Arnon Milchan (; December 6, 1944) is an Israeli billionaire businessman, film producer and former spy. He has been involved in over 130 full-length motion pictures and is the founder of production company Regency Enterprises. Regency's film credits include 12 Years a Slave, JFK, Heat, Fight Club, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Milchan has earned two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture, for L.A. Confidential and The Revenant; he also produced Best Picture nominees The Big Short, 12 Years a Slave, and Birdman, with the latter two winning the award in consecutive years.
Milchan was also an Israeli intelligence operative from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.
As of January 2026, Forbes estimated Milchan's net worth at US$6.4 billion, ranked 605th worldwide.
Early life
Milchan was born in Rehovot, Mandatory Palestine, to a Jewish family. He has a sister named Dalia. His mother was descended from European Jewish disciples of the rabbi Vilna Gaon who came to Palestine in the early 19th century, and he is the eighth generation of his family in the country.
Business career
His father owned a fertilizer company, which Milchan inherited at the age of 21 upon his father's sudden death. Over the years, Milchan turned the company into a successful chemical business. He also earned a degree from the London School of Economics, before he and his company (Milchan Brothers Ltd.) were recruited to Lekem, a secret Israeli intelligence organization responsible for obtaining technology and material for Israel's nuclear program, and other highly secretive programs.
Film production career
thumb|alt=Milchan with Barbra Streisand, 1984, Photographer: Yosi Aloni, Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel|Milchan with [[Barbra Streisand, 1984. Photographer: Yosi Aloni, Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel]]
Milchan became involved in the movie business in 1977, after an introduction to American producer Elliot Kastner. In 1981 he partnered with Sydney Pollack on the US miniseries Masada Most notable among Milchan's film collaborations was his early work with Martin Scorsese. He developed close friendships with Robert De Niro, and directors Roman Polanski, Sergio Leone, Terry Gilliam and Oliver Stone. Milchan started his own production company in 1991 called New Regency Productions. Through his company Regency, in partnership with Warner Bros., and later with Rupert Murdoch at 20th Century Fox, and other business ventures, such as Puma AG, Milchan acquired a net worth estimated at $5.1 billion .
Milchan has produced over 130 films, such as Noah (2014), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Once Upon a Time in America (1984) (in which he also makes a cameo appearance as the chauffeur), Brazil (1985), Pretty Woman (1990), JFK (1991), Under Siege (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), Boys on the Side (1995), Heat (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), Fight Club (1999), Unfaithful (2002), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), and Knight and Day (2010), among others, to his credit. He was a producer on two more recent Oscar-winners for Best Picture, 12 Years a Slave in 2014 and Birdman in 2015, but he was not listed as a producer in the nominees list.
Milchan is also the owner of the WTA broadcasting rights. He was married to model Brigitte Genmaire.
Peres, the architect of Israel's secret nuclear weapons program in the 1960s, stated that in the 1960s he recruited Milchan to work for the Israeli Bureau of Scientific Relations (LEKEM or LAKAM), a secret intelligence organization tasked with obtaining military technology and science espionage. Milchan acknowledged that he was a secret arms dealer for the Israeli government and claimed to have used his connections to promote the apartheid regime in South Africa in exchange for it helping Israel to acquire uranium for its nuclear program.
In June 2023, Milchan provided some details about the friendship he developed with future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his time as an intelligence officer, with the two having gone from being simple acquaintances to knowing each other "like brothers." The recommendation in the case, nicknamed "Case 1000", relates to alleged bribes Milchan provided to Netanyahu in exchange for special tax exemption legislation believed to benefit Milchan in his homeland of Israel. The proposed legislation, nicknamed "Milchan's Law", dates back to 2013 and was an alleged ploy to extend Milchan's status as a returning resident to allow him to take advantage of tax breaks. According to the police, the gifts from Milchan were worth more than 1 million shekels. Milchan had held fundraisers for Netanyahu, which included a 2014 event at a residence on Carbon Beach in Malibu that controversially inconvenienced residents and commuters with hours of unexpected lane blockages on Pacific Coast Highway, despite being a private event. Portions of Milchan's interrogation by the Israeli police were covered in the 2024 political documentary The Bibi Files.
On June 25, 2023, Milchan began his first day of testimony as a prosecution witness in Case 1000 and acknowledged that he gave the Netanyahu family numerous gifts and used code names for the gifts which were exchanged as well. However, Milchan also claimed he never thought the gifts would qualify as legal issues, as they were requests which were related to his friendship with the Netanyahus and not demands. He later married South African retired professional tennis player Amanda Coetzer and had two children with her (Shimon and Olivia).
Allegedly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry three times in 2014 to arrange a long-term visa for Milchan to live in the United States.
Art collecting
Milchan is an art collector, and in April 2015, CNBC ranked him at No. 3 in their list of "Hollywood's top 10 art collectors" with a collection valued at $600 million, equal with George Lucas, ranked No. 2, but some way behind David Geffen at No. 1, with a collection valued at $2.3 billion.
Production companies
- Embassy International Pictures N.V. (1982–1989)
- Regency International Pictures (1989–1991)
- Alcor Films (1991–1995)
- Regency Enterprises (1991–)
- New Regency Productions (1991–)
Filmography
20th Century Fox
Producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1982
| The King of Comedy
| Martin Scorsese
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1985
| Brazil
| Terry Gilliam
|rowspan=2| With Universal Pictures
|-
| Legend
| Ridley Scott
|-
| 1989
| The War of the Roses
| Danny DeVito
|
|-
| 1998
| Dangerous Beauty
| Marshall Herskovitz
| With Warner Bros.
|-
| 2000
| Tigerland
| Joel Schumacher
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2001
| Don't Say a Word
| Gary Fleder
|
|-
| Black Knight
| Gil Junger
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2002
| High Crimes
| Carl Franklin
|
|-
| Life or Something Like It
| Stephen Herek
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2003
| Daredevil
| Mark Steven Johnson
|
|-
| Runaway Jury
| Gary Fleder
|
|-
| 2004
| Man on Fire
| Tony Scott
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 2005
| Elektra
| Rob Bowman
|
|-
| Mr. & Mrs. Smith
| Doug Liman
|
|-
| Stay
| Marc Forster
|
|-
| Little Manhattan
| Mark Levin
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 2006
| The Sentinel
| Clark Johnson
|
|-
| Just My Luck
| Donald Petrie
|
|-
| My Super Ex-Girlfriend
| Ivan Reitman
|
|-
| Deck the Halls
| John Whitesell
|
|-
| 2008
| Jumper
| Doug Liman
|
|-
| 2011
| Monte Carlo
| Thomas Bezucha
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2013
| Broken City
| Allen Hughes
|
|-
| Runner Runner
| Brad Furman
|
|-
| 2014
| Gone Girl
| David Fincher
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2015
| Unfinished Business
| Ken Scott
|
|-
| The Revenant
| Alejandro González Iñárritu
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 2016
| Rules Don't Apply
| Warren Beatty
|
|-
| A Cure for Wellness
| Gore Verbinski
|
|-
| Assassin's Creed
| Justin Kurzel
|
|-
| 2018
| Widows
| Steve McQueen
|
|-
| 2019
| Ad Astra
| James Gray
|
|-
|}
Executive producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
|rowspan=3| 1999
| Simply Irresistible
| Mark Tarlov
|
|-
| Entrapment
| Jon Amiel
|
|-
| Fight Club
| David Fincher
|
|-
| 2000
| Big Momma's House
| Raja Gosnell
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 2001
| Freddy Got Fingered
| Tom Green
|
|-
| Joy Ride
| John Dahl
|
|-
| Joe Somebody
| John Pasquin
|
|-
| 2002
| Unfaithful
| Adrian Lyne
|
|-
| 2003
| Down with Love
| Peyton Reed
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2004
| The Girl Next Door
| Luke Greenfield
|
|-
| First Daughter
| Forest Whitaker
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2006
| Big Momma's House 2
| John Whitesell
|
|-
| Date Movie
|rowspan=2| Jason Friedberg<br>Aaron Seltzer
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2007
| Epic Movie
|
|-
| Alvin and the Chipmunks
| Tim Hill
|
|-
|rowspan=6| 2008
| Meet the Spartans
| Jason Friedberg<br>Aaron Seltzer
|
|-
| Shutter
| Masayuki Ochiai
|
|-
| What Happens in Vegas
| Tom Vaughan
|
|-
| Meet Dave
| Brian Robbins
|
|-
| Mirrors
| Alexandre Aja
|
|-
| Marley & Me
| David Frankel
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 2009
| Bride Wars
| Gary Winick
|
|-
| Aliens in the Attic
| John Schultz
|
|-
| Fantastic Mr. Fox
| Wes Anderson
|
|-
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
| Betty Thomas
|
|-
|rowspan=5| 2010
| Marmaduke
| Tom Dey
|
|-
| Knight and Day
| James Mangold
|
|-
| Vampires Suck
| Jason Friedberg<br>Aaron Seltzer
|
|-
| Mirrors 2
| Víctor Garcia
| Direct-to-video
|-
| Love & Other Drugs
| Edward Zwick
|
|-
|rowspan=6| 2011
| Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
| John Whitesell
|
|-
| Marley & Me: The Puppy Years
| Michael Damian
| Direct-to-video
|-
| What's Your Number?
| Mark Mylod
|
|-
| In Time
| Andrew Niccol
|
|-
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
| Mike Mitchell
|
|-
| The Darkest Hour
| Chris Gorak
| With Summit Entertainment
|-
| 2013
| The Internship
| Shawn Levy
|
|-
| 2014
| Joy Ride 3: Roadkill
| Declan O'Brien
| Direct-to-video
|-
| 2015
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
| Walt Becker
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2018
| Unsane
| Steven Soderbergh
| With Bleecker Street and Fingerprint Releasing
|-
| Bohemian Rhapsody
| Bryan Singer
|
|-
|}
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Executive producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
| 1999
| A Midsummer Night's Dream
| Michael Hoffman
|-
| 2005
| Bee Season
| Scott McGehee<br>David Siegel
|-
| 2008
| Street Kings
| David Ayer
|-
| 2015
| True Story
| Rupert Goold
|-
|}
Producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
| 2013
| 12 Years a Slave
| Steve McQueen
|-
| 2014
| Birdman
| Alejandro González Iñárritu
|-
|}
20th Century Studios
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
|rowspan=2|2022
| Barbarian
| Zach Cregger
|-
| Amsterdam
| David O. Russell
|-
| 2023
| The Creator
| Gareth Edwards
|-
| 2026
| Psycho Killer
| Gavin Polone
|}
Warner Bros.
Producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1984
| Once Upon a Time in America
| Sergio Leone
| Actor - as chauffeur
|-
| 1991
| Guilty by Suspicion
| Irwin Winkler
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 1992
| The Mambo Kings
| Arne Glimcher
|
|-
| The Power of One
| John G. Avildsen
|
|-
| Under Siege
| Andrew Davis
|
|-
| That Night
| Craig Bolotin
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 1993
| Sommersby
| Jon Amiel
|
|-
| Made in America
| Richard Benjamin
|
|-
| Six Degrees of Separation
| Fred Schepisi
| With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
|-
| Heaven & Earth
| Oliver Stone
|
|-
| 1994
| The Client
| Joel Schumacher
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 1995
| Boys on the Side
| Herbert Ross
|
|-
| Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
| Geoff Murphy
|
|-
| Empire Records
| Allan Moyle
|
|-
| Copycat
| Jon Amiel
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 1996
| The Sunchaser
| Michael Cimino
|
|-
| A Time to Kill
| Joel Schumacher
|
|-
| Carpool
| Arthur Hiller
|
|-
| Bogus
| Norman Jewison
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 1997
| Murder at 1600
| Dwight H. Little
|
|-
| L.A. Confidential
| Curtis Hanson
|
|-
| The Devil's Advocate
| Taylor Hackford
|
|-
| The Man Who Knew Too Little
| Jon Amiel
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1998
| Dangerous Beauty
| Marshall Herskovitz
| With 20th Century Fox
|-
| The Negotiator
| F. Gary Gray
|
|-
| 2006
| The Fountain
| Darren Aronofsky
|
|-
|}
Executive producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
|rowspan=2| 1991
| Switch
| Blake Edwards
|-
| JFK
| Oliver Stone
|-
| 1992
| Memoirs of an Invisible Man
| John Carpenter
|-
|rowspan=3| 1993
| Falling Down
| Joel Schumacher
|-
| Free Willy
| Simon Wincer
|-
| The Nutcracker
| Emile Ardolino
|-
|rowspan=4| 1994
| Natural Born Killers
| Oliver Stone
|-
| Second Best
| Chris Menges
|-
| The New Age
| Michael Tolkin
|-
| Cobb
| Ron Shelton
|-
|rowspan=2| 1995
| Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
| Dwight H. Little
|-
| Heat
| Michael Mann
|-
| 1996
| Tin Cup
| Ron Shelton
|-
|rowspan=2| 1997
| Free Willy 3: The Rescue
| Sam Pillsbury
|-
| Breaking Up
| Robert Greenwald
|-
|rowspan=2|1998
| City of Angels
| Brad Silberling
|-
| Goodbye Lover
| Roland Joffé
|}
TriStar Pictures
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1987
| Man on Fire
| Élie Chouraqui
|
|-
| 1989
| Who's Harry Crumb?
| Paul Flaherty
|
|-
| 1990
| Q&A
| Sidney Lumet
|
|-
| 1996
| The Mirror Has Two Faces
| Barbra Streisand
| Through Sony Pictures Releasing
|}
Others
Producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Distributor
! Notes
|-
|rowspan=2| 1977
| Black Joy
| Anthony Simmons
| Hemdale Film Corporation
| Uncredited
|-
| The Accuser
| Jean-Louis Bertuccelli
|
| Co-producer
|-
| 1979
| Dizengoff 99
| Avi Nesher
| Shapira Films
|
|-
| 1989
| Big Man on Campus
| Jeremy Kagan
| Vestron Pictures
|
|-
| 1990
| Pretty Woman
| Garry Marshall
| Buena Vista Pictures
|
|-
| 1993
| Striking Distance
| Rowdy Herrington
| Columbia Pictures
|
|-
| 2000
| Up at the Villa
| Philip Haas
| USA Films
|
|-
| 2014
| Noah
| Darren Aronofsky
|rowspan=2| Paramount Pictures
|
|-
| 2015
| The Big Short
| Adam McKay
|
|-
| 2020
| His House
| Remi Weekes
| Netflix
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2022
| The Northman
| Robert Eggers
| Focus Features / Universal Pictures
|
|-
| Deep Water
| Adrian Lyne
| Hulu / Amazon Prime Video
|
|-
| 2023
| The Bikeriders
| Jeff Nichols
| Focus Features / Universal Pictures
|
|-
| 2024
| Blitz
| Steve McQueen
| Apple TV+
|
|}
Executive producer
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Distributor
|-
| 1978
| The Medusa Touch
| Jack Gold
| ITC Entertainment
|-
| 2018
| The Girl in the Spider's Web
| Fede Álvarez
| Sony Pictures Releasing
|-
|rowspan=2| 2019
| The Lighthouse
| Robert Eggers
| A24 / Focus Features / Universal Pictures
|-
| Little Women
| Greta Gerwig
| Sony Pictures Releasing
|-
| 2021
| Everybody's Talking About Jamie
| Jonathan Butterell
| Amazon Studios
|-
| 2023
| Occupied City
| Steve McQueen
| A24 / mk2 Films
|}
Miscellaneous crew
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 1977 || Black Joy || Presenter
|-
| 1978 || The Medusa Touch || In association with
|-
| 1985 || Brazil || rowspan="2"| Presenter
|-
| 1987 || Man on Fire
|}
Actor
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 1983 || Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? || Customer at Café
|-
| 1984 || Once Upon a Time in America || Chauffeur
|}
Special thanks
- The Killing Floor (2007)
Television
Executive producer
- Free Willy (1994)
- The Client (1995−96)
- Michael Hayes (1997)
- Noriega: God's Favorite (2000) (TV movie)
- L.A. Confidential (2019) (TV pilot)
- The Beast Must Die (2020−21) (Co-executive producer)
- The Edge of Sleep (2024)
Producer
- Masada (1981) (Supervising producer)
- The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer (1999) (TV movie)
See also
- List of billionaires
References
Further reading
- Doron, Meir; Gelman, Joseph (2011) Confidential The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon – Arnon Milchan Gefen Books, New York.
External links
- Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People