Biography
Arnold Leibovit is an award-winning writer, director and producer. He wrote, directed and produced the acclaimed film tribute "The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal" (1986) profiling the life of the Oscar winning science fiction and fantasy film pioneer, who directed the first screen telling of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine". "Fantasy Worlds" features a who's who of over 25 stars and industry greats that worked with the late director. The film premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and has since aired on The Disney Channel, PBS and won numerous awards. The DVD was released by Image Entertainment (2000).
Following this film, Leibovit obtained the rights to "The Time Machine" book and the motion picture which led to his Executive Producing the (2002) Dreamworks/Warner Bros. remake starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons with special effects by Digital Domain, Industrial Light and Magic and Stan Winston. He is working on producing a sequel to "The Time Machine", a re-imagining of George Pal's "7 Faces of Dr. Lao" and other projects.
In addition, Leibovit directed and produced "The Puppetoon Movie," featuring such classic characters as Gumby, Pokey and Tubby the Tuba and the Oscar®-winning Puppetoons of George Pal. The film premiered at the first American Film Institute Film Festival, distributed theatrically by Expanded Entertainment and has since screened at international film festivals in such cities as London, England; Annecy, France; Sitges, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; and Melbourne, Australia, as well as airing on Showtime. A DVD was released by Image Entertainment (2000), a Blu-Ray (2013) followed by "The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2" Blu-ray (2020) and "The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3" Blu-ray (2023) both containing Puppetoons not seen in generations and newly restored in High Definition from their original Technicolor negatives with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures and is working on a 4K restoration of "The Puppetoon Movie" original. Arnold Leibovit controls the trademark to Puppetoon(TM).
Leibovit also produced the DVD re-release of "The Great Rupert" (2000), George Pal's first feature film, by Image Entertainment and the Blu-ray version (2013) on "The Puppetoon Movie" release. Leibovit served as associate director/editor of King World Productions "Rascal Dazzle," featuring Hal Roach's "Our Gang" comedies, which was narrated by Jerry Lewis and scored by Nelson Riddle; and directed three award winning short subjects: "Penny Lane" (1975) renowned film on toy mechanical banks, "Judgment: An Essay on War" (1974) widely televised and "The Fatherland" (1973) selected by The Whitney Museum of Art as part of The New Ameican Filmmakers Series.
Apart from the big screen, Leibovit produced the CD soundtrack re-scoring of the 1960 "The Time Machine" (1988) with its original composer Russell Garcia followed by a 2022 Expanded Edition Remaster, "The Fantasy Film Music of George Pal" (2004) CD covering the MGM/Warner Bros. years (1958-1975). Mr. Leibovit served as Production Executive for Mavin Productions and the original Broadway Chicago musical comedy "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?". Next to "Grease" this was the longest running show in Chicago history. Leibovit also directed Neil Simon's "Star Spangled Girl" at the Neil Simon Comedy Festival in Cedar City, Utah (2005).
Mr. Leibovit received the George Pal Memorial Award 'The Saturn' from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy three CINE Golden Eagles, two International Film & TV Festival Awards, two Awards of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board and many others. Leibovit is a member of the Producers Guild of America.
