https://archive.org/details/bigpicturemoneyp00epst/page/14
So there’s not a whole lot on the notes front for this episode because I didn’t have a ton of time to write anything out but I have been reading through Wikipedia pages for a couple days and wrote a little bit. This one is going to be about the history of Hollywood or, more specifically, the history of major motion picture production companies. Also just for the record, or more just to tell you, for the vinyl episode and my future episode about the music industry Ehtisham and I alluded to I kind of set up the background information and then I’m going to bring it forward into today, but with this episode and its future companion episode I intend to do the opposite.
In the film industry there is what are known as ‘The Big 5’ companies, (for the record depending on who you ask and what time period you are working in this could be the Big 4-6 so it gets tricky) these are the ones that produce an absolutely massive amount of the media we consume. According to Wikipedia this means companies that make 80-85% of the box office revenue made in the country. This concept is not too recent however, as the Big 5 as we know them today are the second iteration of the group.
The original Big 5 were: MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warner Bros., and RKO. The current Big 5 are: Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney, and Columbia. I plan on just kinda going through the old Big 5 and then the new Big 5 one by one, following their beginning and rise and/or demise. Okay so here we go:
MGM:
So MGM, which is short for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was founded in 1924 when a man named Marcus Loew (who you may know from the well-known Loew’s Theaters chain) took over Metro, Goldwyn, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Loew’s business strategy, which seems pretty simple when you think about it, was to purchase film production companies in order to have a steady supply of content for his theaters.
Starting in 1919 with the Metro Pictures Corporation which wasn’t known for quality, he would eventually pick up Goldwyn Pictures 5 years later in order to make his offerings more appealing to the public. He formed a partnership with Louis Mayer in 1924 and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company was born.
MGM is known for a few things in the world of film, two of those being their early adoption of the technicolor process and the idea of a ‘stable of stars’. That being said, MGM was also the last major studio to adopt ‘talkies’ choosing instead to produce silent films until 1930, a few years after most had made the switch. Another big accomplishment on MGM’s part was the creation of the epic, Ben Hur, in 1959 which won 11 Academy Awards which was a record held until Titanic and then Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
So I’m gonna skip ahead a lot here and just say that MGM is still out there putting movies out, though they went through bankruptcy back in 2010. They’re known as a ‘mini-major’ studio now but they are still working. I’m going to go through some of their top-grossing movies which isn’t a perfect statistic given the rise in popularity of films/population changes/other stuff but it will give some perspective on what they’re all about and have been about.
MGM Box Office Stats: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0007143&sort=boxoffice_gross_us,d esc
20th Century Fox:
Okay so here’s the next one. You know them, you love them, its 20th Century Fox baby. In 1935, the Fox Film company and 20th Century Pictures merged, forming the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. An interesting side note: the owner of 20th Century Pictures, Joseph Schenck was actually the brother of Marcus Loew’s assistant, who after his death in 1927 took control of MGM. There is some debate over the year that the founding of the Fox Company took place, with modern interpretations placing the year as I did in 1935 with the merger, but with the company itself claiming the founding of the Fox Film Corporation, back in 1915.
The Fox company has a pretty long history of success though they aren’t necessarily pioneers of anything in particular so I don’t really have much to say. Uhhhhh with the entrance of Rupert Murdoch the Fox Company kind of changed their focus toward television and would gain a lot of recognition this way.
Like MGM, here’s the data for Fox: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0000756&sort=boxoffice_gross_us,d esc
RKO:
So RKO is the result of a number of failed attempts by RCA, the Radio Corporation of America, FBO, Film Booking Offices of America, a film studio owned by Joe Kennedy, and Keith-Albee-Orpheum, a vaudeville and film theater company.