Movie studio
Encyclopedia
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company
that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies. The majority of entertainment companies and production companies have never owned their own studios, but have rented space from other companies.
There are also independently owned studio facilities, who have never produced a motion picture of their own due to the fact that they are not entertainment companies or production companies; they are companies who sell only studio space.
built the first movie studio in the United States when he constructed the Black Maria
, a tarpaper-covered structure near his laboratories in West Orange
, New Jersey
, and asked circus, vaudeville, and dramatic actors to perform for the camera. He distributed these movies at vaudeville theaters, penny arcades, wax museums, and fairgrounds. Other studio operations followed in New Jersey, New York City, and Chicago.
In the early 1900s, companies started moving to Los Angeles, California
. Although electric light
s were by then widely available, none were yet powerful enough to adequately expose film; the best source of illumination for motion picture production was natural sunlight. Some movies were shot on the roofs of buildings in Downtown Los Angeles
. Early movie producers also relocated to Southern California
to escape Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company
, which controlled almost all the patent
s relevant to movie production at the time.
The first movie studio in the Hollywood area was Nestor Studios
, opened in 1911 by Al Christie
for David Horsley
. In the same year, another 15 independents
settled in Hollywood. Other production companies eventually settled in the Los Angeles area in places such as Culver City
, Burbank
, and what would soon become known as Studio City in the San Fernando Valley
.
By the mid-1920s, the evolution of a handful of American production companies into wealthy motion picture industry conglomerates that owned their own studios, distribution divisions
, and theaters
, and contracted with performers and other filmmaking personnel, led to the sometimes confusing equation of "studio" with "production company" in industry slang. Five large companies, 20th Century Fox
, RKO Pictures
, Paramount Pictures
, Warner Bros.
, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
came to be known as the "Big Five," the "majors," or "the Studios" in trade publications such as Variety
, and their management structures and practices collectively came to be known as the "studio system
."
The Little 3
Although they owned few or no theaters to guarantee sales of their films, Universal Pictures
, Columbia Pictures
, and United Artists
also fell under these rubrics, making a total of eight generally recognized "major studios". United Artists, although its controlling partners owned not one but two production studios during the Golden Age, had an often-tenuous hold on the title of "major" and operated mainly as a backer and distributor of independently produced films.
, active from 1935, which produced films that occasionally matched the scale and ambition of the larger studio, and Monogram Pictures
, which specialized in series and genre releases. Together with smaller outfits such as PRC
TKO and Grand National, the minor studios filled the demand for B-movie
s and are sometimes collectively referred to as Poverty Row
.
, David O. Selznick
, Walt Disney
, Hal Roach
, and Walter Wanger
. In 1948, the federal government won a case against Paramount
in the Supreme Court
, which ruled that the vertically integrated
structure of the movie industry constituted an illegal monopoly
. This decision, reached after twelve years of litigation, hastened the end of the studio system and Hollywood's "Golden Age".
and then thats it
proving to be a lucrative enterprise not destined to disappear any time soon -- as many in the film industry had once hoped -- movie studios were increasingly being used to produce programming for the burgeoning medium. Some midsize film companies, such as Republic Pictures
, eventually sold their studios to TV production concerns.
Three Mills Studios (UK)
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies. The majority of entertainment companies and production companies have never owned their own studios, but have rented space from other companies.
There are also independently owned studio facilities, who have never produced a motion picture of their own due to the fact that they are not entertainment companies or production companies; they are companies who sell only studio space.
Beginnings
In 1893, Thomas EdisonThomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
built the first movie studio in the United States when he constructed the Black Maria
Edison's Black Maria
The Black Maria was Thomas Edison's movie production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It is widely referred to as America's First Movie Studio.- History :...
, a tarpaper-covered structure near his laboratories in West Orange
West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange is a township in central Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 46,207...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and asked circus, vaudeville, and dramatic actors to perform for the camera. He distributed these movies at vaudeville theaters, penny arcades, wax museums, and fairgrounds. Other studio operations followed in New Jersey, New York City, and Chicago.
In the early 1900s, companies started moving to Los Angeles, California
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Although electric light
Electric light
Electric lights are a convenient and economic form of artificial lighting which provide increased comfort, safety and efficiency. Most electric lighting is powered by centrally-generated electric power, but lighting may also be powered by mobile or standby electric generators or battery systems...
s were by then widely available, none were yet powerful enough to adequately expose film; the best source of illumination for motion picture production was natural sunlight. Some movies were shot on the roofs of buildings in Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
. Early movie producers also relocated to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
to escape Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company , founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major American film companies , the leading film distributor and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak...
, which controlled almost all the patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s relevant to movie production at the time.
The first movie studio in the Hollywood area was Nestor Studios
Nestor Studios
The Nestor Motion Picture Company was a motion picture studio/production company located in Bayonne, New Jersey, and Hollywood, California, which was owned and operated by David Horsley and his brother, William Horsley....
, opened in 1911 by Al Christie
Al Christie
Al Christie was a Canadian-born motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Career:Born Alfred Ernest Christie, in London, Ontario, Canada, he was one of a number of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood who made their way to Hollywood, California, attracted by the newly developing motion...
for David Horsley
David Horsley
David Horsley was an English born pioneer of the movie industry who built the first movie studio in Hollywood....
. In the same year, another 15 independents
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
settled in Hollywood. Other production companies eventually settled in the Los Angeles area in places such as Culver City
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
, Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, and what would soon become known as Studio City in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
.
The "majors"
The Big 5By the mid-1920s, the evolution of a handful of American production companies into wealthy motion picture industry conglomerates that owned their own studios, distribution divisions
Film distributor
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...
, and theaters
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, and contracted with performers and other filmmaking personnel, led to the sometimes confusing equation of "studio" with "production company" in industry slang. Five large companies, 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
came to be known as the "Big Five," the "majors," or "the Studios" in trade publications such as Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, and their management structures and practices collectively came to be known as the "studio system
Studio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
."
The Little 3
Although they owned few or no theaters to guarantee sales of their films, Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, and United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
also fell under these rubrics, making a total of eight generally recognized "major studios". United Artists, although its controlling partners owned not one but two production studios during the Golden Age, had an often-tenuous hold on the title of "major" and operated mainly as a backer and distributor of independently produced films.
The minors
Smaller studios operated simultaneously with "the majors." These included operations such as Republic PicturesRepublic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
, active from 1935, which produced films that occasionally matched the scale and ambition of the larger studio, and Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
, which specialized in series and genre releases. Together with smaller outfits such as PRC
Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the...
TKO and Grand National, the minor studios filled the demand for B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s and are sometimes collectively referred to as Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
.
The independents
The Big Five's ownership of movie theaters was eventually opposed by eight independent producers, including Samuel GoldwynSamuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
, Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
, and Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
. In 1948, the federal government won a case against Paramount
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 was a landmark United States Supreme Court anti-trust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would...
in the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, which ruled that the vertically integrated
Vertical integration
In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
structure of the movie industry constituted an illegal monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
. This decision, reached after twelve years of litigation, hastened the end of the studio system and Hollywood's "Golden Age".
and then thats it
Film to television
Halfway through the 1950s, with televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
proving to be a lucrative enterprise not destined to disappear any time soon -- as many in the film industry had once hoped -- movie studios were increasingly being used to produce programming for the burgeoning medium. Some midsize film companies, such as Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
, eventually sold their studios to TV production concerns.
Today
With the breakup of domination by "the Studios" and the continued incursion of television into the cinematic audience, the major production companies gradually transformed into management structures that put together artistic teams on a project-by-project basis and distribute the finished products. Their studio spaces or backlots have been in most cases retained and are available for rental.Notable movie studios
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment20th Century Fox Home Entertainment20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of the 20th Century Fox film studio. It was established in 1976 as Magnetic Video Corporation, and later as 20th Century Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video and FoxVideo, Inc....
(USA) - Anchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
(USA) - Artisan EntertainmentArtisan EntertainmentArtisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...
(USA) - AB Svensk FilmindustriAB Svensk FilmindustriAB Svensk Filmindustri or Svensk Filmindustri is a Swedish film production company, distributor and movie theatre chain, currently owned by the Bonnier Group. It was established on December 27, 1919....
(Sweden) - Annapurna StudiosAnnapurna StudiosAnnapurna Studios is a leading film/television studio and production house located in Hyderabad, India. It was established in 1975 by the legendary Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao primarily to encourage the migration of the Telugu film industry from Chennai to Hyderabad...
(Hyderabad, India) - Atlas StudiosAtlas StudiosAtlas Studios is a film studio located 5 kilometers west of the city of Ouarzazate, Morocco. Measured by acreage, it is the world's largest film studio. Most of the property consists of desert and mountains....
(Morocco) - Ardmore StudiosArdmore StudiosArdmore Studios is a film studio in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland which was founded by Emmet Dalton and opened by the Minister for Industry and Commerce Seán Lemass on May 12, 1958....
(Ireland) - AVM ProductionsAVM ProductionsAVM is the oldest and largest film production studio in India. It is currently owned by M. Saravanan and his son, M. S. Guhan. The most recent film they have produced since their opening with Nam Iruvar in 1947, is Vettaikkaaran and Leader. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai....
(Chennai, India) - Studio Babelsberg (Germany)
- Barrandov StudiosBarrandov StudiosBarrandov Studios is a famous set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe.Several of the movies filmed there won Academy Awards...
(Czech Republic) - Bavaria Film (Germany)
- Bigfoot EntertainmentBigfoot EntertainmentBigfoot Entertainment is the parent company of Bigfoot Films, Bigfoot Productions, Bigfoot Production Services, Bigfoot Partners, the International Academy of Film and Television, and New Cebu Films...
(USA,Philippines, Singapore, Hongkong) - Biograph StudiosBiograph StudiosBiograph Studios was a studio facility and film laboratory complex built in 1912 by the Biograph Company, formerly American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, at 807 E. 175th Street, in the Bronx, New York....
(USA) - Blue Sky StudiosBlue Sky StudiosBlue Sky Studios is an American CGI-animation studio which specializes in high-resolution, computer-generated character animation and rendering. It is owned by 20th Century Fox and located in Greenwich, Connecticut...
(USA) - The Bridge StudiosThe Bridge StudiosThe Bridge Studios is a Canadian film studio in Burnaby, British Columbia. It operates the largest effects stage in North America. Its eight studios, ranging in size from to , are located on a lot at 2400 Boundary Road, in Burnaby....
(British Columbia, Canada) - CBS FilmsCBS FilmsCBS Films is an American film production company founded in 2007, a feature film division of CBS Corporation. CBS Films is located on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.-Company history:...
(USA) - CBS Fox Video (USA & UK)
- Christie Film CompanyChristie Film CompanyChristie Film Company was an American pioneer motion picture company founded in Hollywood, California by Al Christie and Charles Christie, two brothers from London, Ontario, Canada....
(USA) - Cinergi PicturesCinergi PicturesCinergi Pictures Entertainment Inc. was a small independent production company that was founded by Andrew G. Vajna, after he had sold his interest in his first production company, Carolco International Pictures in 1989, which he had started with his partner Mario F. Kassar in 1975.-Cinergi...
(USA) - Cinema City InternationalCinema City InternationalCinema City International is an Israeli-based international cinema company which operates multiplex and IMAX cinemas in both Israel and Europe. CCI currently operates a total of 367 screens of which more than two thirds are outside Israel....
(Hong Kong) - Columbia PicturesColumbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
(USA) - Columbia TriStar Home Video ([USA)
- Dimension FilmsDimension FilmsDimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
(USA) - DisneynatureDisneynatureDisneynature is an independent film label of The Walt Disney Company, founded on April 21, 2008 as a division of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group...
(France) - DreamWorksDreamWorksDreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
(USA) - Edison StudiosEdison StudiosEdison Studios was an American motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films as the Edison Manufacturing Company and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. until the studio's closing in 1918...
(USA) - Edison's Black MariaEdison's Black MariaThe Black Maria was Thomas Edison's movie production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It is widely referred to as America's First Movie Studio.- History :...
(USA) - Elstree StudiosElstree Studios"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
(UK) - Famous Players Film CompanyFamous Players Film CompanyThe Famous Players Film Company was founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, the powerful New York City theatre impresarios. The company advertised "Famous Players in Famous Plays" and its first release was the French film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth starring...
(USA) - Fireworks EntertainmentFireworks EntertainmentFireworks Entertainment was founded by Jay Firestone in 1996 to produce, distribute and finance television shows and feature films. Fireworks was acquired by Canwest Global in May 1998, and was later sold to ContentFilm, a British company, in April 2005...
(USA & Cuba) - Five & Two PicturesFive & Two PicturesFive & Two Pictures is an independent Christian film production company founded in 2002 by Dave Christiano and Rich Christiano. They have produced several major Christian films; Time Changer, Unidentified, Me & You, Us, Forever and The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry.- History :Five & Two Pictures was...
(USA) - Focus FeaturesFocus FeaturesFocus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
(Cuba) - Fox Searchlight PicturesFox Searchlight PicturesFox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1998, is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment alongside the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox...
(USA) - Fox Video (USA)
- Gaumont Film CompanyGaumont Film CompanyGaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
(France) - Gener8Xion Entertainment (USA)
- Genius ProductsGenius ProductsGenius Products was an entertainment company based in Santa Monica, California, United States.On December 5, 2005, Genius Products, Inc. announced a distribution joint venture with The Weinstein Company called Genius Products, LLC, with Weinstein holding a 70% stake...
(USA, Australia & UK) - Globo FilmesGlobo FilmesGlobo Filmes is a Brazilian company of movie productions, owned by Organizações Globo.- History :It was founded in 1998 by Roberto Marinho. The films produced or co-produced by the company obtained more than 90% of box office revenue from the brazilian movie industry and more than 20% of the total...
(Brazil) - Goldwyn PicturesGoldwyn PicturesGoldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Samuel Goldfish in partnership with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn using an amalgamation of both last names to create the name...
(USA) - GoodTimes EntertainmentGoodTimes EntertainmentGoodTimes Entertainment, Ltd. was a home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well-known due to its distribution of media from third parties and classics...
(USA) - Gorky Film StudioGorky Film StudioGorky Film Studio is a film studio in Moscow, Russian Federation. By the end of the Soviet Union, Gorky Film Studio had produced more than 1,000 films...
(Russia) - Grassroots FilmsGrassroots FilmsGrassroots Films of Brooklyn, New York is an independent film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films. Its most recent title is " The Human Experience"-Overview:Grassroots Films Inc. is a production company based in Brooklyn, New York...
(USA) - Guild Home VideoGuild Home VideoGuild Home Video or Guild Film Distribution was one of the very first video distribution companies to start operating in the UK. Unlike other independent labels such as Intervision or Videoform, GHV not only survived for a very long time, but continued to grow, eventually becoming a video...
(USA & UK) - Hengdian World StudiosHengdian World StudiosHengdian World Studios is the largest film studio in the world. It is located in Hengdian, a town in the city of Dongyang in Zhejiang Province. The movie studio is operated by the privately-owned Hengdian Group founded by a farmer turned millionaire Xu Wenrong. Sometimes called "Chinawood", Xu...
(China) - Highdef Films (USA)
- Hollywood PicturesHollywood PicturesHollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
(USA) - Jim Henson Home EntertainmentJim Henson Home EntertainmentJim Henson Home Entertainment is a home video company founded in 1984. It is a division of The Jim Henson Company.The video label was produced by Buena Vista Home Video until Columbia Tristar Home Video then Hit Entertainment bought the rights to the video label...
(UK) - Kadokawa PicturesKadokawa Picturesis a Japanese movie studio.-History:One of the most famous studios in Japan and founded in 1942 as , it is best known for having produced the giant monster Gamera film series and the Daimajin Trilogy. It also produced the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyoshiro film series and the television series Shōnen Jet...
(Japan) - Kanteerava StudiosKanteerava StudiosKanteerava Studios is a film studio in Bangalore, Karnataka, predominantly used for the production of Kannada language movies from Kannada film industry. Dr.Rajkumar, the most popular actor in Kannada cinema, was laid in rest in the premises of this studios....
(BangaloreBangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, (India) - Kalem CompanyKalem CompanyThe Kalem Company was an American film studio founded in New York City in 1907 by George Kleine, Samuel Long , and Frank J. Marion.The company immediately joined other studios in the Motion Picture Patents Company that held a monopoly on production and distribution...
(USA) - Keystone StudiosKeystone StudiosKeystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Edendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company...
(USA) - Korda StudiosKorda StudiosKorda Studios. Hungary . is a new film studio complex 26 km west of Budapest in the wine-making village of Etyek; hence the media nickname Etyekwood. It is built on the site of a former barracks. with six studios. The studio is named after Sir Alexander Korda. There was a former Korda Studios...
(Hungary) - LenfilmLenfilmKinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...
(Russia) - Lions Gate EntertainmentLions Gate EntertainmentLions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
(US, UK & Canada) - Lubin StudiosLubin StudiosThe Lubin Manufacturing Company, was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1902 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.-History:...
(USA) - Marwah Films & Video StudiosMarwah Films & Video StudiosMarwah Studios Enterprise , NOIDA near New Delhi, has produced over 2500 films and television shows during the past 17 years. It is founded by Sandeep Marwah who has been in films, television and theatre for the last 25 years....
(New Delhi, India) - MediaPro PicturesMediaPro PicturesMediaPro Pictures is the largest film and TV production company in Romania, part of MediaPro Entertainment along with other production units from Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria....
(Romania) - Méliès FilmsGeorges MélièsGeorges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...
(France) - Media Asia Entertainment GroupMedia Asia Entertainment GroupMedia Asia Entertainment Group , Media Asia Group , is a Hong Kong production company and distributor for films made in Hong Kong and throughout China. It is a subsidiary of Lai Sun Development Company Ltd.- History :...
(Hong Kong) - Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(USA) - Miramax FilmsMiramax FilmsMiramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
(USA) - Moldova-FilmMoldova-FilmMoldova-Film is a Moldovan film studio and production company founded in 1952 in the Moldavian SSR.- History:Moldova-Film was founded in 1947 in Chişinău as a branch of the Central Studio for Documentary Film. In 1949 the branch was taken over by the Odessa Film Studio and in 1952 became an...
(Moldova) - MosfilmMosfilmMosfilm is a film studio, which is often described as the largest and oldest in Russia and in Europe. Its output includes most of the more widely-acclaimed Soviet films, ranging from works by Tarkovsky and Eisenstein , to Red Westerns, to the Akira Kurosawa co-production and the epic Война и Мир...
(Soviet Union [now Russia) - Mutual FilmMutual FilmMutual Film Corporation was an early American motion picture conglomerate best remembered today as the producers of some of Charlie Chaplin's greatest comedies....
(USA) - National Film Board of CanadaNational Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
(Canada) - Shanghai Film Group CorporationShanghai Film Group CorporationShanghai Film Group Corporation is a film, animation and documentary production company under the Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group conglomerate...
(China) - Nerigan EntertainmentStephen SinclairStephen Sinclair is a New Zealand film and television writer and emerging director.As a screenwriter, Sinclair has worked with director Peter Jackson on Meet the Feebles, Braindead and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He has directed several short films, including Home Video and Ride, which...
(New Zealand & Russia) - Nestor StudiosNestor StudiosThe Nestor Motion Picture Company was a motion picture studio/production company located in Bayonne, New Jersey, and Hollywood, California, which was owned and operated by David Horsley and his brother, William Horsley....
(USA) - New Line CinemaNew Line CinemaNew Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
(USA) - New World Pictures (USA Cuba & UK)
- Nordisk FilmNordisk FilmNordisk Film , established in Denmark in 1906 by Danish filmmaker Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world. Olsen started his company in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni...
(Denmark) - Orion PicturesOrion PicturesOrion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
(USA) - Overture FilmsOverture FilmsOverture Films, LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Liberty Media ....
(USA) - Padmalaya StudiosPadmalaya StudiosPadmalaya Film Studios is Film production company located in the Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, India. It is owned by Ghattamaneni Krishna and his brothers G. Hanumantha Rao and G. Adiseshagiri Rao...
(Hyderabad, India) - Paramount PicturesParamount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
(USA) - PathéPathéPathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
(France) - Pinewood StudiosPinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
(UK) - Pixar Studios (USA)
- Possibility PicturesPossibility PicturesPossibility Pictures is a Christian film production company, created by David Nixon, Kim Dawson and Tom Swanson . Their first production is Letters to God. The company is designed to be the "DreamWorks of faith-based movies."...
(USA) - Premium Picture ProductionsPremium Picture ProductionsPremium Picture Productions is a former movie studio located in Beaverton, Oregon which was active in the early 1920s. The studio produced approximately fifteen silent films, including the following:* Crashing Courage * Flames of Passion...
(USA) - Pure Flix EntertainmentPure Flix EntertainmentPure Flix Entertainment is a Christian film production company, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company produces, distributes, acquires and markets Christian and family-friendly films...
(USA) - Ramanaidu Studios (Hyderabad, India)
- Ramoji Film CityRamoji Film CityRamoji Film City is one of the world’s largest integrated film studio complexes at over of land, situated in India near Hayathnagar and Peddamberpet on Hyderabad. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions including an amusement park...
(Hyderabad, (India) - Republic PicturesRepublic PicturesRepublic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
(UK) - Russian World StudiosRussian World StudiosRussian World Studios was founded in 1998 by Yuri Sapronov and Andrei Smirnov, and is one of the largest film and television production companies in the Russian market. As of 2008, the company has produced or serviced over 400 film and television projects. The studio has worked with Sony Pictures...
(Russia) - Screen GemsScreen GemsScreen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
(UK) - Se-ma-forSe-ma-forSe-ma-for is a Polish animation studio. Founded in Łódź, Poland, in 1947, it has created many animated cartoons and stop motion puppet animations, for young and mature audiences...
(Poland) - Selig Polyscope CompanySelig Polyscope CompanyThe Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. Selig Polyscope is noted for establishing Southern California's first permanent movie studio, in the historic Edendale district of Los Angeles...
(USA) - Shaw Brothers StudioShaw Brothers StudioThe Shaw Brothers Studio , owned by Shaw Brothers Ltd., was the foremost and the largest movie production company of Hong Kong movies.From their distribution base in Singapore where they founded parent company Shaw Organization in 1924, and as a strategic development of their movie distribution...
(Hong Kong, China) - Shepperton StudiosShepperton StudiosShepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
(UK) - Sherwood PicturesSherwood PicturesSherwood Pictures is an American Christian film production company in Albany, Georgia, United States. It is unusual among production companies in that it is a ministry of a local church, Sherwood Baptist Church. The company uses mostly volunteers in their productions...
(USA) - Solax StudiosSolax StudiosSolax Studios was an American motion picture studio founded in 1910 by executives from the Gaumont Film Company of France. Alice Guy-Blaché, her husband Herbert, and a third partner, George A. Magie established The Solax Company. Alice Guy-Blaché was artistic director and the director for many of...
(USA) - Sony Pictures EntertainmentSony Pictures EntertainmentSony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
(USA) - SoyuzmultfilmSoyuzmultfilmSoyuzmultfilm is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union...
(Russia) - Spyglass EntertainmentSpyglass EntertainmentSpyglass Entertainment is an American film production company, co-founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998. The studio was founded with an investment from European media conglomerates Kirch Group and Mediaset, and a five-year distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company...
(USA) - Studio Babelsberg (Germany)
- Summit EntertainmentSummit EntertainmentSummit Entertainment LLC is an independent film studio headquartered in Santa Monica, California with international offices in London.-History:...
(USA) - Sverdlovsk Film StudioSverdlovsk Film StudioSverdlovsk Film Studio is a Russian film studio based in Yekaterinburg . It was established by a decision of the Council of People's Commissars on February 4, 1943-Feature films:...
(Russia) - Thanhouser CompanyThanhouser CompanyThe Thanhouser Company was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser.-See also:...
(USA) - The Studios At Las Colinas (USA)
Three Mills Studios (UK)
- THXTHXTHX is a trade name of a high-fidelity audio/visual reproduction standard for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems. The current THX was created in 2001 when it spun off from Lucasfilm Ltd...
(USA Australia Brazil & UK) - ToeiToei Companyis a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
(Japan) - TohoTohois a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
(Japan) - Touchstone PicturesTouchstone PicturesTouchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
(USA) - Trak Home Video (UK)
- Triangle Film CorporationTriangle Film CorporationTriangle Film Corporation was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in the summer of 1915 in Culver City, California, and envisioned as a prestige studio based on the producing abilities of filmmakers D. W. Griffith, Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett...
(USA) - Tribune EntertainmentTribune EntertainmentTribune Entertainment was a television production and syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting in the mid-1980s. Many programs offered from Tribune Entertainment have been broadcast on the company's television stations....
(USA & Cuba) - TriStar PicturesTriStar PicturesTriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
(USA & UK) - Troublemaker StudiosTroublemaker StudiosTroublemaker Studios is a film production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellan. The company is based in Austin, Texas and is located at the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport...
(USA) - Twickenham Film StudiosTwickenham Film StudiosTwickenham Film Studios is a film studio located in St Margarets, London, England used by many motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Dr. Ralph Jupp on the site of a former ice-rink. At the time of its original construction, it was the largest film studio in the...
(UK) - United ArtistsUnited ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
(USA UK Ohio & Cuba) - Universal StudiosUniversal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
(USA) - Victor StudiosVictor StudiosThe Victor Film Company was a motion picture company formed in 1912 by movie star Florence Lawrence and her husband, Harry Solter. The company established Victor Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, when early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based there at the beginning of...
(USA) - Village Roadshow PicturesVillage Roadshow PicturesVillage Roadshow Pictures is an Australian motion picture production company. It is a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, an Australian entertainment company. Most of its films are co-produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema...
(USA Cuba Brazil & UK) - Vitagraph StudiosVitagraph StudiosAmerican Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
(USA) - Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
(USA & UK) - Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(USA) - The Weinstein CompanyThe Weinstein CompanyThe Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
(USA) - World Wide PicturesWorld Wide PicturesWorld Wide Pictures is a film distributor and production company established as a subsidiary of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1951...
(USA) - Village Roadshow (Australia)
- Film Studio (Bulgaria)
See also
- Production companyProduction companyA production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
- Major film studio
- Film producerFilm producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
- Film releaseFilm releaseA film release is the stage at which a completed film is legally authorized by its owner for public distribution.The process includes locating a distributor to handle the film...
- FilmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
- History of filmHistory of filmThe history of film is the historical development of the medium known variously as cinema, motion pictures, film, or the movies.The history of film spans over 100 years, from the latter part of the 19th century to the present day...
- List of cities containing film studios