his uncle, Anthony di Bonaventura, was a concert pianist.[5]
Di Bonaventura serves as chair of the Creative Council for RepresentUs, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization.[6] He has served on the Claremont Graduate University Board of Trustees since 2015.[7]
As of July 2013[update], di Bonaventura lived in Brentwood, Los Angeles with his wife Kimberly and their two sons.[8]
Filmography
editProducer
editParamount Pictures
edit| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Four Brothers | John Singleton | |
| 2007 | Shooter | Antoine Fuqua | |
| Transformers | Michael Bay | With DreamWorks Pictures | |
| Stardust | Matthew Vaughn | ||
| 2009 | Imagine That | Karey Kirkpatrick | |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | Michael Bay | With DreamWorks Pictures | |
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | Stephen Sommers | ||
| 2011 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | Michael Bay | |
| 2013 | G.I. Joe: Retaliation | Jon M. Chu | With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| 2014 | Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | Kenneth Branagh | |
| Transformers: Age of Extinction | Michael Bay | ||
| 2017 | Transformers: The Last Knight | ||
| 2018 | Bumblebee | Travis Knight | |
| 2019 | Pet Sematary | Kevin Kölsch Dennis Widmyer |
|
| 2021 | Infinite | Antoine Fuqua | Via Paramount |
| Snake Eyes | Robert Schwentke | With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| 2023 | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | Steven Caple Jr. | |
| Pet Sematary: Bloodlines | Lindsey Beer | Via Paramount and Paramount Players | |
| 2024 | Transformers One | Josh Cooley | |
| TBA | Untitled Transformers film | Ángel Manuel Soto |
Sony Pictures Releasing
edit| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Salt | Phillip Noyce |
| 2024 | Madame Web | S. J. Clarkson |
Summit Entertainment
edit| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Red | Robert Schwentke | |
| 2012 | Man on a Ledge | Asger Leth | |
| 2013 | Red 2 | Dean Parisot | |
| 2017 | Only the Brave | Joseph Kosinski | With Columbia Pictures |
Lionsgate Films
edit| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Last Stand | Kim Jee-woon | |
| 2016 | Deepwater Horizon | Peter Berg | With Summit Entertainment |
| 2017 | Unlocked | Michael Apted | |
| American Assassin | Michael Cuesta | ||
| 2023 | Plane | Jean-François Richet |
Warner Bros. Pictures
edit| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Constantine | Francis Lawrence |
| 2018 | The Meg | Jon Turteltaub |
| 2023 | Meg 2: The Trench | Ben Wheatley |
| TBA | Untitled Constantine Sequel | Francis Lawrence |
Others
edit| Year | Title | Director | Distributor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Doom | Andrzej Bartkowiak | Universal Pictures |
| Derailed | Mikael Håfström | Miramax | |
| 2007 | 1408 | Dimension Films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| 2013 | Side Effects | Steven Soderbergh | Open Road Films |
| 2015 | Electric Slide (Uncredited) | Tristan Patterson | Paragon Releasing |
| 2017 | Kidnap | Luis Prieto | Relativity Media Aviron Pictures |
| 2018 | Higher Power | Matthew Charles Santoro | Magnet Releasing |
| Replicas | Jeffrey Nachmanoff | Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures | |
| 2020 | The Secrets We Keep | Yuval Adler | Bleecker Street |
Executive producer
edit| Year | Title | Director | Distributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The Devil Inside | William Brent Bell | Insurge Pictures |
| 2015 | Dead Rising: Watchtower | Zach Lipovsky | Crackle |
| 2016 | Dead Rising: Endgame (Uncredited) | Pat Williams | |
| 2018 | Maze Runner: The Death Cure | Wes Ball | 20th Century Fox |
| Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich | Sonny Laguna Tommy Wiklund |
RLJE Films | |
| El Chicano | Ben Hernandez Bray | Briarcliff Entertainment | |
| 2019 | Doom: Annihilation | Tony Giglio | Universal 1440 Entertainment |
| 2024 | Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F | Mark Molloy | Netflix |
Television
edit- Zero Hour (2013)
- The Real O'Neals (2016–2017)
- Shooter (2016–2018)
- Jupiter's Legacy (2021)
- The New Look[9] (2024–present)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Lorenzo di Bonaventura to Receive Career Achievement Award". Zurich Film Festival. August 23, 2016. Archived from the original on September 9, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- ^ "Lorenzo di Bonaventura – June 2007 – Transformers At The Moon".
- ^ "Men's Soccer Gears Up for a Title Chase... | Sports | The Harvard Crimson". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on December 15, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
- ^ Weinstein, Joshua L. (October 11, 2010). "Di Bonaventura on a bonny venture". Variety. Archived from the original on August 26, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
- ^ "Mario di Bonaventura (Composer) – Short Biography". Bach Cantatas Website. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- ^ "About | Represent.Us". Represent.Us. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- ^ "Lorenzo di Bonaventura". Claremont Graduate University. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
- ^ Kilday, Gregg (July 19, 2013). "Lorenzo di Bonaventura on 10 Years of Producing Movies (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 10, 2022). "Christian Dior-Coco Chanel Drama Series Starring Ben Mendelsohn & Juliette Binoche Ordered By Apple TV ". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
