Seven Arts Productions was a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

which made films for release by other studios. It was founded in 1957 by

Eliot Hyman Eliot Hyman (1904–1980) was an American film executive who helped co-found Seven Arts Productions. Biography Hyman entered the film production business in 1948, when he co-founded Associated Artists. He became the sole owner of Associated Art ...

Ray Stark Raymond Otto Stark (October 3, 1915 – January 17, 2004) was one of the most successful and prolific independent film producers in postwar Hollywood. Stark's background as a literary and theatrical agent prepared him to produce some of the most ...

, and Norman Katz.

History

Seven Arts' first film was ''

The Gun Runners ''The Gun Runners'' is a 1958 American film noir crime film directed by Don Siegel, is the third adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel ''To Have and Have Not'', and starring Audie Murphy. Everett Sloane essays the part of the alcoholic side ...

'', released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

. Among its productions were '' The Misfits'' (1961) for

, '' Gigot'' (1962) for

Twentieth 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 Disn ...

, ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humber ...

'' (1962) for

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

, '' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962) for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, and '' Is Paris Burning?'' (1966) for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. Over time it expanded its role, becoming equity investors with other studios and partnering with British horror film company

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve clas ...

on many projects. It also retained ancillary rights on new productions surrendered on earlier films, including ''

Seven Days in May ''Seven Days in May'' is a 1964 American political thriller film about a military-political cabal's planned takeover of the United States government in reaction to the president's negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The ...

'' (1964) and ''

Promise Her Anything ''Promise Her Anything'' is a 1965 British-American romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Warren Beatty and Leslie Caron. The screenplay by William Peter Blatty is based on a story by Arne Sultan and Marvin Worth. The sup ...

'' (1965) for release by Paramount. Seven Arts also distributed feature films and TV programs for television. Warner Bros. licensed the TV rights to its post-1949 library to Seven Arts in 1960. Seven Arts made similar deals 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

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 ...

. Seven Arts also acquired theatrical reissue rights to some Fox films as well. In 1967, Seven Arts Productions acquired the controlling interest in

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...

from

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

for $32 million. The companies were merged as

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969. History Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 19 ...

. It was rebranded as Warner Bros. Inc. after

Kinney National Company Kinney National Service, Inc. (later known as Kinney Services, Inc.) was an American conglomerate company from 1966 to 1972. Its successors were National Kinney Corporation and Warner Communications, Time Warner, AOL Time Warner, and WarnerMedia ...

bought the company in 1969.

Other uses

Neither the later

Seven Arts Pictures Seven Arts Entertainment Inc. is a British independent film production company founded in 1992. Notable films that were made by Seven Arts are '' Stander'', ''Asylum'', ''Noise'' and more recently, '' Night of the Demons''. History Seven Ar ...

nor the defunct releasing company "Seven Arts", an early 1990s joint venture between

Carolco Pictures Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that existed from 1976 to 1995, founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit ...

and

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...

(the latter which subsequently merged into Warner Bros.), is related to the original Seven Arts Productions. __NOTOC__

Select filmography

* ''

'' (1958); with

* ''

Thunder in the Sun ''Thunder in the Sun'' is a 1959 American Western film directed by Russell Rouse and starring Susan Hayward and Jeff Chandler. Plot The film shows a family of French Basque immigrants pioneering into the Wild West while carrying their ancestr ...

'' (1959); with

* ''

Ten Seconds to Hell ''Ten Seconds To Hell'' (released in the UK as ''The Phoenix'') is a 1959 British and West German film directed by Robert Aldrich, based on Lawrence P. Bachmann's novel ''The Phoenix''. The Hammer Films/UFA joint production stars Jack Palance, ...

'' (1959); with

* '' The Misfits'' (1961); with

* '' By Love Possessed'' (1961); with

* ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

'' (1961); with

* ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...

'' (1961) * ''

The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone ''The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' is a 1961 British romantic drama film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by José Quintero and produced by Louis de Rochemont with Lothar Wolff as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Gavin Lam ...

'' (1961) * '' Gigot'' (1962); with

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, 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 o ...

* ''

'' (1962); with

MGM 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 a ...

* '' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962); with

* ''

Two for the Seesaw ''Two for the Seesaw'' is a 1962 American romantic-drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine. It was adapted from the 1958 Broadway play written by William Gibson with Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft (who ...

'' (1962); with

* '' The Main Attraction'' (1962); with

* ''

The Wild Affair ''The Wild Affair'' is a 1965 British comedy film written and directed by John Krish and starring Nancy Kwan, Terry-Thomas, Jimmy Logan, Gladys Morgan, and Betty Marsden. It was adapted from the 1961 novel ''The Last Hours of Sandra Lee'' by W ...

'' (1963); with Bryanston Films &

British Lion Films British Lion Films is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Originally known as British Lion Film Corporation Ltd, it entered receivership on 1 June 1954. From 29 January 1955 to 1976, the company was kn ...

* ''

Sunday in New York ''Sunday in New York'' is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Tewksbury and starring Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson. Filmed in Metrocolor, its screenplay was written by Norman Krasna on the basis of his own 1961 ...

'' (1963); with

* '' Rampage'' (1963); with

* ''

Tamahine ''Tamahine'' is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Nancy Kwan, Dennis Price and John Fraser. It is a film about a Polynesian woman who believes she can change the culture of Hallow School, a British boys' boardin ...

'' (1963); with

* ''

The Night of the Iguana ''The Night of the Iguana'' is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams. It is based on his 1948 short story. In 1959, Williams staged it as a one-act play, and over the next two years he developed it into a full-length play, p ...

'' (1964); with

* ''

Of Human Bondage ''Of Human Bondage'' is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography; though much in i ...

'' (1964); with

* ''

Never Put It in Writing ''Never Put It in Writing'' is a 1964 British comedy film directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring Pat Boone, Milo O'Shea, Fidelma Murphy and Reginald Beckwith. Plot While in Ireland, an insurance executive learns that somebody else has been p ...

'' (1964); with Allied Artists Pictures * ''

'' (1964); with Joel Productions,

John Frankenheimer Productions John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962), '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ( ...

and

* '' A Global Affair'' (1964); with

* ''

'' (1965); with

* ''

The Nanny ''The Nanny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three chi ...

'' (1965); with

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

* '' The Hill'' (1965); with

* '' Is Paris Burning?'' (1966); with

* '' The Defector'' (1966) * '' Dracula: Prince of Darkness'' (1966); with

* ''

One Million Years B.C. ''One Million Years B.C.'' is a 1966 British adventure fantasy film directed by Don Chaffey. The film was produced by Hammer Film Productions and Seven Arts, and is a remake of the 1940 American fantasy film ''One Million B.C.''. The film star ...

'' (1966); with

* ''

The Frozen Dead ''The Frozen Dead'' is a 1966 British science fiction horror film written, produced and directed by Herbert J. Leder and starring Dana Andrews, Anna Palk and Philip Gilbert. In this film, Nazi scientist Dr. Norberg (Dana Andrews) attempts to ...

'' (1966) * '' The Bible: In the Beginning...'' (1966); with

* '' This Property Is Condemned'' (1966); with

* ''

Assault on a Queen ''Assault on a Queen'' is a 1966 American action-adventure film directed by Jack Donohue and starring Frank Sinatra and Virna Lisi. Based on a 1959 novel by Jack Finney, it was adapted for the screen by Rod Serling and released by Paramount Pic ...

'' (1966); with

* ''

Rasputin the Mad Monk ''Rasputin the Mad Monk'' is a 1966 Hammer horror film directed by Don Sharp and starring Christopher Lee as Grigori Rasputin, the Russian peasant- mystic who gained great influence with the Tsars prior to the Russian Revolution. It also ...

'' (1966); with

* ''

The Reptile ''The Reptile'' is a 1966 horror film made by Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by John Gilling, and starred Noel Willman, Jacqueline Pearce, Ray Barrett, Jennifer Daniel, and Michael Ripper. Plot summary In the 20th century in the fict ...

'' (1966); with

* ''

The Plague of the Zombies ''The Plague of the Zombies'' is a 1966 British horror film directed by John Gilling and starring André Morell, John Carson, Jacqueline Pearce, Brook Williams, and Michael Ripper. The film's imagery influenced many later films in the zombie ...

'' (1966); with

* ''

You're a Big Boy Now ''You're a Big Boy Now'' is a 1966 American comedy film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Based on David Benedictus' 1963 novel of the same name, it stars Elizabeth Hartman, Peter Kastner, Geraldine Page, Rip Torn, Karen Black, ...

'' (1966) * ''

Drop Dead Darling ''Drop Dead Darling'' (US title: ''Arrivederci, Baby!'') is a 1966 British-American black comedy film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Tony Curtis, Rosanna Schiaffino, Lionel Jeffries and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Plot A man goes around marrying wealth ...

'' (1966); with

* ''

Once Before I Die ''Once Before I Die'' is a 1966 war drama starring Ursula Andress and directed by then-husband John Derek, from whom she was officially divorced before the film was released, and who also appeared in the film. It was based on a 1945 novel ''Quit ...

'' (1966) * '' Slave Girls'' (1967); with

* ''

Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad ''Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad: A Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition'' was the first play written by Arthur Kopit. Background Kopit was on a postgraduate scholarship from Harvard ...

'' (1967); with

* ''

The Viking Queen ''The Viking Queen'' is a 1967 Hammer adventure film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Don Murray. It is set in Roman Britain. The title of the film caused much confusion, because there are no Norse Vikings in the movie. However, there is a ...

'' (1967); with

* ''

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph M ...

'' (1967); with

* ''

The Shuttered Room ''The Shuttered Room'' (a.k.a. ''Blood Island'') is a 1967 British horror film directed by David Greene and starring Gig Young and Carol Lynley as a couple who move into a house with dark secrets. It is based on a short story of the same name ...

'' (1967) * '' It!'' (1967) * ''

A Challenge for Robin Hood ''A Challenge for Robin Hood'' is a 1967 British adventure film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards and starring Barrie Ingham, Peter Blythe and John Arnatt. Plot When the father of the De Courtenay family dies, the brothers argue about th ...

'' (1967); with

* ''

The Anniversary The Anniversary is an American band formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1997 by Josh Berwanger, James David, Christian Jankowski, Adrianne Verhoeven and Justin Roelofs. The Anniversary was the solidification of a line-up that had been in flux for a ...

'' (1968); with

* ''

The Vengeance of She ''The Vengeance of She'' is a 1968 British fantasy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring John Richardson (actor), John Richardson, Olga Schoberová, Olinka Berova, Edward Judd, André Morell and Colin Blakely. It bears little in common with th ...

'' (1968); with

* '' The Lost Continent'' (1968); with

* ''

The Devil Rides Out ''The Devil Rides Out'' is a 1934 novel by Dennis Wheatley telling a disturbing story of black magic and the occult. The four main characters, the Duke de Richleau, Rex van Ryn, Simon Aron and Richard Eaton, appear in a series of novels by Wh ...

'' (1968); with

Theatre credits

* ''

The World of Suzie Wong ''The World of Suzie Wong'' is a 1957 novel by British writer Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute. ...

'' (1958–60) * '' Everybody Loves Opal'' (1961) * '' Funny Girl'' (1964–67) * ''

Any Wednesday ''Any Wednesday'' is a 1966 American Technicolor romantic comedy film starring Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, and Dean Jones. It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller from a screenplay by producer Julius J. Epstein based on the Broadway play of the ...

'' (1964–66) * ''

The Owl and the Pussycat "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine '' Our Young Folks: an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' and again the following year in Lear's own book ''Nonsense Songs, S ...

'' (1964–65)

References

External links

* {{Authority control American companies established in 1957 Film production companies of the United States Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries Defunct mass media companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Entertainment companies established in 1957 Mass media companies established in 1957 Mass media companies disestablished in 1967 Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles