From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Major film studio

Major film studio

A major film studio is a movie production output and frequent reliance on outside dis-
and distribution company that releases a sub- tributors. In 2006, DreamWorks was ac-
stantial number of films annually and consist- quired by Viacom, Paramount’s corporate
ently commands a significant share of box-of- parent. In autumn 2008, DreamWorks once
fice revenues in a given market. In the North again became an independent production
American, Western, and global markets, the company; its films will be distributed by
major film studios, often simply known as the Disney.
majors, are commonly regarded as the six di- The major studios are today primarily
versified media conglomerates whose various backers and distributors of films whose actu-
movie production and distribution subsidiar- al production is largely handled by independ-
ies command approximately 90 percent of the ent companies—either long-running entities
U.S. and Canadian box office. The term may or ones created for and dedicated to the mak-
also be applied more specifically to the ing of a specific film. The specialty divisions
primary movie business subsidiary of each re- often simply acquire distribution rights to
spective conglomerate. The "Big Six" majors, pictures with which the studio has had no
whose movie operations are based in or prior involvement. While the majors do a
around Hollywood, are all centered in film modicum of true production, their activities
studios active during Hollywood’s Golden are focused more in the areas of develop-
Age of the 1930s and 1940s. In three ment, financing, marketing, and
cases—20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and merchandising.
Paramount—the studios were one of the "Big
Five" majors during that era as well. In two
cases—Columbia and Universal—the studios
Today’s Big Six
were also considered majors, but in the next Conglomerate Parent Major Studio O
tier down, part of the "Little Three." In the Division Subsidiary s
sixth case, Walt Disney Studios was an inde- S
pendent production company during the
Golden Age; it was an important Hollywood
entity, but not a major.
Time Warner Warner Bros. Warner Bros. N
Most of today’s Big Six also include
Entertainment Pictures C
formerly independent companies that have
Group, HBO F
been acquired and brought in under the cor-
R
porate umbrella—for instance, Disney’s
ta
Miramax Films. The majors have also estab-
T
lished a variety of specialty divisions to con-
ta
centrate on arthouse pictures (e.g., Fox
W
Searchlight) or genre films (e.g., Sony’s
A
Screen Gems). The six major movie studios
are contrasted with smaller movie production Viacom Paramount Paramount Pictures N
and/or distribution companies, which are Motion Pic- M
known as independents or "indies." The lead- tures Group F
ing independent producer/distribut- Sony Sony Pictures Columbia Pictures S
ors—Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment, and A
former major studio MGM—are sometimes
referred to as "mini-majors," along with
fledgling studio Overture Films and the fad-
ing Weinstein Company. From 1998 through
2005, DreamWorks SKG commanded a large
enough market share to arguably qualify it as
a seventh major, despite its relatively small

1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Major film studio

News Fox Filmed 20th Century Fox MGM, 20th after decadesFox
Century as a major studio, 12.
Corporation Entertainment continues to distribute motion
Fox Animation, Searchlight pictures and
television
Foxcontent
Faith, as a minor, privately held
media Newcompany.
RegencyIn April 2005, it was pur-
chased (20%
from equity)
Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Cor-
poration by a consortium including Sony,
General Elec- NBC Universal Studios Universal An- Focus 12.
cable company Comcast, Providence Equity
tric / Vivendi Universal imation Features
Partners, and three other private investment
SA Studios
firms. While Sony continues to hold a minor-
The Walt Dis- Walt Disney Walt Disney Pic- Pixar
ity equity Anima-
stake Miramax MGMHollywood
in the company, has a 10.
ney Company Motion Pic- tures/Touchstone tion Studios, Films
deal with 20th Century Fox for the distribu-Pictures
tures Group Pictures (unified
tion of Walt
home Disney
video and overseas theatrical
business with sep-
product.Animation
[4] MGM Stu-is also the majority share-
arate brands) holder dios,of the latest incarnation of United
Artists,Disneynature
whose other lead owners are Tom
Note 1: Warner Bros. (Prev. totals: Cruise and Paula Wagner. Via its original
2007—19.7%; 2006—14.9%; 2005—21.7%; 1981 merger with UA, MGM controls the
2004—17.7%) rights to the James Bond franchise. Columbia
Note 2: Paramount (Prev. totals: codistributed the first two Bond films star-
2007—15.5%; 2006—11.0%; 2005—9.8%; ring Daniel Craig after the 2005 purchase,
2004—6.8%) but MGM will resume sole distribution con-
Note 3: Sony/Columbia (Prev. totals: trol with the next film in the series.[5]
2007—12.9%; 2006—19.3%; 2005—11.1%; Overture Films, whose primary equity
2004—16.8%) holder is Liberty Media, was founded in the
Note 4: 20th Century Fox: 10.5%; Fox fall of 2006. It released its first movie in
Searchlight 2.2% (Prev. totals: 2007—11.9%; January 2008;[6] by year’s end, it was the
2006—17.0%; 2005—16.5%; 2004—11.7%) fourth most successful independent studio.
Note 5: Universal: 11.0%; Focus Features: The Weinstein Company was founded in
1.4% (Prev. totals: 2007—12.2%; late 2005 by brothers Harvey and Bob Wein-
2006—10.9%; 2005—13.2%; 2004—10.8%) stein after their departure from Miramax,
Note 6: Disney (Prev. totals: 2007—15.3%; which they had founded in 1979. In 1993,
2006—16.7%; 2005—14.6%; 2004—16.5%) they sold control of Miramax to the Walt Dis-
ney Company, continuing to run the studio in

The "mini-majors" quasi-independent fashion under the Disney

Lions Gate Entertainment, which moved in
2006 from Vancouver, British Columbia, to
Santa Monica, California, was the most suc-
cessful North American movie studio based
outside of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
before its relocation. Now known as
Lionsgate, it traces its roots back to the pro-
duction company Lion’s Gate Films, founded
by director Robert Altman in the 1970s. The
studio controls the highly profitable Saw
franchise.
Summit Entertainment, founded as an in-
dependent production and overseas sales
company in 1996, was reconstituted as a full-
fledged studio ten years later.[2] It saw its
first major success with Twilight in autumn
2008. Though it is based in Universal City
and has a deal with Universal Studios for the
distribution of home entertainment media,[3]
Summit’s ownership and theatrical distribu-
tion operation are fully independent.
umbrella. When the Weinsteins left Disney,
they retained the right to the Dimension
Films brand, which is used by The Weinstein
Company (as it was by Miramax) for genre
films. The studio has not had a hit since
1408, released in June 2007.[7] It experi-
enced several high-level executive defections
in 2008, and announced major layoffs in
November.[8]
DreamWorks SKG was founded in 1994 by
Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and
David Geffen. Once again independent after
two-and-half years under the Viacom/Para-
mount corporate umbrella, it is now backed
by India’s Reliance ADA Group.[9]
DreamWorks will not be a full-service stu-
dio—it will produce and finance films, but as
it did for most its first era as an independent,
it will arrange distribution through the ma-
jors. In February 2009, after dropping out of
a deal with Universal, DreamWorks struck
such a deal with Disney, though Paramount

2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
will continue to release the DreamWorks pic-
tures developed there through the end of
2009.[10] Katzenberg, who is completely di-
vested from the new DreamWorks, now runs
DreamWorks Animation as a totally separate
business. The company maintains a close-knit
distribution deal with Paramount that runs
through 2012.[11]
In 2008, Lionsgate led the mini-majors
with $436.8 million in total box office
grosses, giving it a 4.5% market share. Three
other companies had over $100 million in box
office grosses: Summit (2.4% market share),
MGM/UA (1.7% market share), and Overture
(1.1% market share).[12] In 2007, Lionsgate
and MGM/UA were virtually tied for the posi-
tion of most successful mini-major in terms of
market share, each with 3.8%. No other inde-
pendent studio had even a 1% market
share.[13] In 2006, Lionsgate had a 3.6% mar-
ket share, The Weinstein Company had a
2.5% market share, and MGM/UA had a 1.8%
market share.[14] In 2005, the still independ-
ent DreamWorks SKG had 5.7% and
Lionsgate had 3.2%. Of MGM/UA’s four
significant money-earners during 2005, it re-
leased three before its acquisition by the
Sony-led consortium; MGM/UA’s total market
share for the year was 2.1%. The Weinstein
Company, in its first three months of opera-
tion, gained 0.5% of the year’s total market
share.[15] In 2004, DreamWorks SKG had
10.0% (more than the Paramount Motion Pic-
tures Group), Newmarket had 4.3% (due al-
most entirely to The Passion of the Christ),
Lionsgate had 3.2%, and MGM/UA had
2.1%.[16]
History
The majors before the Golden
Age
In 1909, Thomas Edison, who had been fight-
ing in the courts for years for control of fun-
damental motion picture patents, won a ma-
jor decision. This led to the creation of the
Motion Picture Patents Company, widely
known as the Trust. Comprising the nine
largest U.S. film companies, it was "designed
to eliminate not only independent film produ-
cers but also the country’s 10,000 independ-
ent [distribution] exchanges and exhibit-
ors."[17] Though its many members did not
consolidate their filmmaking operations, the
3
Major film studio
New York–based Trust was arguably the first
major North American movie conglomerate.
The independents’ fight against the Trust
was led by Carl Laemmle, whose Chicago-
based Laemmle Film Service, serving the
Midwest and Canada, was the largest distri-
bution exchange in North America.
Laemmle’s efforts were rewarded in 1912
when the U.S. government ruled that the
Trust was a "corrupt and unlawful associ-
ation" and must be dissolved. On June 8,
1912, Laemmle organized the merger of his
production division, IMP (Independent Mo-
tion Picture Company), with several other
filmmaking companies, creating the studio
that would soon be named Universal. By the
end of the year, Universal was making
movies at two Los Angeles facilities: the
former Nestor Film studio in Hollywood, and
another studio in Edendale. The first Holly-
wood major was in business.[18]
In 1916, a second powerful Hollywood stu-
dio was established when Adolph Zukor
merged his Famous Players movie production
house with the Jesse L. Lasky Company to
form Famous Players–Lasky. The combined
studio acquired Paramount Pictures as a dis-
tribution arm and eventually adopted its
name. Paramount quickly surpassed Univer-
sal as Hollywood’s dominant company. In
1916 as well, William Fox relocated his Fox
Film Corporation from the East Coast to Hol-
lywood and began expanding.[19] Between
1924, when Metro Pictures combined with
Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pro-
ductions to form MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-May-
er), and 1928, the year in which the U.S. film
industry converted en masse to sound film,
Hollywood had a Big Two: Paramount and
Loew’s Incorporated, owner of America’s
largest theater circuit and parent company to
MGM. Through 1927, the next three largest
studios were Fox, Universal, and First Na-
tional (founded in 1917). Propelled by the
great success of The Jazz Singer (1927), the
first important feature-length "talkie," small
Warner Bros. (founded in 1919) quickly
entered the big leagues and acquired First
National in 1928. Fox, in the forefront of
sound film along with Warners, was also ac-
quiring a sizable circuit of movie theaters to
exhibit its product.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The majors during the Golden
Age
For more details on this topic, see Studio
system.
Between late 1928, when RCA’s David
Sarnoff engineered the creation of the RKO
(Radio-Keith-Orpheum) studio, and the end of
1949, when Paramount divested its theater
chain—roughly the period considered Holly-
wood’s Golden Age—there were eight Holly-
wood studios commonly regarded as the "ma-
jors." Of these eight, the so-called Big Five
were integrated conglomerates, combining
ownership of a production studio, distribution
division, and substantial theater chain, and
contracting with performers and filmmaking
personnel: Loew’s/MGM, Paramount, Fox
(which became 20th Century-Fox after a
1935 merger), Warner Bros., and RKO. The
remaining majors were sometimes referred
to as the Little Three or the "major-minors."
Two—Universal and Columbia (founded in
1919)—were organized similarly to the Big
Five, except for the fact that they never
owned more than small theater circuits (a
consistently reliable source of profits). The
third of the lesser majors, United Artists
(founded in 1919), owned a few theaters and
had access to production facilities owned by
its principals, but it functioned primarily as a
backer-distributor, loaning money to inde-
pendent producers and releasing their films.
During the 1930s, the eight majors averaged
a total of 358 feature film releases a year; in
the 1940s, the four largest companies shifted
more of their resources toward high-budget
productions and away from B movies, bring-
ing the yearly average down to 288 for the
decade.[20]
Among the significant characteristics of
the Golden Age was the stability of the Holly-
wood majors, their hierarchy, and their near-
complete domination of the box office. At the
midpoint of the Golden Age, 1939, the Big
Five had market shares ranging from 22%
(MGM) to 9% (RKO); each of the Little Three
had around a 7% share. In sum, the eight ma-
jors controlled 95% of the market and all the
smaller companies combined had a total of
5%. Ten years later, the picture was largely
the same: the Big Five had market shares
ranging from 22% (MGM) to 9% (RKO); the
Little Three had shares ranging from 8%
(Columbia) to 4% (United Artists). In sum,
the eight majors controlled 96% of the
4
Major film studio
market and all the smaller companies com-
bined had a total of 4%.[21]
The majors after the Golden Age
1950s–1960s
The end of the Golden Age had been signaled
by the majors’ loss of a federal antitrust case
that led to the divestiture of the Big Five’s
theater chains. Though this had virtually no
immediate effect on the eight majors’ box-of-
fice domination, it somewhat leveled the
playing field between the Big Five and the
Little Three. In November 1951, Decca Re-
cords purchased 28% of Universal; early the
following year, the studio became the first of
the classic Hollywood majors to be taken
over by an outside corporation, as Decca ac-
quired majority ownership.[22] The 1950s
saw two substantial shifts in the hierarchy of
the majors: RKO, perennially the weakest of
the Big Five, declined rapidly under the mis-
management of Howard Hughes, who had
purchased a controlling interest in the studio
in 1948. By the time Hughes sold it to the
General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955,
the studio was a major by outdated reputa-
tion alone. In 1957, virtually all RKO movie
operations ceased and the studio was dis-
solved in 1959. (Revived on a small scale in
1981, it was eventually spun off and now op-
erates as a minor independent company.) In
contrast, there was United Artists, which had
long operated under the financing-distribu-
tion model the other majors were now pro-
gressively shifting toward. Under Arthur
Krim and Robert Benjamin, who began man-
aging the company in 1951, UA became con-
sistently profitable. By 1956—when it re-
leased one of the biggest blockbusters of the
decade, Around the World in 80 Days—it
commanded a 10% market share. By the
middle of the next decade, it had reached
16% and was the second-most profitable stu-
dio in Hollywood. Despite RKO’s collapse, the
majors still averaged a total yearly release
slate of 253 feature films during the dec-
ade.[20]
The 1960s were marked by a spate of cor-
porate takeovers. MCA, under Lew Wasser-
man, acquired Universal in 1962;
Gulf+Western took over Paramount in 1966;
and the Transamerica Corporation purchased
United Artists in 1967. Warner Bros.
underwent large-scale reorganization twice
in two years: a 1967 merger with the Seven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arts company preceded a 1969 purchase by
Kinney National, under Stephen J. Ross.
MGM, in the process of a slow decline,
changed ownership twice in the same span as
well, winding up in the hands of financier
Kirk Kerkorian. The majors almost entirely
abandoned low-budget production during this
era, bringing the annual average of features
released down to 160.[20] The decade also
saw an old name in the industry secure a pos-
ition as a leading player. In 1923, Walt Dis-
ney had founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon
Studio with his brother Roy and animator Ub
Iwerks. Over the following three decades Dis-
ney became a powerful independent focusing
on animation and, from the late 1940s, an in-
creasing number of live-action movies. In
1954, the company—now Walt Disney Pro-
ductions—established Buena Vista Film Dis-
tribution to handle its own product, which
had been distributed for years by various ma-
jors, primarily United Artists and then RKO.
(Disney’s 1937 Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs, released by RKO, was the second
biggest hit of the 1930s.) In its first year,
Buena Vista had a major success with 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea, the third biggest
movie of 1954. In 1964, Buena Vista had its
first blockbuster, Mary Poppins, Hollywood’s
biggest hit in half a decade. The company
achieved a 9% market share that year, more
than Fox and Warner Bros. Though over the
next two decades, Disney/Buena Vista’s share
of the box-office would again hit similar
marks, its relatively small output and exclus-
ive focus on family movies meant that it was
not generally considered a major despite its
success.
1970s–1980s
The early 1970s were difficult years for all
the majors. Movie attendance, which had
been declining steadily since the Golden Age,
hit an all-time low in 1971. In 1973, MGM
president James T. Aubrey Jr. drastically
downsized the studio, slashing its production
schedule and eliminating its distribution arm
(UA would distribute the studio’s films for the
remainder of the decade). From fifteen re-
leases in 1973, the next year MGM was down
to five; its average for the rest of the 1970s
would be even lower. The cutbacks, in the
words of historian Joel Finler, "reduced the
once proud studio to a Hollywood also-
ran."[23] Like RKO in its last days under
Hughes, MGM remained a major in terms of
5
Major film studio
brand reputation, but little more. MGM,
however, was not the only studio to trim its
release line. By the mid-1970s, the industry
had rebounded and a significant philosophic-
al shift was in progress. As the majors fo-
cused increasingly on the development of the
next hoped-for blockbuster and began
routinely opening each new movie in many
hundreds of theaters (an approach called
"saturation booking"), their collective yearly
release average fell to 81 films during
1975–84.[20] The classic set of majors was
shaken further in late 1980, when the dis-
astrously expensive flop of Heaven’s Gate ef-
fectively ruined United Artists. The studio
was sold the following year to Kerkorian, who
merged it with MGM. After a brief resur-
gence, the combined studio again declined.
From the mid-1980s on, MGM/UA has been
at best a "mini-major," to use the present-day
term.
Meanwhile, a new member was finally ad-
mitted to the club of major studios and two
significant contenders emerged. With the es-
tablishment of its Touchstone Pictures brand
and increasing attention to the adult market
in the mid-1980s, Disney/Buena Vista se-
cured acknowledgment as a full-fledged ma-
jor. The two contenders were both newly
formed companies. In 1978, Krim, Benjamin,
and three other studio executives departed
UA to found Orion Pictures as a joint venture
with Warner Bros. It was announced optim-
istically as the "first major new film company
in 50 years."[24] Tri-Star Pictures was created
in 1982 as a joint venture of Columbia Pic-
tures (then owned by Coca-Cola), HBO (then
owned by Time Inc.), and CBS. In 1985, Ru-
pert Murdoch’s News Corporation acquired
20th Century-Fox, the last of the five relat-
ively healthy Golden Age majors to remain in-
dependent throughout the entire Golden Age
and after.
In 1986, the combined share of the six
classic majors—at that point Paramount,
Warner Bros., Columbia, Universal, Fox, and
MGM/UA—fell to 64%, the lowest since the
beginning of the Golden Age. Disney was in
third place, behind only Paramount and
Warners. Even including it as a seventh ma-
jor and adding its 10% share, the majors’
control of the North American market was at
a historic ebb. Orion, now completely inde-
pendent of Warner Bros., and Tri-Star were
well positioned as mini-majors, each with
North American market shares of around 6%.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Smaller independents garnered 13%—more
than any studio aside from Paramount. In
1964, by comparison, all of the companies
beside the then seven majors and Disney had
combined for a grand total of 1%. As Finler
wrote in his study The Hollywood Story
(1988), "It will be interesting to see whether
the old-established studios will be able to
bounce back in the future, as they have done
so many times before, or whether the newest
developments really do reflect a fundamental
change in the US movie industry for the first
times since the 20s."[21]
1990s–present
With the exception of MGM/UA—whose posi-
tion was effectively filled by Disney—the old-
established studios did bounce back. The pur-
chase of Fox by Murdoch’s News Corp. pres-
aged a new round of corporate acquisitions.
Between 1989 and 1994, Paramount,
Warners, Columbia, and Universal all
changed ownership in a series of conglomer-
ate purchases and mergers that brought
them new financial and marketing muscle. By
the early 1990s, both Tri-Star and Orion were
essentially out of business: the former consol-
idated into Columbia, the latter bankrupt and
sold to MGM. The most important contenders
to emerge during the 1990s, New Line, the
Weinsteins’ Miramax, and DreamWorks SKG,
were likewise sooner or later brought into
the majors’ fold, though DreamWorks is now
independent again. The very successful anim-
ation production house Pixar, whose films
were distributed by Buena Vista, was ac-
quired by Disney in 2006.
The development of in-house pseudo-indie
subsidiaries by the conglomerates—sparked
by the 1992 establishment of Sony Pictures
Classics and the success of Pulp Fiction
(1994), Miramax’s first project under Disney
ownership—significantly undermined the pos-
ition of the true independents. The majors’
release schedule rebounded: the six primary
studio subsidiaries alone put out a total of
124 films during 2006; the three largest sec-
ondary subsidiaries (New Line, Fox Search-
light, Focus Features) accounted for another
30. Box-office domination was fully restored:
in 2006, the six major movie conglomerates
combined for 89.8% of the North American
market; Lionsgate and Weinstein were al-
most exactly half as successful as their 1986
mini-major counterparts, sharing 6.1%; MGM
came in at 1.8%; and all of the remaining
6
Major film studio
independent companies split a pool amount-
ing to 2.3%.[25] In 2008, New Line Cinema
lost its independent status within Time
Warner and became a subsidiary of Warner
Bros. Time Warner also announced that it
would be shutting down its two specialty
units, Warner Independent and Picture-
house.[26] In 2008 as well, Paramount Vant-
age’s production, marketing, and distribution
departments were folded into the parent stu-
dio.[27]
Organizational lineage
The eight Golden Age majors
The eight major film studios of the Golden
Age have gone through the following signific-
ant ownership changes ("independent" mean-
ing customarily identified as the primary
commercial entity in its corporate structure;
"purchased" meaning acquired anything from
majority to total ownership):
Columbia Pictures
• independent as CBC Film Sales,
1919–1924 (founded by Harry Cohn, Joe
Brandt, and Jack Cohn)
• independent, 1924–1982 (company
changes name; goes public in 1926)
• Coca-Cola, 1982–1987 (purchased by
Coca-Cola; Tri-Star Pictures, a joint
venture with HBO and CBS initiated in
1982—CBS drops out in 1984)
• independent as Columbia/Tri-Star (or
Columbia Pictures Entertainment),
1987–1989 (divested by Coca-Cola; also in
1987, HBO drops out of Tri-Star, which
merges with Columbia)
• Sony, 1989–present (purchased by Sony)
20th Century-Fox
• Independent as Fox, 1915–1935 (founded
by William Fox; Fox forced to sell off
controlling interest in now-public company
in 1930)
• Independent, 1935–1985 (merges with
Twentieth Century Pictures; fully
purchased by Marc Rich and Marvin Davis
in 1981; Rich’s interest purchased by
Davis in 1984; half of Davis’s interest
purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News
Corporation in March 1985)
• News Corporation, 1985–present
(purchases the remainder of Davis’s
shares in September)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Warner Bros.
• Independent as Warner Brothers West
Coast Studio, 1919–1923 (founded by Jack
L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner,
and Sam Warner)
• Independent, 1923–1929 (company
changes name and goes public, brothers
maintain controlling interest; Sam Warner
dies in 1927)
• Independent as Warner Bros.–First
National, 1929–1967 (acquires First
National Pictures; syndicate led by Serge
Semenenko of First National Bank of
Boston and Charles Allen Jr. purchases
controlling interest from Harry and Albert
Warner in 1956)
• Warner Bros.–Seven Arts, 1967–1969
(purchased by and merged with Seven
Arts Productions)
• Kinney National Company, 1969–1975
(Kinney purchases Warner Bros.–Seven
Arts)
• Warner Communications, 1975–1989
(Kinney changes name)
• Time Warner, 1989–present (Warner
merges with Time Inc.; from 2000 to 2003,
the parent company was known as AOL
Time Warner, following merger with AOL)
Paramount Pictures
• Independent as Famous Players–Lasky,
1916–1921 (founded as public company
via merger of Adolph Zukor’s Famous
Players and Jesse L. Lasky, Samuel
Goldfish (later Goldwyn), Dustin Farnum,
and Cecil B. DeMille’s Jesse L. Lasky
Feature Play Company, followed by
acquisition of Paramount Pictures
distribution house)
• Independent, 1922–1966 (company adopts
distribution division’s name)
• Gulf and Western Industries, 1966–1989
(purchased by Gulf+Western)
• Paramount Communications, 1989–1994
(Gulf+Western changes name after selling
nonentertainment assets)
• Viacom, 1994–2005 (Viacom purchases
Paramount)
• Viacom, 2006–present (Viacom splits into
two companies: "new" Viacom—with
Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, and other
cable channels—and CBS
Corporation—which includes CBS
Paramount Television; both companies are
controlled by National Amusements)
7
Major film studio
Universal Pictures
• independent, 1912–1946 (founded as
public company via merger of Carl
Laemmle’s Independent Motion Picture
Co., Pat Powers’s Powers Picture Co.,
Adam Kessel and Charles Baumann’s
Bison Life Motion Pictures, Mark
Dintenfass’s Champion Film Co., William
Swanson’s Rex Picture Co., and the Nestor
Film Co.)
• independent as Universal-International,
1946–1952 (merges with International
Pictures)
• Decca, 1952–1962 (purchased by Decca)
• MCA, 1962–1990 (MCA purchases Decca)
• Matsushita Electric, 1990–1995
(Matsushita purchases MCA)
• Seagram, 1995–2000 (purchased by
Seagram from Matsushita)
• Vivendi, 2000–2004 (Vivendi purchases
Seagram)
• General Electric, 2004–present
(purchased by GE from Vivendi and
merged with NBC to form NBC Universal)
Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer
• Loew’s Incorporated, 1924–1959 (founded
via merger of Loew’s-owned Metro
Pictures with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis
B. Mayer Productions; controlling interest
in Loew’s purchased by William Fox in
1929; Fox forced to sell off interest in
1930; operational control ceded by Loew’s
to studio management in 1954)
• independent, 1959–1981 (fully divested by
Loew’s; purchased by Edgar Bronfman Sr.
in 1967; purchased by Kirk Kerkorian in
1969)
• independent as MGM/UA, 1981–1992
(United Artists purchased by Kerkorian
and merged into MGM; purchased by Ted
Turner in 1986; repurchased by Kerkorian
seventy-four days later; purchased by
Giancarlo Parretti in 1990)
• Crédit Lyonnais, 1992–1997 (foreclosed
upon by bank after Parretti defaulted)
• Tracinda Corporation, 1997–2005
(repurchased by Kerkorian)
• Sony/Comcast/4 private equity firms,
2005–present (purchased by Sony,
Comcast, and private investment
firms—Providence Equity Partners, in fact,
currently owns the greatest number of
shares—and privately held as a minor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Major film studio

media company independent of Sony/ Communications; no films produced or

Columbia) distributed from 1993 through 1997)

United Artists (merged into MGM) Other significant, formerly inde-

• independent, 1919–1967 (founded by pendent entities
Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W.
• Artisan Entertainment – Purchased in
Griffith, and Mary Pickford; operational
2003 by Lions Gate Entertainment
control by Arthur Krim and Robert
• Castle Rock Entertainment – Purchased in
Benjamin from 1951; fully purchased by
1994 by Turner Broadcasting System; TBS
Krim and Benjamin in 1956)
in 1996 merged with Time Warner
• Transamerica, 1967–1981 (purchased by
• DreamWorks SKG – Purchased in 2006 by
Transamerica)
Viacom (parent company of Paramount);
• MGM/UA, 1981–1992 (purchased by Kirk
became independent again in 2008
Kerkorian from Transamerica and merged
• The Samuel Goldwyn Company –
into MGM; see above for further detail)
Purchased in 1996 by John
RKO Radio Pictures (defunct Kluge/Metromedia International;
1960–80, dormant 1993–97) purchased in 1997 by MGM
• Miramax Films – Purchased in 1993 by the
• RCA/investment consortium, 1928–1935
Walt Disney Company
(founded as public company via merger of
• New Line Cinema – Purchased in 1994 by
Film Booking Offices of America studio
Turner Broadcasting System; TBS in 1996
and Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain;
merged with Time Warner; merged into
majority ownership by RCA from ca. 1930)
Warner in 2008 as an in-name-only film
• independent, 1935–1955 (half of RCA’s
distributor
interest purchased by Floyd Odlum,
• October Films – Purchased in 1997 by
control split between RCA, Odlum, and
Universal; purchased in 1999 by Barry
Rockefeller brothers; controlling interest
Diller and merged with Gramercy Pictures
purchased by Odlum in 1942; controlling
into USA Films; USA in 2001 acquired by
interest purchased by Howard Hughes in
Vivendi (then parent company of
1948; Hughes interest purchased by
Universal) and merged with Good
Stolkin-Koolish-Ryan-Burke-Corwin
Machine and Universal Focus into Focus
syndicate in 1952; interest repurchased by
Features
Hughes in 1953; fully purchased by
• Orion Pictures – Purchased in 1988 by
Hughes in 1954)
Kluge/Metromedia; purchased in 1997 by
• General Tire and Rubber, 1955–1984
MGM
(purchased by General Tire and
• Pixar – Purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs;
Rubber—coupled with General Tire’s
purchased in 2006 by the Walt Disney
broadcasting operation as RKO Teleradio
Company
Pictures; production and distribution
• Tri-Star Pictures – Consolidated in 1987
halted in 1957; movie business dissolved
into Columbia (one of the partners in the
in 1959 and RKO Teleradio renamed RKO
joint venture that created it)
General; RKO General establishes RKO
• Alliance Entertainment Corporation
Pictures as production subsidiary in 1981)
Canadian film company; mostly
• GenCorp, 1984–1987 (reorganization
distributor; merges with Atlantis
creates holding company with RKO
Communications in 1998 to become
General and General Tire as primary
Alliance Atlantis; joint purchase between
subsidiaries)
CanWest and GS Capital Partners in 2007
• Wesray Capital Corporation, 1987–1989
(spun off from RKO General, purchased by
Wesray—controlled by William E. Simon See also
and Ray Chambers—and merged with
• Big Four – the four major music
amusement park operations to form RKO/
corporations: Universal Music Group,
Six Flags Entertainment)
Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music
• independent, 1989–present (split off from
Group, and EMI; formerly the Big Six, but
Six Flags, purchased by Dina Merrill and
Ted Hartley, and merged with Pavilion

8
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Universal acquired PolyGram in 1998, and
Sony and BMG merged in 2004
Notes
[1] Studio Market Share (2008) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. For previous years’
data in section notes, see
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/
?view=company&view2=yearly&yr=2007&p=.htm [10] Graser, Marc, and Tatiana Siegel
Studio Market Share (2007)], Studio
Market Share (2006), Studio Market
Share (2005), and Studio Market Share
(2004). Retrieved March 3, 2009.
[2] Barnes, Brooks (2008-11-19). "For
Studio, Vampire Movie Is a Cinderella
Story". New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/
business/media/20summit.html.
Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
[3] "Summit Entertainment Announces
Distribution Agreement with Universal
Studios". Summit Entertainment.
2007-05-16. http://www.summit-ent.com/
news.php?news_id=51. Retrieved on
2008-12-19.
[4] Halbfinger, David M. (2008-06-08).
"MGM: A Lion or a Lamb?". New York
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/
08/business/media/08mgm.html.
Retrieved on 2008-09-29.
[5] Barnes, Brooks, and Michael Cieply
(2008-11-16). "A Studio, a Star, a Fateful
Bet". New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/
business/media/
17cruise.html?scp=2&sq=%22harry%20sloan%22%20mgm&st=cse.
Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
[6] Halbfinger, David M. (2008-01-10). "An
Upstart in Films With Many Fast Moves".
New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/
movies/10over.html. Retrieved on
2008-09-29.
[7] Teodorczuk, Tom (2008-07-25).
"Weinsteins’ Hollywood Star Begins to
Fade". Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/
newsbysector/
mediatechnologyandtelecoms/2793494/
Weinsteins’-Hollywood-star-begins-to-
fade.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
[8] Goldstein, Gregg (2008-11-21).
"Weinstein Co. Lets Go of 24". Hollywood
Reporter.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/
9
Major film studio
content_display/news/
e3i8e47fc3e1fcb41bfa66529852d374e2a.
Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
[9] Thompson, Anne, and Tatiana Siegel
(2008-09-19). "DreamWorks, Reliance
Close Deal". Variety.
http://www.variety.com/
VR1117992505.html. Retrieved on
2008-12-23.
(2009-02-09). "Disney Signs Deal with
DreamWorks". Variety.
http://www.variety.com/article/
VR1117999836.html?categoryid=13&cs=1.
Retrieved on 2009-02-14.
[11] Fritz, Ben (2008-09-26). "DreamWorks
Toons Stay Put". Variety.
http://www.variety.com/
VR1117992976.html. Retrieved on
2008-12-23.
[12] Studio Market Share (2008) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved March 3,
2009.
[13] Studio Market Share (2007) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved March 3,
2009.
[14] Studio Market Share (2006) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved May 14,
2007 (with Premier Pass allowing access
to data of all distributors, rather than
universally accessible top 12).
[15] Studio Market Share (2005) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved May 14,
2007 (with Premier Pass allowing access
to data of all distributors, rather than
universally accessible top 12).
[16] Studio Market Share (2004) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved May 14,
2007 (with Premier Pass allowing access
to data of all distributors, rather than
universally accessible top 12).
[17] Hirschhorn (1983), p. 9.
[18] Hirschhorn (1983), p. 11.
[19] Thomas and Solomon (1985), p. 12
[20] ^ Finler (1988), p. 280.
[21] ^ Finler (1988), p. 35.
[22] Hirschhorn (1983), p. 157.
[23] Finler (1988), p. 119.
[24] Cook (2000), p. 319.
[25] Studio Market Share (2006) part of
BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved May 20,
2007.
[26] Hayes, Dade, and Dave McNary
(2008-05-08). "Picturehouse, WIP to
Close Shop". Variety.
http://www.variety.com/article/
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Major film studio

VR1117985299.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. • Finler, Joel W. (1988). The Hollywood

Retrieved on 2009-01-18.
[27] Goldsmith, Jill, and Tatiana Siegel
(2008-12-04). "Viacom Lays Off 850
Staffers". Variety.
http://www.variety.com/article/
VR1117996816.html?categoryid=3284&cs=1.
Retrieved on 2009-02-23.
Sources
• Cook, David A. (2000). Lost Illusions:
American Cinema in the Shadow of
Watergate and Vietnam, 1970–1979
(Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London:
University of California Press). ISBN
0-520-23265-8
• Eames, John Douglas (1985). The
Paramount Story (New York: Crown).
ISBN 0-517-55348-1
Story (New York: Crown). ISBN
0-517-56576-5
• Hirschhorn, Clive (1983). The Universal
Story (London: Crown). ISBN
0-517-55001-6
• Hirschhorn, Clive (1999). The Columbia
Story (London: Hamlyn). ISBN
0-600-59836-5
• Jewell, Richard B., with Vernon Harbin
(1982). The RKO Story (New York:
Arlington House/Crown). ISBN
0-517-54656-6
• Schatz, Thomas (1998 [1989]). The Genius
of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in
the Studio Era (London: Faber and Faber).
ISBN 0-571-19596-2
• Thomas, Tony, and Aubrey Solomon
(1985). The Films of 20th Century-Fox
(Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel). ISBN
0-8065-0958-9

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Categories: Film studios

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