A major film studio is a movie production and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant share of box-office revenues in a given market. In the North American, Western, and global markets, the major film studios, often simply known as the majors, are commonly regarded as the six diversified media conglomerates whose various movie production and distribution subsidiaries command approximately 90 percent of the U.S. and Canadian box office. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary movie business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate. The "Big Six" majors, whose movie operations are based in or around Hollywood, are all centered in film studios active during Hollywood's Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s. In three cases—20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Paramount—the studios were one of the "Big Five" majors during that era as well. In two cases—Columbia and Universal—the studios were also considered majors, but in the next tier down, part of the "Little Three." In the sixth case, Walt Disney Studios was an independent production company during the Golden Age; it was an important Hollywood entity, but not a major. This article is about motion pictures. ... A film being made in Warsaw, Bracka street Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story idea or commission through scriptwriting, shooting, editing and finally distribution to an audience. ... The term box office can refer to either: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue The amount of business a particular production, such as a movie or theatre show, does. ... ... A movie studio is a location, room, building, or group of buildings and/or sound stages, offices and storage facilities, which may include a backlot, where movies are made. ... The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... “WB” redirects here. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... This article is about the American media conglomerate. ... Old logo from 1985-2006 Walt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company: Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since the death of Walt Disney were released under the name of the...

Most of today's Big Six also include formerly independent companies that have been acquired and brought in under the corporate umbrella—for instance, Time Warner's New Line Cinema. The majors have also established a variety of specialty divisions to concentrate on arthouse pictures (e.g., Paramount Vantage) or genre films (e.g., Fox Atomic). The six major movie studios are contrasted with smaller movie production and/or distribution companies, which are known as independents or "indies." The two largest independent producer/distributors—Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company—are sometimes referred to as "mini-majors." From 1998 through 2005, the independent DreamWorks SKG maintained a large enough market share to arguably qualify it as a seventh major, despite its relatively small output. In February 2006, DreamWorks was acquired by Viacom, Paramount's parent company. The major studios are today primarily backers and distributors of films whose actual production is largely handled by independent companies—either long-running entities or ones created for and dedicated to the making of a specific film. The specialty divisions often simply acquire distribution rights to pictures with which the studio has had no prior involvement. While the majors do a modicum of true production, their activities are focused more in the areas of development, financing, marketing, and merchandising. Time Warner Inc. ... New Line redirects here. ... Andrei Tarkovskys The Mirror Le Fantôme de la liberté, one of the last films by Luis Bunuel (1974), which depicts seemingly random events, disrupting the conventions of storytelling in film. ... Paramount Classics logo Paramount Vantage (originally Paramount Classics) is the specialty film division of Paramount Pictures (which in turn is owned by Viacom), charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, generally those with a more art house feel than films made and distributed by its parent company. ... The King of the Bs, Roger Corman, produced and directed The Raven (1963) for American International Pictures. ... Fox Atomic logo Fox Atomic is a theatrical movie studio and a sub-division of Twentieth Century Fox. ... Lions Gate redirects here. ... The Weinstein Company is an independent American film studio founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 2005 after the pair left the Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979. ... The DreamWorks Boy on the Moon Logo DreamWorks SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen) is a Big Ten studio in the United States of America which develops, produces, and distributes films, music, and television programming. ... Viacom (NYSE: VIA) (NYSE: VIAb) is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie studios). ...

Today's Big Six

Note 1: Sony/Columbia: 18.6%; MGM/UA: 1.8%; Sony Classics: 0.7% (Prev. totals: 2005—11.1%; 2004—16.8%)
Note 2: 20th Century-Fox: 15.2%; Fox Searchlight 1.8% (Prev. totals: 2005—16.5%; 2004—11.7%)
Note 3: Buena Vista: 16.2%; Miramax: 0.5% (Prev. totals: 2005—14.6%; 2004—16.5%)
Note 4: Warner Bros.: 11.6%; New Line: 2.7%; Warner Independent: 0.3%; Picturehouse: 0.3% (Prev. totals: 2005—21.7%; 2004—17.7%)
Note 5: Paramount: 10.3%; Paramount Classics: 0.3%; DreamWorks SKG: 0.2%; Paramount Vantage: 0.2% (Prev. totals: 2005—9.8%; 2004—6.8%)
Note 6: Universal: 8.9%; Focus Features: 1.3%; Rogue Pictures: 0.7% (Prev. totals: 2005—13.2%; 2004—10.8%)
The King of the Bs, Roger Corman, produced and directed The Raven (1963) for American International Pictures. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $66. ... Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is the television and film production unit of Japan-based corporate giant Sony. ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ... MGM redirects here. ... This article is about the film studio. ... Sony Pictures Classics is the specialty films division of Sony Pictures. ... Screen Gems is an American subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainments Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation. ... The TriStar Pictures logo from 1993 to the present TriStar redirects here. ... Destination Films is Sony Pictures niche film distribution company founded by Brent Baum and Steve Stabler. ... 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), where News Corporation is based News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: , LSE: NCRA) is an American media conglomerate company and the third worlds largest. ... Fox Filmed Entertainment is the parent company of Twentieth Century Fox. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... Fox Searchlight Pictures is the specialty films division of Twentieth Century Fox. ... Fox Faith (also spelled FoxFaith) is a brand of film studio Twentieth Century Fox targeting evangelical Christians. ... Fox Atomic logo Fox Atomic is a theatrical movie studio and a sub-division of Twentieth Century Fox. ... Disney redirects here. ... Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, a fictitious business name of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Inc. ... Old logo from 1985-2006 Walt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company: Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since the death of Walt Disney were released under the name of the... Touchstone Pictures (also known as Touchstone Films in its early years) is one of several alternate film labels of The Walt Disney Company, established in 1984. ... Miramax Films is a film production and distribution brand that was a Big Ten film motion picture distribution and production company headquartered in New York City before being bought out by The Walt Disney Company. ... The Hollywood Pictures sphinx logo Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Companys several alternate movie labels. ... Time Warner Inc. ... “WB” redirects here. ... “WB” redirects here. ... HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. ... The current Castle Rock Entertainment logo. ... WIPs logo, which looks like half of the WB shield. ... Picturehouse is a specialty film production company formed in 2005 as a joint-venture of New Line Cinema and HBO Films, both divisions of Time Warner. ... Viacom (NYSE: VIA) (NYSE: VIAb) is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie studios). ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... The DreamWorks Boy on the Moon Logo DreamWorks SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen) is a Big Ten studio in the United States of America which develops, produces, and distributes films, music, and television programming. ... Closing logo Paramount Classics is the specialty film division of Paramount Pictures (which in turn is owned by Viacom), charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, generally those with a more art house feel than films made and distributed by its parent company. ... Paramount Classics logo Paramount Vantage (originally Paramount Classics) is the specialty film division of Paramount Pictures (which in turn is owned by Viacom), charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, generally those with a more art house feel than films made and distributed by its parent company. ... Go Fish Pictures is the specialty film division of the DreamWorks SKG film studio, which is owned by Paramount Pictures, itself a subsidiary of Viacom. ... “GE” redirects here. ... For a definition of the word vivendi, see the Wiktionary entry vivendi. ... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ... This article is about the American media conglomerate. ... Focus Features is the art house films division of Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distrubutor for foreign films. ... Rogue Pictures is a division of Focus Features, the specialty film division of Universal Studios, which is a division of NBC Universal. ...

The "mini-majors"

Lions Gate Entertainment, which moved in 2006 from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Santa Monica, California, was the most successful North American movie studio located outside of the Hollywood area before its relocation. Lionsgate traces its roots back to the production company Lion's Gate Films, founded by director Robert Altman in the 1970s. The Weinstein Company was founded in late 2005 by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein after their departure from Miramax, which they had founded in 1979. In 1993, they sold control of Miramax to the Walt Disney Company, continuing to run the studio in quasi-independent fashion under the Disney umbrella. When the Weinsteins left Disney, they retained the right to the Dimension Films brand, which is used by The Weinstein Company (as it was by Miramax) for genre films. In 2006, Lionsgate had a 3.6% market share and The Weinstein Company had a 2.5% market share. The next most successful independent was the Yari Film Group, with 0.4%.^[2] Lions Gate redirects here, for other meanings see Lions Gate (disambiguation)‎. Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, (usually renderred as Lionsgate), (NYSE: LGF) is an American entertainment company which originated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ... For other uses, see Vancouver (disambiguation). ... Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California USA, by the Pacific Ocean, south of Pacific Palisades and Brentwood, west of Westwood, Los Angeles, and north of Venice. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... For other persons named Robert Altman, see Robert Altman (disambiguation). ... Harvey Weinstein at Cannes, 2002 Harvey Weinstein CBE (Hon) (born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. ... Bob Weinstein, along with brother Harvey Weinstein, was head of Miramax Studios. ... Miramax is a Big Ten film distribution and production company. ... Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. ... Yari Film Group logo Founded in 2002, and headed by established producer Bob Yari, the Yari Film Group (YFG) is an independent film company with hands in financing, production, acquisition, sales and distribution. ...

In 2005, the still independent DreamWorks SKG had 5.7% and Lionsgate had 3.2%. Of MGM/UA's four significant money-earners during 2005, it released three before its acquisition by a Sony-led consortium in April; MGM/UA's total market share for the year was 2.1%. The Weinstein Company, in its first three months of operation, gained 0.5% of the year's total market share. The next most successful independent was IMAX, with 0.2%.^[3] In 2004, DreamWorks SKG had 10.0% (more than the Paramount Motion Pictures Group), Newmarket had 4.3% (due almost entirely to The Passion of the Christ), Lionsgate had 3.2%, and MGM/UA had 2.1%. The next most successful independent was Giant Screen Films, a distributor of IMAX-format movies, with 0.2%.^[4] IMAX theatre at the Melbourne Museum complex, Australia BFI London IMAX by night LHemisferic (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències) Valencia, Spain IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film format created by Canadas IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to display images of far greater... Newmarket Films is an American film production and film distribution company which is a subsidiary of Newmarket Capital Group. ... This article is about the film. ...

History

The majors before the Golden Age

In 1909, Thomas Edison, who had been fighting in the courts for years for control of fundamental motion picture patents, won a major decision. This led to the creation of the Motion Picture Patents Company, widely known as the Trust. Comprising the nine largest U.S. film companies, it was "designed to eliminate not only independent film producers but also the country's 10,000 independent [distribution] exchanges and exhibitors."^[5] Though its many members did not consolidate their filmmaking operations, the New York–based Trust was arguably the first major North American movie conglomerate. The independents' fight against the Trust was led by Carl Laemmle, whose Chicago-based Laemmle Film Service, serving the Midwest and Canada, was the largest distribution exchange in North America. Laemmle's efforts were rewarded in 1912 when the U.S. government ruled that the Trust was a "corrupt and unlawful association" and must be dissolved. On June 8, 1912, Laemmle organized the merger of his production division, IMP (Independent Motion Picture Company), with several other filmmaking companies, creating the studio that would soon be named Universal. By the end of the year, Universal was making movies at two Los Angeles facilities: the former Nestor Film studio in Hollywood, and another studio in Edendale. The first Hollywood major was in business.^[6] Edison redirects here. ... The Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major film companies (Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Essanay, Selig, Lubin, Kalem, American Star, American Pathé), the leading distributor (George Kleine) and the biggest supplier of raw film, Eastman Kodak. ... Carl Laemmle Birthplace of Carl Laemmle in Laupheim Carl Laemmle (17 January 1867 – 24 September 1939), born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios. ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Edendale is a historical name for a district in Los Angeles, California, northwest of downtown, in what is known today as Echo Park and the eastern edge of Silver Lake. ...

In 1916, a second powerful Hollywood studio was established when Adolph Zukor merged his Famous Players movie production house with the Jesse L. Lasky Company to form Famous Players–Lasky. The combined studio acquired Paramount Pictures as a distribution arm and eventually adopted its name. Paramount quickly surpassed Universal as Hollywood's dominant company. In 1916 as well, William Fox relocated his Fox Film Corporation from the East Coast to Hollywood and began expanding.^[7] Between 1924, when Metro Pictures combined with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions to form MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), and 1928, the year in which the U.S. film industry converted en masse to sound film, Hollywood had a Big Two: Paramount and Loew’s Incorporated, owner of America's largest theater circuit and parent company to MGM. Through 1927, the next three largest studios were Fox, Universal, and First National (founded in 1917). Propelled by the great success of The Jazz Singer (1927), the first important feature-length "talkie," small Warner Bros. (founded in 1919) quickly entered the big leagues and acquired First National in 1928. Fox, in the forefront of sound film along with Warners, was also acquiring a sizable circuit of movie theaters to exhibit its product. Cukor Adolf (Adolph Zukor) (January 7, 1873–June 10, 1976) was the founder of Paramount Pictures Studios, and one of the greatest film moguls of all time. ... Famous Players is one of the Canadian movie theatre banners operated by Cineplex Galaxy LP; it includes numerous locations stretching from British Columbia to Quebec. ... Lasky in 1915. ... William Fox could refer to the following persons: William Fox – Prime Minister of New Zealand on four occasions in the 19th century Wilhelm Fried, better known with his adopted name William Fox – founder of the Fox Film Corporation (now 20th Century Fox) William Fox Talbot – a pioneer of photography. ... Metro Studios, Culver City, CA. in 1918 Metro Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Richard A. Rowland (1880-1947) and Louis B. Mayer (1885-1957). ... Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Samuel Goldfish in partnership with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn using a combination of both last names to create the name. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1902 poster advertising Gaumonts sound films, depicting an optimistically vast auditorium A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. ... Loews Theatre, Jersey City, New Jersey Loews Theatres, founded in 1904 by Mark Loewsburgenstein, was the oldest theatre chain operating in North America until it merged with AMC Theatres on January 26, 2006. ... The First National Exhibitors Circuit was founded 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest First Run cinema chains in the United States of America, controlling more than 600 cinemas, more than 200 of them were First Run cinemas. ... The Jazz Singer (1927) is a U.S. movie musical and the first feature-length motion picture with talking sequences. ...

The majors during the Golden Age

For more details on this topic, see Studio system.

Between late 1928, when RCA's David Sarnoff engineered the creation of the RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) studio, and the end of 1949, when Paramount divested its theater chain—roughly the period considered Hollywood's Golden Age—there were eight Hollywood studios commonly regarded as the "majors." Of these eight, the so-called Big Five were integrated conglomerates, combining ownership of a production studio, distribution division, and substantial theater chain, and contracting with performers and filmmaking personnel: Loew's/MGM, Paramount, Fox (which became 20th Century-Fox after a 1935 merger), Warner Bros., and RKO. The remaining majors were sometimes referred to as the Little Three or the "major-minors." Two—Universal and Columbia (founded in 1920)—were organized similarly to the Big Five, except for the fact that they never owned more than small theater circuits (a consistently reliable source of profits). The third of the lesser majors, United Artists (founded in 1919), owned a few theaters and had access to production facilities owned by its principals, but it functioned primarily as a backer-distributor, loaning money to independent producers and releasing their films. During the 1930s, the eight majors averaged a total of 358 feature film releases a year; in the 1940s, the four largest companies shifted more of their resources toward high-budget productions and away from B movies, bringing the yearly average down to 288 for the decade.^[8] The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1950s. ... RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ... Sarnoff redirects here. ... RKO could stand for: RKO Pictures The R.K.O. - finishing manoever (and initials) of WWE professional wrestler Randy Orton. ... This article is about the film studio. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ...

Among the significant characteristics of the Golden Age was the stability of the Hollywood majors, their hierarchy, and their near-complete domination of the box office. At the midpoint of the Golden Age, 1939, the Big Five had market shares ranging from 22% (MGM) to 9% (RKO); each of the Little Three had around a 7% share. In sum, the eight majors controlled 95% of the market and all the smaller companies combined had a total of 5%. Ten years later, the picture was largely the same: the Big Five had market shares ranging from 22% (MGM) to 9% (RKO); the Little Three had shares ranging from 8% (Columbia) to 4% (United Artists). In sum, the eight majors controlled 96% of the market and all the smaller companies combined had a total of 4%.^[9]

The majors after the Golden Age

1950s–1960s

The end of the Golden Age had been signaled by the majors' loss of a federal antitrust case that led to the divestiture of the Big Five's theater chains. This somewhat leveled the playing field between the Big Five and the Little Three, though it had virtually no effect on the eight majors' box-office domination. In November 1951, Decca Records purchased 28% of Universal; early the following year, the studio became the first of the classic Hollywood majors to be taken over by an outside corporation, as Decca acquired majority ownership.^[10] The 1950s saw two substantial shifts in the hierarchy of the majors: RKO, perennially the weakest of the Big Five, declined rapidly under the mismanagement of Howard Hughes, who had purchased a controlling interest in the studio in 1948. By the time Hughes sold it to the General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955, the studio was a major by outdated reputation alone. In 1957, virtually all RKO movie operations ceased and the studio was dissolved in 1959. (Revived on a small scale in 1981, it was eventually spun off and now operates as a minor independent company.) In contrast, there was United Artists, which had long operated under the financing-distribution model the other majors were now progressively shifting toward. Under Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who began managing the company in 1951, UA became consistently profitable. By 1956—when it released one of the biggest blockbusters of the decade, Around the World in 80 Days—it commanded a 10% market share. By the middle of the next decade, it had reached 16% and was the second-most profitable studio in Hollywood. Despite RKO's collapse, the majors still averaged a total of 253 feature film release during the decade.^[11] United States v. ... It has been suggested that Decca Music Group be merged into this article or section. ... For the Welsh murderer, see Howard Hughes (murderer). ... The General Tire and Rubber Company is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles. ... Arthur B. Krim (d. ... Around the World in Eighty Days is a 1956 adventure film made by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. ...

The 1960s were marked by a spate of corporate takeovers. MCA, under Lew Wasserman, acquired Universal in 1962; Gulf+Western took over Paramount in 1966; and the Transamerica Corporation purchased United Artists in 1967. Warner Bros. underwent large-scale reorganization twice in two years: a 1967 merger with the Seven Arts company preceded a 1969 purchase by Kinney National, under Stephen J. Ross. MGM, in the process of a slow decline, changed ownership twice in the same span as well, winding up in the hands of financier Kirk Kerkorian. The majors almost entirely abandoned low-budget production during this era, bringing the annual average of features released down to 160.^[12] The decade also saw an old name in the industry secure a position as a leading player. In 1923, Walt Disney had founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother Roy and animator Ub Iwerks. Over the following three decades Disney became a powerful independent focusing on animation and, from the late 1940s, an increasing number of live-action movies. In 1954, the company—now Walt Disney Productions—established Buena Vista Film Distribution to handle its own product, which had been distributed for years by various majors, primarily United Artists and then RKO. (Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released by RKO, was the second biggest hit of the 1930s.) In its first year, Buena Vista had a major success with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the third biggest movie of 1954. In 1964, Buena Vista had its first blockbuster, Mary Poppins, Hollywood's biggest hit in half a decade. The company achieved a 9% market share that year, more than Fox and Warner Bros. Though over the next two decades, Disney/Buena Vista's share of the box-office would again hit similar marks, its relatively small output and exclusive focus on family movies meant that it was not generally considered a major despite its success. MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc. ... Lew Wasserman (March 15, 1913 - June 3, 2002) was a Hollywood agent and studio executive credited with first creating and then taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades. ... Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. ... Transamerica Corporaion is an insurance and investment company in the United States. ... Seven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. ... Kinney National Company was formed in 1966 when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Company merged. ... Stephen Jay Ross (Stephen Jay Rechnitz) (1927 - 1992) was a U.S. communications businessman. ... Kerkor Kirk Kerkorian (born June 6, 1917) is an American billionaire, and president/CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ... Roy Oliver Disney (June 24, 1893–December 20, 1971) was, with his younger brother Walt Disney, co-founder of what is now The Walt Disney Company. ... A publicity photograph (circa 1929) of Ub Iwerks and his most famous co-creation, Mickey Mouse. ... Disney redirects here. ... Buena Vista production logo, 1950s. ... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... Front page of Vingt Mille Lieues Sous les Mers 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) is a classic science fiction novel by Jules Verne, published in 1870 under the title Vingt mille lieues sous les mers. ... Mary Poppins is a 1964] feature film based on the Mary Poppins series of childrens books written by P. L. Travers and illustrated by Mary Shepard. ...

1970s–1980s

The early 1970s were difficult years for all the majors. Movie attendance, which had been declining steadily in since the Golden Age, hit an all-time low in 1971. In 1973, MGM president James T. Aubrey Jr. drastically downsized the studio, slashing its production schedule and eliminating its distribution arm (UA would distribute the studio's films for the remainder of the decade). From fifteen releases in 1973, the next year MGM was down to five; its average for the rest of the 1970s would be even lower. The cutbacks, in the words of historian Joel Finler, "reduced the once proud studio to a Hollywood also-ran."^[13] Like RKO in its last days under Hughes, MGM might have remained a major in terms of brand reputation, but little more. MGM, however, was not the only studio to trim its release line. By the mid-1970s, the industry had rebounded and a significant philosophical shift was in progress. As the majors focused increasingly on the development of the next hoped-for blockbuster and began routinely opening each new movie in many hundreds of theaters (an approach called "saturation booking"), their collective yearly release average fell to 81 films during 1975–84.^[14] The classic set of majors was shaken further in late 1980, when the disastrously expensive flop of Heaven's Gate effectively ruined United Artists. The studio was sold the following year to Kerkorian, who merged it with MGM. After a brief resurgence, the combined studio again declined. From the mid-1980s through its 2005 purchase by a Sony-led consortium, MGM/UA was effectively a "mini-major," to use the present-day term. James T. Aubrey, circa 1959. ... Heavens Gate is a 1980 western movie, which depicts a highly fictionalized account of the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s. ...

Meanwhile, a new member was finally admitted to the club of major studios and two significant contenders emerged. With the establishment of its Touchstone Pictures brand and increasing attention to the adult market in the mid-1980s, Disney/Buena Vista secured acknowledgment as a full-fledged major. The two contenders were both newly formed companies. In 1978, Krim, Benjamin, and three other studio executives departed UA to found Orion Pictures as a joint venture with Warner Bros. It was announced optimistically as the "first major new film company in 50 years."^[15] Tri-Star Pictures was created in 1982 as a joint venture of Columbia Pictures (then owned by Coca-Cola), HBO (then owned by Time Inc.), and CBS. In 1985, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired 20th Century-Fox, the last of the five relatively healthy Golden Age majors to remain independent throughout the entire Golden Age and after. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... ... The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... Time Inc. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... Keith Rupert Murdoch AC, KCSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian born United States citizen who is a global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York. ... 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), where News Corporation is based News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: , LSE: NCRA) is an American media conglomerate company and the third worlds largest. ...

In 1986, the combined share of the six classic majors—at that point Paramount, Warner Bros., Columbia, Universal, Fox, and MGM/UA—fell to 64%, the lowest since the beginning of the Golden Age. Disney was in third place, behind only Paramount and Warners. Even including it as a seventh major and adding its 10% share, the majors' control of the North American market was at a historic ebb. Orion, now completely independent of Warner Bros., and Tri-Star were well positioned as mini-majors, each with North American market shares of around 6%. Smaller independents garnered 13%—more than any studio aside from Paramount. In 1964, by comparison, all of the companies beside the then seven majors and Disney had combined for a grand total of 1%. As Finler wrote in his study The Hollywood Story (1988), "It will be interesting to see whether the old-established studios will be able to bounce back in the future, as they have done so many times before, or whether the newest developments really do reflect a fundamental change in the US movie industry for the first times since the 20s."^[16]

1990s–present

With the exception of MGM/UA—whose position was effectively filled by Disney—the old-established studios did bounce back. The purchase of Fox by Murdoch's News Corp. presaged a new round of corporate acquisitions. Between 1989 and 1994, Paramount, Warners, Columbia, and Universal all changed ownership in a series of conglomerate purchases and mergers that brought them new financial and marketing muscle. By the early 1990s, both Tri-Star and Orion were essentially out of business: the former consolidated into Columbia, the later bankrupt. The most important contenders to emerge during the 1990s, New Line, the Weinsteins' Miramax, and DreamWorks SKG, were likewise sooner or later brought into the majors' fold. The very successful animation production house Pixar, whose films were distributed by Buena Vista, was acquired by Disney in 2006. Pixars studio lot in Emeryville Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio based in Emeryville, California (USA) notable for its seven Academy Awards. ...

The development of in-house pseudo-indie subsidiaries by the conglomerates—sparked by the 1992 establishment of Sony Pictures Classics and the success of Pulp Fiction (1994), Miramax's first project under Disney ownership—significantly undermined the position of the true independents. The majors' release schedule rebounded: the six primary studio subsidiaries alone put out a total of 124 films during 2006; the four largest secondary subsidiaries (New Line, MGM/UA, Fox Searchlight, Focus Features) accounted for another 46. Box-office domination was fully restored: in 2006, the six major movie conglomerates combined for 91.6% of the North American market; Lionsgate and Weinstein were almost exactly half as successful as their 1986 mini-major counterparts, sharing 6.1%; and all of the remaining independent companies split a pool amounting to 2.3%.^[17] In February 2008, Time Warner announced that New Line Cinema would be absorbed into Warner Bros.^[18] Pulp Fiction is a 1994 film by director Quentin Tarantino, who cowrote the film with Roger Avary. ...

Organizational lineage

The eight Golden Age majors

The eight major film studios of the Golden Age have gone through the following significant ownership changes ("independent" meaning customarily identified as the primary commercial entity in its corporate structure; "purchased" meaning acquired anything from majority to total ownership):

Columbia Pictures

• independent as CBC Film Sales, 1920–1924 (founded by Harry Cohn, Joe Brandt, and Jack Cohn)
• independent, 1924–1982 (company changes name; goes public in 1926)
• Coca-Cola, 1982–1987 (purchased by Coca-Cola; Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture with HBO and CBS initiated in 1982—CBS drops out in 1984)
• independent as Columbia/Tri-Star, 1987–1989 (divested by Coca-Cola; also in 1987, HBO drops out of Tri-Star, which merges with Columbia)
• Sony, 1989–present (purchased by Sony)

Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891–February 27, 1958), sometimes nicknamed King Cohn, was president and production director of Columbia Pictures. ... The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... The TriStar Pictures logo from 1993 to the present TriStar redirects here. ... For other uses, see HBO (disambiguation). ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $66. ...

20th Century-Fox

• independent as Fox, 1915–1935 (founded by William Fox; Fox forced to sell off controlling interest in now-public company in 1930)
• independent, 1935–1985 (merges with Twentieth Century Pictures; fully purchased by Marc Rich and Marvin Davis in 1981; Rich's interest purchased by Davis in 1984; half of Davis's interest purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in March 1985)
• News Corporation, 1985–present (purchases the remainder of Davis's shares in September)

William Fox (born Wilhelm Fuchs in January 1, 1879–May 8, 1952) founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... Marc Rich (born Marc David Reich on December 18, 1934) is an international commodities trader. ... Marvin Davis (August 31, 1925 in Newark, New Jersey – September 25, 2004 in Beverly Hills, California) was the billionaire former owner of Twentieth Century Fox and Pebble Beach, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the Denver Broncos NFL team. ... Keith Rupert Murdoch AC, KCSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian born United States citizen who is a global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York. ... 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), where News Corporation is based News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: , LSE: NCRA) is an American media conglomerate company and the third worlds largest. ... 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), where News Corporation is based News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: , LSE: NCRA) is an American media conglomerate company and the third worlds largest. ...

Warner Bros.

• independent as Warner Brothers West Coast Studio, 1919–1923 (founded by Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner, and Sam Warner)
• independent, 1923–1929 (company changes name and goes public, brothers maintain controlling interest; Sam Warner dies in 1927)
• independent as Warner Bros.–First National, 1929–1967 (acquires First National Pictures; syndicate led by Serge Semenenko of First National Bank of Boston and Charles Allen Jr. purchases controlling interest from Harry and Albert Warner in 1956)
• Warner Bros.–Seven Arts, 1967–1969 (purchased by and merged with Seven Arts Productions)
• Kinney National Company, 1969–1975 (Kinney purchases Warner Bros.–Seven Arts)
• Warner Communications, 1975–1989 (Kinney changes name)
• Time Warner, 1989–present (Warner merges with Time Inc.; from 2000 to 2003, the parent company was known as AOL Time Warner, following merger with AOL)

This article is about Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers. ... Harold (Harry) Morris Warner (born Hirsch Eichelbaum, December 12, 1881 Krasnosielc, Mazovia, Poland - 25 July 1958) was one of the founders of Warner Bros. ... Albert Warner (July 23, 1883 - November 26, 1967) was the one of the founders of Warner Bros. ... Sam Warner (August 10, 1887 - October 5, 1927) was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Brothers film company. ... The First National Exhibitors Circuit was founded 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest First Run cinema chains in the United States of America, controlling more than 600 cinemas, more than 200 of them were First Run cinemas. ... Serge Semenenko (?-?) was an innovative Hollywood banker in the 1950s and 1960s, representing the First National Bank of Boston. ... BankBoston was a bank based in Boston, Massachusetts, created by the 1996 merger of BayBank and Bank of Boston. ... Warner Bros. ... Seven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. ... Kinney National Company was formed in 1966 when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Company merged. ... Warner Communications, formerly Kinney National Company, was the parent company for Warner Bros. ... Time Warner Inc. ... Time Inc. ... For other uses, see AOL (disambiguation). ...

Paramount Pictures

• independent as Famous Players–Lasky, 1916–1921 (founded as public company via merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players and Jesse L. Lasky, Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn), Dustin Farnum, and Cecil B. DeMille's Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, followed by acquisition of Paramount Pictures distribution house)
• independent, 1922–1966 (company adopts distribution division's name)
• Gulf and Western Industries, 1966–1989 (purchased by Gulf+Western)
• Paramount Communications, 1989–1994 (Gulf+Western changes name after selling nonentertainment assets)
• Viacom, 1994–2005 (Viacom purchases Paramount)
• Viacom, 2006–present (Viacom splits into two companies: "new" Viacom—with Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, and other cable channels—and CBS Corporation—which includes CBS Paramount Television)

Cukor Adolf (Adolph Zukor) (January 7, 1873–June 10, 1976) was the founder of Paramount Pictures Studios, and one of the greatest film moguls of all time. ... Famous Players is one of the Canadian movie theatre banners operated by Cineplex Galaxy LP; it includes numerous locations stretching from British Columbia to Quebec. ... Lasky in 1915. ... Samuel Goldwyn (July 1882 (some sources say 17 August 1882, others 1879 [1]) – 31 January 1974) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning producer, also a well-known Hollywood motion picture producer and founding contributor of several motion picture studios. ... Born: 27 May 1874 Hampton Beach, New Hampshire-Died 3 July 1929 New York, NY. Career US motion picture actor who made forty-one silent movies in his career. ... Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was one of the most successful filmmakers during the first half of the 20th century. ... Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. ... Paramount Communications resulted from the 2000 restructuring and renaming of Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. ... Viacom (pronounced with a long i as in eye) began life as CBS Films, the television syndication division of CBS. In 1971, the division was renamed VIACOM (VIdeo & Audio COMmunications), and in 1973 it was spun off, amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies (the rules... Viacom (NYSE: VIA) (NYSE: VIAb) is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie studios). ... This article is about the original U.S. music television channel. ... Bet may refer to: Look up bet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS, NYSE: CBSA) is an American media conglomerate focused on broadcasting, publishing, billboards, and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. ... CBS Paramount Television (formerly Desilu Productions, Paramount Television, among other companies) is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions. ...

Universal Pictures

• independent, 1912–1946 (founded as public company via merger of Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Co., Pat Powers's Powers Picture Co., Adam Kessel and Charles Baumann's Bison Life Motion Pictures, Mark Dintenfass's Champion Film Co., William Swanson's Rex Picture Co., and the Nestor Film Co.)
• independent as Universal-International, 1946–1952 (merges with International Pictures)
• Decca, 1952–1962 (purchased by Decca)
• MCA, 1962–1990 (MCA purchases Decca)
• Matsushita Electric, 1990–1995 (Matsushita purchases MCA)
• Seagram, 1995–2000 (purchased by Seagram from Matsushita)
• Vivendi, 2000–2004 (Vivendi purchases Seagram)
• General Electric, 2004–present (purchased by GE from Vivendi and merged with NBC to form NBC Universal)

Carl Laemmle Birthplace of Carl Laemmle in Laupheim Carl Laemmle (17 January 1867 – 24 September 1939), born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios. ... Patrick A. Powers was an Irish-American businessman. ... It has been suggested that Decca Music Group be merged into this article or section. ... The Music Corporation of America was a United States based corporation in the music business. ... Logo for the Panasonic brand Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. ... The Seagram Company Ltd. ... For a definition of the word vivendi, see the Wiktionary entry vivendi. ... “GE” redirects here. ... This article is about the television network. ... NBC Universal is a media and entertainment conglomerate formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electrics NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of Vivendi Universal. ...

Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer (merged into Sony/Columbia)

• Loew's Incorporated, 1924–1959 (founded via merger of Loew's-owned Metro Pictures with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions; controlling interest in Loew's purchased by William Fox in 1929; Fox forced to sell off interest in 1930; Loew's cedes operational control to studio management in 1954)
• independent, 1959–1981 (fully divested by Loew's; purchased by Edgar Bronfman Sr. in 1967; purchased by Kirk Kerkorian in 1969)
• independent as MGM/UA, 1981–1992 (Kerkorian purchases United Artists and merges it into MGM; purchased by Ted Turner in 1986; repurchased by Kerkorian seventy-four days later; purchased by Giancarlo Parretti in 1990)
• Crédit Lyonnais, 1992–1997 (Parretti in default, his bank forecloses on MGM/UA)
• independent as MGM/UA, 1997–2005 (repurchased by Kerkorian)
• Sony/Comcast/4 private equity firms, 2005–present (purchased by Sony, backed by cable company Comcast and private investment firms—Providence Equity Partners, in fact, currently owns the greatest number of shares—and merged into Sony/Columbia; see above for further detail)^[19]

Loews Theatre, Jersey City, New Jersey Loews Theatres, founded in 1904 by Mark Loewsburgenstein, was the oldest theatre chain operating in North America until it merged with AMC Theatres on January 26, 2006. ... Metro Studios, Culver City, CA. in 1918 Metro Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Richard A. Rowland (1880-1947) and Louis B. Mayer (1885-1957). ... Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Samuel Goldfish in partnership with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn using a combination of both last names to create the name. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Kerkor Kirk Kerkorian (born June 6, 1917) is an American billionaire, and president/CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California. ... For other persons named Ted Turner, see Ted Turner (disambiguation). ... Giancarlo Parretti is an Italian financier. ... Crédit Lyonnais is a French bank. ... Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is the largest[1] cable television (CATV) company and the second largest Internet service provider in the United States. ... Providence Equity Partners is a private equity firm headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island that focuses on investments in media and telecommunications. ...

United Artists (merged into MGM)

• independent, 1919–1967 (founded by Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford; operational control by Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin from 1951; fully purchased by Krim and Benjamin in 1956)
• Transamerica, 1967–1981 (purchased by Transamerica)
• MGM/UA, 1981–present (purchased by Kirk Kerkorian from Transamerica and merged into MGM; see above for further detail)

For the Jamaican musician named Charlie Chaplin, see Charlie Chaplin (singer). ... Douglas Fairbanks (May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer, who became noted for his swashbuckling roles in silent movies such as The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and The Black Pirate (1926). ... David Llewelyn Wark D.W. Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. ... For the Katie Melua song, see Mary Pickford (Used to Eat Roses). ... Arthur B. Krim (d. ... Transamerica Corporaion is an insurance and investment company in the United States. ...

RKO Radio Pictures (defunct 1960–80, dormant 1993–97)

• RCA/investment consortium, 1928–1935 (founded as public company via merger of Film Booking Offices of America studio and Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain; majority ownership by RCA from ca. 1930)
• independent, 1935–1955 (half of RCA's interest purchased by Floyd Odlum, control split between RCA, Odlum, and Rockefeller brothers; controlling interest purchased by Odlum in 1942; controlling interest purchased by Howard Hughes in 1948; Hughes interest purchased by Stolkin-Koolish-Ryan-Burke-Corwin syndicate in 1952; interest repurchased by Hughes in 1953; fully purchased by Hughes in 1954)
• General Tire and Rubber, 1955–1984 (purchased by General Tire and Rubber—coupled with General Tire's broadcasting operation as RKO Teleradio Pictures; production and distribution halted in 1957; movie business dissolved in 1959 and RKO Teleradio renamed RKO General; RKO General establishes RKO Pictures as production subsidiary in 1981)
• GenCorp, 1984–1987 (reorganization creates holding company with RKO General and General Tire as primary subsidiaries)
• Wesray Capital, 1987–1989 (spun off from RKO General, purchased by Wesray—controlled by William E. Simon and Ray Chambers—and merged with amusement park operations to form RKO/Six Flags Entertainment)
• independent, 1989–present (split off from Six Flags, purchased by Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley, and merged with Pavilion Communications; no films produced or distributed from 1993 through 1997)

RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ... Poster for The Cowboy Cop (1926), starring Tom Tyler, one of the best known of FBOs many Western stars. ... The Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation was the owner of a chain of vaudeville and motion picture theatres. ... Floyd Bostwick Odlum born March 30, 1892 in Union City, Michigan, United States – died June 17, 1976 in Indio, California, was a wealthy lawyer and industrialist and husband of aviatrix Jackie Cochran. ... The Rockefeller family, the family of John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) (Senior) and his brother William Rockefeller (1841-1922), is an American industrial, banking, philanthropic, and political family of German American origin that made the worlds largest private fortune in the oil business during the late 19th and early... For the Welsh murderer, see Howard Hughes (murderer). ... The General Tire and Rubber Company is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles. ... The classic logo of RKO Radio Pictures. ... GenCorp was the final corporate name of the former General Tire and Rubber Company, formerly a major U.S. maker of automobile tires. ... William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927–June 3, 2000) became the 63rd Secretary of the Treasury on May 8, 1974, during the Nixon administration. ... Dina Merrill on Life magazine January 11, 1960 Nedenia Marjorie Hutton (born December 9, 1925) is an American actress known as Dina Merrill. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Other studios

The Walt Disney Company

• Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, 1923-1929 (founded)
• independent as Walt Disney Productions, 1929-1986 (renamed; goes public in 1957)
• The Walt Disney Company, 1986-present (renamed)

Other significant, formerly independent entities

• Artisan Entertainment – Purchased in 2003 by Lions Gate Entertainment
• Castle Rock Entertainment – Purchased in 1994 by Turner Broadcasting System; TBS in 1996 merged with Time Warner
• DreamWorks SKG – Purchased in 2006 by Viacom (parent company of Paramount)
• The Samuel Goldwyn Company – Purchased in 1996 by John Kluge/Metromedia International; purchased in 1997 by MGM
• Miramax Films – Purchased in 1993 by the Walt Disney Company
• New Line Cinema – Purchased in 1994 by Turner Broadcasting System; TBS in 1996 merged with Time Warner
• October Films – Purchased in 1997 by Universal; purchased in 1999 by Barry Diller and merged with Gramercy Pictures into USA Films; USA in 2001 acquired by Vivendi (then parent company of Universal) and merged with Good Machine and Universal Focus into Focus Features
• Orion Pictures – Purchased in 1988 by Kluge/Metromedia; purchased in 1997 by MGM
• Pixar – Purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs; purchased in 2006 by the Walt Disney Company
• Tri-Star Pictures – Consolidated in 1987 into Columbia (one of the partners in the joint venture that created it)

Artisan Entertainment was a privately held independent American movie studio that has been owned by Lions Gate Entertainment since 2003. ... Turner Broadcasting logo Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. ... The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. ... John Werner Kluge (born September 21, 1914) is an entrepreneur who was born in Chemnitz, Germany, best known as a television industry mogul in the United States. ... October Films was a independent film production company and distributor founded in 1991 by Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky as a means of distributing the 1990 film Life Is Sweet. ... Barry Diller at the Web 2. ... Gramercy Pictures was a major film distributor, a joint venture of Polygram Filmed Entertainment and Universal Pictures. ... Focus Features (formerly known as USA Films and, in the beginning, Gramercy Pictures) is the speciality films division of Universal Pictures, a division of NBC Universal, the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity of General Electric. ... For a definition of the word vivendi, see the Wiktionary entry vivendi. ... Good Machine is an independent film production and film distribution company started in the early 1990s by its co-founders and producers, Ted Hope and James Schamus. ... Pixars studio lot in Emeryville Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio based in Emeryville, California (USA) notable for its seven Academy Awards. ... Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. ...

See also

• Big Four – the four major music corporations: Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI; formerly the Big Six, but Universal acquired PolyGram in 1998, and Sony and BMG merged in 2004

The world music market, or global music market consists of record companies, labels and publishers that distribute recorded music products internationally and that often control the rights to those products. ... Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. ... Bertelsmann is a transnational media corporation founded in 1835, based in G tersloh, Germany. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see EMI (disambiguation). ... PolyGram was the name from 1972 of the major label recording company started by Philips as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. ...

Notes

Casino Royale (2006) is the 21st film in the James Bond series and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 agent James Bond. ...

Sources

• Cook, David A. (2000). Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970–1979 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press). ISBN 0-520-23265-8
• Eames, John Douglas (1985). The Paramount Story (New York: Crown). ISBN 0-517-55348-1
• Finler, Joel W. (1988). The Hollywood Story (New York: Crown). ISBN 0-517-56576-5
• Hirschhorn, Clive (1983). The Universal Story (London: Crown). ISBN 0-517-55001-6
• Hirschhorn, Clive (1999). The Columbia Story (London: Hamlyn). ISBN 0-600-59836-5
• Jewell, Richard B., with Vernon Harbin (1982). The RKO Story (New York: Arlington House/Crown). ISBN 0-517-54656-6
• Schatz, Thomas (1998 [1989]). The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (London: Faber and Faber). ISBN 0-571-19596-2
• Thomas, Tony, and Aubrey Solomon (1985). The Films of 20th Century-Fox (Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel). ISBN 0-8065-0958-9