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109-685: When Universal Pictures became Universal-International in 1946, new studio head William Goetz discontinued the studio's B-pictures - comedies, musicals, mysteries, westerns, and serials - to begin a prestigious operation that would feature many independent productions. Goetz had no interest in Universal's sizable backlog, and leased the entire sound-film library (dating from 1930 to 1946) to Broder and Harris. Realart had theatrical reissue rights for 10 years; television rights were not included. Realart reissued Universal's films in double-feature package deals, with new and more exciting advertising (Universal

218-587: A 21st birthday present. Universal already had a reputation for nepotism —at one time, 70 of Carl Sr.'s relatives were supposedly on the payroll. Many of them were nephews, resulting in Carl Sr. being known around the studios as "Uncle Carl". Ogden Nash famously quipped in rhyme, "Uncle Carl Laemmle/Has a very large faemmle". Among these relatives was future Academy Award-winning director/producer William Wyler . "Junior," Laemmle persuaded his father to bring Universal up to date. He bought and built theaters, converted

327-506: A Brooklyn Gorilla featuring the veteran horror-movie actor and the comedy team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo , who imitated Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis . Bride of the Gorilla and Battles of Chief Pontiac ventured into the horror and Western genres, respectively. Toward the end of Realart's 10-year lease, certain re-releases were themselves re-released ( Buck Privates and Little Giant circulated more than once). By

436-508: A Time , The Jeffersons , The Facts of Life , and Silver Spoons which premiered on NBC that same fall. At this time, Hal B. Wallis , who had recently worked as a major producer at Paramount, moved over to Universal, where he produced several films, among them a lavish version of Maxwell Anderson 's Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and the equally lavish Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). Although neither could claim to be

545-465: A big financial hit, both films received Academy Award nominations, and Anne was nominated for Best Picture , Best Actor ( Richard Burton ), Best Actress ( Geneviève Bujold ), and Best Supporting Actor ( Anthony Quayle ). Wallis retired from Universal after making the film Rooster Cogburn (1975), a sequel to True Grit (1969), which Wallis had produced at Paramount. Rooster Cogburn co-starred John Wayne , reprising his Oscar-winning role from

654-521: A box office for hours, counting patrons, and calculating the day's takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons . For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Patents Company (or the "Edison Trust") meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Based on

763-600: A co-production arrangement with producer Walter Wanger and his partner, director Fritz Lang , lending the studio some amount of prestige productions. Universal's core audience base was still found in the neighborhood movie theaters , and the studio continued to please the public with low- to medium-budget films. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in new Sherlock Holmes mysteries (1942–46), teenage musicals with Gloria Jean , Donald O'Connor , and Peggy Ryan (1942–43), and screen adaptations of radio's Inner Sanctum Mysteries with Lon Chaney Jr. (1943–45). Alfred Hitchcock

872-565: A contract with Universal ensuring three more years of Oswald cartoons. However, after Mintz had unsuccessfully demanded that Disney accept a lower fee for producing the films, Mintz took most of Walt's animators to work at his own studio. Disney and Iwerks would create Mickey Mouse in secret while they finished the remaining Oswald films they were contractually obligated to finish. Universal subsequently severed its link to Mintz and formed its own in-house animation studio to produce Oswald cartoons headed by Walter Lantz , which would later result in

981-535: A contract with Universal in the presence of its vice president, R. H. Cochrane. Mintz's company, Winkler Pictures, was to produce 26 " Oswald the Lucky Rabbit " cartoons for Universal. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created the character and the Walt Disney Studio provided the animation for the cartoons under Winkler's supervision. The films enjoyed a successful theatrical run, and Mintz would sign

1090-478: A double feature with Female Jungle (1955), a film noir . Other films released under the ARC banner include a British documentary Operation Malaya (1955) and Corman's Gunslinger (1956). Arkoff and Nicholson had always wanted to name their company "American International Pictures", but the name was unavailable. When the name became available, they changed over. There were three main production arms at AIP in

1199-468: A film to support Day the World Ended , The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955), but lacked the money to make both films. They split the costs with Dan and Jack Milner, film editors who wanted to get into production. The resulting double bill was very successful at the box office. Gordon also produced The Oklahoma Woman (1955), a Western by Corman, made through Sunset Productions. It was put on

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1308-584: A girl will watch; therefore: to catch your greatest audience you zero in on the 19-year-old male. AIP began as the American Releasing Corporation, a new distribution company formed in 1954 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. They were interested in distributing a car chase movie produced by Roger Corman for his Palo Alto Productions, The Fast and the Furious (1955). Corman had received offers from other companies for

1417-533: A hit, the arrangement would become the rule for many future productions at Universal and eventually at other studios as well. In the early 1950s, Universal set up its own distribution company in France . In the late 1960s, the company also started a production company in Paris , Universal Productions France S.A. , although sometimes credited by the name of the distribution company, Universal Pictures France . Except for

1526-500: A label for acquired films for digital and theatrical releases, with MGM overseeing across streaming platforms and United Artists Releasing handling theatrical distribution in North America until 2023 when Amazon MGM Studios took over. Nicholson and Arkoff served as executive producers while Roger Corman and Alex Gordon were the principal film producers and, sometimes, directors. Writer Charles B. Griffith wrote many of

1635-684: A label within the Universal Music Group. The following year, G. P. Putnam's Sons was sold to the Penguin Group subsidiary of Pearson PLC . Matsushita provided a cash infusion, but the clash of cultures was too great to overcome, and five years later, Matsushita sold an 80% stake in MCA/Universal to Canadian drinks distributor Seagram for $ 5.7 billion. Seagram sold off its stake in DuPont to fund this expansion into

1744-748: A new genre of beach party films featuring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon . The original idea and the first script were Rusoff's. The highly successful and often imitated series ended in 1966 with the seventh film, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini . Many actors from the beach films also appeared in AIP's spy-spoofs, such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and car racing films like Fireball 500 (1966) and Thunder Alley . During this time, AIP also produced or distributed most of Corman's horror films, such as X: The Man with

1853-498: A niche for the studio, beginning a series of horror films which extended into the 1940s, affectionately dubbed Universal horror . Among them are Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Invisible Man (1933). Other Laemmle productions of this period include Tay Garnett 's Destination Unknown (1933), John M. Stahl 's Imitation of Life (1934) and William Wyler's The Good Fairy (1935). Universal's forays into high-quality production spelled

1962-430: A premium for reissues. Realart's Jack Broder saw a chance to make more money by making new films for the double-feature theaters. Broder hired Herman Cohen as a new vice-president and formed Jack Broder Productions, releasing through Realart. These modestly budgeted films included the boxing drama Kid Monk Baroni with a then little known Leonard Nimoy as the title character, and the jungle comedy Bela Lugosi Meets

2071-558: A profit, Arkoff quizzed film exhibitors who told him of the value of the teenage market as adults were watching television. AIP stopped making Westerns with Arkoff explaining: "To compete with television westerns you have to have color, big stars and $ 2,000,000". AIP was the first company to use focus groups , polling American teenagers about what they would like to see and using their responses to determine titles, stars, and story content. AIP would question their exhibitors (who often provided 20% of AIP's financing ) what they thought of

2180-497: A remake of its earlier 1929 part-talkie production, and produced as a high-quality, big-budget film rather than as a B-picture . The new film featured several stars from the Broadway stage version, which began production in late 1935, and unlike the 1929 film, was based on the Broadway musical rather than the novel. Carl Jr.'s spending habits alarmed company stockholders. They would not allow production to start on Show Boat unless

2289-430: A return on some of the expenditure by launching a sensational ad campaign that attracted moviegoers. Character actor Lon Chaney became a drawing card for Universal in the mid-1910s, appearing steadily in dramas. However, Chaney left Universal in 1917 because of a salary dispute, and his two biggest hits for Universal were made as isolated returns to the studio: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of

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2398-454: A rich partner. He located Japanese electronics manufacturer Matsushita Electric (now known as Panasonic ), which agreed to acquire MCA for $ 6.6 billion in 1990. On December 9, 1996, the new owners dropped the MCA name; the company became Universal Studios, Inc. and MCA's music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed Universal Music Group . MCA Records continued to live on as

2507-673: A science-fiction/horror double feature Women of the Prehistoric Planet and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters in 1966. However, Realart continued to prosper in distribution through so-called "states' rights" offices in several major cities, handling product for production companies, such as American International Pictures , without a distribution network of their own. Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC , doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios , or Universal ),

2616-399: A signature look. The early rubber monster suits and miniatures of Paul Blaisdell were used in AIP's science fiction films . The company also hired Les Baxter and Ronald Stein to compose many of its film scores. In the 1950s, the company had a number of actors under contract, including John Ashley , Fay Spain and Steve Terrell . When many of ARC/AIP's first releases failed to earn

2725-520: A spin-off of the studio's 1947 hit The Egg and I and the inexpensive Francis (1950), the first film of a series about a talking mule, became mainstays of the company. Once again, the films of Abbott and Costello, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), were among the studio's top-grossing productions. But at this point, Rank lost interest and sold his shares to the investor Milton Rackmil , whose Decca Records would take full control of Universal in 1952. Besides Abbott and Costello,

2834-495: A successful low-budget movie years later, during a 1980s talk show appearance. His ideas for a movie included: Later, the AIP publicity department devised a strategy called "the Peter Pan Syndrome": a) a younger child will watch anything an older child will watch; b) an older child will not watch anything a younger child will watch; c) a girl will watch anything a boy will watch; d) a boy will not watch anything

2943-436: A victim of its own success when other companies started copying its double feature strategy. Costs were rising and were not compensated by increased box office grosses. AIP shut down most of their production arms and focused on distributing films from Italy, while they decided what to do next. In October 1959 AIP announced it had secured finance from Colonial Bank (who had financed three of their films to date) for ten films over

3052-480: Is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Universal Studios , which is owned by NBCUniversal , a division of Comcast . Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle , Mark Dintenfass , Charles O. Baumann , Adam Kessel , Pat Powers , William Swanson, David Horsley , Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour , Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States and

3161-501: Is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios . In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979. It was formed on April 2, 1954, as American Releasing Corporation ( ARC ) by former Realart Pictures Inc. sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff and their first release

3270-525: The Anchor Bay DVD of Mario Bava 's Black Sabbath , Mark Damon claims that he first suggested the idea to Corman. Damon also says that Corman let him direct The Pit and the Pendulum uncredited. Corman's commentary for Pit mentions nothing of this and all existing production stills of the film show Corman directing. During the early 1960s, AIP produced a series of horror films inspired by

3379-599: The Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), with studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey , where many early films in America's first motion picture industry were produced in the early 20th century. Laemmle broke with Edison's custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers. By naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to

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3488-655: The Latham Loop used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition and attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures. In June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with his brothers-in-law Abe Stern and Julius Stern . That company quickly evolved into

3597-516: The highest-grossing films of all time during their initial releases. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and was one of the "Little Three" majors during Hollywood's golden age . Universal was founded by Carl Laemmle , Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann , Adam Kessel, Pat Powers , William Swanson, David Horsley , Robert H. Cochrane and Jules Brulatour . One story has Laemmle watching

3706-686: The Bandit (1977), Animal House (1978), The Jerk (1979), The Blues Brothers (1980), The Four Seasons (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Breakfast Club (1985), Back to the Future (also 1985), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), Jurassic Park (1993) and Casper (1995), but the film business was financially unpredictable with some films like The Thing (1982), Scarface (1983), Dune (1984), Howard

3815-614: The Blood Beast , She Gods of Shark Reef and The Brain Eaters (all released in 1958). The other key producer for AIP was Alex Gordon who mostly made films though his Golden State Productions outfit, usually written by Lou Rusoff . He made Girls in Prison (1956), with director Edward L. Cahn who would become one of AIP's most prolific directors. AIP released it on a double bill with Hot Rod Girl (1956). Cahn also directed

3924-531: The Duck (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) or Waterworld (1995), which turned out to be big box office disappointments despite their high budget, however, fortunately, these films became cult films in later years. UIP began distributing films by start-up studio DreamWorks in 1997 due to the founders' connections with Paramount, Universal, and Amblin Entertainment. In 2001, MGM dropped out of

4033-582: The Jackal (1973). It was only involved in approximately 20 French film productions. In the early 1970s, the unit was incorporated into the French Cinema International Corporation arm. By the late 1950s, the motion picture business was again changing. The combination of the studio/theater-chain breakup and the rise of television saw the reduced audience size for cinema productions. The Music Corporation of America (MCA),

4142-647: The Laemmles obtained a loan. Universal was forced to seek a $ 750,000 production loan from the Standard Capital Corporation, pledging the Laemmle family's controlling interest in Universal as collateral . It was the first time Universal had borrowed money for a production in its 26-year history. The production went $ 300,000 over budget; Standard called in the loan, cash-strapped Universal could not pay, and Standard foreclosed and seized control of

4251-678: The Lost City , Portrait of a Sinner (1959, West Germany), The Professionals (1960, Great Britain), and Escape to Paradise (1960, the Philippines). They also bought Why Must I Die? and The Jailbreakers (1960). In the early 1960s, AIP gained kudos by combining Roger Corman , Vincent Price and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe into a series of horror films, with scripts by Richard Matheson , Charles Beaumont , Ray Russell , R. Wright Campbell and Robert Towne . The original idea, usually credited to Corman and Lou Rusoff,

4360-507: The Odd . In 1962, Arkoff said AIP was in a position similar to Columbia Pictures just before they made Submarine and Dirigible : Before that they were on poverty row. Our better position will enable us to obtain more important writers, perhaps more important producers as well. We're a privately owned company at the moment but perhaps within two or three years we will become a public company. Beginning with 1963's Beach Party , AIP created

4469-548: The Opera (1925). During the early 1920s Laemmle entrusted most of Universal's production policy decisions to Irving Thalberg . Thalberg had been Laemmle's personal secretary, and Laemmle was impressed by his cogent observations of how efficiently the studio could be operated. Promoted to studio chief in 1919, Thalberg made distinct improvements of quality and prestige in Universal's output in addition to dealing with star director Erich von Stroheim 's increasing inability to control

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4578-671: The Poe cycle. Of eight films, seven feature stories that are actually based on the works of Poe. Seven of the films, with the exception of The Premature Burial , featured Vincent Price as the star. Occasionally, Corman's 1963 film The Terror (produced immediately after The Raven ) is recognized as being part of the Corman-Poe cycle, although the film's story and title are not based on any literary work of Poe. Some Poe films announced by AIP but not made include The Gold Bug , The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade , and The Angel of

4687-526: The UIP venture and went with 20th Century Fox 's international arm to handle the distribution of their titles, an ongoing arrangement. UIP nearly lost its connection with Universal Pictures in 1999 when Universal started Universal Pictures International to take over the assets of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and wanted UPI to distribute their films starting in 2001. Only a small handful of films were released theatrically by Universal Pictures International, up until

4796-485: The Western Outlaw Treasure (1955) starring Johnny Carpenter . ARC got Corman to direct another Western and science fiction double bill Apache Woman (1955) and Day the World Ended (1955). Both scripts were written by Arkoff's brother-in-law Lou Rusoff , who would become the company's leading writer in its early days. Apache Woman was produced by Alex Gordon, an associate of Arkoff's, Day

4905-733: The World (1956) from a script by Rusoff that was rewritten by Charles B. Griffith . His films included Rock All Night (1956); Naked Paradise (1957), in which Arkoff had a small role; The Undead ; Sorority Girl ; The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957); Machine Gun Kelly with Charles Bronson ; and Teenage Caveman (1958), with Robert Vaughn . AIP also distributed films Corman helped finance, such as Night of

5014-545: The X-ray Eyes . In 1966, the studio released The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda , based loosely on the real-life exploits of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. This film ushered in AIP's most successful year and kicked off a subgenre of motorcycle gang films that lasted almost 10 years and included Devil's Angels , The Glory Stompers with Dennis Hopper , and The Born Losers —the film that introduced

5123-518: The advent of sound, these productions were made in the German language or, occasionally, Hungarian or Polish. In the U.S., Universal Pictures did not distribute any of this subsidiary's films. Still, some of them were exhibited through other independent, foreign-language film distributors based in New York City without the benefit of English subtitles. Nazi persecution and a change in ownership for

5232-490: The burning roof of the Usher mansion reappears in most of the other films as stock footage ), making the series quite cost-effective. All the films in the series were directed by Roger Corman, and they all starred Price except The Premature Burial , which featured Ray Milland in the lead. It was originally produced for another studio, but AIP acquired the rights to it. As the series progressed, Corman made attempts to change

5341-614: The comic adventures of infant Baby Sandy (1938–41); comedies with Hugh Herbert (1938–42) and The Ritz Brothers (1940–43); musicals with Robert Paige , Jane Frazee , The Andrews Sisters , and The Merry Macs (1938–45); and westerns with Tom Mix (1932–33), Buck Jones (1933–36), Bob Baker (1938–39), Johnny Mack Brown (1938–43); Rod Cameron (1944–45), and Kirby Grant (1946–47). Universal could seldom afford its own stable of stars and often borrowed talent from other studios or hired freelance actors. In addition to Stewart and Dietrich, Margaret Sullavan and Bing Crosby were two of

5450-576: The creation of Woody Woodpecker in 1940. In February 2006, NBCUniversal sold all the Disney-animated Oswald cartoons, along with the rights to the character himself, to The Walt Disney Company . In return, Disney released ABC sportscaster Al Michaels from his contract so he could work on NBC's recently acquired Sunday night NFL football package . Universal retained ownership of the remaining Oswald cartoons. In 1928, Laemmle Sr. made his son, Carl Jr. , head of Universal Pictures,

5559-544: The creation of the star system . In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence , formerly known as " The Biograph Girl ", and actor King Baggot , in what may be the first instance of a studio using stars in its marketing. The Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York City on April 30, 1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the primary figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley, and Brulatour. The company

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5668-583: The decade was primarily a television studio. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased United Artists in 1981, MGM could not drop out of the CIC venture to merge with United Artists overseas operations. However, with future film productions from both names being released through the MGM/UA Entertainment plate, CIC decided to merge UA's international units with MGM and reformed as United International Pictures . There would be other film hits like Smokey and

5777-638: The documentary Naked Africa , The Screaming Skull (1957), The Cool and the Crazy , Daddy-O , Dragstrip Riot and Tank Battalion (1958). AIP developed a mutual relationship with Britain's Anglo-Amalgamated who would distribute AIP's product in the UK. In return, AIP would distribute their films in the U.S., such as The Tommy Steele Story (1957) and Cat Girl (1957). AIP also imported The White Huntress (1954, England), Pulgarcito (1958, Mexico) and The Sky Calls (1959, Russia). AIP became

5886-435: The earlier film, and Katharine Hepburn , their only film together. The film was only a moderate success. In 1983, Universal Pictures launched an independent film arm designed to release specialty films, Universal Classics, and the division has sights on separation. In 1987, Universal Pictures, MGM/UA Communications Co. , and Paramount Pictures teamed up to market feature film and television products to China. Consumer reach

5995-410: The early 1950s, television had become increasingly popular and many neighborhood theaters had closed. Broder sold his own productions to television, with Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla making its television debut less than a year after its theatrical run. Broder released only four more Realart originals to theaters: Roger Corman 's first film Five Guns West in 1955, Wetbacks in 1956, and

6104-487: The early 1970s, Universal teamed up with Paramount to form Cinema International Corporation , which distributed films by Paramount and Universal outside of the US and Canada. Although Universal did produce occasional hits, among them Airport (1970), The Sting (1973), American Graffiti (also 1973), Earthquake (1974), and a big box-office success which restored the company's fortunes: Jaws (1975), Universal during

6213-480: The early films, along with Arkoff's brother-in-law, Lou Rusoff, who later produced many of the films he had written. Other writers included Ray Russell , Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont . Floyd Crosby , A.S.C. famous for his camera work on a number of exotic documentaries and the Oscar winner, High Noon , was chief cinematographer. His innovative use of surreal color and odd lenses and angles gave AIP films

6322-469: The end of the Laemmle era at the studio. Taking on the task of modernizing and upgrading a film conglomerate in the depths of the Great Depression was risky, and for a time, Universal slipped into receivership . The theater chain was scrapped , but Carl Jr. held fast to distribution, studio, and production operations. The end for the Laemmles came with a lavish version of Show Boat (1936),

6431-512: The entertainment industry. Hoping to build an entertainment empire around Universal, Seagram bought PolyGram from Philips in 1999 and other entertainment properties, but the fluctuating profits characteristic of Hollywood were no substitute for the reliable income stream gained from the previously held shares in DuPont. American International Pictures American International Pictures LLC ( AIP or American International Productions )

6540-419: The expense and length of his films, eventually firing Stroheim on October 6, 1922, six weeks into the production of Merry-Go-Round (1923) and replacing him with Rupert Julian . Louis B. Mayer lured Thalberg away from Universal in late 1922 to his own growing studio, Louis B. Mayer Productions , as vice-president in charge of production, and when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed in 1924 Thalberg continued in

6649-544: The few women directing films in Hollywood. Starting in the mid-1920s, Universal branded its most expensive and heavily promoted feature films as "Super-Jewel" productions. These included films such as Erich von Stroheim 's Foolish Wives (1922), Clarence Brown 's The Acquittal (1923), Hobart Henley 's A Lady of Quality (1924), Harry A. Pollard 's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), and Edward Sloman 's Surrender (1928). Despite Laemmle's role as an innovator, he

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6758-402: The fifth oldest in the world after Gaumont , Pathé , Titanus , and Nordisk Film , and is one of the "Big Five" film studios . Universal's most commercially successful film franchises include Fast & Furious , Jurassic Park , and Despicable Me . Additionally, the studio's library includes many individual films such as Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , both of which became

6867-442: The film, but ARC offered to advance money to enable Corman to make two other films. Corman agreed, The Fast and the Furious performed well at the box office and the company was launched. Corman's next two films for the company were a Western, Five Guns West (1955), which Corman directed, and a science fiction film, The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955). The title from the latter had come from Nicholson. ARC also distributed

6976-683: The following for Gordon: The She-Creature (released as a double feature with It Conquered the World ); Flesh and the Spur , the last Western made by AIP; Shake, Rattle & Rock! , a rock musical with Mike Connors ; Runaway Daughters (1956); Voodoo Woman ; Dragstrip Girl (1957), with John Ashley ; Motorcycle Gang (1957), again with Ashley; Jet Attack and Submarine Seahawk (1958). Most of these were written by Rusoff and directed by Edward L. Cahn . Gordon left AIP and Rusoff alone produced Hot Rod Gang (1958) and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959). Another key producer for AIP

7085-409: The formula. Later films added more humor to the stories, especially The Raven , which takes Poe's poem as an inspiration and develops it into an all-out farce starring Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre ; Karloff had starred in a 1935 film with the same title. Corman also adapted H. P. Lovecraft 's short novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in an attempt to get away from Poe, but AIP changed

7194-415: The independent company International Pictures , and producer Kenneth Young. The new combine, United World Pictures, was a failure and was dissolved within one year. However, Rank and International remained interested in Universal, culminating in the studio's reorganization as Universal-International; the merger was announced on July 30, 1946. William Goetz , a founder of International along with Leo Spitz ,

7303-498: The late 1930s was Destry Rides Again (1939), starring James Stewart as Destry and Marlene Dietrich in her comeback role after leaving Paramount . By the early 1940s, the company was concentrating on lower-budget productions that were the company's main staple: westerns, melodramas, serials, and sequels to the studio's horror pictures, the latter now solely B pictures. The studio fostered many series: The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys action features and serials (1938–43);

7412-643: The late 1950s, AIP kept their company afloat by importing films from Italy. These included Sheba and the Gladiator (1959), Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) and Black Sunday (1960); the latter film proved to be one of the company's early successes. There was also Atomic Agent (1959, France), The Angry Red Planet (1959, Denmark), Tiger of Bengal (1959) and The Indian Tomb (1960) from Fritz Lang in Germany, edited together as Journey to

7521-407: The late 1950s: Roger Corman, Alex Gordon & Lou Rusoff, and Herman Cohen. Arkoff and Nicholson would buy films from other filmmakers as well, and import films from outside America. Corman continued to be an important member of AIP (though he also worked for Allied Artists and his own Filmgroup company during this period). He had a big hit for the company with the science fiction film It Conquered

7630-420: The lucrative non-theatrical field, buying a majority stake in home-movie dealer Castle Films in 1947 and taking the company over entirely in 1951. For three decades, Castle would offer "highlights" reels from the Universal film library to home-movie enthusiasts and collectors. Goetz licensed Universal's pre–Universal-International film library to Jack Broeder's Realart Pictures for cinema re-release, but Realart

7739-414: The major names that made a couple of pictures for Universal during this period. Some stars came from radio, including Edgar Bergen , W. C. Fields , and the comedy team of Abbott and Costello ( Bud Abbott and Lou Costello ). Abbott and Costello's military comedy Buck Privates (1941) gave the former burlesque comedians a national and international profile. During the war years, Universal did have

7848-442: The melodramas directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter , which were critically reassessed more positively years later. Among Universal-International's stable of stars were Rock Hudson , Tony Curtis , Jeff Chandler , Audie Murphy , and John Gavin . Although Decca would continue to keep picture budgets lean, it was favored by changing circumstances in the film business, as other studios let their contract actors go in

7957-415: The motion pictures and television arms of the formerly Universal Pictures Company and Revue Productions (officially renamed as Universal Television in 1966). And so, with MCA in charge, Universal became a full-blown, A-film movie studio, with leading actors and directors under contract; offering slick, commercial films; and a studio tour subsidiary launched in 1964. Television production made up much of

8066-601: The next 12 months. The remaining 14 to 20 projects planned were paid by Pathe Laboratories. The ten films were Diary of a High School Bride , Drag Race , The Haunted House of Usher , End of the World , World Without Women , Bombs Away , Blood Hill , Take Me To Your Leader , She and Eve and the Dragon . Not all of these would be made. The company moved into rented office space at the former Chaplin Studios . In

8175-470: The parent Universal Pictures organization resulted in the dissolution of this subsidiary. In the early years, Universal had a "clean picture" policy. However, by April 1927, Carl Laemmle considered this a mistake as "unclean pictures" from other studios generated more profit while Universal lost money. In early 1927, Universal had been negotiating deals with cartoon producers since they wanted to get back into producing them. On March 4, Charles Mintz signed

8284-492: The reissue of Gung Ho! (1943); Dan Dailey catapulted to top billing for the reissue of The Andrews Sisters ' Give Out, Sisters ; and Keefe Brasselle of The Eddie Cantor Story was billed over star Gloria Jean in the waterfront melodrama River Gang . Abbott and Costello were incidental players in their first film, the 1940 Allan Jones musical One Night in the Tropics ; Realart removed 13 minutes of footage with

8393-475: The release of the film Mickey Blue Eyes . UIP then took over the theatrical distribution inventory of future films planned to be released by Universal Pictures International, such as The Green Mile and Angela's Ashes . On October 4, 1999, Universal renewed its commitments to United International Pictures to release its films internationally through 2006. Anxious to expand the company's broadcast and cable presence, longtime MCA head Lew Wasserman sought

8502-466: The romantic leads, and remarketed the edited version as a full-fledged Abbott & Costello comedy. Realart also acquired non-Universal productions: A Walk in the Sun was retitled Salerno Beachhead . Theater managers were delighted with Realart's oldies, which did better business than certain new pictures, and Realart prospered. There was a steady market for double features, but exhibitors would not pay

8611-529: The same corporate entity, the central element of the Studio system era. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912, the company was focusing its production efforts in the Hollywood area. Universal Weekly and Moving Picture Weekly were the alternating names of Universal's internal magazine that began publication in this era; the magazine was intended to market Universal's films to exhibitors. Since much of Universal's early film output

8720-443: The same position for the new company. Without Thalberg's guidance, Universal became a second-tier studio and would remain so for several decades. In 1926, Universal opened a production unit in Germany, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, under the direction of Joe Pasternak . This unit produced three to four films per year until 1936, migrating to Hungary and then Austria in the face of Hitler 's increasing domination of central Europe. With

8829-417: The studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists. Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in small towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas , westerns , and serials . In 1916, Universal formed a three-tier branding system for their releases. Unlike

8938-410: The studio on April 2, 1936. Although Universal's 1936 Show Boat (released a little over a month later) became a critical and financial success, it was not enough to save the Laemmles' involvement with the studio. They were unceremoniously removed from the company they had founded, with studio advertisements referring to "the new Universal". Because the Laemmles personally oversaw production, Show Boat

9047-476: The studio retained the Walter Lantz cartoon studio, whose product was released with Universal-International's films. In the 1950s, Universal-International resumed their series of Arabian Nights films, many starring Tony Curtis . The studio also had success with monster and science fiction films produced by William Alland , with many directed by Jack Arnold and starring John Agar . Other successes were

9156-547: The studio to sound production, and made several forays into high-quality production. His early efforts included the critically panned part-talkie version of Edna Ferber 's novel Show Boat (1929), the lavish musical Broadway (1929) which included Technicolor sequences; and the first all-color musical feature (for Universal), King of Jazz (1930). The more serious All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) won its year's Best Picture Oscar . Laemmle Jr. created

9265-620: The studio's output from its wartime average of fifty films per year (nearly twice the major studio's output) to thirty-five films a year. Distribution and copyright control remained under the name of Universal Pictures Company Inc. Goetz set out an ambitious schedule. Universal-International became responsible for the American distribution of Rank's British productions, including such classics as David Lean 's Great Expectations (1946) and Laurence Olivier 's Hamlet (1948). Broadening its scope further, Universal-International branched out into

9374-505: The studio's output, with Universal heavily committed, in particular, to deals with NBC (which much later merged with Universal to form NBC Universal; see below ) providing up to half of all prime time shows for several seasons. An innovation during this period championed by Universal was the made-for-television movie. In 1982, Universal became the studio base for many shows that were produced by Norman Lear 's Tandem Productions / Embassy Television , including Diff'rent Strokes , One Day at

9483-599: The studio. Gone were the big ambitions, and though Universal had a few big names under contract, those it had been cultivating, like William Wyler and Margaret Sullavan , left. Meanwhile, producer Joe Pasternak, who had been successfully producing light musicals with young sopranos for Universal's German subsidiary, repeated his formula in the United States. Teenage singer Deanna Durbin starred in Pasternak's first American film, Three Smart Girls (1936). The film

9592-426: The success of a title, then would have a writer create a script for it. A sequence of tasks in a typical production involved creating a great title, getting an artist such as Albert Kallis who supervised all AIP artwork from 1955 to 1973 to create a dynamic, eye-catching poster, then raising the cash, and finally writing and casting the film. Samuel Z. Arkoff related his tried-and-true "ARKOFF formula" for producing

9701-518: The title to that of an obscure Poe poem, The Haunted Palace , and marketed it as yet another movie in the series. The last two films in the series, The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia , were filmed in England with an unusually long schedule for Corman and AIP. Although Corman and Rusoff are generally credited with coming up with the idea for the Poe series, in an interview on

9810-520: The top-tier studios, Universal did not own any theaters to market its feature films. Universal branding their product gave theater owners and audiences a quick reference guide. Branding would help theater owners judge films they were about to lease and help fans decide which movies they wanted to see. Universal released three different types of feature motion pictures: Directors of "Jewel" films included Jack Conway , John Ford , Rex Ingram , Robert Z. Leonard , George Marshall , and Lois Weber , one of

9919-579: The two first films it produced, Claude Chabrol 's Le scandale (English title The Champagne Murders , 1967) and Romain Gary 's Les oiseaux vont mourir au Pérou (English title Birds in Peru ), it was only involved in French or other European co-productions, including Louis Malle 's Lacombe, Lucien , Bertrand Blier 's Les Valseuses (English title Going Places , 1974), and Fred Zinnemann 's The Day of

10028-449: The wake of the 1948 U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al. decision. Leading actors were increasingly free to work where and when they chose, and in 1950 MCA agent Lew Wasserman made a deal with Universal for his client James Stewart that would change the rules of the business. Wasserman's deal gave Stewart a share in the profits of three pictures in lieu of a large salary. When one of those films, Winchester '73 (1950), proved to be

10137-459: The world's largest talent agency, had also become a powerful television producer, renting space at Republic Studios for its Revue Productions subsidiary. After a period of complete shutdown, a moribund Universal agreed to sell its 360-acre (1.5 km ) studio lot to MCA in 1958 for $ 11 million, renamed Revue Studios . MCA owned the studio lot, but not Universal Pictures, yet was increasingly influential on Universal's products. The studio lot

10246-605: Was Herman Cohen , who had a huge hit with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) starring Michael Landon . He followed it with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein , Blood of Dracula (both also in 1957 as a double feature), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Headless Ghost and Horrors of the Black Museum (both in 1959). Other key collaborators who worked for AIP in the late 1950s included: AIP would flesh out their distribution schedule by buying films made by outside producers. These included The Astounding She-Monster ,

10355-544: Was a box-office hit and reputedly resolved the studio's financial problems. The film's success led Universal to offer her a contract, which for the first five years of her career, produced her most successful pictures. When Pasternak stopped producing Durbin's pictures, and she outgrew her screen persona and pursued more dramatic roles, the studio signed 13-year-old Gloria Jean for her own series of Pasternak musicals from 1939; she went on to star with Bing Crosby , W. C. Fields , and Donald O'Connor . A popular Universal film of

10464-416: Was also borrowed for two films from Selznick International Pictures : Saboteur (1942) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943). As Universal's main product had always been lower-budgeted films, it was one of the last major studios to contract with Technicolor . The studio did not make use of the three-strip Technicolor process until Arabian Nights (1942), starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez . Technicolor

10573-429: Was also used for the studio's remake of their 1925 horror melodrama, Phantom of the Opera (1943) with Claude Rains and Nelson Eddy . With the success of their first two pictures, a regular schedule of high-budget Technicolor films followed. In 1945, J. Arthur Rank, who had already owned a stake in the studio almost a decade before, hoping to expand his American presence, bought into a four-way merger with Universal,

10682-447: Was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor , William Fox , and Marcus Loew , Laemmle chose not to develop a theater chain . He also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. This policy nearly bankrupted the studio when actor-director Erich von Stroheim insisted on excessively lavish production values for his films Blind Husbands (1919) and Foolish Wives (1922), but Universal shrewdly gained

10791-481: Was destroyed in subsequent fires and nitrate degradation, the surviving issues of these magazines are a crucial source for film historians. On March 15, 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios , on a 230-acre (0.9-km ) converted farm just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood. Studio management became the third facet of Universal's operations, with

10900-615: Was established on June 8, 1912, formed in a merger of Independent Moving Pictures (IMP), the Powers Motion Picture Company , Rex Motion Picture Manufacturing Company , Champion Film Company , Nestor Film Company , and the New York Motion Picture Company . Eventually all would be bought out by Laemmle. The new Universal studio was a vertically integrated company , with movie production, distribution, and exhibition venues all linked in

11009-468: Was made head of production at the renamed Universal-International Pictures, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures Company, Inc. which also served as an import-export subsidiary, and copyright holder for the production arm's films. Goetz, a son-in-law of Louis B. Mayer , decided to bring "prestige" to the new company. He stopped the studio's low-budget production of B movies , serials and curtailed Universal's horror and " Arabian Nights " cycles. He also reduced

11118-626: Was 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. In the early 1980s, the company had its own pay television arm Universal Pay Television (a.k.a. Universal Pay TV Programming, Inc.), which spawned in 1987, an 11-picture cable television agreement with then-independent film studio New Line Cinema . In

11227-491: Was never mentioned in the ads or posters). Most films were re-released under their original, familiar titles, while others were given more effective (and often more lurid) titles: The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry became Guilty of Murder ; Man-Made Monster became The Atomic Monster ; The Mystery of Marie Roget became Phantom of Paris . Supporting players who had since become stars were now given more prominent billing, such as Robert Mitchum becoming second-billed on

11336-454: Was not allowed to show the films on television. The production arm of the studio still struggled. While there were to be a few hits like The Killers (1946) and The Naked City (1948), both produced by Mark Hellinger , Universal-International's new theatrical films often met with disappointing response at the box office. By the late 1940s, Goetz was out. The studio returned to low-budget and series films such as Ma and Pa Kettle (1949),

11445-401: Was produced by Corman. Both were made by Golden State Productions, ARC's production arm. Normally, B movies were made for the second part of a bill and received a flat rate. As television was encroaching on the B movie market, Nicholson and Arkoff felt it would be more profitable to make two low budget films and distribute them together on a double feature . Nicholson came up with a title for

11554-401: Was released (despite the takeover) with Carl Laemmle and Carl Laemmle Jr.'s names on the credits and in the film's advertising campaign. Standard Capital's J. Cheever Cowdin had taken over as president and chairman of the board of directors and instituted severe cuts in production budgets. Joining him were British entrepreneurs C.M. Woolf and J. Arthur Rank , who bought a significant stake in

11663-403: Was the 1953 UK documentary film Operation Malaya . It was dedicated to releasing low-budget films packaged as double features , primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The company eventually became a part of Orion Pictures , which in turn, became a division of Amazon MGM Studios. On October 7, 2020, four decades after the original closure, MGM revived AIP as

11772-615: Was to take Poe's story " The Fall of the House of Usher ", which had both a high name-recognition value and the merit of being in the public domain , and thus royalty -free, and expand it into a feature film. Corman convinced the studio to give him a larger budget than the typical AIP film so he could film the movie in widescreen and color, and use it to create lavish sets as well. The success of House of Usher led AIP to finance further films based on Poe's stories. The sets and special effects were often reused in subsequent movies (for example,

11881-542: Was upgraded and modernized, while MCA clients like Doris Day , Lana Turner , Cary Grant , and director Alfred Hitchcock were signed to Universal contracts. The long-awaited takeover of Universal Pictures by MCA, Inc. happened in mid-1962 as part of the MCA- Decca Records merger. As a final gesture before leaving the talent agency business, virtually every MCA client was signed to a Universal contract. In 1964, MCA formed Universal City Studios, Inc ., merging

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