Mike Karz

Mike Karz has over 25 years' experience as a successful film and television producer, television writer and studio executive. He co-founded Gulfstream Pictures, a film production and financing company, with Bill Bindley in August, 2012.

On January 17, 2014 Gulfstream released its first film, the animated family comedy "The Nut Job," which set the record for the biggest box office opening for a non-studio animated movie ever. Among his projects is a feature film set on football's biggest day, Super Bowl Sunday. Karz also produced "Thunderstruck," a family comedy starring NBA superstar and Olympic Gold Medalist Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was released in August of 2012.

Karz's prior films include "New Year's Eve," which was released in December of 2011 and featured an all-star cast including Oscar® winners Robert De Niro, Halle Berry and Hilary Swank. The film was the follow-up to 2010's hit "Valentine's Day," which grossed over 215 million dollars worldwide and set several box-office records, including the biggest romantic comedy opening weekend ever and largest President's Day weekend opening of all time. He also produced "Killers," starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. Karz's past credits include "Good Luck Chuck," starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba; "First Daughter"; "Malibu's Most Wanted"; and "Max Keeble's Big Move," which was the recipient of a Special Certificate of Recognition from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For television, he co-created and executive produced The WB's long-running television series "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment."

Prior to becoming a producer, Karz was an executive at Orion Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Mandeville Films. As an executive, he focused on the family market with such projects as "Rudy" and "The 3 Ninja Kids," and was an early proponent of developing the classic cartoon series "George of the Jungle" into a feature.

While working as an executive at a Disney-based production company, Karz saw an opportunity to produce family films for "The Wonderful World of Disney," which was being revitalized and introduced to a new generation of television viewers. Karz secured an overall production deal for himself and, under the Karz Entertainment banner, produced many of the series' most high-profile projects, including "Toothless," the first original movie for the division; "Geppetto," Disney's first original television musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and the recipient of four Emmy nominations; "Model Behavior," starring Justin Timberlake in his movie debut; and "My Date with the President's Daughter."

Warner Bros.