Main movie production companies plus#

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is owned by Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation, and is the only US film studio owned by a foreign conglomerate, while Universal is owned by Philadelphia-based Comcast (via NBCUniversal) and the other two report to corporations headquartered in New York City - Paramount Global and Warner Bros. The offices of that parent entity are still located on Disney's studio lot and in the same building. and Disney are both located in Burbank while Universal is in the nearby unincorporated area of Universal City and Sony in Culver City.ĭisney is the only studio that has been owned by the same conglomerate since its founding. While the Big Five's main studio lots are located within 15 miles (24 km) of each other, Paramount is the only member of the Big Five still based in Hollywood and located entirely within the official city limits of the City of Los Angeles. are the only Golden Age Big Five members to remain as majors today. In 1989, Sony acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment, which became Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1991. RKO went defunct in 1959 and MGM became a mini-major upon its sale from Turner to Kerkorian in 1986. In 2019, Disney acquired Fox, reducing the majors to a new 'Big Five' for the first time since Hollywood's Golden Age. The decay of MGM, in 1986, reduced the majors to the 'Big Six'. Columbia Pictures eventually merged in 1987 with Tri-Star Pictures to form Columbia Pictures Entertainment.ĭuring the Golden Age, Walt Disney Productions was an independent production company and not considered a 'major studio' until 1984, when it joined 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros. Meanwhile, United Artists began as a distribution company for several independent producers and later began producing its own films, and was eventually acquired by MGM in 1981. Universal Pictures was, during that early era, considered one of 'Little Three', along with United Artists and Columbia Pictures.

were also part of the original 'Big Five', along with RKO Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and 20th Century Fox. In addition to being members of today's 'Big Five', Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.

Main movie production companies plus#

Four of these were among that original era's ' Eight Majors', being that era's original 'Big Five' plus its 'Little Three', collectively the eight film studios that controlled as much as 96% of the market during the 1930s and 1940s. The current 'Big Five' majors (Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney, and Sony) all originate with film studios that were active during Hollywood's 'Golden Age'. Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California Today, all the Big Five major studios are also members of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The majors enjoy 'significant internal economies of scale' from their 'extensive and efficient infrastructure', while it is 'nearly impossible' for a film to reach a broad international theatrical audience without being first picked up by one of the majors for distribution. Today, the Big Five majors – Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios, and Sony Pictures – routinely distribute hundreds of films every year into all significant international markets (that is, where discretionary income is high enough for consumers to afford to watch films). studios have benefited from a strong first-mover advantage in that they were the first to industrialize filmmaking and master the art of mass-producing and distributing high-quality films with broad cross-cultural appeal.

major film studios have dominated both American cinema and the global film industry. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary motion picture business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate. In the American and international markets, the major film studios, often known simply as the majors or the Big Five studios, are commonly regarded as the five diversified media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries collectively command approximately 80 to 85% of U.S. Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. Class=notpageimage| Big Five studios in Hollywood (Paramount Pictures) and on the Westside (Sony Pictures)