*Michael Elliot has spent decades writing films that shaped culture. His credits include “Brown Sugar,” “Just Wright,” “Like Mike,” “Ruth & Boaz,” and the Prime Video hit “Relationship Goals.” Now the award-winning screenwriter is betting on himself again with Cinema Puzzles, a premium brand turning iconic film moments into collectible puzzles.
Elliot opened up about the venture in an exclusive conversation with EURweb. The idea arrived unexpectedly, much like his first business. In 2013, an uncomfortable trip to a nail salon inspired him to launch his luxury men’s grooming franchise, Hammer & Nails.
“I wish there was a place where a guy could go for a service like this, where he didn’t have to feel out of place, judged, or uncomfortable. And in that moment, I knew it didn’t exist,” he recalled. “So I decided to create one.”
The puzzle concept struck the same way. Elliot, a longtime puzzle lover, had grown bored with endless landscapes and abstracts. Then inspiration hit while he sat in a theater waiting for a film to begin.
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“I’m watching trailers. I’m waiting for my movie to start. And I had a random thought,” he said. “The thought was, I wish there was a scene from a movie that I loved that was a puzzle because I do that puzzle. And in that moment, I knew it didn’t exist. So I decided to create it.”
Elliot admits the barriers were real. He did not own the films, and licensing was unfamiliar territory despite his years in Hollywood. He believes those doubts are exactly what stop most people from starting.
“You believe in yourself and you move. You don’t have to have it all figured out,” he explained. “Don’t worry about step 10, bro. Like let’s start with the first step.”
He trademarked the name Cinema Puzzles and began pitching to studios. Universal Studios answered first, impressed by his storytelling passion and his Hammer & Nails track record, which grew from a single location. “I started with one location, it’s now 80,” he noted.
“They said, ‘We believe in you. We believe in this idea.’ And they gave me the license to some of their biggest movies to turn into puzzles,” Elliot shared.
He then worked with Universal to curate titles and gained access to rare imagery. He pointed to a moment from “Scarface” when Tony first sees Frank’s wife, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, descending in an elevator. “That moment, like I’m seeing that moment and going, wow, that could be a puzzle. And it is a cinema puzzle,” he said.
The product itself took months to develop, and Elliot insisted on luxury at every touchpoint. “I wanted a premium-looking product, like one that you might not want to open,” he said. Each box lifts like a shoebox and holds the puzzle inside a velvet pouch with a reference poster.
“I wanted a puzzle that would look good on a coffee table, you know?” he added. “I wanted the product to reflect a love and a respect for movies.”
For Elliot, the venture speaks to something bigger than puzzles. It is about creators building beyond the industry’s traditional lanes.
“I’ve never been one to only rely on Hollywood. I don’t think that’s wise. The industry changes, the people change, everything about it. You can’t count on it,” he said. “I’m still dealing with studios, but I’m doing something completely different, and I own it.”
That ownership already feels like momentum. The morning of our conversation, he reviewed paperwork from another studio seeking to license its titles. “I was going over paperwork from a new movie studio that wants to give me their IP to turn into Cinema Puzzles,” he revealed.
“So I think considering how we can own the things that we create is invaluable. It’s legacy building, and hopefully it inspires other people,” Elliot said.
Cinema Puzzles is available now at cinemapuzzles.com. Watch our conversation with Michael Elliot below.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: ‘Brown Sugar’ Screenwriter Michael Elliot Launches Cinema Puzzles for Movie Fans
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