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150-637: The Golden Child was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures and grossed a total of $ 79,817,937 at the United States domestic box office. In a remote temple in Tibet, a young boy with mystical powers – the Golden Child – receives badges of station and demonstrates his power to the monks of the temple by reviving a dead eastern rosella , which becomes a constant companion and familiar . A mysterious man, Sardo Numspa, has his men break into

300-682: A Lethal Weapon 5 . In May 2023, it was announced that Gibson would direct a film titled Flight Risk , starring Mark Wahlberg . Set to be released by Lionsgate , the film will star Wahlberg as "a pilot transporting a dangerous criminal for trial." It was later reported that the film had begun shooting in Las Vegas on June 16. Filming was reportedly unaffected by the SAG-AFTRA strike , having been exempted as an independent project. Gibson has credited his directors, particularly George Miller , Peter Weir , and Richard Donner , with teaching him

450-500: A fourth commercial network . Paramount Pictures purchased the Hughes Television Network (HTN) including its satellite time in planning for PTVS in 1976. Paramount sold HTN to Madison Square Garden Corporation 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 in 1984, where Fox's then freshly installed proprietor, Rupert Murdoch

600-538: A $ 30 a week apartment in Adelaide with his future wife Robyn Moore. After Mad Max , Gibson also played a mentally slow youth in the film Tim (also 1979). During this period Gibson also appeared in Australian television series guest roles. He appeared in serial The Sullivans as naval lieutenant Ray Henderson, in police procedural Cop Shop , and in the pilot episode of prison serial Punishment which

750-583: A 1956 remake of his 1923 film The Ten Commandments . 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. / EMKA, Ltd. (known today as Universal Television ) in February 1958. 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

900-416: A Lesser God and 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-offs ; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of

1050-467: 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 2000 – 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

1200-522: A Scottish nationalist who was executed in 1305 for " high treason " against King Edward I of England . Gibson received two Academy Awards , Best Director and Best Picture , for his second directorial effort. In winning the Academy Award for Best Director, Gibson became only the sixth actor-turned-filmmaker to do so. Braveheart influenced the Scottish nationalist movement and helped to revive

1350-546: A Wire , Air America , and Hamlet . During the 1990s, Gibson alternated between commercial and personal projects. His films in the first half of the decade were Forever Young , Lethal Weapon 3 , Maverick , and Braveheart . He then starred in Ransom , Conspiracy Theory , Lethal Weapon 4 , and Payback . Gibson also served as the speaking and singing voice of John Smith in Disney 's Pocahontas . Gibson

1500-524: A bid for a merger with Paramount Communications; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with Barry Diller '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

1650-469: A bird begins following him, and him seeing an astral projection of the Child. The next day, Cheryll Mosley is found dead near an abandoned house smeared with Tibetan graffiti and a pot full of blood-soaked oatmeal. Kee reveals to Chandler that this house was a holding place for the Child and introduces him to Doctor Hong, a mystic expert, and Kala (a creature half dragon, half woman, who remains hidden behind

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1800-463: A couple of years later because I wasn't the archetypal Australian. He had Mark Lee, the angelic-looking, ideal Australian kid, and he wanted something of a modern sensibility. He thought the audience needed someone to relate to of their own time. Gibson later said that Gallipoli is, "Not really a war movie. That's just the backdrop. It's really the story of two young men." The critically acclaimed film helped to further launch Gibson's career. He won

1950-490: A detective story rather than a comedy and thought of Mel Gibson for the lead role. John Carpenter was offered the chance to direct the film, but he preferred to instead work on Big Trouble in Little China (1986) starring Kurt Russell . Murphy met with George Miller to direct the film. J. L. Reate, the actor who played the "Golden Child", the male titular character, was actually a girl: Jasmine Lauren Reate, who

2100-632: A few episodes of Complete Savages for the ABC network. In 2006, he directed the action-adventure film Apocalypto , his second film to feature sparse dialogue in a non-English language. Gibson has expressed an intention to direct a movie set during the Viking Age , starring Leonardo DiCaprio . Like The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto , he wants this speculative film to feature dialogue in period languages. However, DiCaprio ultimately opted out of

2250-476: A film called The Passion in Aramaic and Latin with no subtitles because he hoped to "transcend language barriers with filmic storytelling." In 2004, he released the controversial film The Passion of the Christ , with subtitles, which he co-wrote, co-produced, and directed. The film went on to become the highest-grossing rated R film at the time with $ 370,782,930 in U.S. box office sales. Gibson directed

2400-420: A film with Eddie Murphy because he makes me laugh. The character was villainous, but he was a comic villain as far as I was concerned, and I hadn't done a film like that before. I don't think as an actor you should back off from any experience, so I thought, 'OK, we'll try this.' And I did it, and I know that it’s played over and over again and a lot of devotees of that kind of thing say it's their favorite film. It

2550-700: 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

2700-613: 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 in the United States when the MPAA introduced their new rating system . In 1970, Paramount teamed with Universal Pictures to form Cinema International Corporation ,

2850-432: 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. In 1983, Gulf and Western began a restructuring process that would transform

3000-412: 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 would also add greatly to Paramount's success with her suggestive movies She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel . However, the sex appeal West gave in these movies would also lead to the enforcement of

3150-742: A movie star and would only act in film again if the script were truly extraordinary. In 2010, Gibson appeared in Edge of Darkness , which marked his first starring role since 2002 and was an adaptation of the BBC miniseries, Edge of Darkness . In June of the same year, Gibson was in Brownsville, Texas , filming scenes for the film Get the Gringo , about a career criminal put in a tough prison in Mexico. In 2010, following an outburst at his ex-girlfriend that

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3300-480: A new company that would distribute films by the two studios outside the United States. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would become a partner in the mid-1970s. Both Paramount and CIC entered the video market with Paramount Home Video (now Paramount Home Entertainment ) 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 and Western's Bluhdorn. By 1976,

3450-512: A new, television-trained team was in place headed by Barry Diller 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 , Jeffrey Katzenberg , Dawn Steel and Don Simpson 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 " pictures such as Saturday Night Fever and Grease hit big, hard, and fast all over

3600-582: A number of Gibson's alleged "hateful rants". In a 2012 interview, Gibson explained that the Maccabees film was still in preparation. He explained that he was drawn to the Biblical account of the uprising due to its similarity to the American Old West genre . In June 2016, Gibson announced that he will reunite with Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace to make a sequel for The Passion of

3750-528: A number of projects for television, including a biopic on the Three Stooges and the 2008 PBS documentary Carrier . Icon has grown from being just a production company to also be an international distribution company and film exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand. Gibson is credited as an executive producer of the 2023 movie Sound of Freedom , a film based on a true story which revolves around

3900-489: A penchant for violence and gunplay. In the films, he is partnered with a reserved family man named Roger Murtaugh ( Danny Glover ) and starting with the second film, they're joined by a hyperactive informant named Leo Getz ( Joe Pesci ). Following the success of Lethal Weapon , director Richard Donner and principal cast revisited the characters in three sequels, Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1993), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). With its fourth installment,

4050-467: A role on the Australian television series The Sullivans . In his career, Gibson has appeared in 43 films, including the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon film series. In addition to acting, Gibson has also directed four films, including Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ ; produced 11 films; and written two films. Films either starring or directed by Mel Gibson have earned over US$ 2.5 billion, in

4200-489: A screen). Chandler and Kee track down a motorcycle gang , the Yellow Dragons, which Cheryll had joined, and Chinese restaurant owner Tommy Tong, a henchman of Numspa, to whom Cheryll had been "sold" for her blood, a way to make the Child vulnerable to earthly harm. However, Tong is killed by Numspa as a potential traitor. Numspa then communes with his master, a unseen powerful demon , who informs him of how to kill

4350-719: 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 . In February 1994, Viacom acquired 50.1% of Paramount Communications Inc. shares for $ 9.75 billion, following

4500-476: A second score, by Michel Colombier that, in contrast to Barry's work, was mostly " synthpop " (although there were some brief orchestral passages throughout). Some of Barry's musical cues remain in the final cut of the film and one track, "Wisdom of the Ages", appeared on the first soundtrack release issued by Capitol Records . In 2011, La-La Land Records released a limited-edition 3-CD soundtrack set containing

4650-518: A series of Jack London 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. 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

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4800-424: A stable of exclusively-contracted film personnel (outside of Eddie Murphy ); this effort proved unsuccessful and studio president Dawn Steel decided to shut down the department on July 30, 1986. In 1987, Paramount Pictures, MGM/UA Communications Co. and Universal Pictures teamed up in order to market feature film and television product to China, a response to the 25-billion admission tickets that were clocked in

4950-475: A stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille , 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 , Selma Avenue, Argyle Avenue and Sunset Boulevard . It was later known as the Lasky-DeMille Barn . In 1914, their first feature film, The Squaw Man

5100-558: 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

5250-470: Is being kept. As the two approach Kee's body, a badly injured but berserk Numspa attacks Chandler, but the amulet the Old Man sold Chandler protects him, then blasts the dagger from Numspa's hand. The Child uses his magic to place the dagger back into Chandler's hands, and Chandler stabs Numspa through the heart, destroying him. The Child then uses the last rays of sunlight and his powers to bring Kee back from

5400-549: Is not based on hurt and aggression, but on affection and an understanding that comes from seeing right through the other characters." In his TV, Movie, & Video Guide , Leonard Maltin cited the film as a BOMB (his lowest possible rating): "A top candidate for the worst megahit of all time...Charlotte Lewis gives a wooden performance even for an ex-model; entire reels go by with hardly a chuckle. A box-office smash - but have you ever met anyone who says they liked it?" Janet Maslin of The New York Times seemed to agree, describing

5550-471: Is swindled by an old amulet seller, later revealed as the High Priest of the temple where the dagger is kept hidden (and, subsequently, Kee's father). In order to obtain the knife, Chandler has to pass a test: an obstacle course in a bottomless cavern whilst carrying a glass of water without spilling a drop. With luck and wits, Chandler recovers the blade and even manages to bring it past customs into

5700-607: Is the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles . Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company . 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 and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to

5850-585: The Academy Award for Best Director , and the Academy Award for Best Picture . He later directed and produced The Passion of the Christ , a biblical drama that was both financially successful and highly controversial. He received further critical notice for his directorial work of the action-adventure film Apocalypto (2006), which is set in Mesoamerica during the early 16th century. After several legal issues and controversial statements leaked to

6000-462: The Bankruptcy Act . 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

6150-590: The Franco Zeffirelli film version of Hamlet (1990), and comedic roles such as those in Maverick (1994) and What Women Want (2000). He expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, with: The Man Without a Face (1993), Braveheart (1995), The Passion of the Christ (2004), and Apocalypto (2006). Jess Cagle of Time compared Gibson with Cary Grant , Sean Connery , and Robert Redford . Connery once suggested Gibson should play

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6300-554: The Inspire Me podcast that he would direct the fifth installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise and that the film would stay true to Donner's vision and influence. Gibson also stated that he and Glover would return to play their respective roles of Riggs and Murtaugh. Gibson made the unusual transition from action to classical drama, playing William Shakespeare 's Danish prince in Franco Zeffirelli 's Hamlet . Gibson

6450-702: The Kaufman Astoria Studios , and Hollywood, California ), and became an early investor in radio, acquiring for the corporation a 50% interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928 (selling it within a few years; this would not be the last time Paramount and CBS crossed paths). By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, Zukor gained the services of Barney Balaban (who would eventually become Paramount's president in 1936), his brother A. J. Balaban (who would eventually supervise all stage production nationwide and produce talkie shorts), and their partner Sam Katz (who would run

6600-462: The Lethal Weapon series embodied "the quintessence of the buddy cop pic ". The film series has since been rebooted with a television adaptation , which aired for three seasons on FOX . On November 15, 2021, Gibson confirmed that he will direct the fifth Lethal Weapon film following the death of director Richard Donner . "The man who directed all the 'Lethal films', Richard Donner, he

6750-614: The Paramount Publix Corporation . 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 was also tossed out. In 1931, to solve the financial problems of the company Zukor hired taxi/rental car magnate John D. Hertz as chairman of

6900-607: 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

7050-710: The Production Code , as the newly formed organization the Catholic Legion of Decency threatened a boycott if it was not enforced. Paramount cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios continued to be successful, with characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor becoming widely successful. One Fleischer series, Screen Songs , featured live-action music stars under contract to Paramount hosting sing-alongs of popular songs. The animation studio would rebound with Popeye , and in 1935, polls showed that Popeye

7200-489: The Southern United States . One of Gibson's younger brothers, Donal , is also an actor. Gibson's first name is derived from St Mel's Cathedral , situated in his mother's hometown of Longford . His second name, Colmcille , is also shared with an Irish saint. Because of his mother, Gibson retains dual Irish and American citizenship. Gibson is also an Australian permanent resident . Gibson's father

7350-587: The buddy cop action-comedy film series Lethal Weapon . Born in Peekskill, New York , Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia, when he was 12 years old. He studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art , where he starred opposite Judy Davis in a production of Romeo and Juliet . During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment , a production company, which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called "an alternative to

7500-599: The draft during the Vietnam War . During his high school years, Gibson was educated by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers at St Leo's Catholic College in Wahroonga , New South Wales . Gibson gained very favorable notices from film critics when he first entered the cinematic scene, as well as comparisons to several classic movie stars. In 1982, Vincent Canby wrote that "Mr. Gibson recalls

7650-677: The 13th slasher series, as well as joining forces with Lucasfilm and Steven Spielberg to create the 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 , Reds , Witness , Children of

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7800-578: The Christ , focusing on the resurrection of Jesus . In early November 2016, Gibson revealed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the sequel's title will be The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection . He also stated that the project could "probably be three years off" because "it's a big subject". In January 2023, it was reported that the sequel will begin filming later that year. In November 2016, film critic Matt Zoller Seitz named Gibson as "the pre-eminent religious filmmaker in

7950-543: 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. However, Paramount vetoed

8100-551: The Golden Age of Hollywood had just ended, even the flagship Paramount Building 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 , 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)

8250-511: The Hedgehog film series. 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 Gulf and Western's industrial, mining, and sugar-growing subsidiaries and refocused the company, renaming it Paramount Communications in 1989. With the influx of cash from

8400-442: The Maccabees because he "hates Jews", and cited a series of private incidents during which he allegedly heard Gibson express extremely racist views. Although written as a private letter, it was subsequently published on a film industry website. In response, Gibson stated that he still intends to make the film, but will not base it upon Eszterhas's script, which he called substandard. Eszterhas then claimed his son had secretly recorded

8550-677: The Madison Square Garden properties (which also included MSG Network ), a 50% stake in USA Networks (the other 50% was owned by MCA / Universal Pictures ) and Simon & Schuster, Prentice Hall , Pocket Books , Allyn & Bacon , Cineamerica (a joint venture with Warner Communications ), and Canadian cinema chain Famous Players Theatres . That same year, the company launched a $ 12.2 billion hostile bid to acquire Time Inc. in an attempt to end

8700-766: The Paramount-Publix theatre chain in New York City from the thirty-five-story Paramount Theatre Building on Times Square ). Balaban and Katz had developed the Wonder Theater concept, first publicized around 1918 in Chicago. The Chicago Theater was created as a very ornate theater and advertised as a "wonder theater". When Publix acquired Balaban, they embarked on a project to expand the wonder theaters, and starting building in New York City in 1927. While Balaban and Public were dominant in Chicago, Loew's

8850-701: 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 , 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)

9000-524: The UPN network, also acquiring and merging in the assets of Republic Pictures, Spelling Television and Viacom Productions, 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

9150-763: The United States alone. Gibson's filmography includes television series, feature films, television films, and animated films . Gibson got his breakthrough role as the leather-clad post-apocalyptic survivor in George Miller 's Mad Max . The independently financed blockbuster helped to make him an international star. In the United States, the actors' Australian accents were dubbed with American accents. The original film spawned two sequels: Mad Max 2 (known in North America as The Road Warrior ) and Mad Max 3 (known in North America as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ). A fourth movie, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015),

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9300-419: The United States". In May 2018, it was announced that Gibson would be directing a WWII film titled Destroyer . Destroyer , similar to Hacksaw Ridge , will also deal with the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific Theater, although from a different front. It will be based on the heroic story of the crew belonging to USS Laffey (DD-724) , who defended their ship from 22 kamikaze attacks. In September 2018, it

9450-421: The United States. That night, Numspa and his henchmen attack Chandler and Kee. The Ajanti Dagger is lost to the villains, and Kee takes a crossbow bolt meant for Chandler, dying in his arms while confessing her love for him. Doctor Hong and Kala offer him hope: as long as the sun shines upon Kee, the Child might be able to save her. With the help of the Child's familiar, Chandler locates Numspa's hideout, retrieves

9600-589: 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 . In 1938, Paramount bought a stake in television manufacturer DuMont Laboratories . Through this stake, it became a minority owner of the DuMont Television Network . Paramount also launched its own network, Paramount Television Network , in 1948 through its television unit, Television Productions, Inc. Paramount management planned to acquire additional owned-and-operated stations ("O&Os");

9750-558: The artistic acclaim the Fleischer brothers achieved under their management. 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 , Alan Ladd , Veronica Lake , Paulette Goddard , and Betty Hutton , and with war-time attendance at astronomical numbers, Paramount and

9900-400: The award for Best Actor in a Leading Role from the Australian Film Institute . Gibson played a naïve but ambitious journalist opposite Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt in Peter Weir 's atmospheric 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously , based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Koch . The movie was both a critical and commercial success, and the upcoming Australian actor

10050-422: The category. Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York , of Irish descent, the sixth of 11 children, and the second son of Hutton Gibson , a writer, and Irish-born Anne Patricia (née Reilly, died 1990). Gibson's paternal grandmother was opera contralto Eva Mylott (1875–1920), who was born in Australia to Irish parents, while his paternal grandfather, John Hutton Gibson, was a millionaire tobacco businessman from

10200-448: The child. Still not taking the case too seriously, Chandler is drawn by Numspa into a controlled dream , where he receives a burn mark on his arm. Numspa (whom Chandler henceforth insists on calling "Numpsie") presents his demands: the Ajanti Dagger (a mystic weapon capable of killing the Child) in exchange for the boy. Chandler finally agrees to help, and he and Kee spend the night together. Chandler and Kee travel to Tibet, where Chandler

10350-517: 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

10500-455: 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

10650-419: 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

10800-456: The company. 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 , co-produced with 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment , became

10950-518: 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

11100-477: 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

11250-643: The country (as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation were). Paramount Pictures was not connected to either Paramount Records (1910s–1935) or ABC-Paramount Records (1955–66) until it purchased the rights to use the name (but not the latter's catalog) in the late 1960s. The Paramount name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the Dot Records 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

11400-520: The country in 1986. 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, closing a number of branch offices that were designed for the studio and relocating staff and major activities in an effort to cut costs and provide for a more efficient centralization; this decision

11550-475: The craft of filmmaking and influencing him as a director. As a director, Gibson sometimes breaks the tension on set by having his actors perform serious scenes wearing a red clown nose. Helena Bonham Carter said of him, "He has a very basic sense of humor. It's a bit lavatorial and not very sophisticated." Gibson inserted a single frame of himself smoking a cigarette into the 2005 teaser trailer of Apocalypto . Gibson's screen acting career began in 1976, with

11700-404: The dagger with the help of Til, one of Numspa's men converted to good by the Child, and frees the boy. When Chandler confronts Numspa, he reveals himself as a winged demon. Chandler and the Child escape, only to be trapped inside a warehouse. Chandler loses the dagger when the warehouse collapses, with Numspa buried under falling masonry. Chandler and the Child head to Doctor Hong's shop, where Kee

11850-502: The dead. The three later they take a walk discussing the Child's return to Tibet. Dennis Feldman , a professional photographer whose only writing credit was Just One of the Guys , wrote a script called The Rose of Tibet , which he planned as "a Raymond Chandler movie with supernatural elements." It attracted Hollywood's attention and after a bidding war Paramount Pictures purchased the script for $ 330,000. Feldman had intended it to be

12000-519: The entirety of both Barry's mostly unused score (on disc one), and Colombier's final theatrical score (on disc two), in addition to an exclusive Barry-composed song, sung by emerging composer Randy Edelman . The songs that had been released on Capitol's first soundtrack in 1986 were also featured in the set. The following pieces of music appear are on the soundtrack or in the film alongside Colombier's score: Released in December 1986, The Golden Child

12150-521: The film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, and stated: " The Golden Child may not be the Eddie Murphy movie we were waiting for, but it will do. It is funnier, more assured and more tailored to Murphy than Beverly Hills Cop and it shows a side of his comic persona that I don't think has been much appreciated: his essential underlying sweetness. Murphy's comedy

12300-570: The film community. Since then, former next-door neighbor 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 in 1930; Columbia joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to Culver City in 1989; and the Pickford-Fairbanks-Goldwyn-United Artists lot, after

12450-544: The film genre of the historical epic; the Battle of Stirling Bridge sequence is considered by critics to be one of the all-time best-directed battle scenes. The film's depiction of the Prince of Wales as an effeminate homosexual caused the film to be attacked by Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which was especially enraged by a scene in which King Edward I murders his son's male lover by throwing him out of

12600-465: The film's antagonist . He has further praised Anthony Hopkins 's performance as Lieutenant William Bligh as the best aspect of the film. Gibson moved into more mainstream commercial filmmaking with the popular action comedy film series Lethal Weapon , which began with the 1987 original. In the films he played LAPD Detective Martin Riggs , a recently widowed Vietnam veteran with a death wish and

12750-588: The filming of Mad Max , but continued to work as a stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide . Gibson's theatrical credits include the character Estragon (opposite Geoffrey Rush ) in Waiting for Godot , and the role of Biff Loman in a 1982 production of Death of a Salesman in Sydney. Gibson's most recent theatrical performance, opposite Sissy Spacek ,

12900-511: The finance committee in order to assist vice-president and treasurer 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

13050-564: 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

13200-515: The job for eight years, restoring Paramount's reputation for commercial success with The Odd Couple , Rosemary's Baby , Love Story , The Godfather , Chinatown , and 3 Days of the Condor . Gulf and Western also bought the neighboring Desilu Productions television studio (once the lot of RKO Pictures ) from Lucille Ball in 1967. Using some of Desilu's established shows such as Star Trek , Mission: Impossible , and Mannix as

13350-465: The kind that once made Paramount the industry leader. Around the end of 1981, Paramount Pictures took over fellow Gulf and Western subsidiary Sega from the company's manufacturing division in an effort to get into the video game business. Paramount would go on to sell Sega following the Video Game Crash of 1983 , and the two companies would later work together on the live action/CGI Sonic

13500-668: The late 1920s and the early 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful draws: Richard Arlen , Nancy Carroll , Maurice Chevalier , Gary Cooper , Marlene Dietrich , Charles Ruggles , Ruth Chatterton , William Powell , Mae West , Sylvia Sidney , Bing Crosby , Claudette Colbert , the Marx Brothers , W.C. Fields , Fredric March , Jack Oakie , Jeanette MacDonald (whose first two films were shot at Paramount's Astoria, New York , studio), Carole Lombard , George Raft , Miriam Hopkins , Cary Grant and Stuart Erwin , among them. In this period Paramount can truly be described as

13650-943: The lead role of director S. Craig Zahler 's police brutality-themed film Dragged Across Concrete , released in 2018. He then starred in The Professor and the Madman – he and the director both disowned the film. After his success in Hollywood with the Lethal Weapon series, Gibson began to move into producing and directing. With partner Bruce Davey , Gibson formed Icon Productions in 1989 in order to make Hamlet . In addition to producing or co-producing many of Gibson's own star vehicles, Icon has turned out many other small films, ranging from Immortal Beloved to An Ideal Husband . Gibson has taken supporting roles in some of these films, such as The Million Dollar Hotel and The Singing Detective . Gibson has also produced

13800-470: 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 , 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,

13950-616: 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 , 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 . The Lasky company hired as their first employee

14100-735: The movie centers on the catastrophic Australian offensive known as the Battle of the Nek . Peter Weir cast Gibson in the role of Frank Dunne, an Irish-Australian drifter with an intense cynicism about fighting for the British Empire . Newcomer Mark Lee was recruited to play the idealistic Archy Hamilton after participating in a photo session for the director. Gibson later recalled: I'd auditioned for an earlier film and he told me right up front, "I'm not going to cast you for this part. You're not old enough. But thanks for coming in, I just wanted to meet you." He told me he wanted me for Gallipoli

14250-660: The new United Paramount Theaters on December 31, 1949. Leonard Goldenson , 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 later 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

14400-503: The next James Bond to Connery's "M" . Gibson turned down the role, reportedly because he feared being typecast . Gibson studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. As students, Gibson and actress Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet , and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Night's Dream . After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on

14550-565: 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

14700-740: The other integrated studio-theatre combines made more money than ever. At this, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department decided to reopen their case against the five integrated studios. Paramount also had a monopoly over Detroit movie theaters through subsidiary company United Detroit Theaters. This led to the Supreme Court decision United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948) holding that movie studios could not also own movie theater chains. This decision broke up Adolph Zukor's creation, with

14850-511: The ownership rights to the Rysher library, after Viacom acquired the rights from Cox Enterprises . Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson AO (born January 3, 1956 ) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of multiple accolades , he is known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocalyptic action series Mad Max and as Martin Riggs in

15000-510: The picture as a "comedy without laughs". Writer Dennis Feldman was disappointed with the film and thought they should have taken the script more seriously "but instead, everybody wanted to make an Eddie Murphy comedy" and was critical of director Michael Ritchie "it's not what the director should have done—and he didn't even do it that well, either." Charles Dance (who played the villain Sardo Numspa) said: "I thought I'd quite like to do

15150-558: 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 , Marguerite Clark , Pauline Frederick , Douglas Fairbanks , Gloria Swanson , Rudolph Valentino , and Wallace Reid . With so many important players, Paramount

15300-422: The project down. Paramount then turned to John Barry , who had just come off his award-winning score for Out of Africa . Barry composed a score for the film. However, during post-production, Barry also left the project, when both differences with the producers and test screening feedback presented considerable challenges for the composer. The test audience reaction led the producers to replace Barry's score with

15450-505: The project was indefinitely postponed because of scheduling conflicts. Gibson was scheduled to direct Robert Downey Jr. in a Los Angeles stage production of Hamlet in January 2001, but Downey's drug relapse ended the project. In 2002, while promoting We Were Soldiers and Signs to the press, Gibson mentioned that he was planning to pare back on acting and return to directing. In September 2002, Gibson announced that he would direct

15600-507: The project. In a 2012 interview, Gibson announced that the project, which he has titled Berserker , was still moving forward. In 2011, it was announced that Gibson had commissioned a screenplay from Joe Eszterhas about the Maccabees . The film is to be distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures . The announcement generated significant controversy. In April 2012, Eszterhas wrote a letter to Gibson accusing him of sabotaging their film about

15750-457: The public, Gibson's popularity in Hollywood declined, affecting his careers in acting and directing. His career began seeing a resurgence with his performance in Edge of Darkness (2010) and Jodie Foster 's The Beaver (2011). His directorial comeback after an absence of 10 years, Hacksaw Ridge (2016), won two Academy Awards , and was nominated for another four including Best Picture and Best Director for Gibson, his second nomination in

15900-537: The reputation of a serious, versatile actor and gained him the Hollywood agent Ed Limato . The sequel Mad Max 2 (1982) was his first hit in America, where it was released as The Road Warrior . Gibson again received positive notices for his role in Peter Weir 's romantic thriller The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Following a one-year hiatus from film acting after the birth of his twin sons, Gibson took on

16050-735: The role of Fletcher Christian in The Bounty (1984). Gibson earned his first million dollar salary for playing Max Rockatansky for the third time, in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Gibson's first American film was Mark Rydell 's drama The River (1984), in which he and Sissy Spacek played struggling Tennessee farmers. Gibson then starred in the Gothic romance Mrs. Soffel (also 1984) for Australian director Gillian Armstrong . He and Matthew Modine played condemned convict brothers opposite Diane Keaton as

16200-406: The role of Guy Hamilton. "I didn't necessarily see my role as a great challenge. My character was, like the film suggests, a puppet. And I went with that. It wasn't some star thing, even though they advertised it that way." Gibson saw some similarities between himself and the character of Guy. "He's not a silver-tongued devil. He's kind of immature and he has some rough edges and I guess you could say

16350-461: The sale of Gulf and Western'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 Paramount's Great America , Paramount Canada's Wonderland , Paramount's Carowinds , Paramount's Kings Dominion , and Paramount's Kings Island . In May 1985, Paramount decided to start its own talent department, an attempt to form

16500-693: 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

16650-553: The same for me." Gibson followed the footsteps of Errol Flynn , Clark Gable , and Marlon Brando by starring as Fletcher Christian in a cinematic retelling of the Mutiny on the Bounty . The resulting 1984 film The Bounty is considered to be the most historically accurate version. However, Gibson has expressed a belief that the film's revisionism did not go far enough. He has stated that his character should have been portrayed as

16800-696: The sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles . 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. The most commerciay successful film franchises from Paramount Pictures include  Transformers , Mission: Impossible and Star Trek . Additionally,

16950-447: The struggling ABC 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 in 1985 (Capital Cities would eventually sell out, in turn, to The Walt Disney Company in 1996). United Paramount Theaters was renamed ABC Theaters in 1965 and was sold to businessman Henry Plitt in 1977. The movie theater chain

17100-684: The studio system". Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the World War I drama Gallipoli (1981), which earned Gibson a Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute . In 1985, Gibson was named as People magazine's first Sexiest Man Alive . In 1995, Gibson produced, directed, and starred in Braveheart , a historical epic , for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director ,

17250-480: The studio's library includes many individual films such as The Godfather and  Titanic , both of which became the  highest-grossing films of all time  during their initial releases. Paramount Pictures is a member of the  Motion Picture Association (MPA). Paramount is the sixth oldest surviving film studio in the world; after Gaumont Film Company (1895), Pathé (1896), Titanus (1904), Nordisk Film (1906), and Universal Pictures (1912). It

17400-467: 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 ' United Television launched United Paramount Network (UPN) with Star Trek: Voyager as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for

17550-512: 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 $ 1.0   million (equivalent to $ 13.8   million in 2023). 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

17700-400: The temple, slaughter the monks and abduct the boy. A young woman, Kee Nang , watches a Los Angeles TV show in which social worker Chandler Jarrell talks about his latest case, a missing girl named Cheryll Mosley. Kee seeks him out and informs him of the kidnapping of the Golden Child and that he is the "chosen one" who would save the Child. Chandler does not take this seriously, even after

17850-410: The theater chain being split into a new company, United Paramount Theaters , and effectively brought an end to the classic Hollywood studio system . 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

18000-428: The three companies into one. The new company Lasky and Zukor founded on June 28, Famous Players–Lasky Corporation , although it continued to use the name "Paramount," as well. As a result, it became the largest film company at the time with a value of US$ 12.5   million (equivalent to $ 241.8   million in 2023). The corporation was able to grow quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldwyn and DeMille running

18150-428: The topic of trafficking of children . According to Robert Downey Jr. , studio executives encouraged Gibson in 1989 to try directing, an idea he rebuffed at the time. Gibson made his directorial debut in 1993 with The Man Without a Face , followed two years later by Braveheart , which earned Gibson the Academy Award for Best Director . Gibson had long planned to direct a remake of Fahrenheit 451 , but in 1999

18300-558: The warden's wife who visits them to read the Bible. In 1985, after working on four films in a row, Gibson took almost two years off at his Australian cattle station . He returned to play the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon (1987), a film which helped to cement his status as a Hollywood "leading man". Gibson's next film was Robert Towne 's Tequila Sunrise (1988), followed by Lethal Weapon 2 (1989). Gibson next starred in three films back-to-back, all released in 1990: Bird on

18450-406: The world, while its fortuitous earlier acquisition of the Star Trek property, which had grown into a cult favorite , 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 ,

18600-575: The writing of many of his films. Despite its commercial success, the film did not meet Paramount's expectations when compared to Murphy's previous film, Beverly Hills Cop (1984), which grossed $ 234,760,478 at the US box office. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 21% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. On Metacritic , the film has a score of 37 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave

18750-442: The young Steve McQueen ... I can't define 'star quality,' but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it." Gibson has also been likened to "a combination Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart ." Gibson's roles in the Mad Max series of films, Peter Weir 's Gallipoli (1981), and the Lethal Weapon series of films earned him the label of "action hero". Later, Gibson expanded into a variety of acting projects including human dramas such as

18900-443: Was a big guy. He was developing the screenplay and he got pretty far along with it. And he said to me one day, 'Listen kid, if I kick the bucket you will do it.' And I said: 'Shut up.' But he did indeed pass away. But he did ask me to do it and at the time I didn't say anything. He said it to his wife and to the studio and the producer. So I will be directing the fifth one" Gibson said. In June 2024, Gibson confirmed in an interview with

19050-401: Was a box office success. It earned US$ 79,817,937 in the United States alone, making it the eighth biggest film of the year. "My pictures make their money back," Murphy remarked in 1989. "No matter how I feel, for instance, about The Golden Child – which was a piece of shit – the movie made more than $ 100 million. So who am I to say it sucks?" After The Golden Child , Murphy would participate in

19200-598: 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 – in 1995. Lasting eleven years before being merged with The WB network to become The CW 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 that would have otherwise either gone direct-to-cable or become first-run syndication to independent stations across

19350-433: Was able to introduce " block booking ", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on antitrust grounds for more than twenty years. By the mid-1920s, the old Lasky-DeMille barn property was not big enough to handle all of

19500-526: 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 composed the score for the film; Maurice Chevalier starred and sang the most famous song from the film, " Louise ". 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

19650-478: Was announced that Gibson would direct and co-write a remake of the 1969 film, The Wild Bunch . In May 2019, Deadline reported that Gibson was courting Michael Fassbender , Jamie Foxx , and Peter Dinklage to star in the project; that Jerry Bruckheimer will produce the film, and Warner Bros. will finance and release the project. In 2021, after the death of Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner , Gibson has stated that he will direct, and also star, in

19800-599: Was awarded US$ 145,000 in a work-related-injury lawsuit against the New York Central Railroad on February 14, 1968 (equivalent to $ 1,270,450 in 2023), and soon afterwards relocated his family to West Pymble , Sydney, Australia. Gibson was 12 years old at the time. The move to his grandmother's native Australia was for economic reasons, and his father's expectation that the Australian Defence Forces would reject his eldest son for

19950-438: Was cast alongside experienced Shakespearean actors Ian Holm , Alan Bates , and Paul Scofield . He compared working with Scofield to being "thrown into the ring with Mike Tyson ". Scofield said of Gibson "Not the sort of actor you'd think would make an ideal Hamlet, but he had enormous integrity and intelligence." In 1995, Gibson directed, produced, and starred in Braveheart , a biographical film of Sir William Wallace ,

20100-429: Was even more popular than 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

20250-482: Was fun. I enjoyed doing it." Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation , commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount , is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global . It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind Universal Pictures ), and

20400-425: Was heavily marketed by MGM studio. In his review of the film, Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "If this film doesn't make an international star of Mr. Gibson, then nothing will. He possesses both the necessary talent and the screen presence." According to John Hiscock of The Daily Telegraph , the film did, indeed, establish Gibson as an international talent. Gibson was initially reluctant to accept

20550-585: Was made in response to a change in distribution practices that had occurred among the various major studios. In August 1987, Paramount Overseas Productions declared that the subsidiary would be in service not just for the upcoming film Experts , which was shot on a budget of $ 12 million in Canada , but also for other films filmed there worldwide, including the United Kingdom and Canada . In 1993, Sumner Redstone 's entertainment conglomerate Viacom made

20700-642: Was made public, Gibson was dropped from the talent agency of William Morris Endeavor . Gibson was lined up for a small role in The Hangover Part II but he was removed from the film after the cast and crew objected to his involvement. Gibson also played two villains: Luther Voz in Machete Kills in 2013, opposite Danny Trejo , and Conrad Stonebanks in The Expendables 3 opposite Sylvester Stallone in 2014. Gibson appeared in

20850-558: Was made with Tom Hardy in the title role. The 1981 Peter Weir film Gallipoli is about a group of young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Imperial Force during World War I . They are sent to invade the Ottoman Empire , where they take part in the 1915 Gallipoli campaign . During the course of the movie, the young men slowly lose their innocence about the war. The climax of

21000-509: Was paid a record salary of $ 25 million to appear in The Patriot (2000). It grossed over $ 100 million, as did two other films he featured in that year, Chicken Run and What Women Want . In 2002, Gibson appeared in the Vietnam War drama We Were Soldiers and M. Night Shyamalan 's Signs , which became the highest-grossing film of Gibson's acting career. While promoting Signs , Gibson said that he no longer wanted to be

21150-531: Was produced in 1980, screened 1981. Gibson joined the cast of the World War II action film Attack Force Z , which was not released until 1982 when Gibson had become a bigger star. Director Peter Weir cast Gibson as one of the leads in the World War I drama Gallipoli (1981), which earned Gibson another Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute . Gallipoli also helped to earn Gibson

21300-585: Was re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and when the company was under Balaban's leadership, the studio was successfully relaunched. As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were Gloria Swanson , Wallace Reid , Rudolph Valentino , Florence Vidor , Thomas Meighan , Pola Negri , Bebe Daniels , Antonio Moreno , Richard Dix , Esther Ralston , Emil Jannings , George Bancroft , Betty Compson , Clara Bow , Adolphe Menjou , and Charles Buddy Rogers . By

21450-520: Was released. On May 8, 1914, Paramount Pictures Corporation (previously known as Progressive Pictures) was founded by a Utah theatre owner, W. W. Hodkinson , 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 had started production of

21600-483: Was renamed Plitt Theaters. In 1985, Cineplex Odeon Corporation merged with Plitt. In later years, Paramount's TV division would develop a strong relationship with ABC, providing many hit series to the 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

21750-546: Was seven years old when filming began. This was her one and only theatrical performance, but she wound up in the movie industry anyway: as of 2019, Reate was executive director of events at the Toronto Film Festival . For special effects, the team used CGI, as well as traditional stop motion and go motion . Alan Silvestri ( Back to the Future ) was originally sought to provide the film's score, but turned

21900-503: Was sold to MCA (now Universal Music Group ) in 1979. Paramount's successful run of pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like Airplane! , American Gigolo , Ordinary People , An Officer and a Gentleman , Flashdance , Terms of Endearment , Footloose , Pretty in Pink , Top Gun , Crocodile Dundee , Fatal Attraction , Ghost , the Friday

22050-460: 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 and Western Industries . Bluhdorn immediately put his stamp on the studio, installing a virtually unknown producer named Robert Evans as head of production. Despite some rough times, Evans held

22200-502: Was temporarily closed with the objective of equipping it with the technology for the production of sound films . In the same year, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps , animated cartoons produced by Max and Dave Fleischer 's Fleischer Studios in New York City. The Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney . The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957. Paramount

22350-575: Was the 1993 production of Love Letters by A. R. Gurney , in Telluride , Colorado. While a student at NIDA , Gibson made his film debut in the 1977 film Summer City , for which he was paid $ 400. Gibson then played the title character in the film Mad Max (1979). He was paid $ 9000 for this role. Shortly after making the film he did a season with the South Australian Theatre Company . During this period he shared

22500-454: 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

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