Benjamin Melniker

Company man at MGM

Melniker started at MGM in 1939 and worked his way upward at the company, eventually becoming an executive vice president and chairman of the film selection committee at the studio. Melniker was involved in a number of important deals at the studio, including those for Ben Hur, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Zhivago.

1979 "Batfilm Productions" deal

In 1979, Melniker was approached by a young lawyer named Michael E. Uslan to purchase the film rights to DC's Batman. At the time Uslan needed an industry legend in his corner in order to get anyone in the industry to take him seriously as he had difficulty getting his foot in the door in the industry any other already having been a failed screenwriter. Melniker recognized the opportunity to potentially make a lot of money because the Superman movie at WB had made a lot of money. While WB wasn't paying attention, they seized the film rights to Batman before the inevitable movie would be made. After obtaining the rights, no movie studio they approached wanted to make the movie precisely because of the opportunistic seizure of the rights and monetary demands.

1983 deal at Casablanca

It was not until the pair met Peter Guber at Casablanca Records that deal to make the movie was actually made. The pair were forced to renegotiate the outrageous nature of their contract in order to retain screen credit. The pair reluctantly agreed and later attempted to sue Warner Brothers several times to gain even more financial compensation for themselves, but they always lost in court against WB's lawyers.

"Executive producer" credits and nature of the deal

Starting with Tim Burton's 1989 film, the pair are credited as "executive producers" on all Warner Bros. Batman and related films, including various direct-to-video feature-length animated films but due to the nature of the deal they will never be credited or paid royalties for any episode of television. Uslan continues to be credited as executive producer on Warner Batman film franchise entries. Apparently, upon death, the contract indicates that Melniker's name will no longer appear on any films after Zack Snyder's Justice League, and thusly Melniker's estate will only benefit from existing credits. Whether this was part of the original contact or something Uslan negotiated for upon his partner's death is unclear.

Melniker was part of a Jewish family. He was married twice. His first wife was Jean Brody. In 1945, he married his second wife, Shirley Melniker. Melniker had two sons, Harvey and Charles, the latter of whom died in 2012.

Film

Television

Shorts