Misplaced Pages

#953046

90-431: The Universal Monsters (also known as Universal Classic Monsters and Universal Studios Monsters ) media franchise includes characters based on a series of horror films produced by Universal Pictures and released between 1913–1956. While the early installments were initially created as stand-alone films based on published novels, their financial and critical success resulted in various cross-over releases. Following

180-402: A SG-affiliated production company to produce his own projects with that company. The most notable of these productions was Police Story , an NBC police crime drama. In 1973, Allan Blye and Chris Bearde via Blye-Bearde Productions signed an independent production agreement with Screen Gems to develop their own projects. Also that year, Harry Ackerman, who was vice president of production left

270-463: A few new monsters in the 1940s, with the most famous being Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man . The decade had Universal's horror output include many remakes and sequels, with films often directly reusing old sets, footage, and narratives to replicate moments in their earlier horror productions. Universal's first transmedia properties appeared in the 1940s and the 1950s with the films Frankenstein Meets

360-485: A franchise can even be created, which ultimately leads to the creation of brand worlds. Since the creation of Disneyland in 1955, bringing fictional media franchises to life through the theme parks slowly became increasingly popular as the way to perfectly blend tourism and real-life involvement with media itself. Similar to transmedia, the concept of bringing fictional media into a non-fictional space where fans can immerse themselves in real-life versions of elements from

450-526: A half-hour dramatic anthology concept to the Ford Motor Company which became Ford Theatre , which was one of the first times a major Hollywood movie studio had produced content for television. They also produced seven episodes of the first season of Cavalcade of America . The name "Screen Gems," at the time, was used to hide the fact that the film studio was entering television production and distribution. Many film studios saw television as

540-624: A level of success comparable to Walt Disney Productions , Warner Bros. Cartoons , and the MGM Cartoon Studio . The studio's purpose was assumed by an outside producer, United Productions of America (UPA), whose cartoons, including Gerald McBoing-Boing and the Mr. Magoo series, were major critical and commercial successes. Following UPA, a deal with Hanna-Barbera was made in 1957, which lasted until 1967. In 1999, Columbia TriStar International Television produced Totally Tooned In -

630-650: A live-television comedy sketch created to introduce audiences to The Creature from the Black Lagoon . Continuing the trend with previous installments where Bud Abbott and Lou Costello meet the Universal Monsters, the short follows a plot where the two actors explore the studio's prop room which references some of their previous interactions with the various characters, while encountering the Invisible Man, Frankenstein's Monster (Glenn Strange), and

720-424: A modeling agency, several television shows ( Playboy's Penthouse , in 1959), and even its own television channel . Twenty-five years later, Playboy released private clubs and restaurants, movie theaters, a radio show , direct to video films, music and book publishing (including original works in addition to its anthologies of cartoons, photographs, recipes, advice, articles or fiction that had originally appeared in

810-575: A monstrous killer named Mr. Hyde . Marketed as the prequel to the theatrical release, it was produced for the straight-to-home video market by Universal and was received with mixed reception. The franchise has received a variety of home video packing boxsets including: The Classic Collection (1991-1994), the Classic Monster Collection (1999), The Legacy Collection (2004), the Essential Collection (2012), and

900-497: A new character. The result was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , the first animated character for Universal Pictures . In February 1928, when the character proved more successful than expected, Disney sought to meet with Mintz over the budget, wanting to spend more on the cartoons. Mintz refused, and hired away all of Walt Disney Studios 's animators except Iwerks, Les Clark, and Johnny Cannon, who all refused to leave Disney. He moved

990-464: A newly designed logo. Prior to this home video series, the Universal films that featured multiple monsters were called "Super-Shocker[s]" or "monster rallies". Louis Feol, the head of Worldwide Home Video for Universal Studios , said that the most important thing was the packaging of their sales. He added that it was "probably our single biggest priority and has been for a number of years", and that it

SECTION 10

#1732786787954

1080-735: A non-exclusive agreement with the studio for joint distribution of its TV productions. Even though none of Greenway's shows went to SG, Greenway immediately struck out a deal with rival television producer 20th Century-Fox Television in 1964. In 1963, Screen Gens entered music publishing with the purchase of Don Kirshner 's Aldon Music with Kirshner named head of the Columbia-Screen-Gems music division. Four years later, he departed Screen Gems after coming into conflict with The Monkees over their desire to play on their records. Lester Sill replaced Kirshner , and remained head of music publishing until 1985. Screen Gems-Columbia Music

1170-664: A package of Universal Pictures horror films (later shifted to MCA TV ), which was enormously successful in reviving that genre. From 1958 to 1974, under President John H. Mitchell and Vice President of Production Harry Ackerman , Screen Gems delivered TV shows and sitcoms: Dennis the Menace , The Donna Reed Show , Hazel , Here Come the Brides , Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Gidget , Bewitched , I Dream of Jeannie , The Flying Nun , The Monkees , The Girl with Something Extra and The Partridge Family . It

1260-534: A relaunch of the Universal Monsters characters as a new shared universe of movies similar in fashion to the Marvel Cinematic Universe ; notably a franchise which includes interconnectivity that originated previously in the classic Universal Monsters films. By July 2014, the studio officially hired Chris Morgan to replace Orci and work alongside Kurtzman in overseeing development of an interconnected series of films based around rebooted versions of

1350-594: A result, in funding its acquisitions, 18% of Screen Gems' shares was spun off from Columbia and it became a publicly-traded company on the NYSE until 1968. Screen Gems also provided technical assistance and partial control of a private television station in Venezuela , Canal 11 Televisión , which existed from 1966 to 1968. In 1963, William Dozier, who was one of the top Screen Gems employees, and senior vice president of production left to start out Greenway Productions, with

1440-634: A revived TriStar Television on February 21, 1994 to form Columbia TriStar Television . The name "Screen Gems" was also utilized for a syndicated hour-long program for classic television called Screen Gems Network that first aired in 1999 and ran until 2002. The television division is presently known as (and as a name-only unit of) Sony Pictures Television . Television programs produced and/or syndicated by Screen Gems: Note: (*)= Currently owned by Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Bros. Note: (*) = Currently owned by Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery On December 8, 1998, Screen Gems

1530-407: A subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation . The Screen Gems brand has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation, initially as a cartoon studio, then a television studio, and later on as a film studio. The label currently serves as a film production that specializes in genre films, mainly horror. Screen Gems

1620-498: A syndicated TV package showcasing Columbia's classic cartoon library. With the aid of animation historian Jerry Beck , Columbia restored and remastered the majority of the color Screen Gems cartoons (as well as all the UPA cartoons) from their original 35mm elements. The show aired in several international markets before making its American television debut on Antenna TV on January 8, 2011. They would later be aired on Toon In With Me on

1710-607: A ten-year television deal with Screen Gems to distribute 52 of their own titles. These television screenings and the films being included on Mel Jass ' Mel's Matinee Movie (1958-1979) would also prove to be popular. Stephen Sommers , director of The Mummy (1999), stated that his introduction to the series was on Jass's program. Universal became part of the Music Corporation of America (MCA) in 1962. By 1964, Universal Studios tours would eventually include appearances from Frankenstein's monster. Several products based on

1800-563: A threat to their business, thus it was expected that they would shun the medium. However, Columbia was one of a few studios who branched out to television under a pseudonym to conceal the true ownership of the television arm. That is until 1955, when Columbia decided to use the woman from its logo under the Screen Gems banner, officially billing itself as a part of "the Hollywood studios of Columbia Pictures", as spoken in announcements at

1890-677: A trend for the decade of recycling and reinventing old material from the past. This led to the release of Stephen Sommer's The Mummy (1999) and a "monster rally"-styled film with Van Helsing (2004). Merchandizing of the characters in formats such as clothing and board games has continued into the 21st century. The franchise will be featured in the Dark Universe portion of Universal's upcoming Orlando theme park, Universal Epic Universe . Beginning in October 2013, Universal hired Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to collaborate in developing

SECTION 20

#1732786787954

1980-555: A world where potentially all monsters may dwell. The sole new monster movies Universal produced in the 1950s were the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and The Mummy (1959). The latter was co-produced with the British Hammer Film Productions . Towards the 1960s, the Universal monsters grew beyond film and became more consistently transmedial . Initially, this began in 1957 when Universal struck

2070-409: A writer's room consisting of various contributors to create the stories that would later be expanded into scripts, which were intended to be rooted in horror as opposed to the action adventure nature of the studio's previous remakes. The Mummy introduced its ancient titular monster (played by Sofia Boutella ), alongside the heroic character portrayed Tom Cruise who's monstrous origins depicted in

2160-605: Is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). When producer Pat Sullivan came to Harry Warner to sign a contract with him on his and Otto Messmer 's series Felix the Cat , he declined and instead told his soon-to-be former secretary Margaret J. Winkler that she should form her own company and take control of the distribution of the series. Winkler formed M.J. Winkler Productions and soon also took control of Max and Dave Fleischer 's series Out of

2250-484: Is the Japanese term for a transmedia franchise. The term media mix gained its circulation in late 1980s and is first used to describe adaptations of Sakyo Komatsu 's Japan Sinks , but the origins of the strategy can be traced back to the 1960s with the proliferation of anime , with its interconnection of media and commodity goods. Some of the earlier popular Japanese franchises such as Vampire Hunter D in

2340-577: The Complete Collection (2018). The Universal Monsters have been attributed with directly influencing the horror genre and its filmmakers in the decades that followed, as well as also retroactively adding additional depth to the source material for the characters. The popularity of the franchise, led to various unrelated media based on the characters and adapting in a variety of means. Media franchise A media franchise often consists of cross-marketing across more than one medium. For

2430-541: The MeTV Network in November 2021. Despite these restoration efforts, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has no current plans to release these shorts on DVD or Blu-ray. Since CPE Holdings, Inc. became dormant on May 9, 2024, Sony Pictures Releasing now owns the theatrical distribution on behalf of Columbia Pictures , while Sony Pictures Television owns the television distribution on behalf of CPT Holdings, Inc. to

2520-682: The Nine Network . In the late 1950s, Screen Gems also entered into ownership and operation of television stations. Stations owned by Screen Gems over the years included KCPX (Salt Lake City; now KTVX , owned by Nexstar Media Group ), WVUE-DT (New Orleans; now owned by Gray Television ), WAPA-TV (San Juan; now owned by the Hemisphere Media Group), WNJU (Linden, NJ; now Telemundo / NBCUniversal O&O), and several radio stations as well, including 50,000-watt clear channel WWVA (Wheeling, WV; now owned by iHeartMedia ). As

2610-491: The fantasy and science fiction genres. Similarly, fantasy, science fiction films and television shows are frequently adapted into animated television series , video games, or both. A media franchise does not have to include the same characters or theme, as the brand identity can be the franchise, like Square Enix 's Final Fantasy or the National Lampoon series , and can suffer from critical failures even if

2700-592: The 1941 short The Fox and the Grapes . Based on the Aesop's Fable of the same name, the short would inadvetably spawn Columbia's most successful characters with The Fox and the Crow , a comic duo of a refined Fox and a street-wise Crow. Tashlin's stay at Screen Gems would be short-lived, as he would later leave the studio, following an argument with Columbia higher-ups. When interviewed by Michael Barrier, Tashlin said that

2790-423: The 1980s and Pokémon in the late 1990s, acted as benchmarks in the country's transmedia dominance. The latter in particular began as a video game available on Nintendo 's Game Boy , and crossed through the media of television, film, news, and other non-media related realms, such trading cards, merchandise, and more. A number of Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity, and are among

Universal Monsters - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-525: The Black Lagoon , Phantom of the Opera , Hunchback of Notre Dame , The Invisible Man , Van Helsing , and Dr. Jekyll . After poor critical reception and underwhelming box office performance of The Mummy in 2017 however, Universal postponed all plans for the Dark Universe slate of films. In January 2018, the production studio began reconfiguring their approach to the Universal Monsters, and following

2970-497: The CPT name. Columbia also ran Colex Enterprises , a joint venture with LBS Communications to distribute most of the Screen Gems library, which ended in 1987. In 1985, the name was brought back by Columbia Pictures Television to distribute classic television series from its vaults to first-run syndication. On December 18, 1987, Coca-Cola spun off its entertainment holdings and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. for $ 3.1 billion. It

3060-466: The Gill-Man (Ben Chapman). Developed as an anime -styled prologue to the 2004 feature-length movie , the short was directed by Sharon Bridgeman from a script written by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens. The plot takes place chronologically immediately before the live-action movie and follows Gabriel Van Helsing's investigation in the grisly murders plaguing Victorian era London, and his discovery of

3150-598: The Inkwell . By 1923 she and Sullivan were arguing, and that same year the Fleischer Brothers formed their own distribution company named Red Seal. Winkler saw an unreleased short called Alice's Wonderland , a cartoon produced and directed by Walt Disney , and became impressed with the short. The two agreed to make a series about the cartoon. In 1924, Charles Mintz married Winkler, and the latter's career began to decline. Mintz quickly assumed Winkler's role in

3240-644: The Ocean ". In 1939, a short while before his death, after becoming indebted to Columbia, Mintz relinquished ownership of his studio and the Screen Gems name to Columbia to settle longstanding financial problems. Mintz was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Short Subject. His first nomination was in 1935 for Holiday Land , and he was nominated again in 1938 for The Little Match Girl . For an entire decade, Charles Mintz produced Krazy Kat , Scrappy , and Color Rhapsody animated film shorts through Columbia Pictures. Mintz's production manager became

3330-531: The Universal Monster characters. The duo was tasked with creating the overall outline for the titular monsters. The development of a cinematic universe continued as Kurtzman and Morgan became involved with additional photography for Dracula Untold (2014); reshoots which positioned the final scenes of the movie in modern-day, in order to connect with other movies and to allow the cast to reprise their roles in future installments. The movie's connections to

3420-742: The Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). In these films, the monsters from the studio's earlier films "team up" against various characters. Author Megan De Bruin-Molé suggested that the Universal Classic Monsters films exist as a loose mash-up , which allowed for Dracula to exist and be watched separately from Frankenstein but allowed their characters to be systemically and consistently brought together and developed in other films and media. These productions made were often crossovers and sequels, such as Frankenstein Meets

3510-488: The Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein and several occurrences in comedy films of Abbott and Costello meeting the monster. This meetings started with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and ended with Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). De Bruin-Molé wrote that this approach from Universal was for commercial marketing terms, as it would establish the company as the "real" home of horror. Their films contained

3600-446: The cartoons made during this period were described as being "misguided" or "imitation Warner Bros." Hubley also said to have disliked his work at the studio, and that Columbia "hated" the cartoons they were making. Historians note that the decline in quality could have been caused by several key factors; Tashlin's departure from the studio, the inability to obtain confident animators, writers or directors and Columbia's mismanagement behind

3690-438: The characters from Universal's film series were released, ranging from plastic model kits , Halloween masks, figures, plush dolls, toys, drinking glasses, coloring books and postage stamps. While some of these objects bare similarity to the actors who portray them, others are more generic interpretations. Other mediums featured the Universal monsters in tandem, such as Bobby "Boris" Pickett 's 1962 popular song " Monster Mash " and

Universal Monsters - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-545: The company, later rebranding it Winkler Pictures. In 1925 Winkler's renewal contract for the Felix shorts was written, yet Winkler declined to renew due to her dispute with Sullivan. The following year the Alice Comedies stopped being distributed by Winkler. After Mintz become involved with the progress it was clear that Disney was unhappy with the production costs on cartoons, and he asked Disney and Ub Iwerks to develop

3870-410: The day-in-the-life episodes of the many different Real Housewives series. Documentaries and docuseries are other highlights of the non-fiction branch of media franchises, such as the popular Planet Earth series, which serves as both a film and television transmedia franchise. Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment ,

3960-408: The departures of Kurtzman and Morgan from their roles as co-architects of the franchise, the studio decided to abandon a shared cinematic universe in favor of returning to standalone adaptations of the characters instead. After previously expressing interest in working with Universal Pictures on relaunching the characters for modern audiences, Jason Blum officially signed on to collaborate on a number of

4050-973: The end of some Screen Gems series. By 1952, the studio had produced a series of about 100 film-record coordinated releases for television under the brand "TV Disk Jockey Toons" in which the films "synchronize perfectly with the records". In 1954, the studio started producing Father Knows Best on CBS and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin on ABC, which became their biggest successes at the time. On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as stage manager of Columbia Pictures and formed his own production company Briskin Productions, Inc. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions. On December 10, 1956, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. Serials Inc.) and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. Hygo Television Films

4140-725: The fictional worlds they love, adds to the overall narrative the franchise creates through its other media. Marvel's Avenger's Campus park is one of the many franchise-based theme parks created in recent times, following the creation of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure and Star Wars' Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Disney World . Media franchises tend to cross over from their original media to other forms. Literary franchises are often transported to film, such as Nancy Drew , Miss Marple , and other popular detectives , as well as popular comic book superheroes . Television and film franchises are often expanded upon in novels , particularly those in

4230-470: The film The Matrix Reloaded and the video game Enter the Matrix were produced at the same time, using the same actors on the same sets, and released on the same day. Transmedia franchises occasionally release content through certain media that is not canon to the main or greater story that the franchise is built around, meaning that the elements of said content do not truly exist in the main timeline of

4320-449: The film into subsequent Universal productions. Following the release of other Universal films such as The Mummy (1932) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), there was a dry spell of horror films. Universal only returned to the style following a successful theatrical re-release of Dracula and Frankenstein . The renewed interest in horror films led to new works, starting with Son of Frankenstein (1939). Universal would only introduce

4410-467: The financial logic of cost-recovery for expensive productions by identifying that a single medium launch is a lost opportunity, the timeliness of the production and release is more important than its integrity, the releases should raise brand awareness and the cross-ability of the work is critical for its success. American Idol was a transmedia franchise from its beginnings, with the first season winner Kelly Clarkson signing with RCA Records and having

4500-479: The first major film studio to move into television. Although Harry wasn't convinced by the suggestion, Columbia invested $ 50,000 acquiring Pioneer and reorganized it as Screen Gems. The studio started its new business in New York on April 15, 1949. By 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio by producing and syndicating several popular shows (see below ) . Within a few months, Ralph Cohn had sold

4590-607: The focus on the content of the commodity to "overlapping the commodity image with the character image". The book Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan, by Marc Steinberg, details the evolution of the media mix in Japan. Long-running franchises were common in the early studio era, when Hollywood studios had actors and directors under long-term contract. In such cases, even lead actors are often replaced as they age, lose interest, or their characters are killed. Spin-offs and adaptations of popular pieces of media within

SECTION 50

#1732786787954

4680-433: The franchise's characters and settings. As one author explains, "For the studios, a home-run is a film from which a multimedia 'franchise' can be generated; the colossally expensive creation of cross-media conglomerates predicated on synergistic rewards provides an obvious imperative to develop such products." The trend later developed wherein franchises would be launched in multiple forms of media simultaneously; for instance,

4770-415: The franchise. Canon content often times breaks continuity, leading fans to speculate or seek to confirm which media are canon and which are not, which can get confusing if the franchise does not provide an answer themselves since entire media can be non-canon to the greater story, with a popular example occurring. On the other hand, specific episodes, volumes or parts of a series can be canon while others in

4860-523: The last major studio to enter television by name. Changes in corporate ownership of Columbia came in 1982, when Coca-Cola bought the company, although continuing to trade under the CPT name. In the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola reorganized its television holdings to create Coca-Cola Television, merging CPT with the television unit of Embassy Communications as Columbia/Embassy Television, although both companies continued to use separate identities until January 4, 1988, when it and Tri-Star Television were reunited under

4950-473: The magazine), footwear, clothing of every kind, jewelry, housewares (lamps, clocks, bedding, glassware), guitars and gambling, playing cards, pinball machines and pet accessories, billiard balls, bedroom appurtenances, enhancements, plus countless other items of merchandise. Non-fiction media franchises also exist in the television and film media, with reality TV being one of the most well-known examples; ranging from competition shows like The Amazing Race to

5040-401: The majority of the color Screen Gems cartoons (as well as all the UPA cartoons) library. All series were distributed by Columbia unless otherwise noted. Ralph Cohn, the son of Columbia co-founder Jack Cohn and nephew of Columbia head Harry Cohn , founded Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial production company, in 1947. Ralph later wrote a 50-page memo arguing that Columbia should be

5130-431: The management "can't stay happy long when things are going well, so we ended up in another fracas and I left." He was replaced by Dave Fleischer , previously the co-founder and head director of Fleischer Studios . John Hubley described Fleischer as "one of the world's intellectual lightweights", as he had very little involvement in the making of cartoons. However he was also noted for his baffling editing practices. Dave

5220-400: The media fictional material is unrelated. Non-fiction literary franchises include the ...For Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to... reference books . An enduring and comprehensive example of a media franchise is Playboy Enterprises , which began expanding well beyond its successful magazine, Playboy , within a few years after its first publication, into such enterprises as

5310-516: The most notable other production of Goldberg's tenure at Screen Gems being the 1971 television movie Brian's Song . He then formed a production company with producer Aaron Spelling . In 1971, Douglas S. Cramer , former executive VP in charge of production at Paramount Television , set up a SG-affiliated production firm, The Douglas S. Cramer Company, to produce projects for feature films and TV projects via Columbia Pictures. In 1972, David Gerber , who had left 20th Century Fox Television , set up

5400-514: The movie were intended to expanded upon in later installments. Prior to the movie's release, additional cast joined the franchise alongside Cruise, including Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde, Johnny Depp as Dr. Griffin / the Invisible Man, and Javier Bardem as the Frankenstein Monster. Confirmed reboot movies in development included: Frankenstein , Wolf Man , Bride of Frankenstein , Dracula , Creature from

5490-494: The new franchise was downplayed however following its mixed critical and financial reception, with The Mummy (2017) repositioned as the official start of the shared film universe. In May 2017, the slate of reimagined incarnations of titular monsters was officially titled Dark Universe . The studio announced the franchise with an official press release, logo, website, trailer , and score composed by Danny Elfman . Universal Pictures in collaboration with Kurtzman and Morgan, created

SECTION 60

#1732786787954

5580-442: The newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $ 24.5 million. In the following year, former ABC vice president of programming Leonard Goldberg joined Screen Gems, displacing Jackie Cooper as vice president of program development. Goldberg failed to receive the same level of success as Cooper. His shows all tanked after one season, with the exception of The Partridge Family , and he abruptly left after three years, with

5670-433: The overarching story and narrative of the franchise itself. A connection between the characters, settings, and other elements of the media franchise do still exist within the different media, regardless of the fact that they are being presented in sometimes completely different ways, such as the shared, interweaving storylines and elements of Spider-Man films, television shows, comics and video games. Espen Aarseth describes

5760-490: The owners, the goal of increasing profit through diversity can extend the commercial profitability of the franchise and create strong feelings of identity and ownership in its consumers. Those large groups of dedicated consumers create the franchise's fandom , which is the community of fans that indulge in many of its media and are committed to interacting with and keeping up with other consumers. Large franchise-based fandoms have grown to be even more popular in recent years with

5850-484: The popular Twilight book series that was adapted into the five films of The Twilight Saga . Other neologisms exist to describe various franchise types including metaseries , which can be used to describe works such as Isaac Asimov 's Foundation series . Multimedia franchises usually develop through a character or fictional world becoming popular in one medium, and then expanding to others through licensing agreements , with respect to intellectual property in

5940-614: The positive response to various viewings of these movies via television redistribution which began airing in the 1950s, the studio began developing the characters for other media. In the 1990s, it became priority for Universal to promote their catalogue with official packaging that presented the movies with the official franchise title. Through a number of VHS editions, their popularity continued into contemporary entertainment. This included additional development through modern-filmmaking adaptations such as Stephen Sommers ' The Mummy (1999) and Van Helsing (2004). Modern analyses describes

6030-533: The production of the Oswald cartoons to Winkler Pictures, along with Margaret Winkler's brother, George. After losing the Oswald contract to Walter Lantz , Mintz focused on the Krazy Kat series, which was the output of a Winkler-distributed property. M.J. Winkler Productions became known as Winkler Pictures after Mintz took over in 1926 and partnered with Columbia Pictures for distribution in 1929. In 1931, when

6120-592: The projects in development. The producer later stated November 2020, that control of the Dark Universe and the Universal Monsters remains under the direction of Universal Pictures. This table includes the Universal Monster characters and their respective actors for each movie in the franchise. Additional characters include recurring primary characters of the Universal Studios Monsters franchise. Created by comic book author and artist Marv Wolfman , in collaboration with Universal Cartoon Studios ,

6210-415: The release of A Moment Like This becoming a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100. The success resulted in a nationwide concert tour, an American Idol book that made the bestseller list and the film From Justin to Kelly . A transmedia franchise however is often referred to by the simpler term "media franchise". The term media franchise is often used to describe the popular adaptation of a work into films, like

6300-409: The rise of social media platforms, as many fans seek to interact with one another for discussion, debate and even to create their own fan-made pieces of media revolving around the franchise, on websites like tumblr , Reddit and Fandom . In the case of successful transmedia franchises, each different medium should expand the target demographic and fandom, build the interest of the consumers and add to

6390-525: The same medium are not, such as the fact that only some of the Battlestar Galactica comics are canon, with a large amount of them breaking the continuity of the main story. In Japanese culture and entertainment, media mix ( wasei-eigo : メディアミックス , mediamikkusu ) is a strategy to disperse content across multiple representations: different broadcast media , gaming technologies, cell phones, toys, amusement parks , and other methods. It

6480-497: The scenes. Other staff members during this period included people such as Bob Wickersham, Paul Sommer, Alec Geiss, Sid Marcus, Howard Swift and Alex Lovy . Bob Clampett was also brought in as a gag writer before setting up his own animation studio for Republic Pictures . Screen Gems was, in an attempt to keep costs low, the last American animation studio to stop producing black and white cartoons. The final black-and-white Screen Gems shorts appeared in 1946, over three years after

6570-472: The second-longest holdouts ( Famous Studios and Leon Schlesinger Productions). During that same year, Columbia decided to shut its doors for good, while releasing a back catalog up until 1949. It later merged with the television version of Screen Gems (previously Pioneer Telefilms). In spite of the studio's internal affairs, Screen Gems' cartoons were still moderately successful, with it achieving additional Academy Awards nominations . However it never achieved

6660-502: The show was canceled after its first season. Created by Stephen Sommers in collaboration with Thomas Pugsley and Greg Klein, as a spin-off animated adaptation and continuation of the film series which had starred Brendan Fraser . The television show centers around Imhotep / The Mummy , while following the continuing adventures of Rick O'Connell and his family. Featuring the voices of Jim Cummings , John Schneider , Chris Marquette , Grey DeLisle , and an ensemble of supporting cast,

6750-625: The show was developed to reintroduce the Universal Monsters to child audiences. The plot centers around a group of college-age students and their professor Dr. Reed Crawley to form a squad call the Monster Force, who through the use of some supernatural skills and technological weaponry must combat Dracula and his army called the Creatures of the Night. The series aired through broadcast syndication from April to July of 1994. With mild viewership,

6840-492: The show was marketed towards younger audiences through Universal Cartoon Studios. Airing on The WB through the Kids' WB! programming block from September 2001 to June 2003, the show received critical acclaim while some critics called the release superior to the feature-length sequels to the live-action 1999 film . Developed in collaboration with Colgate-Palmolive-Peet , the short was released during The Colgate Comedy Hour as

6930-461: The studio head but was shortly replaced by Mintz's brother-in-law, George Winkler. Columbia then decided to hire Frank Tashlin , then a writer for Walt Disney Productions , as lead producer. There he would hire many displaced animators from the 1941 Disney animators' strike , as well as making the decision of firing the bulk of their initial staff (included Arthur Davis , Manny Gould , Lou Lilly , Ben Harrison and Winkler). Tashlin would also direct

7020-569: The studio moved from New York to California, it was renamed The Charles Mintz Studio. The Charles Mintz studio became known as Screen Gems in 1933. The name was originally used in 1933, when Columbia Pictures acquired a stake in Charles Mintz's animation studio. The name was derived from an early Columbia Pictures slogan, "Gems of the Screen"; itself a takeoff on the song " Columbia, the Gem of

7110-429: The studio to start his own production company to be affiliated with Paramount Television . On May 6, 1974, Screen Gems was renamed to Columbia Pictures Television as suggested by then-studio president David Gerber , who succeeded Art Frankel as his studio president. The final notable production from this incarnation of Screen Gems before the name change was the 1974 miniseries QB VII . Columbia was, technically,

7200-437: The television series The Munsters (1964) which was based on the likeness of the Universal characters. In 1990, Universal was part of a merger between Matsushita, now known as Panasonic , and several other corporations. Between 1991 and 1995, Universal released VHS home video editions from their catalogue of horror films. This was the first time these films were packed together as the "Classic Monster" line, accompanied with

7290-433: The titular characters as " pop culture icons". Universal's early horror films were adaptations of work from familiar authors and texts to give their films a prestige appeal. These included Dracula (1931), whose success led to the production of other works such as Frankenstein (1931). Frankenstein ' s ending was changed by studio head Carl Laemmle Jr. , who wanted Universal to be able deploy key characters from

7380-477: The world's highest-grossing media franchises . For example, Pokémon 's penetration into the American market of the franchise along with others of Japanese origin, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! , gave rise to the recognition of what is variously called transmedia storytelling , crossmedia, transmediation , media synergy, etc. Researchers argue that the 1963 Tetsuwan Atomu marked a shift in Japanese marketing from

7470-749: Was also the first distributor for Hanna-Barbera Productions, an animation studio founded by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera after leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , and was also the distributor of the Soupy Sales show. The company also entered a co-production deal with Canada 's CTV Television Network and produced several shows, many of which were filmed or taped in Toronto for distribution to Canadian stations ( Showdown , The Pierre Berton Show ). The company even expanded as far as Australia , opening Screen Gems Australia to produce shows for that country's networks, including The Graham Kennedy Show for

7560-402: Was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers. During that year, the studio began syndicating Columbia Pictures' theatrical film library to television, including the series of two-reel short subjects starring The Three Stooges in 1957. Earlier on August 2, 1957, they also acquired syndication rights to " Shock Theater ",

7650-419: Was key to make the series of films "look like a line". In a 1999 interview, Feol stated that creating the series was to "reinvigorate and re-market" the Universal catalog, specifically with their series of Dracula , Frankenstein , The Invisible Man , The Phantom of the Opera , The Wolf Man , and The Mummy . The 1990s also saw a trend in the merchandising of Universal Monsters material as part of

7740-580: Was later fired and succeeded by a revolving door of producers, including musician Paul Worth, Three Stooges producer Hugh McCollum and ex-Schlesinger assistants Ray Katz and Henry Binder. The studio would also create several more recurring characters around this time, including Tito and His Burrito, Flippy , Flop the Cat , Igor Puzzlewitz, Willoughby Wren , and an adaptation of Al Capp's comic series Li'l Abner , with varying levels of success. The studios output following Tashlin's departure was, in retrospect, considered to be vastly inferior as many of

7830-460: Was renamed to Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc., also creating Columbia/Tri-Star by merging Columbia and Tri-Star. Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names. In 1989, Sony Corporation of Japan purchased Columbia Pictures Entertainment. On August 11, 1991, Columbia Pictures Entertainment was renamed as Sony Pictures Entertainment as a film production-distribution subsidiary and subsequently combined CPT with

7920-443: Was resurrected as a fourth speciality film-producing arm of Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. It was created after Triumph Films closed. Screen Gems produces and releases "films that fall between the wide-release films traditionally developed and distributed by Columbia Pictures and those released by Sony Pictures Classics ". Many of its releases are of the horror, thriller, action, drama, comedy and urban genres, making

8010-478: Was sold to EMI for $ 23.5 million in 1976. From 1964 to 1969, former child star Jackie Cooper was Vice President of Program Development. He was responsible for packaging series (such as Bewitched ) and other projects and selling them to the networks. For the 1965–1966 season, Screen Gems announced that they would sign three big creative programmers to develop new series, which was announced in June 1964. Among them

8100-606: Was writer Sidney Sheldon , director Hy Averback , and writer David Swift . In 1965, Columbia Pictures acquired a fifty per cent interest in the New York-based commercial production company EUE, which was incorporated into Screen Gems and renamed EUE/Screen Gems . The studios were sold in 1982 to longtime Columbia Pictures executive George Cooney shortly after Columbia Pictures was sold to The Coca-Cola Company . On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with its parent company Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of

#953046