Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
and
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
company and the main namesake division of
Paramount Global
Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...
(formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind
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 Ameri ...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 24 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with a star on the logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22 and their hidden meaning was dropped. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. The company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California.
Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
History
Famous Players Film Company
Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving film studio in the world; after the French studios Gaumont Film Company (1895) and Pathé (1896),
Titanus
Titanus is an Italian film production company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Via Tiburtina, 13 km from the centre of Rome.
Lom ...
(1904), followed by the
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film A/S (lit. "Nordic Film") is a Danish entertainment company established in 1906 in Copenhagen by filmmaker Ole Olsen. It is the fourth-oldest film studio in the world behind the Gaumont Film Company, Pathé, and Titanus ...
company (1906), and
Universal Studios
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 ...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.
Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the
Famous Players Film Company
The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful New York City theatre impresario.
History
Discussions to form the company were held at The Lambs, a famous th ...
. Hungarian-born founder Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners
Daniel Frohman
Daniel Frohman (August 22, 1851 – December 26, 1940) was an American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer.
Biography
Frohman was born to a Jewish family in Sandusky, Ohio. His parents were Henry (1826–1899) and Ba ...
and
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...
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. Its first film was ''
Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth
''Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth'' (''The Loves of Queen Elizabeth''), ''Les Amours d'Élisabeth, Reine d'Angleterre'' (''The Loves of Elizabeth, Queen of England'') or ''La reine Élisabeth'' (''Queen Elizabeth'') is a 1912 feature 4-reel F ...
'', which starred Sarah Bernhardt.
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
Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...
. The Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience,
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...
, who would find a suitable site in Hollywood. This place was a rented old horse barn converted into a production facility with an enlarged open-air stage located between
Vine Street
Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue. The intersection with Hollywood Boulevard was once a symbol of Hollywood itself. The famed intersection fell into d ...
, Selma Avenue, Argyle Avenue and
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...
. It was later known as the
Lasky-DeMille Barn
The Hollywood Heritage Museum, also known as the "Hollywood Studio Museum," is located on Highland Ave. in Hollywood, California, United States.
The museum is opposite the Hollywood Bowl and is housed in the restored Lasky-DeMille Barn, which was ...
. In 1914, their first feature film, '' The Squaw Man'' was released.
On May 8, 1914, Paramount Pictures Corporation (previously known as Progressive Pictures) was founded by a Utah theatre owner,
W. W. Hodkinson
William Wadsworth Hodkinson (August 16, 1881 – June 2, 1971), 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 190 ...
, who had bought and merged five smaller firms. On May 15, 1914, Hodkinson signed a five-year contract with the Famous Players Film Company, the Lasky Company and Bosworth, Inc. to distribute their films. Actor, director and producer
Hobart Bosworth
Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth (August 11, 1867 – December 30, 1943) was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer.
Early life
Bosworth was born on August 11, 1867, in Marietta, Ohio. His father was a sea captain in the Civil W ...
had started production of a series of
Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
movies. Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor; until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation.
Famous Players-Lasky
In 1916, Zukor engineered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one. The new company Lasky and Zukor founded on June 28,
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...
Corporation, although it continued to use the name "Paramount" as well. As a result, it became he largest film company at the time with a value of $12.5 million. The corporation was able to grow quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldwyn 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. The fusion was finalized on November 7, 1916.
Because Zukor believed in stars, he signed and developed many of the leading early stars, including
Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
,
Marguerite Clark
Helen Marguerite Clark (February 22, 1883 – September 25, 1940) was an American theatre, stage and silent film actress. As a movie actress, at one time, Clark was second only to Mary Pickford in popularity. All but five of her films are co ...
,
Pauline Frederick
Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress.
Early life
Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...
,
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
,
Gloria Swanson
Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...
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 '' Un ...
", 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.
By the mid-1920s, the old Lasky-DeMille barn property was not big enough to handle all of the studios' West Coast productions. On January 5, 1926, Lasky reached an agreement to buy the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility owned by United Pictures and located at 5451 Marathon Street, for US$1 million. On March 29, the company began an eight-month building program to renovate the existing facilities and erect new ones. On May 8, Lasky finally moved operations from the Sunset and Vine lot to the new building. At present, those facilities are still part of the Paramount Pictures headquarters. Zukor hired independent producer
B. P. Schulberg
B. P. Schulberg (born Percival Schulberg, January 19, 1892 – February 25, 1957) was an American pioneer film producer and film studio executive.
Biography
Born Percival Schulberg in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he took the name Benjamin from the ...
, an unerring eye for new talent, to run the new West Coast operations.
On April 1, 1927, the company name was changed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. In September 1927, the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation studio in Astoria (New York City) was temporarily closed with the objective of equipping it with the technology for the production of
sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
s. In the same year, Paramount began releasing '' Inkwell Imps'', animated cartoons produced by Max and
Dave Fleischer
Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City.
Biography
Fleischer was the ...
'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
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
. The Paramount newsreel series
Paramount News Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures from 1927 to 1957.
History
The Paramount newsreel operation began in 1927 with Emanuel Cohen as an editor. It typically distributed two issues per week to theaters across ...
ran from 1927 to 1957. Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as "talkies", and in 1929, released their first musical, '' Innocents of Paris''. Richard A. Whiting and
Leo Robin
Leo Robin (April 6, 1900 – December 29, 1984) was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Academy Award for Best Original Song, Oscar-winning song "Thanks for t ...
composed the score for the film; Maurice Chevalier starred and sang the most famous song from the film, "
Louise
Louise or Luise may refer to:
* Louise (given name)
Arts Songs
* "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005
* "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984
* "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013
* "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929
*"Louise", by Clan of ...
".
Publix, Balaban and Katz, Loew's competition and wonder theaters
The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. He built a chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios (in Astoria, New York, now the
Kaufman Astoria Studios
The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. The studio was constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Broadway theater district. The pr ...
, and
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
), and became an early investor in radio, acquiring for the corporation a 50% interest in the new
Columbia Broadcasting System
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
in 1928 (selling it within a few years; this would not be the last time Paramount and CBS crossed paths).
By acquiring the successful
Balaban & Katz
Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation, or B&K, was a theatre corporation which owned a chain of motion picture theaters in Chicago and surrounding areas. It was founded by Barney Balaban (later long-time President of Paramount Pictures), his six ...
chain in 1926, Zukor gained the services of
Barney Balaban
Barney Balaban (June 8, 1887 – March 7, 1971) was an American film executive who was the president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964 and an innovator in the cinema industry.
Life and career
Barney Balaban (formerly Birnbaum) was the el ...
(who would eventually become Paramount's president in 1936), his brother
A. J. Balaban
Abraham Joseph Balaban, known as A. J. Balaban or Abe Balaban (April 20, 1889 – November 1, 1962), was an American showman whose particular influence on popular entertainment in the early 20th century led to enormous innovations in the American ...
(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
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
).
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 City in 1927. While Balaban and Public were dominant in Chicago,
Loew's
Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also known as Loews Incorporated, is an American theater chain operating in North America. From 1924 until 1959, it was also the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM).
The company was originally cal ...
was the big player in New York City, and did not want the Publix theaters to overshadow theirs. The two companies brokered a non-competition deal for New York City and Chicago, and Loew's took over the New York City area projects, developing five wonder theaters. Publix continued Balaban's wonder theater development in its home area.
On April 24, 1930, Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation became the Paramount Publix Corporation.
1920s and 1931–40: Receivership and reorganization
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 Great Depression years, he too was tossed out. In 1931, to solve the financial problems of the company Zukor hired taxi/rental car magnate
John D. Hertz
John Daniel Hertz, Sr. (April 10, 1879October 8, 1961) was an American businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder, and philanthropist.
Biography
Born Sándor Herz to a Jewish family in Szklabinya, Austria-Hungary (today Sklabiňa, a ...
as chairman of the finance committee in order to assist vice-president and
treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury ...
Ralph A. Kohn. However, on January 6, 1933, Hertz resigned from his position when it become evident that his measures to lift the company had failed. The over-expansion and use of overvalued Paramount stock for purchases created a $21 million debt which led the company into receivership on January 26, 1933 and later filing bankruptcy on March 14, 1933. On April 17, 1933, bankruptcy trustees were appointed and Zukor lost control of the company. The company remained under the control of trustees for more than a year in order to restructure the debt and pursue a reorganization plan. On December 3, 1934, the reorganization plan was formally proposed. After prolonged hearings in court, final confirmation was obtained on April 25, 1935, when Federal Judge Alfred C. Coxe Jr. approved the reorganization of the Paramount-Publix Corporation under Section 77-B of the
Bankruptcy Act
Bankruptcy Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States relating to bankruptcy. The Bill for an Act with this short title ...
.
On June 4, 1935 John E. Otterson became president of the re-emerged and newly renamed Paramount Pictures Inc. Zukor returned to the company and was named production chief but after Barney Balaban was appointed president on July 2, 1936, he was soon replaced by Y. Frank Freeman and symbolically named chairman of the board. On August 28, 1935, Paramount Pictures was re-listed on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
and after the company was under Balaban's leadership, the studio was successfully relauched.
As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were
Gloria Swanson
Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...
Florence Vidor
Florence Vidor (née Cobb, later Arto; July 23, 1895 – November 3, 1977) was an American silent film actress.
Early life
Vidor was born in Houston on July 23, 1895, to John and Ida Cobb. Her parents had married in Houston on March 3, 1894, bu ...
,
Thomas Meighan
Thomas Meighan (April 9, 1879 – July 8, 1936) was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading-man roles opposite popular actresses of the day, including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he co ...
,
Pola Negri
Pola Negri (; born Apolonia Chalupec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femm ...
,
Bebe Daniels
Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer.
She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such ...
,
Antonio Moreno
Antonio Garrido Monteagudo (September 26, 1887 – February 15, 1967), better known as Antonio Moreno or Tony Moreno, was a Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s.
Early life and silent fil ...
,
Richard Dix
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
,
Esther Ralston
Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an iconic American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was '' To the Last Man'' in 1933.
Early life and career
Ralston was born Esther Loui ...
,
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The La ...
,
George Bancroft
George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts and at the national and internati ...
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
,
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...
, and
Charles Buddy Rogers
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
. By the late 1920s and the early 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful draws:
Richard Arlen
Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore, September 1, 1899 – March 28, 1976) was an American actor of film and television.
Biography
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Arlen attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served in Canada as a ...
,
Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll (born Ann Veronica Lahiff; November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress. She started her career in Broadway musicals and then became an actress in sound films and was in many films from 1927 to 1938. She was t ...
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...
,
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
,
Charles Ruggles
Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the e ...
,
Ruth Chatterton
Ruth Chatterton (December 24, 1892 – November 24, 1961) was an American stage, film, and television actress, aviator and novelist. She was at her most popular in the early to mid-1930s, and in the same era gained prominence as an aviator, ...
,
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...
,
Mae West
Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...
, the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
,
W.C. Fields
WC or wc may refer to:
* Water closet or flush toilet
Arts and entertainment
* ''W.C.'' (film), an Irish feature film
* WC (band), a Polish punk rock band
* WC (rapper), a rapper from Los Angeles, California
* Westside Connection, former ...
,
Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...
,
Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...
,
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow'' and '' On ...
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She first signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930.
Her best-known roles included a pickpocket in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy '' T ...
,
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
and Stuart Erwin, 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 (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...
would also add greatly to Paramount's success with her suggestive movies ''
She Done Him Wrong
''She Done Him Wrong'' is a 1933 pre-Code American crime/comedy film starring Mae West and Cary Grant. The plot includes melodramatic and musical elements, with a supporting cast featuring Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery Sr., Rochelle Hu ...
'' and ''
I'm No Angel
''I'm No Angel'' is a 1933 pre-Code film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West received sole story and screenplay credit. It is one of her films that was not subjected to heavy censorship.
Plot
Tira (Mae West ...
''. However, the sex appeal West gave in these movies would also lead to the enforcement of the
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
, as the newly formed organization the
Catholic Legion of Decency
The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictu ...
threatened a boycott if it was not enforced.
Paramount cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios continued to be successful, with
characters
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
Popeye the Sailor
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Screen Songs
''Screen Songs'', formerly known as KoKo Song Car-Tunes, are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 1945, n ...
'', featured live-action music stars under contract to Paramount hosting sing-alongs of popular songs. The animation studio would rebound with
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.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.
1941–50: ''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 71 films to a more modest 19 annually in the war years. Still, with more new stars like
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
Veronica Lake
Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd ...
,
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career ...
, and
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 11, 2007)
was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer.
Early life and education
Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 2 ...
, 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
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
decided to reopen their case against the five integrated studios. Paramount also had a monopoly over
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
movie theaters through subsidiary company United Detroit Theaters. This led to the Supreme Court decision ''
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'', 334 U.S. 131 (1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, the Paramount Case, or the Paramount Decision), was a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the f ...
'' (1948) holding that movie studios could not also own movie theater chains. This decision broke up Adolph Zukor's creation, with the theater chain being split into a new company,
United Paramount Theaters
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* United (2011 film) ...
, and effectively brought an end to the classic Hollywood
studio system
A studio system is a method of filmmaking wherein the production and distribution of films is dominated by a small number of large movie studios. It is most often used in reference to Hollywood motion picture studios during the Golden Age of Hol ...
.
1951–66: 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
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* United (2011 film) ...
on December 31, 1949.
Leonard Goldenson
Leonard H. Goldenson (December 7, 1905 – December 27, 1999) was the founder and president of the United States-based television network American Broadcasting Company (ABC), from 1953 to 1986. Goldenson, as CEO of United Paramount Theatres, ...
, 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 antitrust rulings, he acquired the struggling
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television network in February 1953, leading it first to financial health, and eventually, in the mid-1970s, to first place in the national Nielsen ratings, before selling out to
Capital Cities
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the ...
in 1985 (Capital Cities would eventually sell out, in turn, to
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
in 1996). United Paramount Theaters was renamed ABC Theaters in 1965 and was sold to businessman Henry Plitt in 1977. The movie theater chain was renamed Plitt Theaters. In 1985,
Cineplex Odeon Corporation
Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators and live theatre, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States. The Cineplex Odeon brand is still being used by Cineplex Entertainment at ...
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 Network
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 KTLA, 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 and was eventually resold to CBS as
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Str ...
.
In 1938, Paramount bought a stake in television manufacturer DuMont Laboratories. Through this stake, it became a minority owner of the DuMont Television Network. Also Paramount launched its own network,
Paramount Television Network
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
, in 1948 through its television unit, Television Productions, Inc.
Paramount management planned to acquire additional owned-and-operated stations ("O&Os"); the company applied to the FCC for additional stations in San Francisco, Detroit, and Boston. The FCC, however, denied Paramount's applications. A few years earlier, the federal regulator had placed a five-station cap on all television networks: no network was allowed to own more than five VHF television stations. Paramount was hampered by its minority stake in the DuMont Television Network. Although both DuMont and Paramount executives stated that the companies were separate, the FCC ruled that Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont meant that DuMont and Paramount were in theory branches of the same company. Since DuMont owned three television stations and Paramount owned two, the federal agency ruled neither network could acquire additional television stations. The FCC requested that Paramount relinquish its stake in DuMont, but Paramount refused. According to television historian William Boddy, "Paramount's checkered antitrust history" helped convince the FCC that Paramount controlled DuMont. Both DuMont and Paramount Television Network suffered as a result, with neither company able to acquire five O&Os. Meanwhile, CBS, ABC, and NBC had each acquired the maximum of five stations by the mid-1950s.
When ABC accepted a merger offer from UPT in 1953, DuMont quickly realized that ABC now had more resources than it could possibly hope to match. It quickly reached an agreement in principle to merge with ABC.Bergmann, Ted; Skutch, Ira (2002). ''The DuMont Television Network: What Happened?'', pp. 79–83. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2002. . However, Paramount vetoed the offer due to antitrust concerns. For all intents and purposes, this was the end of DuMont, though it lingered on until 1956.
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, 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
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...
, 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
The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
''. DeMille died in 1959. Like some other studios, Paramount saw little value in its film library, and sold 764 of its pre-1950 films to
MCA Inc.
MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film ind ...
Universal Television
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...
) in February 1958.
1966–70: 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; and the Golden Age of Hollywood had just ended, even the flagship
Paramount Building
1501 Broadway, also known as the Paramount Building, is a 33-story office building on Times Square between West 43rd Street (Manhattan), 43rd and 44th Street (Manhattan), 44th Streets in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District neighb ...
in Times Square was sold to raise cash, as was KTLA (sold to Gene Autry in 1964 for a then-phenomenal $12.5 million). Their only remaining successful property at that point was
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...
, which Paramount had acquired in 1957, and even its profits started declining by the middle of the 1960s. 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
Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930October 26, 2019) was an American film producer, studio executive, and actor, best known for his work on '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), ''Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), and ''Chi ...
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 Odd Couple may refer to:
Neil Simon play and its adaptations
* ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon
** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play
*** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...
The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
3 Days of the Condor
''Three Days of the Condor'' is a 1975 American political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow. The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel was based on ...
''.
Gulf + Western Industries also bought the neighboring
Desilu
Desilu Productions () was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The company is best known for shows such as '' I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''Mannix'', ''The Untouchab ...
television studio (once the lot of RKO Pictures) from
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
in 1967. Using some of Desilu's established shows such 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.
In 1968, Paramount formed Films Distributing Corp to distribute sensitive film product, including ''Sin With a Stranger'', which was one of the first films to receive an
X rating
An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences.
Aust ...
in the United States when the
MPAA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
Universal Studios
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 ...
to form
Cinema International Corporation
Cinema International Corporation (CIC) was a film distribution company started by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures in the early 1970s to distribute the two studios' films outside the United States – it even operated in Canada before it ...
, a new company that would distribute films by the two studios outside the United States.
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 through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
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 (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global.
The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...
) and CIC Video, respectively.
Robert Evans abandoned his position 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
Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall o ...
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 Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
,
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg (; born December 21, 1950) is an American filmmaker, animator, and media proprietor. He became well known for his tenure as chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. After departing Disney, he was a co-founder and C ...
,
Dawn Steel
Dawn Leslie Steel (August 19, 1946 – December 20, 1997) was an American film studio executive and producer. She was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio, rising through the ranks of merchandising and production to head ...
and
Don Simpson
Donald Clarence Simpson (October 29, 1943 – January 19, 1996) was an American film producer, screenwriter, and actor. Simpson and his producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer produced hit films such as ''Flashdance'' (1983), ''Beverly Hills Cop'' ...
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
High concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise. It can be contrasted with ''low concept'', which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summa ...
" pictures such as '' Saturday Night Fever'' and '' Grease'' hit big, hit hard and hit fast all over the world, while its fortuitous earlier acquisition of the '' Star Trek'' property, which had grown into a
cult favorite
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 ...
, enabled Paramount to have a long running science fiction film and television franchise to compete with the outstanding popular success of '' Star Wars''. Diller's television background led him to propose one of his longest-standing ideas to the board:
Paramount Television Service
The Paramount Television Service (or PTVS for short and also known as Paramount Programming Service) was the name of a proposed but ultimately unrealized "fourth television network" from the U.S. film studio Paramount Pictures (then a unit of ...
Hughes Television Network
HTN Communications, better known as Hughes Television Network (HTN) and formerly Sports Network, was an American television network created by Richard Eugene Bailey. The company is now in the business of providing video and audio services to spo ...
(HTN) including its satellite time in planning for PTVS in 1976. Paramount sold HTN to Madison Square Garden in 1979. 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 Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
in 1984, where Fox's then freshly installed proprietor,
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
was a more interested listener.
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
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
– in 1995. Lasting eleven years before being merged with
The WB
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...
network to become
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
in 2006, UPN would feature many of the shows it originally produced for other networks, and would take numerous gambles on series such as '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and ''
Star Trek: Enterprise
''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...
ABC-Paramount Records
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...
(1955–66) until it purchased the rights to use the name (but not the latter's catalog) in the late 1960s. The
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...
catalog which Paramount had acquired in 1957. 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
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
) in 1979.
1980–94: Continual success
Paramount's successful run of pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like ''
Airplane!
''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American parody film written and directed by the brothers David Zucker, David and Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams in their directorial debuts, and produced by Jon Davison (film prod ...
Ordinary People
''Ordinary People'' is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of an upp ...
Flashdance
''Flashdance'' is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend ...
'', ''
Terms of Endearment
''Terms of Endearment'' is a 1983 American family comedy-drama film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel of the same name. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Dann ...
'', ''
Footloose
Footloose may refer to:
* ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film
** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack)
** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins
* ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film
** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...
'', ''
Pretty in Pink
''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. A cult classic, it is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film. It was directed by Howard Deutch, produc ...
'', ''Top Gun'', ''Crocodile Dundee'', ''Fatal Attraction'', ''Ghost (1990 film), Ghost'', the ''Friday the 13th (1980 film), Friday the 13th'' slasher film, slasher series, as well as teaming up with Lucasfilm to create the Indiana Jones (franchise), ''Indiana Jones'' franchise. Other examples are the '' Star Trek'' film 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 (1980 film), Atlantic City'', ''Reds (film), Reds'', ''Witness (1985 film), Witness'', ''Children of a Lesser God (film), Children of a Lesser God'' and ''The Accused (1988 film), 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 R. Jaffe (1991) and Sherry Lansing (1992). More so than most, Paramount's slate of films included many remakes and television Spin-off (media), spin-offs; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of the kind that once made Paramount the industry leader.
On August 25, 1983, Paramount Studios caught fire. Two or three sound stages and four outdoor sets were destroyed.
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. These parks included California's Great America, Paramount's Great America, Canada's Wonderland, Paramount Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Paramount's Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Paramount's Kings Dominion, and Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Island.
In May 1985, Paramount decided to start its own talent department, establishing which its feature directors could draw, which the studio decided to shut down on July 30, 1986, by then-studio president
Dawn Steel
Dawn Leslie Steel (August 19, 1946 – December 20, 1997) was an American film studio executive and producer. She was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio, rising through the ranks of merchandising and production to head ...
. In 1987, Paramount Pictures, along with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA Communications Co. 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 Ameri ...
teamed up in order to market feature film and television product to China, and the consumer reach is measured in terms of the 25-billion admission tickets that were clocked in China in 1986, and Worldwide Media Sales, a division of the New York-based Worldwide Media Group had been placed in charge of the undertaking. That year, Paramount Pictures decided to consolidate its distribution operations, that closing a number of branch offices that was designed for the studio and relocating staff and major activities in an effort to cut costs and provide for a more efficient centralization, which was a response in a change to the distribution practices by working out cities where exhibitors also had offices. In August 1987, Paramount Overseas Productions decided that they would declare that the subsidiary was not just for the upcoming film ''Experts'', which was shot $12 million in Canada, but other films filmed there worldwide, including the United Kingdom and Canada, and the company was set up it was one of the several subsidiaries through it was filmed outside of the United States.
In 1993, Sumner Redstone's entertainment conglomerate Viacom (1952–2006), Viacom made a bid for a merger with Paramount Communications; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall o ...
's QVC. But Viacom prevailed, ultimately paying $10 billion for the Paramount holdings. Viacom and Paramount had planned to merge as early as 1989.
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 Pictures, RKO closed up shop in 1957 (Paramount ultimately absorbed their former lot); Warner Bros. (whose old Sunset Boulevard studio was sold to Paramount in 1949 as a home for KTLA) moved to Burbank, Los Angeles County, California, Burbank in 1930; Columbia Pictures, Columbia joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to Culver City, California, 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.
1989–94: Paramount Communications
In 1983, Gulf and Western began a restructuring process that would transform the corporation from a bloated conglomerate consisting of subsidiaries from unrelated industries to a more focused entertainment and publishing company. The idea was to aid financial markets in measuring the company's success, which, in turn, would help place better value on its shares. Though its Paramount division did very well in recent years, Gulf and Western's success as a whole was translating poorly with investors. This process eventually led Davis to divest many of the company's subsidiaries. Its sugar plantations in Florida and the Dominican Republic were sold in 1985; the consumer and industrial products branch was sold off that same year. In 1989, Davis renamed the company Paramount Communications Incorporated after its primary asset, Paramount Pictures. In addition to the Paramount film, television, home video, and music publishing divisions, the company continued to own the Madison Square Garden properties (which also included MSG (TV network), MSG Network), a 50% stake in USA Networks (the other 50% was owned by MCA/Universal Studios) and Simon & Schuster, Prentice Hall, Pocket Books, Allyn & Bacon, Cineamerica (a joint venture with Warner Communications), and Canadian cinema chain Famous Players Theatres.Prince, Stephen (2000) ''A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980–1989'' (p. 60-65). University of California Press, Berkeley, California, Berkeley/Los Angeles, California.
That same year, the company launched a $12.2 billion hostile bid to acquire Time Inc. in an attempt to end a stock-swap merger deal between Time and Warner Communications. This caused Time to raise its bid for Warner to $14.9 billion in cash and stock. Gulf and Western responded by filing a lawsuit in a Delaware court to block the Time-Warner merger. The court ruled twice in favor of Time, forcing Gulf and Western to drop both the Time acquisition and the lawsuit, and allowing the formation of Time Warner.
Paramount used cash acquired from the sale of Gulf and Western's non-entertainment properties to take over the TVX Broadcast Group chain of television stations (which at that point consisted mainly of large-market stations which TVX had bought from Taft Broadcasting, plus two mid-market stations which TVX owned prior to the Taft purchase), and the KECO Entertainment chain of theme parks from Taft successor Great American Broadcasting. Both of these companies had their names changed to reflect new ownership: TVX became known as the Paramount Stations Group, while KECO was renamed to Paramount Parks.
Paramount Television launched Wilshire Court Productions in conjunction with USA Networks, before the latter was renamed NBCUniversal Cable, in 1989. Wilshire Court Productions (named for a side street in Los Angeles) produced television films that aired on the USA Networks, and later for other networks. USA Networks launched a second channel, the Sci-Fi Channel (now known as Syfy), in 1992. As its name implied, it focused on films and television series within the science fiction genre. Much of the initial programming was owned either by Paramount or Universal. Paramount bought one more television station in 1993: Cox Enterprises' WKBD-TV in Detroit, Michigan, at the time an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company.
1994–2005: Dolgen/Lansing and "old" Viacom era
In February 1994, Viacom (1952–2006), Viacom acquired 50.1% of Paramount Communications Inc. shares for $9.75 billion, following a five-month battle with QVC, and completed the merger in July. At the time, Paramount's holdings included Paramount Pictures, Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks, and the Simon & Schuster publishing house. The deal had been planned as early as 1989, when the company was still known as Gulf and Western. Though Davis was named a member of the board of National Amusements, which controlled Viacom, he ceased to manage the company.
Under Viacom, the Paramount Stations Group continued to build with more station acquisitions, eventually leading to Viacom's acquisition of its former parent, the CBS network, in 1999. Around the same time, Viacom bought out Spelling Television, Spelling Entertainment, incorporating its library into that of Paramount itself.
Viacom split into two companies in 2006, one retaining the Viacom (2005–2019), Viacom name (which continued to own Paramount Pictures), while another was named CBS Corporation (which now controlled Paramount Television Group, which was renamed CBS Paramount Television, now known as CBS Television Studios and worldwide distribution unit is now CBS Television Distribution and CBS Studios International, in 2006, Simon & Schuster (except for Prentice Hall and other educational units, which Viacom sold to Pearson PLC in 1998), and what's left of the original Paramount Stations Group, now known as CBS Television Stations). National Amusements retains majority control of the two.
Together, these two companies own many of the former media assets of Gulf and Western and its Paramount successor today. Meanwhile, the Madison Square Garden properties (including Madison Square Gardens, the MSG Network, Knicks and Rangers) were sold to Cablevision for $1.075 billion not long after the Viacom takeover. CBS retained ownership of the Paramount Parks chain for a few months after becoming part of the new CBS Corporation, but sold the parks to Cedar Fair in the summer of 2006, and thus National Amusements got out of the theme park ownership business entirely. Over the next few years, Cedar Fair purged references to Viacom-owned properties from the former Paramount Parks, a task completed in 2010. Viacom also sold its stake in the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, USA Networks to Universal in 1997, and the channels came under the ownership of Universal's successor, NBCUniversal, which still retained those holdings as of late July 2013.
During this time period, Paramount Pictures went under the guidance of Jonathan Dolgen, chairman and Sherry Lansing, 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 (1997 film), Titanic'', a joint partnership with
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, and Lightstorm Entertainment 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''.
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'' television 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 stages.
In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries' BHC Communications#United Television, United Television launched UPN, 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. During this period the studio acquired some 30 TV stations to support the UPN network as well acquiring and merging in the assets of Republic Pictures, Spelling Television and Viacom Television, almost doubling the size of the studio's television library. The television division produced the dominant prime time show for the decade in ''Frasier'' as well as such long running hits as ''NCIS'' and ''Becker'' and the dominant prime time magazine show ''Entertainment Tonight.'' Paramount also gained the ownership rights to the Rysher Entertainment, Rysher library, after Viacom acquired the rights from Cox Enterprises.
During this period, Paramount and its related subsidiaries and affiliates, operating under the name "Viacom Entertainment Group" also included the fourth largest group of theme parks in the United States and Canada which in addition to traditional rides and attractions launched numerous successful location-based entertainment units including a long running "Star Trek" attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton. Famous Music – the company's celebrated music publishing arm almost doubled in size and developed artists including Pink, Bush, Green Day as well as catalog favorites including Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini. The Paramount/Viacom licensing group under the leadership of Tom McGrath (media executive), Tom McGrath created the "Cheers" franchise bars and restaurants and a chain of restaurants borrowing from the studio's Academy Award-winning film ''Forrest Gump'' – ''The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company''. Through the combined efforts of Famous Music and the studio over ten "Broadway" musicals were created including Irving Berlin's ''White Christmas'', ''Footloose, Saturday Night Fever'', Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Sunset Boulevard'' among others. The company's international arm, United International Pictures (UIP), was the dominant distributor internationally for ten straight years representing Paramount, Universal and MGM. Simon and Schuster became part of the Viacom Entertainment Group emerging as the US' dominant trade book publisher.
In 2002, Paramount; along with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Buena Vista Distribution,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, Sony Pictures, Columbia TriStar Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA Entertainment,
Universal Studios
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 ...
, DreamWorks Pictures, Artisan Entertainment, Lionsgate, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Warner Bros. formed the Digital Cinema Initiatives. Operating under a waiver from the antitrust law, the studios combined under the leadership of Paramount Chief Operating Officer Tom McGrath (media executive), Tom McGrath to develop technical standards for the eventual introduction of digital film projection – replacing the now 100-year-old film technology. 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." McGrath also headed up Paramount's initiative for the creation and launch of the Blu-ray Disc.
2005–present: Paramount today
CBS/Viacom split
Reflecting in part the troubles of the broadcasting business, in 2006 Viacom wrote off over $18 billion from its radio acquisitions and, early that year, announced that it would split itself in two. The split was completed in January 2006.
With the announcement of the split of Viacom, Dolgen and Lansing were replaced by former television executives Brad Grey and Gail Berman. The Viacom Inc. board split the company into CBS Corporation and a separate company under the Viacom (2005–2019), Viacom name. The board scheduled the division for the first quarter of 2006. Under the plan, CBS Corporation would comprise the CBS and
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
networks, CBS Television Stations, Viacom Television Stations, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, Outfront Media, Viacom Outdoor, Paramount Television, King World Productions, Showtime Networks, Simon & Schuster, Paramount Parks, and CBS News. The revamped Viacom would include "MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Black Entertainment Television, BET and several other cable networks as well as the Paramount movie studio". Paramount's home entertainment unit continues to distribute the Paramount Television library through CBS Home Entertainment, CBS DVD, as both Viacom and CBS Corporation were controlled by Sumner 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 distance itself from the latter.
DreamWorks acquisition
On December 11, 2005, the Paramount Motion Pictures Group announced that it had purchased DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG (which was co-founded by former Paramount executive
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg (; born December 21, 1950) is an American filmmaker, animator, and media proprietor. He became well known for his tenure as chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. After departing Disney, he was a co-founder and C ...
) 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.
History since 2006
Grey also broke up the famous United International Pictures (UIP) international distribution company with 15 countries being taken over by Paramount or Universal by December 31, 2006, with the joint venture continuing in 20 markets. In Australia, Brazil, France, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand and the U.K., Paramount took over UIP. While in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Switzerland, Universal took over and Paramount would build its own distribution operations there. In 2007 and 2008, Paramount may sub-distribute films via Universal's countries and vice versa. Paramount's international distribution unit would be headquartered in Los Angeles and have a European hub. In Italy, Paramount distributed through Universal. With Universal indicated that it was pulling out of the UIP Korea and started its own operation there in November 2016, Paramount agreed to have CJ Entertainment distribute there. UIP president and chief operating officer Andrew Cripps was hired as Paramount Pictures International head. Paramount Pictures International distributed films that made the 1 billion mark in July 2007; the fifth studio that year to do so and it its first year.
On October 6, 2008, DreamWorks executives announced that they were leaving Paramount and relaunching an independent DreamWorks. The DreamWorks trademarks remained with DreamWorks Animation when that company was spun off before the Paramount purchase, and DreamWorks Animation transferred the license to the name to the new company.
DreamWorks films, acquired by Paramount but still distributed internationally by Universal, are included in Paramount's market share. 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.
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".
In early 2008, Paramount partnered with Los Angeles-based developer FanRocket 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 MTV, vMTV and There.com to view and send movie clips.
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. The first release was ''The Devil Inside (film), The Devil Inside'', a movie with a budget of about US$1 million. In March 2015, following waning box office returns, Paramount shuttered Insurge Pictures and moved its operations to the main studio.
In July 2011, in the wake of critical and box office success of the animated feature, ''Rango (2011 film), Rango'', and the departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract in 2012, Paramount announced the formation of Paramount Animation, a new division, devoted to the creation of animated productions. 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).
In December 2013, Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios (via its The Walt Disney Company, parent company's purchase of Lucasfilm a year earlier) gained Paramount's remaining distribution and marketing rights to future ''Indiana Jones (franchise), Indiana Jones'' films. Paramount will permanently retain the distribution rights to the first four films and will receive "financial participation" from any additional films.
In February 2016, Viacom CEO and newly appointed chairman Philippe Dauman announced that the conglomerate is in talks to find an investor to purchase a minority stake in Paramount. Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari are reportedly opposed with the deal. On July 13, 2016, Wanda Group was in talks to acquire a 49% stake of Paramount. The talks with Wanda were dropped. On January 19, 2017, Shanghai Film Group Corp. and Huahua Media said they would finance at least 25% of all Paramount Pictures movies over a three-year period. Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media, in the deal, would help distribute and market Paramount's features in China. At the time, the ''Wall Street Journal'' wrote that "nearly every major Hollywood studio has a co-financing deal with a Chinese company."
On March 27, 2017, Jim Gianopulos was named as a chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, replacing Brad Grey.
In June 2017, Paramount Players was formed by the studio with the hiring of Brian Robbins, founder of AwesomenessTV, Tollin/Robbins Productions and Varsity Pictures, as the division's president. The division was expected to produce films based on the Viacom Media Networks properties including MTV, Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central. In June 2017, Paramount Pictures signed a deal with
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
for distribution of its films in Italy, which took effect on September. Prior to the deal, Paramount's films in Italy were distributed by
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 Ameri ...
.
On December 7, 2017, it was reported that Paramount sold the international distribution rights of ''Annihilation (film), Annihilation'' to Netflix. Netflix subsequently bought the worldwide rights to ''The Cloverfield Paradox'' for $50 million. On November 16, 2018, Paramount signed a multi-picture film deal with Netflix as part of Viacom's growth strategy, making Paramount the first major film studio to do so. A sequel to AwesomenessTV, Awesomeness Films' ''To All the Boys I've Loved Before (film), To All the Boys I've Loved Before'' is currently in development at the studio for Netflix.
In April 2018, Paramount posted its first quarterly profit since 2015. Robert Bakish, Bob Bakish, CEO of parent Viacom, said in a statement that turnaround efforts "have firmly taken hold as the studio improved margins and returned to profitability. This month's outstanding box-office performance of ''A Quiet Place (film), A Quiet Place'', the first film produced and released under the new team at Paramount, is a clear sign of our progress."
Gianopulos was fired in September 2021 and replaced by Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins.
In January 2022, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to Tomi Adeyemi's young adult fantasy novel ''Children of Blood and Bone'' from Lucasfilm. As part of the acquisition, the film will have a guaranteed exclusive theatrical release while Adeyemi will write the screenplay and serve as executive producer. The film adaptation will also be produced by Temple Hill Entertainment and Sunswept Entertainment.
On March 8, 2022, Paramount Players' operations were folded into Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group. However, it will continue to operate as a label as it has several upcoming films on its slate.
On November 15, 2022, Paramount entered a multi-year exclusive deal with former president of DC Films Walter Hamada. Hamada will oversee the development of horror films beginning in 2023.
CBS/Viacom re-merger
On September 29, 2016, National Amusements sent a letter to both CBS Corporation and Viacom, encouraging the two companies to 2019 merger of CBS and Viacom, re-merge back into one company. On December 12, the deal was called off. On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. Reports say that CBS and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine the two media companies. CBS announced to acquire Viacom as part of the re-merger for up to $15.4 billion. On August 2, 2019, the two companies agreed to remerge back into one entity, which was named ViacomCBS; the deal was closed on December 4, 2019.
In December 2019, ViacomCBS agreed to purchase a 49% stake in Miramax that was owned by beIN Media Group, with Paramount gaining the distribution of the studio's 700-film library as well as its future releases. Also, Paramount will produce television series based on Miramax's IPs. The deal officially closed on April 3, 2020. ViacomCBS later announced that it would rebrand the Paramount+, CBS All Access streaming service as Paramount+ to allow for international expansion using the widely recognized Paramount name and drawing from the studio's library as well as that of CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, and more.
On February 16, 2022, ViacomCBS changed its name to
Paramount Global
Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...
, after the studio.
Investments
DreamWorks Pictures
In 2006, Paramount became the parent of DreamWorks Pictures. Soros Fund Management, Soros Strategic Partners and RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Dune Entertainment II soon afterwards acquired controlling interest in live-action films released through DreamWorks, with the release of ''Just Like Heaven (film), Just Like Heaven'' on September 16, 2005. The remaining live-action films released until March 2006 remained under direct Paramount control. However, Paramount still owns distribution and other ancillary rights to Soros and Dune films.
On February 8, 2010, Viacom repurchased Soros' controlling stake in DreamWorks' library of films released before 2005 for around $400 million. Even as DreamWorks switched distribution of live-action films not part of existing franchises to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and later
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 Ameri ...
, Paramount continues to own the films released before the merger, and the films that Paramount themselves distributed, including sequel rights such as that of ''Little Fockers'' (2010), distributed by Paramount and DreamWorks. It was a sequel to two existing DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks films, ''Meet the Parents'' (2000) and ''Meet the Fockers'' (2004). (Paramount only owned the international distribution rights to ''Little Fockers'', whereas
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 Ameri ...
handled domestic distribution).
Paramount also owned distribution rights to the DreamWorks Animation library of films made before 2013, and their previous distribution deal with future DWA titles expired at the end of 2012, with ''Rise of the Guardians''.
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
took over distribution for post-2012 titles beginning with ''The Croods'' (2013) and ending with ''Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'' (2017). Universal Pictures subsequently took over distribution for DreamWorks Animation's films beginning with ''How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'' (2019) due to NBCUniversal's acquisition of the company in 2016. Paramount's rights to the 1998–2012 DWA library would have expired 16 years after each film's initial theatrical release date, but in July 2014, DreamWorks Animation purchased Paramount's distribution rights to the pre-2013 library, with 20th Century Fox distributing the library until January 2018, which Universal then assumed ownership of distribution rights.
Another asset of the former DreamWorks owned by Paramount is the pre-2008 DreamWorks Television library, which is currently distributed by Paramount's sister company CBS Media Ventures; it includes ''Spin City'', ''High Incident'', ''Freaks and Geeks'', ''Undeclared'' and ''On the Lot''.
CBS library
Independent company Hollywood Classics represents Paramount with the theatrical distribution of all the films produced by the various motion picture divisions of CBS over the years, as a result of the Viacom/CBS merger.
Paramount has outright video distribution to the aforementioned CBS library with some exceptions; less-demanded content is usually released manufactured-on-demand by CBS themselves or licensed to Visual Entertainment Inc. As of the 2019 Viacom/CBS merger, this library now includes the theatrical distribution of Terrytoons short films on behalf of Paramount Animation, while CBS Media Ventures owns the television distribution. Until 2009, the video rights to ''My Fair Lady (film), My Fair Lady'' were with original theatrical distributor Warner Bros., under license from CBS (the video license to that film has now reverted to Paramount).
Units
Divisions
* Paramount Pictures
** Paramount Home Entertainment
** Paramount Licensing, Inc.
** Paramount Pictures International
** Paramount Players
*** Nickelodeon Movies
*** BET#BET Films, BET Films
** Paramount Studio Group – physical studio and post production
*** The Studios at Paramount – production facilities & lot
*** Paramount on Location – production support facilities throughout North America including New York City, Vancouver, and Atlanta
*** Worldwide Technical Operations – archives, restoration and preservation programs, the mastering and distribution fulfillment services, on-lot post production facilities management
** Paramount Parks & Resorts, licensing and design for parks and resorts
* Paramount Animation (2011–present)
* Paramount Music
Joint ventures
* Miramax (co-owned with beIN Media Group)
** Miramax#Television, Miramax Television
** Miramax#Filmography, Miramax Family
** Miramax Animation
* United International Pictures (co-owned with Comcast's
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 Ameri ...
)
* Rede Telecine
Former divisions, subsidiaries, and joint ventures
*Paramount Digital Entertainment (Dormant)
* Paramount Television, Paramount Television (original) (now CBS Studios)
** Big Ticket Entertainment (semi-in-name-only since 2006; currently produces ''Judge Judy'' and ''Hot Bench'')
** Spelling Television (in-name-only since 2006)
** Viacom Productions (folded into PNT in 2004)
** Wilshire Court Productions (shut down in 2003)
** Paramount Domestic Television (now CBS Media Ventures)
*** Folded Viacom Enterprises in 1995 and Rysher Entertainment and Worldvision Enterprises in 1999
*** RTV News, Inc., producer of ''Real TV'' and ''Maximum Exposure''
** UPN, United Paramount Network (UPN) – formerly a joint venture with BHC Communications#United Television, United Television, now part of the CBS/WarnerMedia joint venture The CW, The CW Television Network
** Paramount Stations Group (now CBS Television Stations)
** USA Networks (also including the Syfy, Sci-Fi Channel) – Paramount owned a stake starting in 1982, 50% owner (with
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 Ameri ...
) from 1987 until 1997, when Paramount/Viacom sold their stake to Universal (now part of NBCUniversal)
** Paramount International Television (merged with CBS Broadcast International in 2004 to form CBS Studios International)
* Fleischer Studios – purchased in 1942 and organized as Famous Studios (which shut down in 1967); library folded into Paramount Animation.
* Terrytoons – purchased by Viacom (1952–2006), CBS Films (later Viacom (1952–2006), Viacom International) in 1956; theatrical library moved to Paramount Animation following 2019 merger of CBS and Viacom, re-merger of ViacomCBS in 2019.
* Paramount Famous Productions – direct-to-video division
* Paramount Parks (Purchased by Cedar Fair, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company in 2006)
* Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics/Paramount Vantage – Paramount Classics merged into Paramount Vantage; the latter then went dormant in December 2013
* DreamWorks Pictures, DW Studios, LLC (also DW Pictures) – defunct, holding film library and rights, principal officers left to recreate DreamWorks as an independent company
** DW Funding LLC – DreamWorks live-action library (pre-09/16/2005; DW Funding, LLC) sold to Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II and purchased back in 2010
** Go Fish Pictures – Arthouse film, Arthouse/Independent film unit for used distributing DreamWorks Pictures foreign films; defunct in 2007 after parent company's sale
* Paramount Theatres Limited – Founded 1930 in the United Kingdom with the opening of a cinema in Manchester. Several Paramount Theatres had opened or had been acquired in the United Kingdom during the 1930s before being sold to The Rank Organisation becoming part of the Odeon Cinemas chain in 1939.
* Epix – 49.76% owner (with Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer and Lionsgate) from 2009 until 2017, when Paramount/Viacom and Lionsgate sold their stakes to MGM
* Insurge Pictures – micro-budget film division (March 2010 – 2015); absorbed into Paramount itself
* Republic Pictures
* "Continental Café" – the commissary run by Pauline Kessinger until the cafe was replaced by the Adolph Zukor, Zukor Building in 1983.
Other interests
In March 2012, Paramount licensed their name and logo to a luxury hotel investment group which subsequently named the company Paramount Hotels and Resorts. The investors plan to build 50 hotels throughout the world based on the themes of Hollywood and the California lifestyle. Among the features are private screening rooms and the Paramount library available in the hotel rooms. In April 2013, Paramount Hotels and Dubai-based DAMAC Properties announced the building of the first resort: "DAMAC Towers by Paramount."
Logo
The distinctively pyramidal Paramount mountain has been the mainstay of the company's production logo since its inception and is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo. In the sound era, the logo was accompanied by a fanfare called ''Paramount on Parade'' 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
William Wadsworth Hodkinson (August 16, 1881 – June 2, 1971), 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 190 ...
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 Mountain (Utah), Ben Lomond is the mountain Hodkinson doodled, and that Peru's Artesonraju is the mountain in the live-action logo, while others claim that the Italian side of Monte Viso, Monviso inspired the logo. Some editions of the logo bear a striking resemblance to the Pfeifferhorn, another Wasatch Range peak, and to the Matterhorn on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Mount Huntington (Alaska), Mount Huntington in Alaska also bears a striking resemblance.
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 Star system (filmmaking), the then current system of contracts for actors, since Paramount had twenty-four stars signed at the time.
* In 1951, the logo was redesigned as a matte painting created by Jan Domela.
* A newer, more realistic-looking logo debuted in 1953 for Paramount films made in 3D. It was reworked in early-to-mid 1954 for Paramount films made in widescreen process VistaVision. The text ''VistaVision – Motion Picture High Fidelity'' was often imposed over the Paramount logo briefly before dissolving into the title sequence. In early 1968, the text "A Paramount Picture/Release" was shortened to "Paramount", the byline ''A Gulf+Western Company'' appeared on the bottom, and the number of stars being reduced to 22. In 1974, another redesign was made, with the Paramount text and Gulf+Western byline appearing in different fonts.
* In September 1975, the logo was simplified in a shade of blue, adopting the modified design of the 1968 print logo, which was in use for many decades afterward. A version of the print logo had been in use by Paramount Television since 1968.
* A Black and White Paramount Pictures logo "A Paramount Picture" appeared in the live action film,
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.
Studio tours
Paramount Studios offers tours of their studios. The 2-hour Studio Tour offers, as the name implies, a regular tour of the studio. The stages where ''Samson and Delilah (1949 film), Samson and Delilah'', ''Sunset Boulevard (film), Sunset Blvd.'', ''White Christmas (film), White Christmas'', ''Rear Window'', ''Sabrina (1954 film), Sabrina'', ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'', and many other classic films were shot are still in use today. The studio's backlot features numerous blocks of façades that depict a number of New York City locales, such as "Washington Square", "Brooklyn", and "Financial District". The After Dark Tour involves a tour of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Film library
A few years after the ruling of the ''
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'', 334 U.S. 131 (1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, the Paramount Case, or the Paramount Decision), was a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the f ...
'' case in 1948, Music Corporation of America ( MCA) approached Paramount offering $50 million for 750 sound feature films released prior to December 1, 1949, with payment to be spread over a period of several years. Paramount saw this as a bargain since the fleeting movie studio saw very little value in its library of old films at the time. To address any antitrust concerns, MCA set up EMKA, Ltd. as a dummy corporation to sell these films to television. EMKA's/Universal Television's library includes the five Paramount
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
films, most of the Bob Hope–Bing Crosby ''Road to...'' pictures, and other classics such as ''Trouble in Paradise (1932 film), Trouble in Paradise'', ''Shanghai Express (film), Shanghai Express'', ''
She Done Him Wrong
''She Done Him Wrong'' is a 1933 pre-Code American crime/comedy film starring Mae West and Cary Grant. The plot includes melodramatic and musical elements, with a supporting cast featuring Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery Sr., Rochelle Hu ...
'', ''Sullivan's Travels'', ''The Palm Beach Story'', ''For Whom the Bell Tolls (film), For Whom the Bell Tolls'', ''Double Indemnity'', ''The Lost Weekend (film), The Lost Weekend'', and ''The Heiress''.
The studio has produced many critically acclaimed films such as ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', ''
Footloose
Footloose may refer to:
* ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film
** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack)
** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins
* ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film
** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...
'', ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'', ''Braveheart'', ''Ghost (1990 film), Ghost'', ''The Truman Show'', ''Mean Girls'', ''Psycho (1960 film), Psycho'', ''Rocketman (film), Rocketman'', ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', ''Days of Thunder'', '' Rosemary's Baby'', ''Sunset Boulevard (1950 film), Sunset Boulevard'', ''Forrest Gump (film), Forrest Gump'', ''Coming to America'', ''World War Z (film), World War Z'', ''Babel (film), Babel'', ''The Conversation (film), The Conversation'', ''The Fighter (2010 film), The Fighter'', ''Interstellar (film), Interstellar'', ''
Terms of Endearment
''Terms of Endearment'' is a 1983 American family comedy-drama film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel of the same name. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Dann ...
'', ''The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film), The Wolf of Wall Street'' and ''A Quiet Place (film), A Quiet Place''; as well as the ''The Godfather (film series), Godfather'', '' Star Trek'', and ''Mission: Impossible (film series), Mission: Impossible'' film series.
Film series
Highest-grossing films
‡—Includes theatrical reissue(s).
Controversy
On July 31, 2018, Paramount was targeted by the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the National Latino Media Council, which have both claimed that the studio has the worst track record of hiring Latino and Hispanic talent both in front of and behind the camera (the last Paramount film directed by a Spanish director was ''Rings (2017 film), Rings'' in 2017). In response to the controversy, Paramount released the statement: "We recently met with NHMC in a good faith effort to see how we could partner as we further drive Paramount's culture of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Under our new leadership team, we continue to make progress — including ensuring representation in front of and behind the camera in upcoming films such as ''Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Dora the Explorer'', ''Instant Family'', ''Bumblebee (film), Bumblebee'', and ''Like a Boss (film), Limited Partners'' – and welcome the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with the Latino creative community further."
The NHMC protested at the Paramount Pictures lot on August 25. More than 60 protesters attended, while chanting "Latinos excluded, time to be included!". NHMC president and CEO Alex Nogales vowed to continue the boycott until the studio signed a memorandum of understanding.
On October 17, the NHMC protested at the Paramount film lot for the second time in two months, with 75 protesters attending. The leaders delivered a petition signed by 12,307 people and addressed it to Jim Gianopulos.
See also
* CBS Studios
* Paramount Television Studios
* List of Paramount executives
* List of Paramount Global television programs
Notes
# The film grossed $2,186,772,302 worldwide, but the $1,528,100,000 of the film's box office belong to
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, which released the film internationally, Paramount owns North American distribution only.
# In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount and transferred to
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. In January 2018, they were transferred to
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 Ameri ...
.
# In July 2013, the film's distribution rights were transferred from Paramount to Walt Disney Studios (division), The Walt Disney Studios.
References
Further reading
* A. Scott Berg, Berg, A. Scott. ''Goldwyn''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.
* DeMille, Cecil B. ''Autobiography''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1959.
* Dick, Bernard F. ''Engulfed: the death of Paramount Pictures and the birth of corporate Hollywood''. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Press Kentucky Scholarly, 2001.
* Eames, John Douglas, with additional text by Robert Abele. ''The Paramount Story: The Complete History of the Studio and Its Films''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
* Robert Evans, Evans, Robert. ''The Kid Stays in the Picture''. New York: Hyperion Press, 1994.
* Neal Gabler, Gabler, Neal. ''An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood''. New York: Crown Publishers, 1988.
* Lasky, Jesse L. with Don Weldon, ''I Blow My Own Horn''. Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1957.
* Mordden, Ethan. ''The Hollywood Studios''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.
* Schatz, Thomas. ''The Genius of the System.'' New York: Pantheon, 1988.
* Sklar, Robert. ''Movie-Made America''. New York: Vintage, 1989.
* Zukor, Adolph, with Dale Kramer. ''The Public Is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor.'' New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1953.
External links
*
*
Leo Morgan Paramount Publix and Strand Theatre materials, 1926–1947 held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
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