Paramount Pictures
Encyclopedia
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 headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing movie studios.
. Founder Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor
, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman
and Charles Frohman
he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan "Famous Players in Famous Plays"). By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success.
That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky
, opened his Lasky Feature show Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, later known as Samuel Goldwyn
. The Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille
, who would find a suitable location site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first film, The Squaw Man.
Beginning in 1912, both Lasky and Famous Players released their films through a start-up company, Paramount Pictures Corporation, organized early that year by a Utah theatre owner, W. W. Hodkinson
, who had bought and merged several smaller firms. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth
had started production of a series of Jack London
movies. Paramount was the first successful nation-wide distributor; until this time, films were sold on a state-wide or regional basis. Not only was this inefficient, but it had proved costly to film producers. Also while Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned Paramount was a corporation so the other two companies were merged into Paramount on September 28, 1916.
Soon the ambitious Zukor, unused to taking a secondary role, began courting Hodkinson and Lasky. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. The new company, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, grew quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldfish and DeMille running the production side, Hiram Abrams in charge of distribution, and Zukor making great plans. With only the exhibitor-owned First National
as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its "Paramount Pictures" soon dominated the business.
, Marguerite Clark
, Pauline Frederick
, Douglas Fairbanks
, Gloria Swanson
, Rudolph Valentino
, and Wallace Reid
. With so many important players, Paramount was able to introduce "block booking
", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on antitrust
grounds for more than twenty years.
The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. All through the teens and twenties, he built a mighty theatrical chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios, and became an early investor in radio, taking a 50% interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System
in 1928 (selling it within a few years; this would not be the last time that Paramount and CBS crossed paths, as time proved). By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, he gained the services of Barney Balaban
, (who would eventually become Paramount's president in 1936), his brother A. J. Balaban
, (who would eventually supervise all stage production nationwide and produce talkie shorts,) and their partner Sam Katz, who would run the Paramount-Publix theatre chain from New York City. Zukor also hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg
, an unerring eye for new talent, to run the new West Coast studio. This new 26 acre studio, at 5555 Melrose Avenue, cost $1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took on the name Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation. Three years later, because of the importance of the Publix theater chain, it was later known as Paramount-Publix Corporation.
Also in 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps animated cartoons produced by Max
and Dave Fleischer
's Fleischer Studios
in New York City. The Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, would prove to be among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney
. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News
ran from 1927 to 1957.
and Otto Kahn kept the company intact, and, miraculously, kept Zukor on. In 1935, Paramount Publix went bankrupt. in 1936, Barney Balaban became president, and Zukor was bumped up to chairman of the board. In this role, Zukor reorganized the company as Paramount Pictures, Inc. and was able to successfully bring the studio out of bankruptcy.
As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were Swanson, Valentino, and Clara Bow
. By the 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful new draws: Miriam Hopkins
, Marlene Dietrich
, Mae West
, Gary Cooper
, Claudette Colbert
, the Marx Brothers
, Dorothy Lamour
, Carole Lombard
, Bing Crosby
, the band leader Shep Fields
and the famous Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel
among them. In this period Paramount can truly be described as a movie factory, turning out sixty to seventy pictures a year. Such were the benefits of having a huge theater chain to fill, and of block booking to persuade other chains to go along. In 1933, Mae West
would also add greatly to Paramount's success with her movies She Done Him Wrong
and I'm No Angel
. However, the sex appeal West gave in these movies would also lead to the enforcement of the Production Code
, as the newly formed organization the Catholic Legion of Decency threatened a boycott if it was not enforced.
Paramount cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios continued to be successful, with characters such as Betty Boop
and Popeye the Sailor becoming widely successful. One Fleischer series, Screen Songs
, featured live-action music stars under contract to Paramount hosting sing-alongs of popular songs. However, a huge blow to Fleischer Studios occurred in 1934, after the Production Code was enforced and Betty Boop's popularity declined as she was forced to have a more tame personality and wear a longer skirt. The animation studio would rebound with Popeye
, and in 1935, polls showed that Popeye was even more popular than Mickey Mouse. After an unsuccessful expansion into feature films, as well as the fact that Max and Dave Fleischer were no longer speaking to one another, Fleischer Studios was acquired by Paramount, which renamed the operation Famous Studios
. That incarnation of the animation studio continued cartoon production until 1967, but has been historically dismissed as having largely failed to maintain the artistic acclaim the Fleischer brothers achieved under their management.
, Alan Ladd
, Veronica Lake
, Paulette Goddard
, and Betty Hutton
, and with war-time attendance at astronomical numbers, Paramount and the other integrated studio-theatre combines made more money than ever. At this, the Federal Trade Commission
and the Justice Department
decided to reopen their case against the five integrated studios. Paramount also had a monopoly over Detroit movie theaters through subsidiary company United Detroit Theaters as well. This led to the Supreme Court
decision United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
(1948) holding that movie studios could not also own movie theater chains. This decision broke up Adolph Zukor's creation and effectively brought an end to the classic Hollywood studio system
.
, who had headed the chain since 1938, remained as the new company's president. The Balaban and Katz theatre division was spun off with UPT; its trademark eventually became the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. The Foundation has recently acquired ownership of the Famous Players Trademark. Cash-rich and controlling prime downtown real estate, Goldenson began looking for investments. Barred from film-making by prior anti-trust rulings, he acquired the struggling ABC
television network in February 1953, leading it first to financial health (through program-producing partnerships with major studios including Warner Brothers and Disney) and eventually, in the mid-1970s, to first place in the national Nielsen ratings, before selling out to the Capital Cities organization in 1985. United Paramount Theaters was renamed ABC Theaters in 1965 and was sold to Plitt in 1974. The movie theater chain was renamed Plitt Theaters. In 1985, Cineplex Odeon Corporation merged with Plitt. In later years, Paramount's TV division would develop a strong relationship with ABC, providing many hit series to the network.
, the first commercial station on the West Coast. The Chicago station got a commercial license as WBKB in 1943, but was sold to UPT along with Balaban & Katz in 1948, resold to CBS, and eventually became WBBM-TV
.
In 1938, Paramount bought a stake in television manufacturer DuMont Laboratories
. Through this stake, it became a minority owner of the DuMont Television Network
. However, Paramount proved to be a timid and obstructionist partner. Its minority stake hampered DuMont's efforts to expand. KTLA and WBBM were recognized by the FCC as DuMont O&O stations, even though the former was only an affiliate in 1947 and the latter never carried a DuMont program. Since DuMont already owned three stations, the FCC did not allow DuMont to buy any more stations as long as Paramount owned a portion of DuMont. However, Paramount refused to sell. It also refused to help DuMont as it sank during the 1950s. Most importantly, when DuMont agreed in principle to merge with ABC in 1953, Paramount vetoed the deal in part due to an earlier FCC ruling that Paramount controlled DuMont. Within two years of the failed ABC deal, DuMont was no more.
In 1951, Paramount bought a stake in International Telemeter
, an experimental pay TV service which operated with a coin inserted into a box. The service began operating in Palm Springs, California on November 27, 1953, but due to pressure from the FCC and theater owners, the service ended on May 15, 1954.
With the loss of the theater chain, Paramount Pictures went into a decline, cutting studio-backed production, releasing its contract players, and making production deals with independents. By the mid-1950s, all the great names were gone; only C.B. DeMille, associated with Paramount since 1913, kept making pictures in the grand old style. Despite Paramount's losses, DeMille would, however, give the studio some relief and create his most successful film at Paramount, a 1956 remake
of his 1923 film The Ten Commandments
. Like some other studios, Paramount saw little value in its film library (see below for more info on the early Paramount library). DeMille died in 1959.
in 1964 for a then-phenomenal $12.5 million). Founding father Adolph Zukor (born in 1873) was still chairman emeritus; he referred to chairman Barney Balaban (born 1888) as "the boy." Such aged leadership was incapable of keeping up with the changing times, and in 1966, a sinking Paramount was sold to Charles Bluhdorn
's industrial conglomerate, Gulf + Western Industries Corporation
. Bluhdorn immediately put his stamp on the studio, installing a virtually unknown producer named Robert Evans as head of production. Despite some rough times, Evans held the job for eight years, restoring Paramount's reputation for commercial success with The Odd Couple
, Love Story
, Chinatown, and Rosemary's Baby
.
Gulf + Western Industries also bought the neighboring Desilu
television studio (once the lot of RKO Pictures
) from Lucille Ball
in 1967. Using such of Desilu's established shows as Star Trek
, Mission: Impossible
, and Mannix
as a foot in the door at the networks, the newly-reincorporated Paramount Television
eventually became known as a specialist in half-hour situation comedies.
to form Cinema International Corporation
, a new company that would distribute films by the two studios outside the United States. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
would become a partner in the mid 1970s. Both Paramount and CIC entered the video market with Paramount Home Video (now Paramount Home Entertainment
) and CIC Video
, respectively.
Robert Evans quit as head of production in 1974; his successor, Richard Sylbert
, proved to be too literary and too tasteful for Gulf + Western's Bluhdorn. By 1976, a new, television-trained team was in place headed by Barry Diller
and his "Killer-Dillers", as they were called by admirers or "Dillettes" as they were called by detractors. These associates, made up of Michael Eisner
, Jeffrey Katzenberg
, Dawn Steel
and Don Simpson
would each go on and head up major movie studios of their own later in their careers.
The Paramount specialty was now simpler. "High Concept" pictures such as Saturday Night Fever
and Grease
hit big, hit hard and hit fast all over the world, and Diller's television background led him to propose one of his longest-standing ideas to the board: a fourth commercial network
. But neither the board nor Bluhdorn himself accepted Diller's repeated advancements of this idea and neither did Bluhdorn's successor, Martin Davis. But Diller believed strongly in the concept, and so took his fourth-network idea with him when he moved to 20th Century Fox
in 1984, where Fox's then freshly installed proprietor, Rupert Murdoch
was a more interested listener. Meanwhile, concentrating on hot films, Paramount was met with critical success with the release of The Godfather
, based on the popular novel.
However, the television division would be playing catch-up for over a decade after Diller's departure in 1984 before launching its own television network – UPN
– in 1995. Lasting eleven years before being merged with The WB network to become The CW in 2006, UPN would feature many of the shows it originally produced for other networks, and would take numerous gambles on series, most notably Star Trek: Voyager
and Star Trek: Enterprise
that would have otherwise either gone direct-to-cable or become first-run syndication to independent stations across the country.
Paramount Pictures was not connected to Paramount Records
until it purchased the rights to use the name (but not its catalog) in the late 1960s. The Paramount
name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the Dot Records
catalog which Paramount had acquired in 1958. By 1970, Dot had become an all-country label and in 1974, Paramount sold all of its record holdings to ABC Records
, which in turn was sold to MCA (now Universal Music Group
) in 1979.
, American Gigolo
, Ordinary People
, An Officer and a Gentleman
, Flashdance
, Terms of Endearment
, Footloose, Pretty In Pink
, Fatal Attraction
, the Friday the 13th slasher
series, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark
and its sequels. Other examples are the Star Trek
series and a string of films starring comedian Eddie Murphy
like Trading Places
, Coming To America
, and Beverly Hills Cop
and its sequels. While the emphasis was decidedly on the commercial, there were occasional less commercial but more artistic and intellectual efforts like I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
, Atlantic City, Reds, Witness
, Children of a Lesser God
and The Accused. During this period, responsibility for running the studio passed from Eisner and Katzenberg to Frank Mancuso Sr.
(1984) and Ned Tanen
(1984) to Stanley Jaffe (1991) and Sherry Lansing
(1992). More so than most, Paramount's slate of films included many remakes and television spinoffs; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of the kind that once made Paramount the industry leader. The studio even had its share of box office flops such as Grease 2
, Clue
and a few others.
In 1981, Cinema International Corporation was reorganized as United International Pictures
. This was necessary because MGM had merged with United Artists
which had its own international distribution unit, but MGM was not allowed to leave the venture at the time (they finally did in 2001, switching international distribution to 20th Century Fox
).
In 1985, Dawn Steel
became head of Motion Picture Production.
When Charles Bluhdorn died unexpectedly, his successor Martin Davis dumped all of G+W's industrial, mining, and sugar-growing subsidiaries and refocused the company, renaming it Paramount Communications in 1989. With the influx of cash from the sale of G+W's industrial properties in the mid-1980s, Paramount bought a string of television stations and KECO Entertainment
's theme park operations, renaming them Paramount Parks
.
In 1993, Sumner Redstone
's entertainment conglomerate Viacom made a bid for a merger with Paramount Communications; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with Barry Diller
and John Malone. But Viacom prevailed, ultimately paying $10 billion for the Paramount holdings.
Paramount is the last major film studio located in Hollywood proper. When Paramount moved to its present home in 1927, it was in the heart of the film community. Since then, former next-door neighbor RKO
closed up shop in 1957; Warner Bros.
(whose old Sunset Boulevard studio was sold to Paramount in 1949 as a home for KTLA) moved to Burbank in 1930; Columbia
joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to Culver City
in 1989; and the Pickford-Fairbanks-Goldwyn-United Artists lot, after a lively history, has been turned into a post-production
and music-scoring facility for Warners, known simply as "The Lot". For a time the semi-industrial neighborhood around Paramount was in decline, but has now come back. The recently refurbished studio has come to symbolize Hollywood for many visitors, and its studio tour is a popular attraction.
, president. During their administration over Paramount, the studio had an extremely successful period of films with two of Paramount's ten highest grossing films being produced during this period. The most successful of these films, Titanic
, a joint production with 20th Century Fox
, became the highest grossing film up to that time, grossing over $1.8 billion worldwide. Also during this time, three Paramount Pictures films won the Academy Award for Best Picture; Titanic, Braveheart, and Forrest Gump. Dolgen and Lansing also presided over the production and release of other films including Saving Private Ryan
(with DreamWorks
), as well as the Mission: Impossible
films.
Paramount's most important property, however, was Star Trek. Studio executives had begun to call it "the franchise" in the 1980s due to its reliable revenue, and other studios envied its "untouchable and unduplicatable" success. By 1998 Star Trek TV shows, movies, books, videotapes, and licensing provided so much of the studio's profit that "it is not possible to spend any reasonable amount of time at Paramount and not be aware of [its] presence"; filming for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine required up to nine of the largest of the studio's 36 sound stage
s.
In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries
' United Television launched United Paramount Network (UPN) with Star Trek: Voyager as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for a Paramount network from 25 years earlier. In 1999, Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the start-up network to the newly acquired CBS
unit, which Viacom bought in 1999 – an ironic confluence of events as Paramount had once invested in CBS, and Viacom had once been the syndication arm of CBS as well.
In 2002, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures
, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios
, and Warner Bros.
formed the Digital Cinema Initiative. DCI was created "to establish and document voluntary specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control."
Among the assets that went to the new CBS Corporation
are the CBS television and radio networks, the Infinity radio-station chain (now CBS Radio
), Paramount Television (now CBS Television Studios), UPN
(which merged with Time Warner
's The WB to become The CW), and the Showtime Networks
pay TV unit which includes Showtime, The Movie Channel
and Flix. CBS was also given control of Paramount Parks which it sold to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company in June 2006 for $1.24 billion.
Paramount Pictures is now lumped in with MTV, BET
, and other highly profitable channels owned by the new Viacom
.
With the announcement of the split of Viacom, Dolgen and Lansing were replaced by former television executives Brad Grey and Gail Berman. The decision was made to split Viacom into two companies, which in turn led to a dismantling of the Paramount Studio/Paramount TV infrastructure, with the current Paramount, consisting only of the movie studio, retaining only about one-quarter its former size under Dolgen and Lansing. The Paramount Television studio was made part of CBS in the split and the remaining businesses were sold off or parceled out to other operating groups. Paramount's home entertainment unit continues to distribute the Paramount TV library through CBS DVD, as both Viacom and CBS Corporation are controlled by Michael Redstone
's National Amusements
.
In 2009, CBS stopped using the Paramount name in its series and changed the name of the production arm to CBS Television Studios, eliminating the Paramount name from television, to distant itself from the latter. It is one of only 2 of the Big Six to have this fate (the other being Columbia Pictures
, although unlike Paramount, it is still a direct sister to its former TV arm
).
(which was co-founded by former Paramount executive Jeffrey Katzenberg
) in a deal worth $1.6 billion. The announcement was made by Brad Grey
, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, who noted that enhancing Paramount's pipeline of pictures is a "key strategic objective in restoring Paramount's stature as a leader in filmed entertainment." The agreement does not include DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.
, the most profitable part of the company that went public the previous year.
Under the deal, Paramount is required to distribute the DreamWorks animated films for a small fee intended only to cover Paramount's out of pocket costs with no profit to the studio, including the Shrek
franchise (and ending for the 2004 installment, Shrek 2
). The first film distributed under this deal is Over the Hedge
.
The deal closed on February 6, 2006. This acquisition was seen at the time as a stopgap measure as Brad Grey had been unsuccessful in assembling sufficient films for production and distribution and the DreamWorks films would fill the gap.
On October 6, 2008, Paramount and DreamWorks announced the joint venture was ending and that DreamWorks would be seeking new distributors for its films.
Grey also launched a Digital Entertainment division to take advantage of emerging digital distribution technologies. This led to Paramount becoming the second movie studio to sign a deal with Apple Inc. to sell its films through the iTunes store. They also signed an exclusive agreement with the failed HD DVD
consortium and subsequently gave up the guarantees they had received and will now release in the Blu-ray format.
Also, in 2007, Paramount sold another one of its "heritage" units, Famous Music
, to Sony/ATV Music Publishing
(best known for publishing many songs by The Beatles
, and for being co-owned by Michael Jackson
), ending a nearly-eight decade run as a division of Paramount, being the studio's music publishing arm since the period when the entire company went by the name "Famous Players." An additional legacy unit, Famous Players Theaters (Canada) was sold in 2006 to its competitor Cineplex Odeon Corporation
. These theaters had been in the company since the days of silent movie. When the 1954 Paramount Consent Decree forced divestiture by the studios, it did not apply outside the US so Paramount kept its Canadian theater subsidiary.
, and the possible departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract in 2012, Paramount announced the formation of a new division, devoted to the creation of animated productions. The first films from this new animation studio is expected to be released sometime in 2014. In October 2011, Paramount named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, president of the Paramount Animation.
It marks Paramount's return to having its own animated division for the first time since 1967, when Paramount Cartoon Studios shut down (it was formerly Famous Studios
until 1956).
Balaban, consistent with his other decisions to sell off rights and dismantle Paramount's library, was of the opinion that there was no future economic value to "old" movies. This "strategy" of the gradual dismantling Paramount's assets and library has continued under current Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman who not only split the company in half and gave the television library and distribution rights to the feature films to CBS, but also sold off the Company's music library, Famous Music
.
Except for the Superman
cartoons and the features sold to MCA (to end up with Universal), most television prints of these films have had their titles remade to remove most traces of their connection to Paramount – the original copyright lines were left intact on Popeye
cartoons (the Popeye cartoons have been restored for DVD release with the original Paramount titles).
As for distribution of the material Paramount itself still owns, it has been split in half, with Paramount themselves owning theatrical rights. But from 2006–2009, the library was distributed by CBS Television Distribution
, the television distribution arm of CBS Paramount Television (now CBS Television Studios) – the films are now distributed by Trifecta Entertainment & Media
on television.
Most of the Paramount cartoons and shorts went to various television distributors, with U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
acquiring the majority of the cartoons and live action short subjects released before October 1950 (exceptions are noted below), in 1955. Some lesser known features were included in this deal as well, such as It's a Wonderful Life
.
U.M.&M. was later sold to National Telefilm Associates
, or NTA for short. NTA changed its name to Republic Pictures
(which was previously the name of a minor film studio, whose backlog had been sold to NTA) in 1986, sold to Spelling Entertainment, Inc.
in 1994, and was sold to Viacom in 1999, hence all the material sold to U.M.&M. would return to Paramount (though, except for few other films, video rights belong to Lionsgate).
Popeye and Superman:
However, not all pre-10/50 Paramount cartoons went to U.M.&M. (to end up with Republic). The Popeye cartoons were sold to Associated Artists Productions
in 1956, which also purchased most of the pre-1950 features and shorts by Warner Bros. Pictures. Meanwhile, the rights to the Superman cartoons returned to National Comics
, who licensed the syndication rights to Flamingo Films, distributors of the Superman television series
.
The Popeye cartoons passed on to United Artists
in 1958 after its purchase of a.a.p., then to MGM in 1981 after they purchased UA. After Ted Turner
failed in an attempt to buy MGM/UA in 1986, he settled for ownership of the library, which included the a.a.p. library. Turner Entertainment
, the holding company for Turner's film library, would later be sold to Time Warner
. Turner technically holds the rights to the Popeye cartoons today, but sales and distribution is in the hands of Warner Bros. Entertainment
.
WB also owns Superman's publisher, DC Comics
, and although the Superman cartoons are now in the public domain
, WB owns the original film elements.
Harveytoons:
The rest of the post-September 1950 cartoons by Famous Studios that were released prior to April 1, 1962 (except some special releases) were sold to Harvey Comics
, along with all rights to Famous' characters Casper the Friendly Ghost
, Little Audrey
, Herman and Katnip
, et al., in 1958, which were retitled "Harveytoons" for television distribution after 1959 (beginning with their exposure on Matty's Funday Funnies
), and are now owned by Classic Media
. A few live-action short-subjects were apparently included in this package as well, as searches in the Library of Congress Copyright Catalog indicate.;
, to sell these films to television. The deal included such notable Paramount films as the early Marx Brothers
films, most of the Bob Hope
-Bing Crosby
"Road" pictures, and such Oscar contenders as Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and The Heiress
.
MCA later admitted that over the next forty years it took in more than a billion dollars in rentals of these supposedly "worthless" pictures. MCA later purchased the US branch of Decca Records
, which owned Universal Studios
(now a part of NBC Universal
), and thus Universal now owns these films, though EMKA continues to hold the copyright and technically are part of the television unit of NBC Universal.
Some of these films would get remade by Universal in later years, either as theatrical releases (such as Meet Joe Black
, a remake of Death Takes a Holiday
), or for television. Yet a few other films became adapted by Revue Studios (now Universal Television
) as television series.
, which produced The Nutty Professor
among other films, ended in the 1970s, and the rights to these films were given back to Lewis. As a consequence, the hit remakes starring Eddie Murphy were released by Universal Pictures.
This reversion to Jerry Lewis resulted from a promise made by then-Paramount CEO Barney Balaban who gratuitously offered to give the rights back to Lewis as a birthday present. Paramount, however, has retained full distribution rights to the Lewis films under license from Lewis's company, York Pictures Corporation.
.
Paramount owned most rights to the Elvis Presley
film Loving You
, including distribution and partial ownership of its copyright. NBC
later acquired the rights to the film around the time it first aired on the channel. NBC licensed television syndication rights to NBCUniversal Television Distribution and US video distribution to Lionsgate.
's later films originally released by Paramount (including The Seven Little Foys
and The Lemon Drop Kid
) are owned by his estate. Distribution rights are split between Sony Pictures Entertainment
and FremantleMedia
, both successors-in-interest to a joint venture called Colex Enterprises
, which had consisted of respective predecessor companies Columbia Pictures Television
and LBS Communications. Hope's other films, My Favorite Brunette
and Road to Bali
, are in the public domain, but Hope's estate has the original elements.
These are just few examples of what Paramount controls only for TV and digital distribution. Television rights to Paramount's library, included properties owned outright, and those only for certain media, are currently held on Paramount's behalf by Trifecta Entertainment & Media
(Trifecta had inherited this library from CBS Television Distribution
in 2009).
However, Paramount does own distribution (and other ancillary) rights to the Soros/Dune films.
Even as DreamWorks switches distribution of live-action films that are not part of existing franchises to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount will continue to own the films released before the merger, and the films that Paramount themselves distributed (including sequel rights; such films as Little Fockers
will be distributed by Paramount and DreamWorks, since it is a sequel to an existing DreamWorks film – in this case, Meet the Parents
and Meet the Fockers
, though Paramount will only own international rights to this title, whereas Universal Studios
will handle domestic distribution).
As for the DreamWorks Animation
library, it is likely that Paramount only owns distribution rights at present. The current contract is up after 2012. It is not known whether Paramount will continue its relationship with DreamWorks Animation after that point, especially with the above announcement by Paramount of their plans for their own inhouse animation department, but until then, DWA's films are part of Paramount's library.
over the years, as a result of the Viacom/CBS merger.
Paramount (via CBS DVD) has outright video distribution to the aforementioned CBS library with few exceptions-for example, the original Twilight Zone
DVDs are handled by Image Entertainment
. Until 2009, the video rights to My Fair Lady
were with original theatrical distributor Warner Bros.
, under license from CBS (the video license to that film has now reverted to CBS DVD under Paramount).
The CBS-produced/owned films, unlike other films in Paramount's library, are still distributed by CBS Television Distribution on TV, and not by Trifecta Entertainment & Media, because CBS (or a subdivision) is the copyright holder for these films.
to make short scenes taken from its film library available to users on Facebook. The application, called VooZoo, allows users to send movie clips to other Facebook users and to post clips on their profile pages. Paramount engineered a similar deal with Makena Technologies to allow users of vMTV
and There.com to view and send movie clips.
after the film of the same name, released in 1930. The words to the fanfare, originally sung in the 1930 film, were "Proud of the crowd that will never be loud, it's Paramount on Parade."
Legend has it that the mountain is based on a doodle made by W. W. Hodkinson
during a meeting with Adolph Zukor
. It is said to be based on the memories of his childhood in Utah
. Some claim that Utah's Ben Lomond
is the mountain Hodkinson doodled, and that Peru's Artesonraju
is the mountain in the live-action logo. Some editions of the logo bear a striking resemblance to the Pfeifferhorn
, another Wasatch Range
peak.
The motion picture logo has gone through many changes over the years:
, Sunset Blvd.
, White Christmas
, Rear Window
, Sabrina
, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and many other classic films were shot are still in use today. The studio's massive remaining backlot set, "New York Street", features numerous blocks of facades that depict a number of New York locales: "Washington Square", (where The Heiress
, starring Olivia de Havilland
, was shot) "Harlem", "Financial District", and others.
Melrose Avenue
Melrose Avenue is an internationally renowned shopping, dining and entertainment destination in Los Angeles that starts from Santa Monica Boulevard at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and ends at Lucille Avenue in Silver Lake...
in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate
Media conglomerate
A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet...
Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing movie studios.
1912–1920: Early history
Paramount Pictures can trace its beginning to the creation in May 1912 of the Famous Players Film CompanyFamous Players Film Company
The 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...
. Founder Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...
, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman
Daniel Frohman
Daniel Frohman was a Jewish American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer.Frohman was born in Sandusky, Ohio...
and Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan "Famous Players in Famous Plays"). By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success.
That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. was a pioneer Hollywood film producer. He was a key founder of Paramount Pictures with Adolph Zukor, and father of screenwriter Jesse L...
, opened his Lasky Feature show Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, later known as Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
. The Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
, who would find a suitable location site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first film, The Squaw Man.
Beginning in 1912, both Lasky and Famous Players released their films through a start-up company, Paramount Pictures Corporation, organized early that year by a Utah theatre owner, W. W. Hodkinson
W. W. Hodkinson
William Wadsworth Hodkinson , known more commonly as W. W. Hodkinson, was born in Independence, Kansas. Known as The Man Who Invented Hollywood, he opened one of the first movie theaters in Ogden, Utah in 1907 and within just a few years changed the way movies were produced, distributed, and...
, who had bought and merged several smaller firms. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth
Hobart Bosworth
Hobart Bosworth was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer.-Early life:Born Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth, he was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and John and Priscilla Alden on his father's side and of New York's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New...
had started production of a series of Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
movies. Paramount was the first successful nation-wide distributor; until this time, films were sold on a state-wide or regional basis. Not only was this inefficient, but it had proved costly to film producers. Also while Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned Paramount was a corporation so the other two companies were merged into Paramount on September 28, 1916.
Soon the ambitious Zukor, unused to taking a secondary role, began courting Hodkinson and Lasky. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. The new company, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, grew quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldfish and DeMille running the production side, Hiram Abrams in charge of distribution, and Zukor making great plans. With only the exhibitor-owned First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its "Paramount Pictures" soon dominated the business.
1921–1930: The rise
Because Zukor believed in stars, he signed and developed many of the leading early stars, including Mary PickfordMary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, Marguerite Clark
Marguerite Clark
Marguerite Clark was an American stage and silent film actress.-Early life and theater:Born to a farming family in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Clark was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cincinnati...
, Pauline Frederick
Pauline Frederick
Pauline Frederick was a leading Broadway actress who later became known for her motion picture work.-Early years:...
, Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
, Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
, Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
, and Wallace Reid
Wallace Reid
Wallace Reid was an actor in silent film referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover".-Early life:Born William Wallace Reid in St...
. With so many important players, Paramount was able to introduce "block booking
Block booking
Block booking is a system of selling multiple films to a theater as a unit. Block booking was the prevailing practice among Hollywood's major studios from the turn of the 1930s until it was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc....
", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
grounds for more than twenty years.
The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. All through the teens and twenties, he built a mighty theatrical chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios, and became an early investor in radio, taking a 50% interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1928 (selling it within a few years; this would not be the last time that Paramount and CBS crossed paths, as time proved). By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, he gained the services of Barney Balaban
Barney Balaban
Barney Balaban was president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964, and innovator in the cinema industry. The eldest of the seven sons of grocery store owner Israel Balaban, Barney worked as a messenger boy and a cold storage company employee until 1908, when he was persuaded, at age 21, to go...
, (who would eventually become Paramount's president in 1936), his brother A. J. Balaban
A. J. Balaban
Abraham Joseph "A. J." Balaban was a Chicago-based showman whose particular influence on popular entertainment in the early 20th century led to enormous innovations in the American movie-going experience.Following the leasing and operation of a modest nickelodeon house in 1909, Balaban oversaw...
, (who would eventually supervise all stage production nationwide and produce talkie shorts,) and their partner Sam Katz, who would run the Paramount-Publix theatre chain from New York City. Zukor also hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg
B. P. Schulberg
B.P. Schulberg was a pioneer film producer and movie studio executive.Born Percival Schulberg in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he took the name Benjamin from the boy in front of him when registering for school to avoid mockery for his British name...
, an unerring eye for new talent, to run the new West Coast studio. This new 26 acre studio, at 5555 Melrose Avenue, cost $1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took on the name Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation. Three years later, because of the importance of the Publix theater chain, it was later known as Paramount-Publix Corporation.
Also in 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps animated cartoons produced by Max
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios...
and Dave Fleischer
Dave Fleischer
David "Dave" Fleischer was an American animator film director and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his two older brothers Max Fleischer and Lou Fleischer...
's Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
in New York City. The Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, would prove to be among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of 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...
. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News
Paramount News
Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures .-History:The Paramount Newsreel began operation in 1927 and distributed roughly two movie theater issues per week until their closing in 1957. Movie theaters across the country would run these issues, usually on 35mm...
ran from 1927 to 1957.
1931–1940: Receivership
Eventually, Zukor shed most of his early partners; the Frohman brothers, Hodkinson and Goldfish/Goldwyn were out by 1917 while Lasky hung on until 1932, when, blamed for the near-collapse of Paramount in the Depression years, he too was tossed out. Zukor's over-expansion and use of overvalued Paramount stock for purchases led the company into receivership in 1933. A bank-mandated reorganization team, led by John HertzJohn D. Hertz
John Daniel Hertz, Sr. was an American businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner, and philanthropist.-Biography:...
and Otto Kahn kept the company intact, and, miraculously, kept Zukor on. In 1935, Paramount Publix went bankrupt. in 1936, Barney Balaban became president, and Zukor was bumped up to chairman of the board. In this role, Zukor reorganized the company as Paramount Pictures, Inc. and was able to successfully bring the studio out of bankruptcy.
As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were Swanson, Valentino, and Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
. By the 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful new draws: Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
, Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
, the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
, Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
, Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, the band leader Shep Fields
Shep Fields
Shep Fields was the band leader for the "Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm" orchestra during the Big Band era of the 1930s.-Biography:...
and the famous Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
among them. In this period Paramount can truly be described as a movie factory, turning out sixty to seventy pictures a year. Such were the benefits of having a huge theater chain to fill, and of block booking to persuade other chains to go along. In 1933, Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
would also add greatly to Paramount's success with her movies She Done Him Wrong
She Done Him Wrong
She Done Him Wrong is a Pre-Code 1933 Paramount Pictures comedy romance film starring Mae West and Cary Grant. Others in the cast include Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery, Sr., Louise Beavers and Rochelle Hudson....
and I'm No Angel
I'm No Angel
I'm No Angel is Mae West's third motion picture. West received sole story and screenplay credit. A young Cary Grant plays her leading man for the second time. Being Pre-Code, this was one of the few Mae West movies that was not subjected to heavy censorship...
. However, the sex appeal West gave in these movies would also lead to the enforcement of the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
, as the newly formed organization the Catholic Legion of Decency threatened a boycott if it was not enforced.
Paramount cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios continued to be successful, with characters such as Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
and Popeye the Sailor becoming widely successful. One Fleischer series, Screen Songs
Screen Songs
Screen Songs is the name of a series of animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. They were revived by Famous Studios in 1945 starting with the Noveltoon Old MacDonald Had a Farm....
, featured live-action music stars under contract to Paramount hosting sing-alongs of popular songs. However, a huge blow to Fleischer Studios occurred in 1934, after the Production Code was enforced and Betty Boop's popularity declined as she was forced to have a more tame personality and wear a longer skirt. The animation studio would rebound with Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
, and in 1935, polls showed that Popeye was even more popular than Mickey Mouse. After an unsuccessful expansion into feature films, as well as the fact that Max and Dave Fleischer were no longer speaking to one another, Fleischer Studios was acquired by Paramount, which renamed the operation Famous Studios
Famous Studios
Famous Studios was the animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...
. That incarnation of the animation studio continued cartoon production until 1967, but has been historically dismissed as having largely failed to maintain the artistic acclaim the Fleischer brothers achieved under their management.
1941–1950: United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
In 1940, Paramount agreed to a government-instituted consent decree: block booking and "pre-selling" (the practice of collecting up-front money for films not yet in production) would end. Immediately Paramount cut back on production, from sixty-plus pictures to a more modest twenty annually in the war years. Still, with more new stars like Bob HopeBob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
, Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
, Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
, and Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
, and with war-time attendance at astronomical numbers, Paramount and the other integrated studio-theatre combines made more money than ever. At this, the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
and the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
decided to reopen their case against the five integrated studios. Paramount also had a monopoly over Detroit movie theaters through subsidiary company United Detroit Theaters as well. This led to 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...
decision United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
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...
(1948) holding that movie studios could not also own movie theater chains. This decision broke up Adolph Zukor's creation and effectively brought an end to the classic Hollywood 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...
.
1951–1966: Split and after
With the separation of production and exhibition forced by the U.S. Supreme Court, Paramount Pictures Inc. was split in two. Paramount Pictures Corporation was formed to be the production distribution company, with the 1,500-screen theater chain handed to the new United Paramount Theaters on December 31, 1949. Leonard GoldensonLeonard Goldenson
Leonard H. Goldenson was President of the U.S. television and radio broadcaster ABC.-Early life and career:...
, who had headed the chain since 1938, remained as the new company's president. The Balaban and Katz theatre division was spun off with UPT; its trademark eventually became the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. The Foundation has recently acquired ownership of the Famous Players Trademark. Cash-rich and controlling prime downtown real estate, Goldenson began looking for investments. Barred from film-making by prior anti-trust rulings, he acquired the struggling ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television network in February 1953, leading it first to financial health (through program-producing partnerships with major studios including Warner Brothers and Disney) and eventually, in the mid-1970s, to first place in the national Nielsen ratings, before selling out to the Capital Cities organization in 1985. United Paramount Theaters was renamed ABC Theaters in 1965 and was sold to Plitt in 1974. The movie theater chain was renamed Plitt Theaters. In 1985, Cineplex Odeon Corporation merged with Plitt. In later years, Paramount's TV division would develop a strong relationship with ABC, providing many hit series to the network.
The DuMont fiasco
Paramount Pictures had been an early backer of television, launching experimental stations in 1939 in Los Angeles and Chicago. The Los Angeles station eventually became KTLAKTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
, the first commercial station on the West Coast. The Chicago station got a commercial license as WBKB in 1943, but was sold to UPT along with Balaban & Katz in 1948, resold to CBS, and eventually became WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
.
In 1938, Paramount bought a stake in television manufacturer DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories was an American television equipment manufacturer. The company was founded in 1931, by inventor Allen B. DuMont. Among the company's developments were long-lasting cathode ray tubes that would be used for television. Another product out of the lab was a DuMont invention, the...
. Through this stake, it became a minority owner of the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
. However, Paramount proved to be a timid and obstructionist partner. Its minority stake hampered DuMont's efforts to expand. KTLA and WBBM were recognized by the FCC as DuMont O&O stations, even though the former was only an affiliate in 1947 and the latter never carried a DuMont program. Since DuMont already owned three stations, the FCC did not allow DuMont to buy any more stations as long as Paramount owned a portion of DuMont. However, Paramount refused to sell. It also refused to help DuMont as it sank during the 1950s. Most importantly, when DuMont agreed in principle to merge with ABC in 1953, Paramount vetoed the deal in part due to an earlier FCC ruling that Paramount controlled DuMont. Within two years of the failed ABC deal, DuMont was no more.
In 1951, Paramount bought a stake in International Telemeter
Telemeter (pay television)
Telemeter was an earlier pay TV service developed by the International Telemeter Corporation. It was active from 1953 to 1967.The Telemeter system used a coin-to-box machine connected to any TV set...
, an experimental pay TV service which operated with a coin inserted into a box. The service began operating in Palm Springs, California on November 27, 1953, but due to pressure from the FCC and theater owners, the service ended on May 15, 1954.
With the loss of the theater chain, Paramount Pictures went into a decline, cutting studio-backed production, releasing its contract players, and making production deals with independents. By the mid-1950s, all the great names were gone; only C.B. DeMille, associated with Paramount since 1913, kept making pictures in the grand old style. Despite Paramount's losses, DeMille would, however, give the studio some relief and create his most successful film at Paramount, a 1956 remake
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
of his 1923 film The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1923 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1923 American epic silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Theodore Roberts as Moses, Charles de Rochefort as Pharaoh Ramesses, Estelle Taylor as Miriam the sister of Moses, and James Neill as Aaron, the brother of Moses...
. Like some other studios, Paramount saw little value in its film library (see below for more info on the early Paramount library). DeMille died in 1959.
1966–1970: Early Gulf+Western era
By the early 1960s, Paramount's future was doubtful. The high-risk movie business was wobbly; the theater chain was long gone; investments in DuMont and in early pay-television came to nothing. Even the flagship Paramount building in Times Square was sold to raise cash, as was KTLA (sold to Gene AutryGene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
in 1964 for a then-phenomenal $12.5 million). Founding father Adolph Zukor (born in 1873) was still chairman emeritus; he referred to chairman Barney Balaban (born 1888) as "the boy." Such aged leadership was incapable of keeping up with the changing times, and in 1966, a sinking Paramount was sold to Charles Bluhdorn
Charles Bluhdorn
Charles Blühdorn was a Vienna, Austria-born American industrialist.-Biography:Per a Who's Who in Ridgefield he was considered such a "hellion" that his father sent the 11-year-old to an English boarding school for disciplining...
's industrial conglomerate, Gulf + Western Industries Corporation
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...
. Bluhdorn immediately put his stamp on the studio, installing a virtually unknown producer named Robert Evans as head of production. Despite some rough times, Evans held the job for eight years, restoring Paramount's reputation for commercial success with The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (film)
The Odd Couple is a 1968 comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his play The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau...
, Love Story
Love Story (1970 film)
Love Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal and based on his novel Love Story. It was directed by Arthur Hiller. The film, well known as a tragedy, is considered one of the most romantic of all time by the American Film Institute , and was followed by a sequel, Oliver's Story...
, Chinatown, and Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby (film)
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin...
.
Gulf + Western Industries also bought the neighboring Desilu
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
television studio (once the lot of 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...
) from Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
in 1967. Using such of Desilu's established shows as Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, and Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
as a foot in the door at the networks, the newly-reincorporated Paramount Television
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
eventually became known as a specialist in half-hour situation comedies.
1971–1980: CIC Formation & High Concept era
In 1970, Paramount teamed with Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
to form Cinema International Corporation
Cinema International Corporation
Cinema International Corporation was a film distribution company started by Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios in the early 1970s to distribute the 2 studios' films outside the United States – it even operated in Canada before it was...
, a new company that would distribute films by the two studios outside the United States. 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...
would become a partner in the mid 1970s. Both Paramount and CIC entered the video market with Paramount Home Video (now Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.-History:...
) and CIC Video
CIC Video
CIC Video was a home video distributor, owned by Cinema International Corporation , and operated in some countries by local operators...
, respectively.
Robert Evans quit as head of production in 1974; his successor, Richard Sylbert
Richard Sylbert
Richard Sylbert was an Academy Award-winning production designer and art director, primarily for feature films....
, proved to be too literary and too tasteful for Gulf + Western's Bluhdorn. By 1976, a new, television-trained team was in place headed by Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
and his "Killer-Dillers", as they were called by admirers or "Dillettes" as they were called by detractors. These associates, made up of Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
, Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
, Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio. She was born as Dawn Spielberg in New York City and raised in the suburb Great Neck, Long Island. Her father changed the family name.- Career :Dawn Steel attended New York University but did not graduate...
and Don Simpson
Don Simpson
Donald Clarence "Don" Simpson was an American film producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for producing such hits as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and The Rock...
would each go on and head up major movie studios of their own later in their careers.
Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
and Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
hit big, hit hard and hit fast all over the world, and Diller's television background led him to propose one of his longest-standing ideas to the board: a fourth commercial network
Paramount Television Service
The Paramount Television Service was the name of a proposed but ultimately, unrealized "fourth television network" from the major American film studio, Paramount Pictures...
. But neither the board nor Bluhdorn himself accepted Diller's repeated advancements of this idea and neither did Bluhdorn's successor, Martin Davis. But Diller believed strongly in the concept, and so took his fourth-network idea with him when he moved to 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...
in 1984, where Fox's then freshly installed proprietor, Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
was a more interested listener. Meanwhile, concentrating on hot films, Paramount was met with critical success with the release of The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, based on the popular novel.
However, the television division would be playing catch-up for over a decade after Diller's departure in 1984 before launching its own television network – UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
– in 1995. Lasting eleven years before being merged with The WB network to become The CW in 2006, UPN would feature many of the shows it originally produced for other networks, and would take numerous gambles on series, most notably Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
and Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
that would have otherwise either gone direct-to-cable or become first-run syndication to independent stations across the country.
Paramount Pictures was not connected to Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
until it purchased the rights to use the name (but not its catalog) in the late 1960s. The Paramount
Paramount Records (1969)
Paramount Records was a record label started in 1969 by Paramount Pictures after acquiring the rights to the name from George H. Buck. The previous label with the same name had been unconnected to Paramount Pictures. The new Paramount label reissued pop releases by sister label Dot Records, which...
name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the Dot Records
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...
catalog which Paramount had acquired in 1958. By 1970, Dot had become an all-country label and in 1974, Paramount sold all of its record holdings to ABC Records
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
, which in turn was sold to MCA (now Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
) in 1979.
1980–1994: Continuous success
Paramount's successful run of pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like Airplane!Airplane!
Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
, American Gigolo
American Gigolo
American Gigolo is a 1980 crime drama film, written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is informally considered the second installment in his "lonely man" trilogy, following the Martin Scorsese directed Taxi Driver and preceding Light Sleeper .-Plot:Julian Kaye is a male prostitute in Los Angeles...
, Ordinary People
Ordinary People
Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
, An Officer and a Gentleman
An Officer and a Gentleman
A Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 American drama film that tells the story of a U.S. Navy aviation officer candidate who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford...
, Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
, Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...
, Footloose, Pretty In Pink
Pretty in Pink
Pretty in Pink is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about teenage love and social cliques in 1980s American high schools. It is one of a group of John Hughes films starring Molly Ringwald, and is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film...
, Fatal Attraction
Fatal Attraction
Fatal Attraction is a 1987 American thriller blended with horror, directed by Adrian Lyne and stars Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer. The film centers around a married man who has a weekend affair with a woman who refuses to allow it to end, resulting in emotional blackmail, stalking...
, the Friday the 13th slasher
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
series, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
and its sequels. Other examples are the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
series and a string of films starring comedian Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
like Trading Places
Trading Places
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...
, Coming To America
Coming to America
Coming to America is a 1988 comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was written by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, from a story by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the film. Murphy plays an African prince, who heads to the United States in hopes of finding a woman he can marry...
, and Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
and its sequels. While the emphasis was decidedly on the commercial, there were occasional less commercial but more artistic and intellectual efforts like I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can is a 1982 American biographical film directed by Jack Hofsiss, starring Jill Clayburgh. The screenplay by David Rabe is based on the memoir of the same title by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon, whose addiction to and difficult withdrawal from...
, Atlantic City, Reds, Witness
Witness (1985 film)
Witness is a 1985 American thriller film directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. The screenplay by William Kelley, Pamela Wallace, and Earl W...
, Children of a Lesser God
Children of a Lesser God
Children of a Lesser God is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Randa Haines and written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff. An adaptation of Medoff's Tony Award-winning stage play of the same name, the film stars William Hurt and Marlee Matlin as two employees at a school for the deaf:...
and The Accused. During this period, responsibility for running the studio passed from Eisner and Katzenberg to Frank Mancuso Sr.
Frank Mancuso Sr.
Frank G. Mancuso was the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures between 1984 and 1991, and of MGM between 1993 and 1999, when he retired. He is currently the chairman of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Corporate Board of Directors. He is the father of executive producer Frank Mancuso, Jr....
(1984) and Ned Tanen
Ned Tanen
Ned Stone Tanen was an American movie studio executive behind films that included American Graffiti and Animal House....
(1984) to Stanley Jaffe (1991) and Sherry Lansing
Sherry Lansing
Sherry Lansing is a former actress and American film studio executive. She is former CEO of Paramount Pictures, and when president of production at 20th Century Fox was the first woman to head a Hollywood studio In 1996, she became the first woman named Pioneer of the Year by the Foundation of...
(1992). More so than most, Paramount's slate of films included many remakes and television spinoffs; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of the kind that once made Paramount the industry leader. The studio even had its share of box office flops such as Grease 2
Grease 2
Grease 2 is a 1982 American musical film and sequel to Grease, which is based upon the musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Grease 2 was produced by Allan Carr and Robert Stigwood, and directed and choreographed by Patricia Birch, who also choreographed the first film...
, Clue
Clue (film)
Clue is a 1985 comedy mystery film based on the board game of the same name . The film is a murder mystery set in a Gothic Revival mansion, and is styled after Murder by Death and other various murder/dinner parties of mystery...
and a few others.
In 1981, Cinema International Corporation was reorganized as United International Pictures
United International Pictures
United International Pictures is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios , to distribute some of the two studios' films theatrically outside the United States , Canada, and the Anglophone...
. This was necessary because MGM had merged with 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....
which had its own international distribution unit, but MGM was not allowed to leave the venture at the time (they finally did in 2001, switching international distribution to 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...
).
In 1985, Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio. She was born as Dawn Spielberg in New York City and raised in the suburb Great Neck, Long Island. Her father changed the family name.- Career :Dawn Steel attended New York University but did not graduate...
became head of Motion Picture Production.
When Charles Bluhdorn died unexpectedly, his successor Martin Davis dumped all of G+W's industrial, mining, and sugar-growing subsidiaries and refocused the company, renaming it Paramount Communications in 1989. With the influx of cash from the sale of G+W's industrial properties in the mid-1980s, Paramount bought a string of television stations and KECO Entertainment
KECO Entertainment
Kings Entertainment Company owned and/or operated six theme parks around the world. The company was originally owned by Taft Broadcasting and in the mid 1980s was purchased by a few top-level executives of Taft's....
's theme park operations, renaming them Paramount Parks
Paramount Parks
Paramount Parks was an operator of theme parks and attractions, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. Viacom had assumed control of the company as part of its acquisition of Paramount Pictures in 1994....
.
In 1993, Sumner Redstone
Sumner Redstone
Sumner Murray Redstone is an American media magnate. He is the majority owner and Chairman of the Board of the National Amusements theater chain...
's entertainment conglomerate Viacom made a bid for a merger with Paramount Communications; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
and John Malone. But Viacom prevailed, ultimately paying $10 billion for the Paramount holdings.
Paramount is the last major film studio located in Hollywood proper. When Paramount moved to its present home in 1927, it was in the heart of the film community. Since then, former next-door neighbor RKO
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...
closed up shop in 1957; 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,...
(whose old Sunset Boulevard studio was sold to Paramount in 1949 as a home for KTLA) moved to Burbank in 1930; Columbia
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...
joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to 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...
in 1989; and the Pickford-Fairbanks-Goldwyn-United Artists lot, after a lively history, has been turned into a post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
and music-scoring facility for Warners, known simply as "The Lot". For a time the semi-industrial neighborhood around Paramount was in decline, but has now come back. The recently refurbished studio has come to symbolize Hollywood for many visitors, and its studio tour is a popular attraction.
1994–2004: Dolgen/Lansing and "old" Viacom era
During this time period, Paramount Pictures went under the guidance of Jonathan Dolgen, chairman and Sherry LansingSherry Lansing
Sherry Lansing is a former actress and American film studio executive. She is former CEO of Paramount Pictures, and when president of production at 20th Century Fox was the first woman to head a Hollywood studio In 1996, she became the first woman named Pioneer of the Year by the Foundation of...
, president. During their administration over Paramount, the studio had an extremely successful period of films with two of Paramount's ten highest grossing films being produced during this period. The most successful of these films, Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, a joint production with 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...
, became the highest grossing film up to that time, grossing over $1.8 billion worldwide. Also during this time, three Paramount Pictures films won the Academy Award for Best Picture; Titanic, Braveheart, and Forrest Gump. Dolgen and Lansing also presided over the production and release of other films including Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944....
(with DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks 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...
), as well as the Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible (film)
Mission: Impossible is a 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Following on from the television series of the same name, the plot follows a new agent, Ethan Hunt and his mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire...
films.
Paramount's most important property, however, was Star Trek. Studio executives had begun to call it "the franchise" in the 1980s due to its reliable revenue, and other studios envied its "untouchable and unduplicatable" success. By 1998 Star Trek TV shows, movies, books, videotapes, and licensing provided so much of the studio's profit that "it is not possible to spend any reasonable amount of time at Paramount and not be aware of [its] presence"; filming for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine required up to nine of the largest of the studio's 36 sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...
s.
In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
' United Television launched United Paramount Network (UPN) with Star Trek: Voyager as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for a Paramount network from 25 years earlier. In 1999, Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the start-up network to the newly acquired CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
unit, which Viacom bought in 1999 – an ironic confluence of events as Paramount had once invested in CBS, and Viacom had once been the syndication arm of CBS as well.
In 2002, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt 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...
, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, and 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,...
formed the Digital Cinema Initiative. DCI was created "to establish and document voluntary specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control."
CBS Corporation/Viacom split
Reflecting in part the troubles of the broadcasting business, in 2005 Viacom wrote off over $28 billion from its radio acquisitions and, early that year, announced that it would split itself in two. The split was completed in January 2006.Among the assets that went to the new CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
are the CBS television and radio networks, the Infinity radio-station chain (now CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
), Paramount Television (now CBS Television Studios), UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
(which merged with Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
's The WB to become The CW), and the Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks, Inc. is the corporate division of media conglomerate CBS Corporation.The company was established in 1983 as Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. after Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment merged their premium channels, Showtime and The Movie Channel respectively, into one...
pay TV unit which includes Showtime, The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel is an American premium channel owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, which shows mostly movies, as well as special behind-the-scenes features, softcore adult erotica and movie trivia....
and Flix. CBS was also given control of Paramount Parks which it sold to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company in June 2006 for $1.24 billion.
Paramount Pictures is now lumped in with MTV, BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
, and other highly profitable channels owned by the new Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
.
With the announcement of the split of Viacom, Dolgen and Lansing were replaced by former television executives Brad Grey and Gail Berman. The decision was made to split Viacom into two companies, which in turn led to a dismantling of the Paramount Studio/Paramount TV infrastructure, with the current Paramount, consisting only of the movie studio, retaining only about one-quarter its former size under Dolgen and Lansing. The Paramount Television studio was made part of CBS in the split and the remaining businesses were sold off or parceled out to other operating groups. Paramount's home entertainment unit continues to distribute the Paramount TV library through CBS DVD, as both Viacom and CBS Corporation are controlled by Michael Redstone
Michael Redstone
Michael Redstone, born Michael Rothstein, was the founder of the Northeast Theater Corporation which has become National Amusements, Inc., which owns CBS Corporation, Viacom, music networks MTV Networks, and BET, with movie production and distribution Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie...
's National Amusements
National Amusements
National Amusements, Inc. is a privately owned theatre company based in Dedham, Massachusetts, USA. The company was founded in 1936 as the Northeast Theatre Corporation by Michael Redstone....
.
In 2009, CBS stopped using the Paramount name in its series and changed the name of the production arm to CBS Television Studios, eliminating the Paramount name from television, to distant itself from the latter. It is one of only 2 of the Big Six to have this fate (the other being 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...
, although unlike Paramount, it is still a direct sister to its former TV arm
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
).
Joint venture with DreamWorks
On December 11, 2005, The Paramount Motion Pictures Group announced that it had purchased DreamWorks SKGDreamWorks
DreamWorks 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...
(which was co-founded by former Paramount executive Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
) in a deal worth $1.6 billion. The announcement was made by Brad Grey
Brad Grey
Brad Alan Grey is the Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, a position he has held since 2005. Under Grey’s leadership, Paramount has finished No.2 in market share in 2008, 2009 and 2010 despite releasing significantly fewer films than its competitors.Since arriving at Paramount in 2005,...
, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, who noted that enhancing Paramount's pipeline of pictures is a "key strategic objective in restoring Paramount's stature as a leader in filmed entertainment." The agreement does not include DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
, the most profitable part of the company that went public the previous year.
Under the deal, Paramount is required to distribute the DreamWorks animated films for a small fee intended only to cover Paramount's out of pocket costs with no profit to the studio, including the Shrek
Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
franchise (and ending for the 2004 installment, Shrek 2
Shrek 2
Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...
). The first film distributed under this deal is Over the Hedge
Over the Hedge (film)
Over the Hedge is a 2006 computer animated family action comedy film based on the characters from United Media comic strip of the same name. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, and produced by Bonnie Arnold, it was released in the United States on May 19, 2006.The film was produced by...
.
The deal closed on February 6, 2006. This acquisition was seen at the time as a stopgap measure as Brad Grey had been unsuccessful in assembling sufficient films for production and distribution and the DreamWorks films would fill the gap.
On October 6, 2008, Paramount and DreamWorks announced the joint venture was ending and that DreamWorks would be seeking new distributors for its films.
UIP, Famous Music and Digital Entertainment
Grey also broke up the famous UIP international distribution company, the most successful international film distributor in history, after a 25-year partnership with Universal Studios and has started up a new international group. As a consequence Paramount fell from No.1 in the international markets to the lowest ranked major studio in 2006 but recovered in 2007 if the DreamWorks films, acquired by Paramount but still distributed internationally by Universal, are included in Paramount's market share. UIP still does business in smaller markets.Grey also launched a Digital Entertainment division to take advantage of emerging digital distribution technologies. This led to Paramount becoming the second movie studio to sign a deal with Apple Inc. to sell its films through the iTunes store. They also signed an exclusive agreement with the failed HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
consortium and subsequently gave up the guarantees they had received and will now release in the Blu-ray format.
Also, in 2007, Paramount sold another one of its "heritage" units, Famous Music
Famous Music
Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump...
, to Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly owned subsidiary...
(best known for publishing many songs by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, and for being co-owned by Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
), ending a nearly-eight decade run as a division of Paramount, being the studio's music publishing arm since the period when the entire company went by the name "Famous Players." An additional legacy unit, Famous Players Theaters (Canada) was sold in 2006 to its competitor Cineplex Odeon Corporation
Cineplex Odeon
Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States...
. These theaters had been in the company since the days of silent movie. When the 1954 Paramount Consent Decree forced divestiture by the studios, it did not apply outside the US so Paramount kept its Canadian theater subsidiary.
Insurge Pictures
In March 2010, Paramount founded Insurge Pictures, an independent distributor of "micro budget" films. The distributor planned ten movies with budgets of $100,000 each.Animation division
In July 2011, in the wake of critical and box office success of the animated feature, RangoRango (2011 film)
Rango is a 2011 American computer-animated Western Comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Graham King. In the film, a chameleon named Rango accidentally ends up in the town of Dirt, an outpost that is in desperate need of a new sheriff...
, and the possible departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract in 2012, Paramount announced the formation of a new division, devoted to the creation of animated productions. The first films from this new animation studio is expected to be released sometime in 2014. In October 2011, Paramount named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, president of the Paramount Animation.
It marks Paramount's return to having its own animated division for the first time since 1967, when Paramount Cartoon Studios shut down (it was formerly Famous Studios
Famous Studios
Famous Studios was the animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...
until 1956).
The Paramount library
Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, many of Paramount's early cartoons, shorts, and feature films are owned by numerous entities In the 1950s, as a consequence of the 1948 Supreme Court verdict, the studio saw little value in its library, and decided to sell off its back catalog.Balaban, consistent with his other decisions to sell off rights and dismantle Paramount's library, was of the opinion that there was no future economic value to "old" movies. This "strategy" of the gradual dismantling Paramount's assets and library has continued under current Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman who not only split the company in half and gave the television library and distribution rights to the feature films to CBS, but also sold off the Company's music library, Famous Music
Famous Music
Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump...
.
Except for the Superman
Superman (1940s cartoons)
The Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman....
cartoons and the features sold to MCA (to end up with Universal), most television prints of these films have had their titles remade to remove most traces of their connection to Paramount – the original copyright lines were left intact on Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
cartoons (the Popeye cartoons have been restored for DVD release with the original Paramount titles).
As for distribution of the material Paramount itself still owns, it has been split in half, with Paramount themselves owning theatrical rights. But from 2006–2009, the library was distributed by CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
, the television distribution arm of CBS Paramount Television (now CBS Television Studios) – the films are now distributed by Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in exchange for syndication deals with local television...
on television.
Short subjects and cartoons
U.M.&M./NTA/Republic:Most of the Paramount cartoons and shorts went to various television distributors, with U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. is best known as the original purchaser of Paramount Pictures' pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons...
acquiring the majority of the cartoons and live action short subjects released before October 1950 (exceptions are noted below), in 1955. Some lesser known features were included in this deal as well, such as It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
.
U.M.&M. was later sold to National Telefilm Associates
National Telefilm Associates
National Telefilm Associates was an independent distribution company that handled reissues of American film libraries, including much of Paramount Pictures' animated and short-subjects library.-History:...
, or NTA for short. NTA changed its name to 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....
(which was previously the name of a minor film studio, whose backlog had been sold to NTA) in 1986, sold to Spelling Entertainment, Inc.
Spelling Television
Spelling Television Inc. was a television production company that produced popular shows such as Charmed, Beverly Hills, 90210, 7th Heaven, Dynasty and Melrose Place. The company was founded by television producer Aaron Spelling in 1969...
in 1994, and was sold to Viacom in 1999, hence all the material sold to U.M.&M. would return to Paramount (though, except for few other films, video rights belong to Lionsgate).
Popeye and Superman:
However, not all pre-10/50 Paramount cartoons went to U.M.&M. (to end up with Republic). The Popeye cartoons were sold to Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
in 1956, which also purchased most of the pre-1950 features and shorts by Warner Bros. Pictures. Meanwhile, the rights to the Superman cartoons returned to National Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, who licensed the syndication rights to Flamingo Films, distributors of the Superman television series
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
.
The Popeye cartoons passed on to 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....
in 1958 after its purchase of a.a.p., then to MGM in 1981 after they purchased UA. After Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
failed in an attempt to buy MGM/UA in 1986, he settled for ownership of the library, which included the a.a.p. library. Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
, the holding company for Turner's film library, would later be sold to Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. Turner technically holds the rights to the Popeye cartoons today, but sales and distribution is in the hands of Warner Bros. Entertainment
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,...
.
WB also owns Superman's publisher, DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, and although the Superman cartoons are now in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
, WB owns the original film elements.
Harveytoons:
The rest of the post-September 1950 cartoons by Famous Studios that were released prior to April 1, 1962 (except some special releases) were sold to Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
, along with all rights to Famous' characters Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...
, Little Audrey
Little Audrey
Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character...
, Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip
Herman and Katnip are a duo of cartoon characters . From 1944 to September 1950, Herman appeared without Katnip, who made his first appearance in November 1950 with Mice Meeting You. The two characters continued to star in animated cartoons by Famous Studios until 1959...
, et al., in 1958, which were retitled "Harveytoons" for television distribution after 1959 (beginning with their exposure on Matty's Funday Funnies
Matty's Funday Funnies
Matty's Funday Funnies is an American animated cartoon compilation television series.The original Matty's Funday Funnies aired from 1959-1961 on ABC's Sunday afternoon schedule , and originally featured 1950-59 Famous Studios theatrical cartoons starring Casper the...
), and are now owned by Classic Media
Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
. A few live-action short-subjects were apparently included in this package as well, as searches in the Library of Congress Copyright Catalog indicate.;
EMKA, Ltd.
When the talent agency Music Corporation of America (better known as MCA), then wielding major influence on Paramount policy, offered $50 million for 750 features released prior to December 1, 1949 (with payment to be spread over many years), a cash-strapped Paramount thought it had made the best possible deal. To address anti-trust concerns, MCA set up a separate company, EMKA, Ltd.EMKA, Ltd.
EMKA, Ltd. is an in-name-only division of Universal Studios' television unit whose sole function is overseeing Paramount Pictures' pre-1950 sound feature film library. EMKA was formed by MCA in 1957 .In the aftermath of the landmark 1948 United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc...
, to sell these films to television. The deal included such notable Paramount films as the early Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
films, most of the Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
-Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
"Road" pictures, and such Oscar contenders as Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and The Heiress
The Heiress
The Heiress is a 1949 American drama film. It was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 play of the same title that was based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. The film was directed by William Wyler, with starring performances by Olivia de Havilland as...
.
MCA later admitted that over the next forty years it took in more than a billion dollars in rentals of these supposedly "worthless" pictures. MCA later purchased the US branch of Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, which owned Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
(now a part of NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
), and thus Universal now owns these films, though EMKA continues to hold the copyright and technically are part of the television unit of NBC Universal.
Some of these films would get remade by Universal in later years, either as theatrical releases (such as Meet Joe Black
Meet Joe Black
Meet Joe Black is a 1998 American fantasy romance film produced by Universal Studios, directed by Martin Brest and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Forlani, loosely based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday...
, a remake of Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on the Italian play La Morte in Vacanze by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
), or for television. Yet a few other films became adapted by Revue Studios (now Universal Television
Universal Television
Universal Television is the television production arm of the NBCUniversal Television Group, and by extension, the NBC television network...
) as television series.
Exceptions in pre-1950 library
- Paramount retained the rights to several films released between 1948 and 1949, including You Came AlongYou Came AlongYou Came Along is a 1945 romance film set in World War II with a screenplay by Ayn Rand. It starred Robert Cummings and, in her film debut, Lizabeth Scott. Robert Cummings' character has the same name of his character on his 1950's television show Love That Bob.-Cast:*Robert Cummings as Major Bob...
, I Walk AloneI Walk AloneI Walk Alone is a 1948 film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, and Kirk Douglas. It was the directorial debut of Byron Haskin....
, Sorry, Wrong NumberSorry, Wrong NumberSorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American suspense film noir directed by Anatole Litvak. It tells the story of a woman who overhears a plot for murder. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley, Leif Erickson and William Conrad.The film was adapted by Lucille...
, The AccusedThe Accused (1949 film)The Accused is an American film noir directed by William Dieterle and written by Ketti Frings, based on Be Still, My Love, a novel written by June Truesdell...
, Rope of SandRope of SandRope of Sand was a 1949 adventure film directed by William Dieterle, produced by Hal B. Wallis, starringBurt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Corinne Calvet, Sam Jaffe, and John Bromfield.-Plot:...
, My Friend IrmaMy Friend Irma (film)My Friend Irma is a comedy film directed by George Marshall and is most notable as the film debut of comedy team Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis...
, Red, Hot and BlueRed, Hot and Blue (film)Red, Hot and Blue is a 1949 musical comedy film starring Betty Hutton as an actress who gets mixed up with gangsters and murder. It has no connection to Cole Porter's play of the same name...
, Top o' the MorningTop o' the Morning (film)Top o' the Morning is a 1949 film directed by David Miller. It stars Bing Crosby and Ann Blyth.-Cast:*Bing Crosby as Joe Mulqueen*Ann Blyth as Conn McNaughton*Barry Fitzgerald as Seargent Briny McNaughton*Hume Cronyn as Hughie Devine...
, Bride of VengeanceBride of VengeanceBride of Vengeance is a 1949 adventure film directed by Mitchell Leisen. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes. It stars Paulette Goddard and John Lund.-Cast:*Paulette Goddard as Lucrezia Borgia*John Lund as Alfonso d'Este...
, Samson and DelilahSamson and Delilah (1949 film)Samson and Delilah is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures , produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as the title characters...
and Dear WifeDear WifeDear Wife is a 1949 comedy film starring Joan Caulfield and William Holden. It is the sequel to Dear Ruth, which was based on the Broadway play of the same name by Norman Krasna.J. D...
. Most of these were produced independently by Hal B. WallisHal B. WallisHal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
Productions, and picked up for distribution by Paramount. - Several feature films ended up in Republic's possession (as stated above), yet others had been retained by Paramount due to other rights issues (such as The BuccaneerThe Buccaneer (1938 film)The Buccaneer is a 1938 American adventure film made by Paramount Pictures based on Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. It was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Harold Lamb, Edwin Justus Mayer and C. Gardner Sullivan adapted by Jeanie...
and The Miracle of Morgan's CreekThe Miracle of Morgan's CreekThe Miracle of Morgan's Creek is a 1944 screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton, and featuring Diana Lynn, William Demarest and Porter Hall...
– it is presumed these remained under Paramount ownership so that remakes could be filmedThe Buccaneer (1958 film)The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose...
for release in 1958, without having to license the rights). - Paramount has retained the rights to some of its silent films, including 1927's WingsWings (film)Wings is a silent film about World War I fighter pilots, produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman and released by Paramount Pictures. Wings was the first film, and the only silent film, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Wings stars Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and...
, the first "Best Picture" Academy Award winner and Josef von SternbergJosef von SternbergJosef von Sternberg — born Jonas Sternberg — was an Austrian-American film director. He is particularly noted for his distinctive mise en scène, use of lighting and soft lens, and seven-film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich.-Youth:Von Sternberg was born Jonas Sternberg to a Jewish...
films UnderworldUnderworld (1927 film)Underworld is a 1927 silent crime film directed by Josef von Sternberg.-Plot:Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.-Cast:* George Bancroft as "Bull" Weed* Evelyn Brent as "Feathers"...
, The Last CommandThe Last Command (film)The Last Command is a 1928 silent film directed by Josef von Sternberg, and written by John F. Goodrich and Herman J. Mankiewicz, from a story by Lajos Biró. Star Emil Jannings won the very first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performances in this film and The Way of All...
, and The Docks of New YorkThe Docks of New YorkThe Docks of New York is a silent film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring George Bancroft, Betty Compson and Baclanova. It tells the story of a prostitute who tries to rise above her life on the docks by finding love...
. However, many others are either lostLost filmA lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
or in the public domain (in fact, per US law, all films released before 1923 are in the public domain). - One additional pre-1950 film, the 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , the Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of...
, was sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 who filmed a remakeDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film)Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's...
that same year – this film is also now owned by WB/Turner Entertainment; - Three films produced by Paramount in 1942 – I Married a WitchI Married a WitchI Married a Witch is a 1942 fantasy romantic comedy film, directed by René Clair, and starring Veronica Lake as a witch whose plan for revenge goes comically awry, with Fredric March as her foil. The film also features Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward and Cecil Kellaway...
, The Crystal BallThe Crystal Ball (film)The Crystal Ball is a 1943 film directed by Elliott Nugent. It stars Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard.-Cast:*Ray Milland as Brad Cavanaugh*Paulette Goddard as Toni Gerard*Gladys George as Madame Zenobia*Virginia Field as Jo Ainsly...
and Young and WillingYoung and WillingYoung and Willing is a 1943 American comedy film made by Paramount Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Edward H...
were sold to United Artists when that studio needed product to release, and Paramount had a surplus. These films would not end up under EMKA ownership, and are now owned by Castle Hill ProductionsCastle Hill ProductionsCastle Hill Productions is an independent television and film distribution company handling classic and independent films whose library spans eight decades.-Background:...
, with video rights licensed to WB. - Three series of shorts produced by Jerry FairbanksJerry FairbanksGerald Bertram "Jerry" Fairbanks was a producer and director in the Hollywood motion picture and television industry....
- Unusual Occupations, Speaking of Animals, and Popular SciencePopular Science (film)Popular Science was a series of short films, produced by Jerry Fairbanks and released by Paramount Pictures.The Popular Science film series is a Hollywood entertainment production - the only attempt by the movie industry to chronicle the progress of science, industry and popular culture during the...
- are owned by Shields Pictures.
Post-1950 rights changes
Rights to some of Paramount's films from 1950 onward would also change hands.Alfred Hitchcock
- Most notably, the rights to five Paramount films directed by Alfred HitchcockAlfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
– Rear WindowRear WindowRear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
, The Trouble with HarryThe Trouble with HarryThe Trouble With Harry is a 1955 American black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel of the same name by Jack Trevor Story. It was released in the United States on October 3, 1955 then rereleased once the distribution rights were acquired by Universal Pictures in 1984...
, The Man Who Knew Too MuchThe Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name....
, VertigoVertigo (film)Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...
and Psycho – were owned by the director himself. Hitchcock sold the distribution rights to Psycho in 1968, and in the early 1970s, pulled the remaining films out of circulation. - Following Hitchcock's death, Universal (which purchased the Psycho rights) eventually acquired the distribution rights to the four other films (along with a former WB feature, RopeRope (film)Rope is a 1948 American thriller film based on the play Rope by Patrick Hamilton and adapted by Hume Cronyn and Arthur Laurents, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Sidney Bernstein and Hitchcock as the first of their Transatlantic Pictures productions...
) in 1983 from the Hitchcock estate (which still holds all other ancillary rights to these films—the estate is overseen by his daughter, Patricia); - However, one Hitchcock film, To Catch a ThiefTo Catch a Thief (film)To Catch a Thief is a 1955 romantic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams. The movie is set on the French Riviera, and was based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge...
, is still under Paramount's ownership, since Paramount is the copyright owner of the film.
Jerry Lewis
Paramount's association with the comedian Jerry LewisJerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, which produced The Nutty Professor
The Nutty Professor
The Nutty Professor is a 1963 Paramount Pictures science fiction comedy feature film produced, directed, co-written and starring Jerry Lewis...
among other films, ended in the 1970s, and the rights to these films were given back to Lewis. As a consequence, the hit remakes starring Eddie Murphy were released by Universal Pictures.
This reversion to Jerry Lewis resulted from a promise made by then-Paramount CEO Barney Balaban who gratuitously offered to give the rights back to Lewis as a birthday present. Paramount, however, has retained full distribution rights to the Lewis films under license from Lewis's company, York Pictures Corporation.
Other films
One Paramount film, Becket is under different ownership. The film's copyright, originally registered by Paramount in 1964, was renewed by "Classic Photoplays, Inc." in 1992. U.S. home video distribution rights have been licensed to MPI Home VideoMPI Home Video
MPI Home Video is a home entertainment company that produces and distributes popular documentaries, films and television series on DVD & Blu-ray for the home video market. MPI Home Video is a subsidiary of MPI Media Group which was founded in 1976 by brothers Malik & Waleed Ali...
.
Paramount owned most rights to the Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
film Loving You
Loving You
Loving You is an American motion picture directed by Hal Kanter, released by Paramount Pictures on July 9, 1957. The film stars Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey...
, including distribution and partial ownership of its copyright. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
later acquired the rights to the film around the time it first aired on the channel. NBC licensed television syndication rights to NBCUniversal Television Distribution and US video distribution to Lionsgate.
Miscellaneous exceptions
Bob HopeBob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
's later films originally released by Paramount (including The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys
The Seven Little Foys is a 1955 film starring Bob Hope as Eddie Foy. James Cagney reprises his role as George M. Cohan for an energetic tabletop dance showdown sequence. In addition to the famous film, the story of Eddie Foy, Sr...
and The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on the short story of the same name by Damon Runyon, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell, and directed by Sidney Lanfield.The song "Silver Bells," sung by Hope and Maxwell, was introduced in the film...
) are owned by his estate. Distribution rights are split between Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
and FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
, both successors-in-interest to a joint venture called Colex Enterprises
Colex Enterprises
Colex Enterprises was a joint venture company between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from 1984 to 1988. The joint venture's name was a combination of the two companies' names .The company was responsible for distributing the Screen Gems...
, which had consisted of respective predecessor companies Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...
and LBS Communications. Hope's other films, My Favorite Brunette
My Favorite Brunette
My Favorite Brunette is a 1947 movie spoofing movie detectives and the film noir style. Starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, it also features Lon Chaney, Jr...
and Road to Bali
Road to Bali
Road to Bali is a 1952 comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. It was released by Paramount Pictures and is the sixth of the seven Road to … movies...
, are in the public domain, but Hope's estate has the original elements.
Titles merely distributed by Paramount
A number of films produced by independent companies and merely distributed by Paramount would also end up with other companies.- The 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryWilly Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
was produced by Wolper Productions. Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the film from the film's financer The Quaker Oats Company in 1977 (around the same time they bought out Wolper itself), after Paramount no longer had any interest to own the distribution rights to the film due to the initial failure of Willy Wonka;
- WB also owns the rights to several films originally distributed by Paramount that were produced by Lorimar ProductionsLorimar ProductionsLorimar, later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American television production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993...
, which was sold to WB in 1989. Titles included in this library are S.O.B., the 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings TwiceThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film)The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1934 novel by the same name by James M. Cain. The film was produced by Lorimar and originally released theatrically in North America by Paramount Pictures. This version, based on a screenplay by David Mamet and directed by Bob...
(WB also owns the 1946 MGM version through Turner), The Sea WolvesThe Sea WolvesThe Sea Wolves is a 1980 war film starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven. The film is based on the book Boarding Party by James Leasor, which itself is based on a real incident which took place in World War II...
, and Escape to VictoryEscape to VictoryEscape to Victory, known simply as Victory in North America, is a 1981 film about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during World War II...
(a.k.a. Victory);
- The Patrick GarlandPatrick Garlandthumb|right|200pxPatrick Garland is a British actor, writer, and director.Garland started Poetry International in 1963 with Ted Hughes and Charles Osborne. He was a director and producer for the BBC's Music and Arts Department , and worked on its Monitor series...
version of A Doll's HouseA Doll's House (1973 Garland film)A Doll's House is a 1973 British film, directed by Patrick Garland. It is based on Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House.-Cast:* Claire Bloom - Nora Helmer* Anthony Hopkins - Torvald Helmer* Ralph Richardson - Dr...
, released in 1973, is now owned by MGM and StudioCanalStudioCanalStudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
;
- The movie Seven Days in MaySeven Days in MaySeven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
now lies with Warner Bros., successor-in-interest to the film's production company, Seven Arts ProductionsSeven Arts ProductionsSeven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. The company was a frequent producer of movies for other studios, including The Misfits for United Artists, Gigot for Twentieth Century-Fox, Lolita for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Is Paris Burning? for Paramount Pictures.Over...
.
- The 1978 film adaptation of Death on the NileDeath on the Nile (1978 film)Death on the Nile is a 1978 film based on the Agatha Christie mystery novel Death on the Nile, directed by John Guillermin. The film features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot played by Peter Ustinov plus an all-star cast. It takes place in Egypt, mostly on the Nile River...
is now owned by StudioCanal (the successor company to original producer EMI FilmsEMI FilmsEMI Films was a British film and television production company and distributor. The company was formed after the takeover of Associated British Picture Corporation in 1968 by EMI....
)--StudioCanal has licensed DVD rights to Lionsgate, after some years of being distributed by 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,...
;
- The De Laurentiis Entertainment GroupDe Laurentiis Entertainment GroupDe Laurentiis Entertainment Group was a production company/distribution unit founded by producer Dino De Laurentiis.The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives , and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as...
library was initially distributed by Paramount in Canada, these films are also in the StudioCanal catalog, with MGM, Anchor Bay, and Fox each distributing some titles in North America);
- Paramount also no longer owns North American rights to MeatballsMeatballs (film)Meatballs is a 1979 Canadian comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman. It is noted for the first film appearance of Bill Murray in a starring role and for launching Reitman into a distinguished career of financially successful comedies including Stripes and Ghostbusters , both starring Murray...
. US DVD rights are with Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
, but other US rights are uncertain. Paramount still controls international rights;
- Lionsgate now controls most rights to the 1987 Vietnam War film Hamburger HillHamburger HillHamburger Hill is a 1987 American war film about the actual assault of the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division 'Screaming Eagles', on a well-fortified position, including trenchworks and bunkers, of the North Vietnamese Army on Ap Bia...
, though Paramount retains TV and Internet rights;
- Rights to the 1964 films The Fall of the Roman EmpireThe Fall of the Roman Empire (film)The Fall of the Roman Empire is a 1964 English-language epic film produced by Samuel Bronston Productions and the Rank Organisation, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston with Jaime Prades and Michal Waszynski as associate producers. The...
and Circus WorldCircus World (film)Circus World, also known as Samuel Bronston's Circus World, is a 1964 drama film made by the independent production company Samuel Bronston Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
were owned by these films' producer Samuel BronstonSamuel BronstonSamuel Bronston was a Bessarabian-born American film producer, film director, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky. He was also the petitioner in a U.S...
. Bronston sold those rights to his creditors after he filed for bankruptcy. US distribution rights were licensed years later to MiramaxMiramax 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...
. After its founders BobBob WeinsteinRobert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...
and Harvey WeinsteinHarvey WeinsteinHarvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
split from DisneyThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, they formed 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...
, who currently owns the US distribution rights. Distribution in other countries are with different companies;
- Foreign rights to the 1975 Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
film NashvilleNashville (1975 film)Nashville is a 1975 American musical black comedy film directed by Robert Altman. A winner of many awards, selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, Nashville is generally considered to be one of Altman's best films....
, are currently owned by ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), but Paramount still owns North American rights (both Paramount and ABC share copyrights).
Films bought by Paramount in later years
- In 1947, the studio acquired Frank CapraFrank CapraFrank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's production company, Liberty FilmsLiberty FilmsLiberty Films was an independent motion picture production company founded in California by Frank Capra and Samuel J. Briskin in April 1945. It produced only two films, It's a Wonderful Life , originally released by RKO Radio Pictures, and the film version of the hit play State of the Union ,...
, which produced only 2 films in the 1940s: It's a Wonderful Life, released originally by RKO Radio PicturesRKO PicturesRKO 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...
, and State of the UnionState of the Union (film)State of the Union is a 1948 film adaptation written by Myles Connolly and Anthony Veiller of the Russel Crouse, Howard Lindsay play of the same name. Directed by Frank Capra and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, the film is Capra's first and only project for MGM Pictures...
, released originally by 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...
(the latter made under Paramount ownership). Liberty Films was closed in April 1951 and the former film was sold to U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. and later NTA and is back under Paramount distribution, on behalf of Republic Pictures; EMKA/NBCUniversal owns the latter presently.
- In the 1970s, Paramount acquired the rights to the Frank Capra film Broadway BillBroadway BillBroadway Bill is an American horse-racing - comedy film from 1934, directed by Frank Capra and starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy. In the UK the film was released as Strictly Confidential...
, which was originally released by 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...
– Paramount had remade the film as Riding HighRiding High (1950 film)Riding High is a black and white musical racetrack film featuring Bing Crosby and directed by Frank Capra in which the songs were actually sung as the movie was being filmed instead of the customary lip-synching to previous recordings. The movie is a remake of an earlier Capra film called...
in 1950;
- In 2004, Paramount bought all worldwide distribution rights to the original 1975 version of The Stepford WivesThe Stepford Wives (1975 film)The Stepford Wives is a 1975 science fiction–thriller film based on the 1972 Ira Levin novel of the same name. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman, and stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman and Tina Louise...
(also released by Columbia), in connection with the release of the remakeThe Stepford Wives (2004 film)The Stepford Wives is a 2004 American science fiction film. The film is a remake of the 1975 film of the same name; both films are based on the Ira Levin novel The Stepford Wives...
.
- The company owns DVD rights to many films produced by Full Moon Entertainment, due to a deal made with the company years before. Paramount also owns DVD rights to several films released by 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...
prior to that firm's acquisition by Disney in 1993, also a result of a deal.
- Paramount owns the film libraries of many other companies that were absorbed into Republic (see the 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....
and Spelling Entertainment articles for more info), again with DVD rights licensed to Lionsgate;
- The company owns the film libraries of Rysher EntertainmentRysher EntertainmentRysher Entertainment is the owner of TV and film programming content, primarily distributed around the world by CBS Television Distribution and CBS/ Paramount Pictures...
and Bing Crosby Productions (which had been merged with Rysher in the 1990s) – such titles include Walking TallWalking TallWalking Tall is a 1973 semi-biopic of Sheriff Buford Pusser, a former professional wrestler-turned-lawman in McNairy County, Tennessee. It starred Joe Don Baker as Pusser...
and the international rights to It Takes Two;
- Paramount also owns (through the Viacom merger) US distribution rights to the 1951 film The African Queen, originally distributed by 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....
(the international rights are with ITV Global EntertainmentGranada ProductionsGranada Productions was a British commercial television production and distribution company. The company took its name from the successful ITV franchise, Granada Television....
).
- After its initial release, Paramount bought the worldwide distribution rights to Francis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
's 1979 Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
epic Apocalypse NowApocalypse NowApocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
(on behalf of Coppola's company American ZoetropeAmerican ZoetropeAmerican Zoetrope is a studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Founded on December 12, 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV...
). To fund the release of the "redux" versionApocalypse Now ReduxApocalypse Now Redux is a 2001 extended version of the epic war film Apocalypse Now, which was originally released in 1979. Unlike other new cuts of the film, Redux is usually considered by fans and critics, as well as director Francis Ford Coppola a completely new movie altogether...
, Paramount and Coppola sold the international rights (to both the original and "redux" versions) to a joint venture of 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...
and StudioCanalStudioCanalStudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
. As a result, various other companies control the international distribution rights to Apocalypse Now (in some countries, each version has a different distrbutor). Paramount has recently licensed the US video rights to Lionsgate as part of the package of Paramount films licensed as such; Lionsgate released the film on Blu-Ray on October 19, 2010. After Miramax was sold, StudioCanal assumed some of its rights outside the US as well.
Films only owned by Paramount for TV and digital distribution
Paramount, through several transactions, acquired underlying TV and digital distribution rights to many films controlled by other companies for domestic theatrical and DVD distribution and/or other international rights.- Through the merger with Viacom, they gained U.S. rights to the majority of the Cannon Films library (except LifeforceLifeforce (film)Lifeforce is a 1985 science fiction film directed by Tobe Hooper from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, from the novel The Space Vampires, published in 1976, by Colin Wilson.-Plot:...
, where some of said rights are owned by Sony via its initial US theatrical distribution by TriStar, once posting it on the website Crackle), owned for other media by MGM (who also posted LifeforceLifeforce (film)Lifeforce is a 1985 science fiction film directed by Tobe Hooper from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, from the novel The Space Vampires, published in 1976, by Colin Wilson.-Plot:...
on Hulu). - Notably, this allowed Paramount to have some involvement in the SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
franchise for the first time since selling off the Fleischer/Famous cartoons. They gained television rights to the fourth Superman filmSuperman IV: The Quest for PeaceSuperman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie. It is the fourth film in the Superman film series and the last installment to star Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, but...
as part of the Cannon library, as well as Superman IIISuperman IIISuperman III is a 1983 superhero film and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics superhero. Christopher Reeve, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure and Margot Kidder are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn and...
and SupergirlSupergirl (film)Supergirl is a 1984 superhero film directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role in the title role of the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl. Faye Dunaway played the primary villain, Selena. The film was a spin-off from the Salkinds' Superman film series which...
– both of which were produced by the Salkinds. The latter two titles are now owned by WB for all media, but Superman IV is still part of Paramount's library for over-the-air TV and digital rights (though WB did handle these rights for a three-year license 2006–09); - The Viacom merger also gave Paramount the TV rights to the pre-1984 New World Pictures library, under license from Roger CormanRoger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
, the company's founder; - Paramount has also acquired (through Trifecta Entertanment & Media) the US TV and digital rights to most of the Carolco PicturesCarolco PicturesCarolco Pictures, Inc., Carolco International N.V., or Anabasis Investments was an American independent film production company that, within a decade, went from producing such blockbuster successes as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the first three movies of the Rambo series to being bankrupted by...
catalog, under license from StudioCanalStudioCanalStudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
, as a result of acquiring Spelling Entertainment GroupSpelling TelevisionSpelling Television Inc. was a television production company that produced popular shows such as Charmed, Beverly Hills, 90210, 7th Heaven, Dynasty and Melrose Place. The company was founded by television producer Aaron Spelling in 1969...
, whose Worldvision Enterprises division had been distributing the Carolco library. Notable titles include the first three Rambo films, Basic InstinctBasic InstinctBasic Instinct is a 1992 erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas, and starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone....
, Terminator 2: Judgment DayTerminator 2: Judgment DayTerminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...
, Angel HeartAngel HeartAngel Heart is a 1987 North American/British mystery-thriller film written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet...
, Total RecallTotal RecallTotal Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox & Mel Johnson, Jr.. It is based on the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”...
, L.A. StoryL.A. StoryL.A. Story is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, written by and starring Steve Martin. Set in Los Angeles, California, it relates a series of episodes in the romantic life of an L.A. TV weatherman. It includes surreal sequences in which he is offered romantic advice flashed to him by a freeway...
, and The DoorsThe Doors (film)The Doors is a 1991 biopic about the 1960s-1970s rock band of the same name which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison. It was directed by Oliver Stone, and stars Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson , Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger,...
; - Paramount has TV and digital rights to some films in the Nelson Entertainment catalog, also as a result of the Viacom merger, including the Bill & Ted films – all other rights, including Nelson's later films and the copyright to Bill & Ted's Bogus JourneyBill & Ted's Bogus JourneyBill & Ted's Bogus Journey is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the directing debut of Peter Hewitt. It is the second film in the Bill & Ted franchise, and a sequel to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure . Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin reprise their respective roles...
, reside with MGM (several other Nelson films are owned by Paramount for TV and digital distribution through the Spelling merger, as Worldvision at one point had rights to some Nelson films as well); - Paramount also has TV/digital rights to Dead Man WalkingDead Man Walking (film)Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American drama film directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name...
, originally from PolyGram Filmed EntertainmentPolyGram Filmed EntertainmentPolyGram Filmed Entertainment was a film studio, founded in 1979 as a European competitor to Hollywood, but eventually sold and merged with Universal Pictures in 1999....
; MGM owns other ancillary rights.
These are just few examples of what Paramount controls only for TV and digital distribution. Television rights to Paramount's library, included properties owned outright, and those only for certain media, are currently held on Paramount's behalf by Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in exchange for syndication deals with local television...
(Trifecta had inherited this library from CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
in 2009).
DreamWorks
In 2006, as mentioned earlier, Paramount became the parent of DreamWorks SKG. Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II soon afterwards acquired controlling interest in the live-action films released through September 16, 2005, the latest film in this package was Just Like Heaven. The remaining live-action films through March 2006 remained under direct Paramount control.However, Paramount does own distribution (and other ancillary) rights to the Soros/Dune films.
Even as DreamWorks switches distribution of live-action films that are not part of existing franchises to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount will continue to own the films released before the merger, and the films that Paramount themselves distributed (including sequel rights; such films as Little Fockers
Little Fockers
Little Fockers is a 2010 American comedy film and sequel to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers . It stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand...
will be distributed by Paramount and DreamWorks, since it is a sequel to an existing DreamWorks film – in this case, Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, the film chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless male nurse while visiting his girlfriend's parents...
and Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Fockers is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jay Roach and the sequel to Meet the Parents. The film stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. It was followed up by a sequel, Little Fockers, in 2010.-Plot:Nurse Gaylord "Greg"...
, though Paramount will only own international rights to this title, whereas Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
will handle domestic distribution).
As for the DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
library, it is likely that Paramount only owns distribution rights at present. The current contract is up after 2012. It is not known whether Paramount will continue its relationship with DreamWorks Animation after that point, especially with the above announcement by Paramount of their plans for their own inhouse animation department, but until then, DWA's films are part of Paramount's library.
The CBS library
Independent company Hollywood Classics now represents Paramount in the theatrical distribution of all the films produced by the various motion picture divisions of CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
over the years, as a result of the Viacom/CBS merger.
Paramount (via CBS DVD) has outright video distribution to the aforementioned CBS library with few exceptions-for example, the original Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
DVDs are handled by Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
. Until 2009, the video rights to My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady (film)
My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, of the same name, based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ballroom scene and the ending were taken from the previous film adaptation , rather than from...
were with original theatrical distributor 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,...
, under license from CBS (the video license to that film has now reverted to CBS DVD under Paramount).
The CBS-produced/owned films, unlike other films in Paramount's library, are still distributed by CBS Television Distribution on TV, and not by Trifecta Entertainment & Media, because CBS (or a subdivision) is the copyright holder for these films.
FanRocket
In early 2008, Paramount partnered with Los Angeles-based developer FanRocketFanRocket
FanRocket is a Los Angeles-based creator of online content programming and technologies.The company was founded by Danny Kastner, a contestant on season 3 of The Apprentice...
to make short scenes taken from its film library available to users on Facebook. The application, called VooZoo, allows users to send movie clips to other Facebook users and to post clips on their profile pages. Paramount engineered a similar deal with Makena Technologies to allow users of vMTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and There.com to view and send movie clips.
Logo
The distinctively pyramidal Paramount mountain has been the company's logo since its inception and is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo. The logo appeared at the start of many cartoons. In the sound era, the logo was accompanied by a fanfare called Paramount on ParadeParamount on Parade
Paramount on Parade is a all-star revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H...
after the film of the same name, released in 1930. The words to the fanfare, originally sung in the 1930 film, were "Proud of the crowd that will never be loud, it's Paramount on Parade."
Legend has it that the mountain is based on a doodle made by W. W. Hodkinson
W. W. Hodkinson
William Wadsworth Hodkinson , known more commonly as W. W. Hodkinson, was born in Independence, Kansas. Known as The Man Who Invented Hollywood, he opened one of the first movie theaters in Ogden, Utah in 1907 and within just a few years changed the way movies were produced, distributed, and...
during a meeting with Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...
. It is said to be based on the memories of his childhood in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. Some claim that Utah's Ben Lomond
Ben Lomond Mountain (Utah)
Ben Lomond Peak, just north of Ogden, Utah, is probably the most famous of the peaks in the northern portion of the Wasatch Mountains. A popular trail passes over its summit , accessible from four different trailheads to the north, south, and east....
is the mountain Hodkinson doodled, and that Peru's Artesonraju
Artesonraju
Artesonraju is a peak in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, a part of the Peruvian Andes, is also known as Arteson. To reach the lake there is a dirt road from Caraz which climbs +2000m along 32km in about 1:40 hours. At Pueblo Paron there's a check point and a gate, where visitors must pay...
is the mountain in the live-action logo. Some editions of the logo bear a striking resemblance to the Pfeifferhorn
Pfeifferhorn
The Pfeifferhorn is the triangularly-shaped peak located in the most isolated part of the Lone Peak Wilderness Area of Utah's Wasatch Mountains. This rugged Utah mountain is commonly referred to as the Little Matterhorn. This summit offers a hiking route to the summit which requires some scrambling...
, another Wasatch Range
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches approximately from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...
peak.
The motion picture logo has gone through many changes over the years:
- The logo began as a somewhat indistinct charcoal rendering of the mountain ringed with superimposed stars. The logo originally had twenty-four stars, as a tribute to the then current system of contracts for actors, since Paramount had twenty-four stars signed at the time.
- In movies of the late 1920s and early '30s, the number of stars encircling the mountain sometimes varied. As an example, twenty-five stars are seen in the logo displayed at the end of the Marx BrothersMarx BrothersThe Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
The CocoanutsThe CocoanutsThe Cocoanuts is the first feature-length Marx Brothers film, produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical comedy stars the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Mary Eaton, and Margaret Dumont. Produced by Walter Wanger and the first sound movie to credit more than one director , and was adapted to the...
(1929), and twenty-three are visible at the beginning of Horse FeathersHorse FeathersHorse Feathers is a Marx Brothers film comedy. It stars the four Marx Brothers and Thelma Todd. It was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film...
(1932). - In 1952, the logo was redesigned as a matte paintingMatte paintingA matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques...
created by Jan DomelaJan DomelaJan Marinus Domela was a Dutch-born American artist and illustrator.Johan Domela Nieuwenhuis, also Jan Marinus Domela became interested in art while at boarding school in Switzerland...
. - A newer, more realistic-looking logo debuted in 1953 for Paramount films made in the 3D. It was later reworked in 1954 for Paramount films made in widescreenWidescreenWidescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
process VistaVisionVistaVisionVistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35mm motion picture film format which was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954....
. The text "VistaVision – Motion Picture High Fidelity" was often imposed over the Paramount logo briefly before dissolving into the title sequenceTitle sequenceA Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
. - A stylized version of the mountain was featured in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments (1956 film)The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
. The mountain retained its conical shape but with a red granite tone and a more angular summit under a red clouded sky to suggest the appearance of Mount Sinai for this single motion picture. Its circle of stars faded in with the announcement: "Paramount Presents – A Cecil B. DeMilleCecil B. DeMilleCecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
Production." - In 1968, the 1950s "VistaVision" logo was modified; the text now read "Paramount" instead of "A Paramount Picture/Release", and the byline "A Gulf+Western Company" appeared on the bottom. The logo was given another modification in 1974, with the number of stars being changed to 22, and the Paramount text and Gulf+Western byline appearing in different fonts.
- In 1975, the logo was simplified in a shade of blue, adopting the design of the then-current television version; this version of the logo is still in use as Paramount's current print logo. Some films, like the trailer for Airplane!Airplane!Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
, had the usual Paramount on ParadeParamount on ParadeParamount on Parade is a all-star revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H...
theme (instrumental), composed by Jerry GoldsmithJerry GoldsmithJerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
. - A newly-done logo debuted in 1987, with a computer-generatedComputer-generatedThe term computer-generated most often refers to a sound or visual that has been created in whole or in part with the aid of computer software...
lake and stars. This version of the Paramount logo was designed by Dario Campanile and animated by Apogee, Inc. An enhanced version of this logo debuted in 1999. Although the computer-generated logo usually had no music, an updated version of the "Paramount on Parade" theme was played, again instrumental. - For Paramount's 90th Anniversary in 2002, a new CGI logo was created, with Mount EverestMount EverestMount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
as the mountain. A newer variation of this logo debuted in 2010, with the Viacom byline in the "New Viacom" font. On Mean GirlsMean GirlsMean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is based in part on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate and the effect they can have...
, the "Paramount on Parade" fanfare was played once again.
Visiting Paramount
Those wishing to visit Paramount can take daily studio tours. The tours operate Monday through Friday. Reservations are required, and can be made by calling the studio. Most of the buildings are named for historical Paramount executives or the many great artists that worked at Paramount over the years. Many of the legendary stars' dressing rooms are still standing today, converted into working offices. The stages where Samson and DelilahSamson and Delilah (1949 film)
Samson and Delilah is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures , produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as the title characters...
, Sunset Blvd.
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
, White Christmas
White Christmas (film)
White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...
, Rear Window
Rear Window
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
, Sabrina
Sabrina (1954 film)
Sabrina is a 1954 comedy-romance film directed by Billy Wilder, adapted for the screen by Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman from Taylor's play Sabrina Fair...
, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and many other classic films were shot are still in use today. The studio's massive remaining backlot set, "New York Street", features numerous blocks of facades that depict a number of New York locales: "Washington Square", (where The Heiress
The Heiress
The Heiress is a 1949 American drama film. It was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 play of the same title that was based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. The film was directed by William Wyler, with starring performances by Olivia de Havilland as...
, starring Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, was shot) "Harlem", "Financial District", and others.
Paramount Pictures franchises
This is a list of franchises by Paramount Pictures.| Title | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Godfather The Godfather The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard... |
1972-1990 | |
| The Bad News Bears | 1976-2005 | |
| Star Trek | 1979-present | on behalf of CBS Television Studios |
| Friday the 13th | 1980-1989 | |
| Indiana Jones | 1981-present | on behalf of Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO.... |
| Beverly Hills Cop Beverly Hills Cop (film series) Beverly Hills Cop is a series of action-comedy films, with characters written by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and Danilo Bach. The films star Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, though Ashton does not appear in Beverly Hills Cop III. Harold Faltermeyer produced the now famous "Axel F" theme song... |
1984-1994 | |
| Crocodile Dundee Crocodile Dundee "Crocodile" Dundee is a 1986 Australian comedy film set in the Australian Outback and in New York City. It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee and Linda Kozlowski as Sue Charlton.... |
1986-2001 | |
| The Naked Gun The Naked Gun The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American comedy film that is the first in a The Naked Gun series of films starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson... |
1988-1994 | on behalf of CBS Television Studios |
| Mission: Impossible | 1996-present | on behalf of CBS Television Studios |
| Transformers Transformers (film series) Transformers is an American film franchise directed by Michael Bay, and based on the toys created by Hasbro and Takara Tomy. The first film, Transformers, was released in 2007, the second film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in 2009, and the third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2011... |
2007-2011 | on behalf of Hasbro Hasbro Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States... |
| Paranormal Activity | 2009-present |
See also
- List of Paramount executives
- List of Paramount Pictures films
- List of television series produced by Paramount Television
- 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...
Coming Soon
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: ChipwreckedAlvin and the Chipmunks: ChipwreckedAlvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is an upcoming 2011 American comedy film. The film stars Jason Lee. It is to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, and produced by Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions...
- The Lorax (film)The Lorax (film)The Lorax, also known as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, is an upcoming American computer-animated 3-D film based on Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name. It is being produced by Illumination Entertainment and will be released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, what would have been the 108th...
- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
- Brave (film)Brave (film)In the aftermath of their album Brave, the band Marillion wanted to make a video out of the concept they had created. EMI reluctantly agreed to this despite the relatively poor album sales. Director Richard Stanley was intrigued by the concept and agreed to direct this feature which, in a way, can...
- The Secret World of Arrietty
- The Incredibles 2
- Monsters University