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7/20/2014 Paramount Pictures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Paramount Pictures From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Paramount Pictures Corporation (commonly known as Paramount Pictures Corporation Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, and formerly known as Famous Players-Lasky Corporation) is a film studio, television production company and motion picture distributor, consistently ranked as one of the "Big Six" film studios of Hollywood. It is a subsidiary of U.S. media conglomerate Viacom, Paramount is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).[2] It has distributed various commercially successful film series, such as Shrek, Transformers, Mission: Impossible, Marvel Cinematic Type Subsidiary of Viacom Universe (2008–11), Titanic, Indiana Jones (1981–2008), The Godfather, Star Trek, Jack Ryan, Jackass, The Bad Industry Film News Bears, Beverly Hills Cop, "Crocodile" Dundee, Founded 1912 (as Famous Players Film Paranormal Activity, Friday the 13th and G.I. Joe. It's the Company) world's fourth oldest major film studio. 1914 (as Paramount Pictures) As of 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first big Headquarters Hollywood, California, Hollywood studio to distribute all its films in digital-form United States only.[3] Area served Worldwide Key people Brad Grey (Chairman and CEO) Contents Rob Moore (Vice Chairman) 1 History Frederick D. Huntsberry (COO) 1.1 1911–1920: Early history Mark Badagliacca 1.2 1921–1930: The rise (CFO) 1.2.1 Publix, Balaban and Katz, Adam Goodman[1] Loew's competition, and wonder President of Paramount Film Group theaters Products Motion pictures 1.3 1931–1940: Receivership Revenue $1.2 billion (2011) 1.4 1941–1950: United States v. Paramount Operating $300 million (2011) Pictures, Inc. income 1.5 1951–1966: Split and after Owner(s) Famous Players-Lasky Corporation 1.5.1 The DuMont Network (1916–1927) 1.6 1966–1970: Early Gulf+Western era Independent (1927–1966) 1.7 1971–1980: CIC formation and high- Gulf+Western concept era (1966–1989) 1.8 1980–1994: Continuous success Paramount Communications Inc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures 1/23 7/20/2014 Paramount Pictures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1.9 1994–2004: Dolgen/Lansing and "old" (1989–1995) Viacom era Viacom (original) (1994–2005) 1.10 2005–present: Paramount today Viacom(2006–present)[note 1] 1.10.1 CBS Corporation/Viacom split Divisions Current: 1.10.2 DreamWorks purchased Paramount Home Media 1.10.3 UIP, Famous Music and Digital Distribution Entertainment Insurge Pictures 2 Investments Paramount Famous Productions Paramount Vantage 2.1 DreamWorks Paramount Animation 2.2 The CBS library Paramount Television 3 Units Former: 3.1 Subsidiaries Famous Studios 3.2 Divisions Paramount Parks 3.3 Joint ventures Paramount Stations Group 3.4 Former divisions, subsidiaries, and joint Website www.paramount.com ventures (http://www.paramount.com) 3.5 Other interests 4 Active producers deals 5 Logo 6 Visiting Paramount 7 Film series 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links History 1911–1920: Early history Paramount is the fourth oldest surviving film studio in the world after Gaumont Film Company (1895), Pathé (1896), Nordisk Film, (1906), and before Universal Studios[4] It is the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures 2/23 7/20/2014 Paramount Pictures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company. Founder Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants.[5] 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 Play 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 feature film, The Squaw Man. Starting in 1914, 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 which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out Paramount Pictures logo, based of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one. The new company on a design by founder William Lasky and Zukor founded, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, grew Wadsworth Hodkinson, from quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldwyn and DeMille running the 1917 to 1967. 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. 1921–1930: The rise Because Zukor believed in stars, he signed and developed many of the leading early stars, including Mary Pickford, 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. Lasky's original studio, a.k.a.: "The The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. Through the teens Barn"; as it appeared in the mid- and twenties, he built the Publix Theatres Corporation, a chain of 1920s. The Taft building, built in nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios (in Astoria, New York, 1923, is visible in the background. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures 3/23 7/20/2014 Paramount Pictures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Hollywood, California), 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 Paramount and CBS crossed paths). In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg, an unerring eye for new talent, to run the new West Coast operations. They purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million.[6] In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. Three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. 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, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957. In 1929 Paramount Released their first musical "Innocents of Paris." Richard A. Whiting and Leo Robin composed the score for the film; Maurice Chevalier starred and sung the most famous song from the film, "Louise". Publix, Balaban and Katz, Loew's competition, and wonder theaters By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, Zukor 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 in New York City from the thirty-five story Paramount Theatre Building on Times Square). Balaban and Katz had developed the Wonder Theater concept, first publicized around 1918 in Chicago. The Chicago Theater was created as a very ornate theater and advertised as a "wonder theater." When Publix acquired Balaban, they embarked on a project to expand the wonder theaters, and starting building in New York in 1927. While Balaban and Public were dominant in Chicago, Loew's was the big player in New York, and did not want the Publix theaters to overshadow theirs. The two companies brokered a non-competition deal for New York and Chicago, and Loew's took over the New York area projects, developing five wonder theaters. Publix continued Balaban's wonder theater development in its home area.[7] 1931–1940: Receivership Eventually, Zukor shed most of his early partners; the Frohman brothers, Hodkinson and 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 Hertz and Otto Kahn kept the company intact, and, miraculously, Zukor was kept 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.