# David Kirschner

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American producer and screenwriter

David Kirschner Kirschner at the 2024 WonderCon Born David Maxwell Kirschner (1955-05-29) May 29, 1955 (age 71) Los Angeles, California, U.S. Alma mater USC School of Cinematic Arts Occupations Film producer television producer screenwriter Years active 1983–present

**David Maxwell Kirschner** (born May 29, 1955) is an American film and television producer and screenwriter. His producing credits include [Don Bluth](/source/Don_Bluth)'s *[An American Tail](/source/An_American_Tail)* (also wrote) and *[Titan A.E.](/source/Titan_A.E.)* animated features as well as *[Cats Don't Dance](/source/Cats_Don't_Dance)*, *[Curious George](/source/Curious_George_(film))*, the *[Child's Play](/source/Child's_Play_(franchise))* horror franchise.

## Career

After studying at the [University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts](/source/University_of_Southern_California_School_of_Cinematic_Arts), Kirschner began his career designing album cover art for [Neil Diamond](/source/Neil_Diamond), including *[The Jazz Singer](/source/The_Jazz_Singer_(soundtrack))*, and illustrating characters for the *[Muppets](/source/Muppets)* and *[Sesame Street](/source/Sesame_Street)*. In 1983, Kirschner created and released children's book series *[Rose Petal Place](/source/Rose_Petal_Place)*, which spawned two Television specials, toys, clothing, and a wide array of licensed consumer products. In 1986, Kirschner created and executive produced *[An American Tail](/source/An_American_Tail)*, which was co-executive produced by [Steven Spielberg](/source/Steven_Spielberg), and, at its release, was the highest-grossing non-Disney produced animated feature of all time. It was followed by its theatrical sequel *[An American Tail: Fievel Goes West](/source/An_American_Tail%3A_Fievel_Goes_West)* (1991), the television series *[Fievel's American Tails](/source/Fievel's_American_Tails)*, and two direct-to-video sequels. In 1986, David Kirschner signed a deal with [United Artists Pictures](/source/United_Artists) and [MGM/UA Television](/source/MGM_Television) for development, production and distribution of major motion picture and television projects for a two-year deal.[1] Kirschner was appointed chairman of [Hanna-Barbera Productions](/source/Hanna-Barbera_Productions) in 1989, where he wrote / created and executive produced many films, specials and shows, including *[Wake, Rattle & Roll](/source/Wake%2C_Rattle_%26_Roll)*, *[Gravedale High](/source/Gravedale_High)* and *[The Pirates of Dark Water](/source/The_Pirates_of_Dark_Water)*.

Kirschner also designed the [Chucky](/source/Chucky_(Child's_Play)) [animatronic](/source/Animatronic) doll which is featured in the *[Child's Play](/source/Child's_Play_(franchise))* series. He has produced all seven films in the original franchise, as well as executive producing the [*Chucky*](/source/Chucky_(TV_series)) television series. Other notable productions include 1997's *[Cats Don't Dance](/source/Cats_Don't_Dance)*, winner of the 25th annual [Annie Award](/source/Annie_Awards) for Best Animated Feature,[2] 2006's *[Curious George](/source/Curious_George_(film))*, based upon the [book series of the same name](/source/Curious_George), *[Martian Child](/source/Martian_Child)*, and Golden Globe-nominated *[Miss Potter](/source/Miss_Potter)*. His 2010s/2020s work includes executive producer on *[Curious George](/source/Curious_George_(TV_series))*, *[Hocus Pocus 2](/source/Hocus_Pocus_2)* ([Disney+](/source/Disney%2B)), *Random* (In Pre-Production for [The Weinstein Company](/source/The_Weinstein_Company)) and *Garden District* (In-Development for [Dimension Films](/source/Dimension_Films)). Kirschner is currently head of his own production company, David Kirschner Productions.

## Filmography

### Films

Title Year Functioned as Notes Producer Executive producer Writer An American Tail 1986 No Yes Creator / Story Animated Child's Play 1988 Yes No No Child's Play 2 1990 Yes No No Child's Play 3 1991 No Yes No An American Tail: Fievel Goes West 1991 No Yes Creator Animated Once Upon a Forest 1993 Yes No No Animated Hocus Pocus 1993 Yes No Story The Flintstones 1994 No Yes No The Pagemaster 1994 Yes No Yes Live action / animated Cats Don't Dance 1997 Yes No No Animated Bride of Chucky 1998 Yes No No Titan A.E. 2000 Yes No No Animated Frailty 2001 Yes No No Secondhand Lions 2003 Yes No No Seed of Chucky 2004 Yes No No Thru the Moebius Strip 2005 Yes No No Animated Curious George 2006 Yes No No Animated Miss Potter 2006 Yes No No Martian Child 2007 Yes No No Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! 2009 No Yes No Animated / Direct-to-DVD Curse of Chucky 2013 Yes No No Direct-to-DVD Kristy 2014 Yes No No Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle 2015 No Yes No Animated / Direct-to-DVD Cult of Chucky 2017 Yes No No Direct-to-DVD Curious George: Royal Monkey 2019 No Yes No Animated / Direct-to-DVD Curious George: Go West, Go Wild 2020 No Yes No Animated / Direct-to-streaming Curious George: Cape Ahoy 2021 No Yes No Animated / Direct-to-streaming Hocus Pocus 2 2022 No Yes Story Direct-to-streaming

### Television films and specials

Title Year Functioned as Notes Producer Executive producer Writer Rose Petal Place 1984 Yes No Creator Animated special Rose Petal Place: Real Friends 1985 Yes No Creator Animated special ...Where's Rodney? 1990 Yes No No Unsold pilot Poochinski 1990 No Yes Story Unsold pilot The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story 1990 No Yes Story The Last Halloween 1991 No Yes No Live action / animated special Monster in My Pocket: The Big Scream 1992 No Yes No Animated special The Halloween Tree 1993 No Yes No Animated special The Town Santa Forgot 1993 No Yes No Animated special

### Television series

Title Year(s) Functioned as Notes Creator Executive producer Writer Gravedale High 1990 Yes Yes No Animated (13 episodes) Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures 1990 No Yes No Animated (13 episodes) Wake, Rattle and Roll 1990–1991 Yes Yes No Live action / animated (50 episodes) The Pirates of Dark Water 1991–1993 Yes Yes No Animated (21 episodes) Fievel's American Tails 1992 Yes No No Animated (13 episodes) / Also creative consultant Fish Police 1992 No Yes No Animated (6 episodes) The Addams Family 1992–1993 No Yes No Animated (21 episodes) Capitol Critters 1992–1996 No Yes No Animated (13 episodes) Earth: Final Conflict 1997–2002 No Yes Yes Executive producer (110 episodes) / Teleplay (Episode: "Law & Order") Five Days to Midnight 2004 No Yes No Mini-series (5 episodes) Curious George 2006–2022 No Yes No Animated (198 episodes + 3 specials) Chucky 2021–2024 No Yes No 24 episodes

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** "Kirschner Pacts At UA For Pictures, MGM/UA To Work On Television". *[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))*. 1986-09-03. p. 4.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["25th Annual Annie Award Nominess and Winners"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070430031526/http://www.annieawards.com/25thannieawardwinners.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.annieawards.com/25thannieawardwinners.htm) on 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2007-04-10.

## External links

- [David Kirschner](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0456946/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

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v t e Works by David Kirschner Films produced Child's Play (1988) Child's Play 2 (1990) Once Upon a Forest (1993) Cats Don't Dance (1997) Bride of Chucky (1998) Titan A.E. (2000) Frailty (2001) Secondhand Lions (2003) Seed of Chucky (2004) Thru the Moebius Strip (2005) Curious George (2006) Miss Potter (2006) Martian Child (2007) Curse of Chucky (2013) Kristy (2014) Cult of Chucky (2017) Films written Rose Petal Place (1984–85, two TV shorts) An American Tail (1986) Poochinski (1990, TV pilot) The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story (1990, TV film) An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991, creator) Hocus Pocus (1993, also produced) The Pagemaster (1994, also produced) Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) TV series created Gravedale High (1990) Wake, Rattle, and Roll (1990–91) The Pirates of Dark Water (1991–93) Fievel's American Tails (1992) Franchises created Rose Petal Place An American Tail The Pirates of Dark Water Hocus Pocus The Pagemaster

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David Kirschner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kirschner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kirschner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.