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Movie Studios Pages
| Animation Pages | 
| Major Studios {this page}:
Columbia Screen Gems TriStar Pixar Touchstone Castle Rock New Line Turner |
There were (in the Old Days) traditionally seven Major Studios in Hollywood:
Columbia (now Sony), Disney, Fox (now News Corp.), M.G.M.,
Paramount (now Viacom), Universal, and Warner Bros.
on page two: Modern Mini-Major Studios
Amazon Studios Amblin C.B.S. E.M.G. Europa Halcyon
Imagine Liberty Media LionsGate Relativity Weinstein
historic studios foreign studios
|
Domestic (U.S. & Canada) Box Office Receipts for 2006 Sony Pictures ranked #1 at $1.7 billion; Disney (Buena Vista) ranked second at $1.5 billion; Fox ranked third at $1.4 billion; Warner Bros. ranked fourth at $1.06 billion, Paramount fifth at $961 million, Universal sixth at $798 million, LionsGate seventh at $331 million, New Line Cinema eighth at $251 million, Weinstein Co. ninth at $223 million, and Focus Features (Universal) tenth at $180 million. {These ten studios took in a combined 92% of the market.} The numbers in subsequent years are little different. |
L i n k s
Hollywood film studios category at Wikipedia
online Hollywood Studio Tour (with photographs)
General Books
 | "Hollywood Studios (Postcard History Series)" [2007] by Tommy Dangcil Arcadia Publng 9x6¼ pb [4/2007] for $15.99 |
 | "The Genius of The System: Hollywood Filmmaking In The Studio Era" [1989] by Thomas Schatz Owl Books 9¼x6¼ pb [4/96] out of print/used Pantheon 9¾x6½ hardcover [2/89] for $0.00 |
 | "The Hollywood Studios: House Style In The Golden Age of The Movies" [1988] by Ethan Mordden Fireside trade pb [11/89] out of print/used Knopf hardcover [5/88] for $24.95 |
 | "Hollywood: L'Age d'Or des Studios" [1987] by Douglas Gomery Cahiers du Cinema French-language pb [5/87] out of print/used via Amazon.FR the entry at Amazon.com is mis-coded (12/2010) |
 | "The Hollywood Studio System: A History" [1986] by Douglas Gomery British Film Institute pb [9/2005] for $19.29 British Film Institute hardcover [9/2005] for $80.00 |
Major Motion Picture Studios
G.E.-Comcast & Universal & N.B.C. — Viacom & Paramount & DreamWorks
News Corp. & 20th Century-Fox — Sony Pictures & Columbia
M.G.M. & United Artists — Disney & A.B.C. & Pixar — Warner Bros.
parent company General Electric
| General Electric was established in 1879 by Thomas Alva Edison, and was ranked by Forbes Magazine in 2009 as the world's largest company. G.E. bought 80% of Universal from Vivendi in 2004. By 2010, Vivendi was selling its stake prior to purchase of a majority stake in NBC-Universal from G.E. by cable giant Comcast. As-of January 2011, G.E. owns 49% of NBC-Universal (with Comcast owning the rest). |
![classic logo of General Electric [est. 1879 by Thomas Edison]](images/GEdkblue.gif)
General Electric entry at Wikipedia
 | "The Secret To G.E.'s Success: A Former Insider Reveals The Management Strategies of The World's Most Competitive Company" [2007] by William E. Rothschild McGraw-Hill hardcover [1/2007] for $20.40 |
parent company Comcast
Cable giant Comcast has an agreement to purchase a 53% majority stake in NBC-Universal
for $13.75 billion, once Vivendi sells all its shares to G.E. As-of January 2011, Comcast owns
51% of NBC-Universal (with G.E. owning the rest).
Universal Pictures Co.
| Founded in 1909 as the Yankee Film Company by clothing store owner Carl Laemmle, renamed Independent Moving Picture Co., and in 1912 merged with 8 other companies to form Universal Film Manufacturing Co.; opened 230-acre studios in California in 1915; son Carl Laemmle, Jr. took the helm in 1928, and modernized the company (converting to sound & adding movie theaters) and began producing monster-horror films (a signature genre); after several box-office failures, bankers seized control in 1936 and kicked the Laemmles out; the studio stayed afloat by making series movies starring Deanna Durbin, Abbott & Costello, and sequels to the horror classics; British entrepreneur J. Arthur Rank purchased a quarter interest in 1945; a merger in 1946 with William Goetz's International Pictures led to a name change to Universal-International Pictures; Rank sold his shares to investor Milton Rackmil (Decca Records) who took control in 1952; in 1950, M.C.A. talent agent Lew Wasserman made a deal with Universal for his client James Stewart to receive a portion of the profits of three films for reduced up-front salary, which changed the rules of the movie business; Universal sold the (now) 360-acre studio lot to M.C.A. in 1958; Wasserman took full control in 1962 and changed the name back to Universal Pictures, with an emphasis on TV production; the studio tour operation, begun in 1915, was expanded and theme park facilities built in Florida & Japan; Wasserman sold the company to Matsushita Electric in 1990, staying as chairman until Seagram took control in 1995; liquor distributor Seagram's Edgar Bronfman, Jr. bought several smaller movie companies and then sold out to water & media company Vivendi of France in 2000, and the name was changed to Vivendi Universal; in 2004, Vivendi sold 80% of Universal to General Electric, owner of N.B.C., thus the rename to N.B.C. Universal. In 2009, Comcast made an offer for a majority stake in NBC-Universal, predicated on Vivendi seeling off its 20% stake, and other financial moves; that deal closed in January 2011, with Comcast owning 51% and G.E. owning 49%. |
Universal Studios official website
Universal Studios entry at Wikipedia
 | "Universal Pictures: A Panoramic History In Words, Pictures & Filmographies" [1977] by Michael G. Fitzgerald Arlington House pb [1/77] out of print/many used Random House hardcover[3/82] out of print/used |
 | "The Universal Story: The Complete History of The Studio & Its Films" [1985] by Clive Hirshhorn Random House Value hardcover [11/87] out of print/used |
 | "The Best of Universal" [1990] by Tony Thomas Vestal Press 11x8½ pb [1/90] for $9.95 |
 | "The Universal Story" [Universal TV 1995]
2-hour documentary on the 80-year history of the studio, with archive footage of Kirk Douglas, Michael J. Fox, Tom Hanks, Alfred Hitchcock, Boris Karloff, Spike Lee, Mary Tyler Moore, Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Mary Pickford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sid Sheinberg, Steven Spielberg, James Stewart, Lupita Tovar, Meryl Streep, Lew Wasserman & Orson Welles Co-produced, co-written & directed by David Heeley; co-produced & co-written by Joan Kramer; hosted by Richard Dreyfuss full credits at IMDb not available on DVD Universal Studios color/b&w VHS [3/96] for $7.06 |
 | "City of Dreams: The Making & Remaking of Universal Pictures" [1997] by Bernard F. Dick Univ Press of KY 9¼x6¼ hardcover [4/97] for $35.00 |
 | "The Universal Silents: A Filmography of the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company, 1912-1929" [1998] by Richard E. Braff McFarland & Co. 8¾x5¾ pb [5/2009] for $75.00 McFarland & Co. hardcover [11/98] for $135.00 |
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"Universal-International Westerns, 1947-1963: The Complete Filmography" [2000] by Gene Blottner McFarland & Co. 9x6 pb [4/2007] for $39.95 McFarland & Co. 9x6 library hardcover [8/2000] for $65.00 |
 | "Forever 50's: The Decade of Spins, Fins, and Late-Night Drive-Ins" [2003] A compilation of the 'best of' Universal Newsreels, short subjects, and movie trailers, which magically captures the essence of the decade. See the newsmakers, sports heroes, movie stars, personalities, celebrity weddings, and 'latest' fashions – President Eisenhower, Princess Grace, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Ford's Edsel, Sputnik, Sugar Ray Robinson, hula hoops, Joe DiMaggio, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Taylor, Smokey the Bear, tiki culture, swimsuits, Commu-nists, and the atomic bomb! not listed on IMDb V.C.I. Video color/b&w DVD [4/2003] 3 disks for $35.99 |
 | "Universal Sound Westerns, 1929-1946: The Complete Filmography" [2003] by Gene Blottner McFarland & Co. 8¾x6 pb [12/2010] for $39.95 McFarland & Co. 9½x6 hardcover [11/2003] for $75.00 |
 | "Early Universal City, California (Images of America)" [2009] by Robert S. Birchard Arcadia Publng 9x6½ pb [8/2009] for $14.95 |
 | "Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror" [2009] by Michael Mallory Rizzoli Universe 12x9¼ hardcover [9/2009] for $28.80 |
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"Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change In Early Hollywood" [2010] by Mark Garrett Cooper During its first decade of operation, Universal Pictures employed eleven female movie directors, but by the mid-1920s, they all were gone. Author looks at issues of institutional change, and the careers of women directors Ruth Ann Baldwin, Cleo Madison, Ida May Park, Ruth Stone-house & Elise Jane Wilson, and serials star Grace Cunard, and auteur Lois Weber. Univ Illinois Press 9x6 pb [3/2010] for $25.00 Univ Illinois Press 9x6¼ hardcover [3/2010] out of print/used |
N.B.C. Universal Television Group
| When M.C.A. took control of Universal in 1962, they merged their Revue Studios [1943-63] into Universal's TV division; the M.C.A. TV division [1951-2004] was folded into Universal TV in the 1990s; N.B.C.'s operations were merged into Universal's when General Electric bought Universal in 2004, creating a broadly-integrated production, distibution & broadcast division. |
N.B.C. Universal Television Group entry at Wikipedia
National Broadcasting Company (N.B.C.) entry at Wikipedia
N.B.C. News
N.B.C. Publishing [est. 1/2012]
This new e-publishing division, based at 30 Rock, is tasked with creating tablet & e-reader content from the
companys various brands - "Today", "NBC Nightly News", "Dateline", N.B.C. Sports, Telemundo, etc. - based on
current events & trends, and on already-existing documentaries, biographies & profiles.
Focus Features specialty division in New York City
| U.S.A. Films was created in 1999 by mogul Barry Diller by combining October Films, Gramercy Pictures & U.S.A. Home Entertainment; Focus was formed in 2002 when Universal merged U.S.A. Films, Universal Focus & Good Machine. |
Focus Features official website {requires Flash}
'Film In Focus' website for movie-lovers
Focus Features entry at Wikipedia
Rogue Pictures specialty distribution
| Founded in 2004 as a division of Focus Features to produce & distribute low-budget action/horror films; sold in December 2008 to Relativity Media, with Universal/Focus kept as distributor of the library. |
parent company Viacom
| Founded in 1971 by renaming C.B.S. Films; bought MTV and Nickelodeon and re-incorporated in 1985; acquired by National Amusements (Sumner Redstone) in 1986; purchased Paramount Communications in 1993 and the Blockbuster Video stores in 1994; merged with former parent C.B.S. Corp. in 2000; the company split on 31 December 2005, with C.B.S. Corp. having the less-profitable TV & publishing operations and 'New' Viacom having Paramount, MTV & BET. |
official website
Viacom entry at Wikipedia
Paramount Pictures
| Founded in 1912 as Famous Players Film Co. by Adolph Zukor; W.W. Hodkinson [1881-1981] merged 11 film rental bureaus and founded Paramount Pictures in Utah in May 1914; Zukor merged with Jesse L. Lasky & Paramount in 1916, as Famous Players-Lasky; moved to Hollywood, California in 1927; purchased 50% interest in fledgeling Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928; went bankrupt in 1932, Zukor was replaced, emerged as Paramount Pictures, Inc. in 1935; purchased by Charles Bluhdorn's Gulf + Western Industries conglomerate in 1966; bought Desilu in 1967; on Bluhdorn's death in 1983, sold off non-entertainment companies; headed by Sherry Lansing from 1992-2004; purchased by Viacom in 1993; launched The UPN Network in 1995 (which was replaced with The CW Network in 2006); purchased DreamWorks SKG in 2006. |
Paramount Pictures website {requires Flash}
Paramount Pictures entry at Wikipedia
Paramount Movie Ranch [est. 1927] in Agoura, CA
 | "Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures & The Birth of Corporate Hollywood" [1980] by Bernard F. Dick Univ Press of KY 9¼x6¼ hardcover [7/2001] for $35.00 |
 | "The Paramount Story: The Complete History of The Studio & The Films" [1985] by John Douglas Eames, with Robert Abele S&S hardcover [11/2004] out of print/used Random House 13x11 hardcover [5/87] out of print/used |
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"Paramount Pictures 90th Anniversary: Memorable Scores" [2002]
Sony soundtrack CD [7/2002] 43 tracks on 2 disks for $24.98 more, similar music recordings on Magic Lantern's Film Music Page |
"My Seventy Years at Paramount Studios and The Directors Guild of America" [2/96]
by Joseph C. Youngerman, Interviewed by Ira Skutch & David Shepard /1882766024/
 | "Paramount Pictures' Millennium Gift Set" on VHS [1998]
Paramount VHS set [10/98] 10 tapes - out of prodn/scarce contains 10 widescreen feature films: "The Ten Commandments" [1956] starring Charlton Heston; widescreen {first on VHS} "Breakfast At Tiffany's" [1961] starring Audrey Hepburn; Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" [1972]; "Grease" [1978 musical] with John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John; Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" [1979]; "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" [1986]; Tony Scott's "Top Gun" [1986] starring Tom Cruise; "Ghost" [1990] with Demi Moore & Patrick Swayze; "Forrest Gump" [1994] starring Tom Hanks; and Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" [1995] |
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"Best Picture Academy Award Winners Collection" on DVD from Paramount & DreamWorks [2007] Paramount color DVD box set [2/2007] 8 disks for $61.49 the 7 films are: "American Beauty" [1999], "Braveheart" [1995], 2-disk "Forrest Gump" [1994], "Gladiator" [2000], "The Godfather" [1972] from Francis Ford Coppola, "Terms of Endearment" [1983], and "Titanic" [1997] |
 | "Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, The Mob, (and Sex)" [2011]  by Peter Bart Weinstein Books hardcover [DUE May 2011] for $16.50 |
DreamWorks SKG
| Founded in 1994 by moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg & David Geffen {the 'SKG'}; DreamWorks Animation merged with Pacific Data Images & split off in 2004; the remainder sold to Paramount in February 2006. |
Dreamworks SKG official website {requires Flash}
Dreamworks SKG entry at Wikipedia
Jawad's fansite
 | "The Dream Team: The Rise & Fall of DreamWorks - Lessons From The New Hollywood" [2006] by Daniel M. Kimmel Ivan R. Dee pb [10/2007] for $13.45 Ivan R. Dee 8½x5¾ hardcover [11/2006] for $24.95 |
DreamWorks Animation
| Independent animation company Pacific Data Images {P.D.I.} was founded in 1980, to produce animated logos & TV commercials; expanded in 1990 to develop CGI (computer generated imagery) animation software; in 1997, Dreamworks S.K.G. (founded in 1994) formed a partnership with P.D.I., resulting in the hit feature "Antz" [1998], and the "Shrek" films; in 2004, DreamWorks's own animation division split from the parent, purchased the remainder of P.D.I., and took the name DreamWorks Animation. |
Dreamworks Animation entry at Wikipedia
"Shrek" won the first Oscar for Best Animated Picture
M.T.V. Networks
M.T.V.
Spike TV
Nickelodeon
B.E.T. {Black Entertainment Television}
parent company News Corp.
| Australian Rupert Murdoch re-incorporated his holdings as News Corp. in 1980; bought half of Fox in 1981, the other half in 1984; Murdoch became a U.S. citizen to allow purchase of Metromedia's television stations, which were renamed Fox Broadcasting in 1986; launched the 24-hour Fox News Channel in 1996; purchased 34% of Hughes Electronics (DirecTV) in 2003; purchased 64% of the Wall Street Journal & Dow-Jones companies for $5.6 billion in August 2007. In February 2008, News Corp. traded its controlling interest in DirecTV for News Corp. shares owned by Liberty Media (John Malone & family.) |
"The problem with Fox [News] is not that it's conservative. It's that it lies." — Eric Alterman
![Robert Greenwald's "Fox Attacks" website [est. Feb 2007]](images/bFoxAttacksRG.gif){kind=small}
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
| Founded in 1915 by William Fox; merged with Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935; built 300-acre Fox lot in 1926; began Fox Movietone News (with sound) in 1927 (which ended in 1963); mogul Zanuck resigned in 1956; the over-budget "Cleopatra" and other financial troubles were temporarily solved by selling the backlot (now the site of Century City) for cash to Alcoa in 1961; Zanuck convinced the board to re-install him as chairman in 1962, with his son Richard as president; by 1978, the studio was owned by Marc Rich and oilman Marvin Davis; Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. purchased Rich's half in 1981 and Davis's half in 1984. |
Magic Lantern's 20th Century-Fox Studios Page
official website {requires Flash}
Twentieth Century Fox entry at Wikipedia
 | "20th Century Fox: The First 50 Years" documentary TV special [1997] Co-written, co-produced & directed by Kevin Burns Image Ent. 129-min. b&w/color DVD [8/2000] for $13.99 full credits at IMDb "20th Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years" documentary TV special [2000] Co-written, co-produced & directed by Kevin Burns Image Ent. 113-min. b&w/color DVD [9/2002] for $13.99 full credits at IMDb |
Sony Pictures Entertainment
| Sony was founded in Japan in 1946, and renamed in 1958; purchased Columbia Pictures (which included Screen Gems & TriStar) from Coca-Cola in 1989; purchased the historic Triangle/M.G.M. studio lot in Culver City, California from Warner/Lorimar in 1990; renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1991; has 20% stake in the partnership that purchased M.G.M./U.A. in 2005. |
Sony Pictures official website
Sony Pictures entry at Wikipedia
map of the Sony Pictures lot, circa 1988 (when owned by Lorimar) in new window
Sony's VideOn Network [est. 2010]
Sony Pictures Classics
| An autonomous company founded in January 1992 to make, acquire and distribute independent {i.e. 'art house'} films worldwide. |
Sony Pictures Classics entry at Wikipedia
Sony Pictures Television
| Successor company to Columbia's Screen Gems and the later Columbia Pictures TV & Columbia-TriStar TV, renamed in 2002. |
Sony Pictures Digital Productions
| Division of Sony Pictures Entertainment; founded as Columbia TriStar Interactive; renamed Sony Pictures Interactive Network (or SPiN); renamed Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment (or SPDE); lastly renamed Sony Pictures Digital Productions; based in Culver City, CA. Subdivisions include Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Mobile & Sony Pictures Digital Networks. |
Sony Digital's "Face of The Fan" website for actors [est 11/2010]
Sony Pictures Imageworks
| Founded in 1993 as a division of Sony Pictures Digital; announced opening a facility at Albuquerque Studios in New Mexico in 2007, but that changed to offices in Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico which opened in 2009. |
Sony Pictures Imageworks entry at Wikipedia
Sony Pictures Studios
| Created in 1990 for the purpose of managing the physical studio operations when Sony purchased the old M.G.M Lot 1 property from Warner/Lorimar. |
Sony Pictures Studios entry at Wikipedia
Columbia Pictures
| Founded in 1919 as C.B.C. Film Sales Corp.; renamed Columbia Pictures Corp. in 1924; though most film product was low-budget and-or low quality, an alliance with producer-director Frank Capra [1897-1991] brought increasing success, including several Academy Awards; contract stars included The Three Stooges [1934-57] and Rita Hayworth; after founder-mogul Harry Cohn died in 1958, the studio fell on hard times, and the Gower Street studios and other assets were sold off; production & distribution continued via joint venture agreements with Warner Bros.; Coca-Cola bought Columbia in 1982, adding Embassy-Tandem and other companies; also in 1982, Coca-Cola and H.B.O. and C.B.S. formed a company that was soon renamed TriStar; following the "Ishtar" disaster, nervous Coca-Cola spun off Columbia Pictures Entertainment (which included a buyout of its partners in TriStar); Sony purchased Columbia in 1989; the attempt to make a splash by hiring producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters failed miserably, costing them hundreds of millions of dollars; but deep-pockets Sony Corp. basically started over, restored & improved the MGM studio lot acquired from Warner-Lorimar, and renamed the overall company Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1991; Columbia is today very successful: recent films include the "Spiderman" franchise. |
the domain www.ColumbiaPictures.com is owned by Sony but is not in use
Columbia Pictures entry at Wikipedia
history of Columbia's Sunset Gower studio property {now Capital Studios}
 | "The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-Reel Hollywood Film Comedies, 1933-1958" [1986] by Ted Okuda & Edward Watz McFarland & Co. 9x6 pb [10/98] for $35.00 McFarland & Co. 9½x6½ hardcover [9/86] for $45.00 |
 | "The Columbia Story" [1989] by Clive Hirschhorn Hamlyn hardcover [12/2001] out of print/used Crown hardcover [11/89] out of print/used |
 | "The Columbia Checklist: The Feature Films, Serials, Cartoons & Short Subjects of Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1922-1988" [1991] by Len D. Martin McFarland & Co. 9x6 pb [7/2007] for $49.95 McFarland & Co. 9½x6½ hardcover [7/91] out of print/used |
 | "Columbia Pictures: Portrait of A Studio" [1991] by Bernard F. Dick Univ Press of KY 9½x6½ hardcover [10/91] for $24.95 |
"The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures" [1993]
by Bernard F. Dick 0813118417
http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=1043
 |
"Columbia Pictures: The Best Picture Collection - 11 Movies, 64 Academay Awards" [2008] 11 feature films on 14 disks: "It Happened One Night" [1934] directed by Frank Capra, starring Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert; "You Can't Take It with You" [1938] directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart & Jean Arthur; "All the King's Men" [1949] directed by Robert Rossen, starring Broderick Crawford; "From Here To Eternity" [1953] directed by Fred Zinnemann; "On The Waterfront" [1954] directed by Elia Kazan, script by Budd Schulberg, starring Marlon Brando; 2-disk "The Bridge On The River Kwai" [1957] directed by David Lean; 2-disk "Lawrence of Arabia" [1962] directed by David Lean, starring Peter O'Toole; "A Man For All Seasons" [1966] directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw & Orson Welles; "Oliver!" musical [1968]; "Kramer vs. Kramer" [1979] starring Dustin Hoffman & Meryl Streep; and 2-disk "Gandhi" [1982] directed by Richard Attenborough, starring Ben Kingsley; extras include radio shows, trailers, commentary, "Making of ..." featurettes Sony widescreen color DVD set [11/2008] 14 disks for $65.99 |
Screen Gems
| Founded in 1940 when Columbia Pictures took over an animation studio, which shut down in 1946; the division was revived in 1948 to produce television shows and to distribute them along with Columbia's feature film library to TV stations; the name was changed to Columbia Pictures Television in 1974; combined with Embassy Communications & TriStar Television before Columbia was purchased by Sony in 1989; became Columbia TriStar Television in 1994, which became Sony Pictures Television in 2002; the Screen Gems name was salvaged in 1999 for a new specialty division, to produce smaller-budget genre films. |
the domain www.ScreenGems.com redirects to the main Sony Pictures website
Screen Gems entry at Wikipedia
TriStar Pictures
| Founded in 1982 as a joint-venture movie production company by Coca-Cola (then-owner of Columbia Pictures) and H.B.O. and C.B.S.; soon renamed TriStar Pictures; following the "Ishtar" disaster, nervous Coca-Cola spun off Columbia Pictures Entertainment, which included a buyout of its partners in TriStar; Sony purchased Columbia along with the TriStar division in 1989. |
there is no separate, official TriStar Pictures website
TriStar Pictures entry at Wikipedia
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
|
Founded in 1924 by theater tycoon Marcus Loew by merging Metro Pictures [est. 1916], Goldwyn Pictures [est. 1917], and Mayer Pictures [est. 1918], with Louis B. Mayer as studio head; included in the merger were Goldwyn's studio properties in Culver City, California and Goldwyn's lion mascot; M.G.M. was the top studio for a quarter century, with Harry Rapf, 'boy wonder' Irving Thalberg, Mayer, David O. Selznick & Dore Schary as heads of production; as a result of the infamous 'consent decree', Loew's Corp. gave up control of M.G.M. in 1954; Seagram's bought M.G.M. in 1967, then sold it to multi-millionaire Kirk Kerkorian in 1969; the studio land (except for the main lot) was sold to developers and the props auctioned off with great fanfare; purchased failing United Artists in 1981; in a roundelay of high finance in 1985, TV mogul Ted Turner bought M.G.M./U.A., sold the studio lot to Lorimar TV [1968-93], kept the film library, and sold the rest back to Kerkorian - the amazing thing is that each party made money on the deals!; Italian promoter Giancarlo Parretti took over M.G.M./U.A. in a leveraged buyout in 1990, which soon collapsed in criminal lawsuits; Kerkorian bought the studio back in 1991; Sony & Comcast and a group of venture capitalists bought the studio in April 2005 (Providence Equity Partners owns 29%, Texas Pacific Group Capital owns 21%, Sony owns 20%, Comcast owns 20%, D.L.J. Merchant Banking Partners owns 7% & Quadrangle Group owns 3%); the company no longer has studio facilities, and corporate headquarters are now in a Century City, California office tower (ironically, the former backlot of rival Fox).
By 2009, M.G.M was deeply in debt (almost $4 billion) and the owners put it up for auction; the top bid from Time Warner of $1.5 billion was rejected. In late 2010, M.G.M. hired Spyglass Entertainment execs Gary Barber & Roger Birnbaum as co-chairs & co-CEOs, while exploring other takeover offers.. |
Magic Lantern's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Page
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer official website
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer entry at Wikipedia
von Stroheim's "Greed" [M.G.M. 1924] Movie Page
M.G.M.'s 'The Thin Man' Movies Series [1934-47] Page
"Gone With The Wind" [M.G.M. 1939] Movie Page
"The Wizard of Oz" [M.G.M. 1939] Movie Page
Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" [M.G.M. 1968] Movie Page
 | "The M.G.M. Story: The Complete History of 57 Roaring Years - All 1,738 Films of M.G.M., Described and Illustrated In Color and Black & White" [1977] by John Douglas Eames Crown pb [12/88] out of print/used Hamlyn pb [11/93] out of print/used Random House hardcover [8/85] out of print/many used |
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"M.G.M.: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot" [2011] by Steven Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester & Michael Troyan, Foreword by Debbie Reynolds Santa Monica Press 11¼x8½ hardcover [2/2011] for $23.07 official book page |
United Artists Pictures
| Founded in 1919 by screen stars Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin & Douglas Fairbanks, director D.W. Griffith [1875-1948] and lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo; the early years were a struggle, from the advent of sound and constant rotation of 'producing partners' and The Great Depression; by 1951, U.A. was barely active, so an offer by New York producers Arthur Krim & Robert Benjamin was accepted; their timing was apt, because the studios had stopped renewing talent contracts; deals were signed with Sam Spiegel, John Huston, Stanley Kramer, Otto Preminger & Hecht-Hill-Lancaster; the studio was making good money by 1955, when Pickford sold out at top dollar; U.A. went public in 1956; successes like the James Bond series, the Pink Panther series, and 'spaghetti' Westerns added value, and Krim & Benjamin sold to insurance company Transamerica in 1967; new deals were made with Woody Allen, Robert Altman [1925-2006], Sylvester Stallone, Saul Zaentz, Milo Forman & Brian De Palma; Transamerica was nervous with Hollywood economics, and fought the execs, who walked out in 1978 and formed Orion Pictures {see below}; the new management let "Heaven's Gate" set budget-overage records,and then bombed at the box office; Kerkorian's M.G.M. made an offer; producer Harry Saltzman sold U.A. his half-interest in Danjaq LLC (owner of the James Bond film franchise) in 1975; M.G.M. absorbed U.A. from 1981-85, moving everything to Culver City; U.A. was inactive while M.G.M. suffered the turmoil of the Turner sale & buyback and the Paretti fiasco, with ownership of M.G.M./U.A. back to Kerkorian in 1997; a consortum purchased M.G.M./- U.A. in April 2005; when actor Tom Cruise & producer Paula Wagner's 14-year deal with Paramount expired, they offered to revive U.A., and their management deal began in November 2006 (with a tiny ownership stake). |
Magic Lantern's M.G.M. Studios Page / United Artists Pictures Section
United Artists official website
United Artists entry at Wikipedia
"The African Queen" [U.A. 1951] Movie Page
U.A.'s Agent 007 James Bond Movies Page
U.A.'s 'Rocky' Movies Page
U.A.'s "Magnificent Seven" Movies {and "Seven Samurai"} Page
 | "The United Artists Story" [1988] by Ronald Bergen Random House Value hardcover [4/92] out of print/used Random House Value hardcover [5/88] out of print/used |
Walt Disney Pictures
| Founded in 1923 in East Hollywood, California by Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney and animator Ub Iwerks; released the sound cartoon "Steamboat Willie" starring Mickey Mouse, in 1928, which launched Mickey's popularity; companion characters soon followed: Pluto [1930], Goofy [1932], Donald Duck [1934]; by 1935, Mickey Mouse merchandise brought in more revenue than Mickey Mouse cartoons; studio moved to Burbank, California in 1940; founded Buena Vista Distribution and began the 'Disneyland' network TV program (starring Walt) in 1954; the Disneyland theme park opened in Anaheim, California in 1955; the company went public in 1957; Walt Disney died in December 1966; the Walt Disney World Resort opened in Orlando, Florida in 1971; EPCOT Center opened at Walt Disney World in 1982; Disney Channel launched in 1983; Touchstone Pictures launched in 1984; board of directors shakeup brought in Michael Eisner [chairman], Frank Wells [president/COO] & Jeffrey Katzenberg [CEO] to run the company; acquired independent film distributor Miramax Film Corp. in 1993; when Wells died in 1994, Katzenberg was denied promotion so he quit and co-founded DreamWorks SKG; top Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz hired as president in October 1995; acquired the A.B.C. television network from Capital Cities in 1996; Ovitz removed in November 1997 (with an outrageously excessive severance buyout); Robert Iger hired as president in 2000; bought Saban Entertainment in 2002; unhappy board members got rid of Eisner in 2004, replaced him with George J. Mitchell as chairman and Iger as CEO; purchased Pixar Animation Studios in 2006; corporate announced plans in 2007 to replace brands such as Buena Vista by converting various divisions to the Disney, A.B.C., E.S.P.N., Miramax, Pixar & Touchstone brands. The attempt to sell off Miramax Film Corp. and its 611-picture library dragged on, but finally was completed in December 2010, with Filmyard Holdings paying a total of $663 million. |
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American Broadcasting Corporation
| Formed in 1943 from NBC's Blue radio network; first TV broadcast 1948; purchased by Capitol Cities Communications in 1985; purchased by Disney in February 1996. |
Buena Vista Distribution
| Founded in 1953 to distribute Disney's films worldwide; as-of 2007, the Buena Vista brand & logo are scheduled to be retired. |
Miramax Film Corp.
| Founded in 1979 by brothers Harvey & Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York to distribute (and later, to produce or acquire) independent & foreign films for the U.S. market; the company was financially successful, and Disney paid $70 million for it in 1993; the Weinstein brothers left in September 2005, and soon formed a new independent company, The Weinstein Company. Disney's attempt to sell off Miramax Film Corp. and its 611-picture library dragged on, but was finally signed in July 2010, for a price of $650 million; the deal was completed in December 2010, with Filmyard Holdings paying a total of $663 million. |
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Pixar Animation Studios
| Begun in 1979 as the computer graphics animation division of George Lucas's LucasFilm in Northern California; when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs left that company in 1986, he paid $5 million to Lucas and invested another $5 million in the company, renamed Pixar; emphasis was at first on selling software & hardware, to the government and Disney and others, but the market was soon saturated, so Pixar began producing C.G.I. commercials for television; Pixar signed a deal with Disney in 1991 to produce five C.G.I. feature films, the first of which was the hit "Toy Story" [1995]; Pixar re-incorporated in December 1995, and went public in November 1996; renewal of the contract with Disney was prolonged by Pixar's demands for autonomy, and by the bullying management style of Disney's Michael Eisner (ousted in 2004); in 2006, Disney paid $7.4 billion (in stock) for Pixar, making Jobs the largest shareholder of Disney and a member of Disney's board; several Pixar execs were given powerful positions within Disney. |
Touchstone Pictures
| Founded in 1984, basically a brand (for relatively-mature product) rather than a studio. |
Warner Bros. Pictures
| Three brothers from Poland - Harry & Albert & Sam Warner - began exhibiting motion pictures in towns across Pennsylvania & Ohio in 1903; in 1904, they incorporated the Duquesne Amusement & Supply Co. in Pittsburgh; by 1918, they were producing silent films and had opened a studio in Hollywood, California; Sam & youngest brother Jack produced while Harry & Albert ran the business side; formally incorporated as Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. in 1923; bought New York studio & distributor Vitagraph (on page 2) in 1925; bought the Vitaphone sound-on-disk process from Western Electric in 1925; bought the Stanley Co. theater chain in 1928, which included a stake in First National Pictures (on page 2); Warner merged with First National in 1930 and moved to the latter's studio lot in Burbank; Technicolor musicals thrived for a while, then gritty gangster films, then historical dramas, then Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies cartoons; Jack Warner helped organize the U.S. Army's First Motion Picture Unit during World War II; Jack (secretly) brought in bankers to buy out his brothers' interest, which poisoned family relations; the studio successfully moved into television production and launched the Warner Records division [1958]; the aging Jack sold the movie & record business in 1967 to Seven Arts, which sold in two years to the Jersey mob-connected Kinney National Co.; new studio head Ted Ashley signed major stars – Paul Newman & Barbra Streisand [First Artists], Robert Redford, John Wayne [Batjac], and Clint Eastwood [Malpaso] – and invested in non-movie businesses such as theme parks and video-gamer Atari; a studio management joint venture formed with Columbia Pictures in 1972 {'The Burbank Studios' or T.B.S.) was phased out circa 1987; the surprise merger with Time, Inc. in 1989 was then the biggest merger in history; in 1995, Warner and Tribune Broadcasting of Chicago launched the W.B. Network, aimed at teens; the 2000 takeover of conglomerate Time-Warner by internet monster A.O.L. was very bumpy; in 2006, Warner and C.B.S. agreed to shut down U.P.N. & The W.B. and jointly launch the C.W. cable network. Time-Warner announced in May 2009 that it was spinning off all A.O.L. assets, which was completed in December. |
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 | "You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" [2008] by Richard Schickel & George Perry Running Press 11½x10 bargain price hardcover [9/2008] for $31.50 Running Press 11½x10 hardcover [9/2008] for $36.50 this is companion book to the 5-part TV documentary project narrated by Clint Eastwood Warner Home Video color DVD [8/2009] 2 disks for $26.99 |
 | "The Warner Bros. Story: The Complete History of The Great Hollywood Studio" [1987] by Clive Hirschhorn Random House Value 12½x9¼ hardcover [1/87] out of print/many used |
G.E.-Comcast & Universal & N.B.C. — Viacom & Paramount & DreamWorks
News Corp. & 20th Century-Fox — Sony Pictures & Columbia
M.G.M. & United Artists — Disney & A.B.C. & Pixar — Warner Bros.
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