Neal H. Moritz is an American film producer and formerly executive at Sony Pictures, and currently an executive at Paramount Pictures. He is the founder of Original Film and most known for I Know What You Did Last Summer, I Am Legend and the Fast & Furious franchise, and the television shows Prison Break and The Big C. His films have earned more than $5 billion as of 2012.
Early life and family
Neal H. Moritz was born in Los Angeles, California, to Milton Moritz and Barbara. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Moritz, owned movie theaters in Pittsburgh and was an early investor in American International Pictures. Milton Moritz was born in Pittsburgh and moved to California after falling ill with rheumatic fever at age eight, when his doctor suggested the family move to a better climate. He was head of marketing at AIP and was later CEO and president of the National Association of Theatre Owners of California/Nevada. Moritz is from a Jewish family. Moritz grew up in Westwood and graduated from UCLA, where he participated in a Semester at Sea program. When he came back, he gave away several backpacks that were popular with Chinese students. He had so many requests for the backpacks that he and a friend began a company importing purses and bags from Taiwan. He sold the company to an investor, and returned to school. He earned a master's degree from the University of Southern California'sSchool of Cinema-Television in 1985. He is a member of the school's Alumni Development Council. As of April 2017, Moritz has been married for 15 years and has two children, aged 17 and 14. One of his earliest movies was Juice with Tupac Shakur. Moritz has more than 70 films to his credit, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions, The Skulls, The Fast Saga franchise, Not Another Teen Movie, XXX, S.W.A.T., Evan Almighty, I Am Legend, Made of Honor, Total Recall and 21 Jump Street. Moritz is also credited for Prison Break, and he produced Cabin by the Lake, its sequel Return to Cabin by the Lake and The Glass House. In December 2011, Moritz announced plans to produce a reboot of the Starship Troopers film franchise; this reboot is said to be more faithful to the source material than the previous films, which feature little in common with the original novel apart from the general setting and character names. Starting in 2018, Moritz and Original Film began a first-look deal for Paramount Pictures starting January 1, 2018, leaving his longtime home, Sony Pictures, after over 20 years. However, he still maintains his overall deal at Sony Pictures Television. A month later, the rights for the Sonic the Hedgehog film were transferred from Sony to Paramount, leaving most of the original staff intact. In October 2018, Moritz filed a lawsuit against Universal Pictures for breach of oral contract and committing promissory fraud after the distributor removed him as lead producer on Hobbs & Shaw. Furthermore, it was revealed in May 2019 that Universal had blacklisted Moritz from any future Fast & Furious installments. Despite this, he received producer credit for the upcoming 2021 film F9.
Filmography
All films, he was producer unless otherwise noted.
