Gramercy Pictures was an American
film production
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...
label. It was founded on May 20, 1992 as a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
between
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (formerly known as PolyGram Films and PolyGram Pictures or simply PFE) was a British film studio founded in 1979 which became a European competitor to Hollywood, but was eventually sold to Seagram Company Ltd. in 1 ...
and
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
. Gramercy was the distributor of PolyGram films in the United States and Canada and also served as Universal's art-house division. After Seagram's buyout of PolyGram, Gramercy along with
October Films were merged by
Barry Diller to form
USA Films in 1999. On May 20, 2015, Focus Features (the current art-house division for Universal) revived the name as a label for action, horror and sci-fi genre films; the label was shut down after the release of ''
Ratchet & Clank'' on April 29, 2016.
History
Gramercy Pictures was formed on May 20, 1992 as a joint venture between PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
Gramercy Pictures released its first film, the
Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles (born January 15, 1957) is an American film director and actor best known for directing and starring in ''New Jack City'' in 1991 and '' USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage'' in 2016. He is the son of actor and filmmaker Melvin V ...
western
''Posse'', on May 14, 1993.
On January 11, 1996, PolyGram brought the 50% stake owned by Universal thus assuming full control of Gramercy. The distributor also had box office hits in 1994's ''
Four Weddings and a Funeral'', 1996's ''
Fargo'' and 1997's ''
Bean''. Several Gramercy releases of the 1990s have grown in stature to become
cult classics
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in ...
in the present day: ''
The Big Lebowski'', ''
Dazed and Confused'', ''
Clay Pigeons'' and ''
Mallrats''. In addition, 1995's ''
The Usual Suspects'' won two Oscars, for
Best Original Screenplay (
Christopher McQuarrie
Christopher McQuarrie is an American filmmaker. He received the BAFTA Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the neo-noir mystery film ''The Usual Suspects'' (1995).
He made his directorial debut wit ...
) and
Best Supporting Actor (
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles before gaining a leading man status in film and television. Spacey has received various accolade ...
).
When
Seagram
The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the ...
acquired
PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
on May 22, 1998, the latter was merged and folded into Universal; as a result, it reacquired Gramercy as it controlled Universal. In turn, Seagram sold the bulk of the PolyGram film library titles released up until March 31, 1996 to
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
in 1999, and later on, it sold Gramercy and another specialty division,
October Films, to
Barry Diller's
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...
s, which merged both companies into
USA Films.
USA Films was then merged with Universal's own art-house division, Universal Focus, and transformed into
Focus Features in 2002 after
Vivendi Universal acquired USA Networks from Diller.
Revival
On May 20, 2015,
Focus Features announced that the Gramercy label has been revived to release action, horror and sci-fi genre films. Its first release was ''
Insidious: Chapter 3'' on June 5, 2015.
[ The revived label was later shut down following the box office failure of '' Ratchet & Clank''.
]
Filmography
1990s
2000s
2010s
References
{{Authority control
Film distributors of the United States
Entertainment companies based in California
Cinema of Southern California
Companies based in Los Angeles County, California
American companies established in 1992
Entertainment companies established in 1992
Entertainment companies disestablished in 2001
1992 establishments in California
2001 disestablishments in California
Re-established companies
Entertainment companies established in 2015
Entertainment companies disestablished in 2016
2015 establishments in California
Joint ventures
Universal Pictures subsidiaries