Mike Stinson, the longtime head of Jerry Bruckheimer Films who helped bring in five films Pirates of the Caribbean Features, three Bad boys movies and Top Gun: Maverick To the big screen, he died. He was 65 years old.
His family announced that Stinson died at his home on April 26. The cause of death was not revealed.
After eight years with Disney, the Boston native joined Bruckheimer Films as company president in 1998, overseeing all aspects of development and production there for the next quarter-century until his retirement. At the helm of the operation, he spearheaded Bruckheimer’s plan to expand the company’s film production schedule, resulting in several box office hits.
“Mike was one of the smartest individuals I have ever known or worked with,” Bruckheimer said in a statement. “His sense of story and complete knowledge of film production from development to shooting and beyond was amazing.
“Mike’s relationships with the talent on both sides of the camera were legendary. I can’t express enough how much I miss him and what a huge loss this is to me, everyone who worked with Mike over the years, and of course his family.”
Stinson served as a producer on Gone in 60 seconds (2000) and Bad company (2002), after which he was an executive producer of films Remember the Titans (2000), Ugly wolf (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Pearl Harbor (2001), Veronica Guerin (2003), Kangaroo Jack (2003), King Arthur (2004), National treasure (2004) and its sequel in 2006, The path to glory (2006), Deja vu (2006), Confessions of a shopaholic (2009), G-Force (2009), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), The magician’s apprentice (2010), The lone guard (2013), Deliver us from evil (2014), 12 strong (2018) and Gemini man (2019).
Along the way, he was working on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Dead Man’s Chest (2006), At the end of the world (2007), On strange tides (2011) and Dead men tell no tales (2017); Bad Boys II (2003), Bad boys for life (2020) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024); As for his latest film, Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Stinson was born on April 29, 1960, in Boston and grew up there. He graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and received a master’s degree in business administration. In between, he started as a production assistant in New York and worked for two years in independent film and television as an assistant director and production manager before returning to Boston.
After completing business school, he moved to Los Angeles where he started at Walt Disney Studios on special projects for two years before moving to the production department at Hollywood Pictures as a creative executive.
Stinson was promoted to vice president and then executive vice president during his eight years with the company, where he oversaw development and production for Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone Pictures.
In addition to several of Bruckheimer’s films, Stinson also developed and shepherded through production several other films, among them Mr. Holland’s work (1995), Six days and seven nights (1998), Rush hour (1998) and instinct (1999).
He had several offers to leave Disney before exiting to join Bruckheimer.
Survivors include his brothers, John (and his wife Mary), Tom (Mary), Robert (Christine), and nieces and nephews, Kaitlyn, Christopher, Elizabeth, Jack, Grace, Aidan and Kyra.
“Early in high school, Mike loved movies and knew he wanted to make them,” his brother Robert said. “While he achieved great personal success, he always shied away from the spotlight, preferring to highlight the contributions of others. He remained humble with an intellect matched only by his generosity and keen intelligence.”
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 2 p.m. on May 20 at the American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach, followed by a reception.
