Universal Studios

**Universal Studios** (sometimes called **Universal Pictures** or **Universal City**) is one of the major American movie studios that has production studios and offices at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County between Los Angeles and Burbank. Distribution and other corporate, administrative offices are based in New York City. Universal is the very first major studio in Hollywood (Universal's ownership partner of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan—which distributes anime by Universal worldwide—is the oldest).

## History

The founder of Universal, Carl Laemmle, was a German Jewish immigrant who settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he managed a clothing store. On a 1905 buying trip to Chicago, he was struck by the popularity of nickelodeons.

### Action

In June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe and Julius Stern. That company was quickly renamed e **Independent Moving Picture Company**, or IMP. In 1910, he actively promoted Florence Lawrence, then known as the "Biograph girl", and she became one of the first movie stars to be used by a studio in its marketing.

#### Merging

On April 1, 1912; Laemmle merged IMP with eight smaller companies to form the **Universal Film Manufacturing Company,** introducing the word "universal" into the organization's name. Among them were Mark Dintinfass, Charles Baumann and Adam Kessel, and Pat Powers. The name was later changed to **Universal Pictures Company, Inc.**

Following the westward trend of the industry, in 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, on a  converted farm just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood.

## Other facilities

In 1926, Universal also opened a production unit in Germany, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, under the direction of Joe Pasternak. This unit produced 3–4 movies per year until 1936, migrating to Hungary and then Austria in the face of Hitler's increasing domination of central Europe. With movies being able to have sound (those movies were called "talkies"), these productions were made in the German language or, sometimes, Hungarian or Polish. In the US, Universal Pictures did not distribute any of this subsidiary's movies, but at least some of them were exhibited through other, independent, foreign-language movie distributors based in New York, without benefit of English subtitles. Nazi persecution and a change in ownership for the parent Universal Pictures organization resulted in the dissolution of this part of the company.

## The Laemmles lose control

Taking on the task of modernizing and upgrading a movie company in the depths of the Great Depression was risky, and for a time Universal slipped into receivership. The theater chain was scrapped, but Carl, Jr. held fast to distribution, studio and production operations.

The end for the Laemmles came with a remake of _Show Boat_, featuring many famous people from the Broadway stage version, which began production in late 1935. However, Carl, Jr.'s spending habits surprised company stockholders, especially after the costly failure of _Sutter's Gold_ earlier in the year. They would not allow production to start on _Show Boat_ unless the Laemmles obtained a loan. Universal was forced to seek a $750,000 production loan from the Standard Capital Corporation, pledging the Laemmle family's controlling interest in Universal as collateral. It was the first time in Universal's 26-year history that it had borrowed money for a production. Production problems resulted in a $300,000 overrun. When Standard called the loan in, a cash-strapped Universal could not pay.

_Show Boat_ was released in 1936 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest movie musicals of all time. However, it was not enough to save the Laemmles, who were removed from the company they had founded.

## MCA takes over

By the late 1950s, the motion picture business was in trouble. The combination of the studio/theater-chain break-up and the rise of television caused the mass audience to stop visiting theaters. The Music Corporation of America (better known as MCA), mainly a talent agency, had also become a powerful television producer, renting space at Republic Studios for its Revue Studios subsidiary. After a period of complete shutdown, a moribund Universal agreed to sell its (by now)  studio lot to MCA in 1958, for $11 million. Although MCA owned the studio lot, but not Universal Pictures, it was increasingly influential on Universal's product. The studio lot was upgraded and modernized, while MCA clients like Doris Day, Lana Turner, and Cary Grant were signed to Universal Pictures contracts.

Though Universal's movie unit did produce occasional movies, among them _Airport_, _The Sting_, _American Graffiti_, and a movie that restored the company's fortunes, _Jaws_, Universal in the 1970s was primarily a television studio. Weekly series production was the workhorse of the company. There would be other movies like _Back to the Future_, and _Jurassic Park_, but overall the movie business was still hit-and-miss. In the early 1970s, Universal teamed up with Paramount Pictures to form Cinema International Corporation, which distributed movies by Paramount and Universal worldwide. It was replaced by United International Pictures in 1991, when Walt Disney Pictures joined the fold.

## Universal's library

Universal, like any other major movie studio, owns a huge library.  It owns the libraries of USA Films, October Films, and the 1999-2012 movies by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (MGM owns most of the pre-1999 PolyGram library, though Universal owns a few movies from that time as well) and its subsidiaries, as well as (through parent NBC Universal) much of the post-1973 NBC library of shows and made-for-TV movies.

It also owns several movies made by others, including some pre-1952 United Artists material, an Alfred Hitchcock feature originally released by Warner Bros. - _Rope_, and the UK rights to most of the RKO Pictures library.

## Notes on early partners

In the early years of Universal, the company absorbed some small firms. Among those early film-production studios (and their proprietors) were:
- Champion Motion Picture Co., Mark Dintinfass, president
- Nestor Motion Picture Company, David Horsley
- The New York Motion Picture Company, Charles Baumann and Adam Kessel, proprietors
- Powers Motion Picture Co., Pat Powers, president
- Rex Motion Picture Co., William Swanson
For several years some of these junior partners carried considerable weight within Universal; inevitably factions and rivalries were the rule. At least one version of corporate history claims that the twenty-year-old Irving Thalberg rose so quickly because he told subordinates that he alone spoke for Carl Laemmle in making production decisions, while the others were more concerned with battling among themselves.

## Notes on sources

- Bruck, Connie. _When Hollywood Had a King_. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
- Drinkwater, John. _The Life and Adventures of Carl Laemmle_. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1931, illustrated.
- Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills - map Providencial and Water Development
- Los Angeles Library Photo Collection "Bird-Eye View of Universal City" 1911
- Los Angeles Library Photo Collection "Nestor Studios" .
- Mordden, Ethan. _The Hollywood Studios_. New York: Fireside, 1989.
- McDougal, Dennis. _The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA and the Hidden History of Hollywood_. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998.
- Schatz, Thomas. _The Genius of the System_. New York: Pantheon Books, 1989.
- Sklar, Robert. _Movie-Made America_. New York: Vintage, 1994.

## Movies

1. _The Little Engine That Could_ (1991) (Kath Soucie, Frank Welker, and B.J. Ward)
1. _We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story_ (1993) (John Goodman, Rene LeVant, and Felicity Kendal)
1. _An American Tail_ (1986) (Phillip Glasser, Amy Green, and John P. Finnegan)
1. _The Land Before Time_ (1988) (Gabriel Damon, Candace Hutson, and Judith Barsi)
1. _Jurassic Park_ (1993) (Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum)
1. _Babe_ (1995) (James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski, and Brittany Byrnes)
1. _Beethoven_ (1992) (Charles Grodin)
1. _Jaws_ (1975) (Roy Scheider)
1. _Smokey and the Bandit_ (1977) (Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds)
1. _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ (2000) (Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, and Jeffrey Tambor)
1. _Balto_ (1995) (Kevin Bacon, Bob Hoskins, and Bridget Fonda)
1. _Back to the Future_ (1985) (Michael J. Fox)
1. _Curious George_ (2006) (Frank Welker, Will Ferrell, and Drew Barrymore)
1. _Despicable Me_ (2010) (Steve Carell, Jason Segel, and Russell Brand)
1. _American Pie_ (1999) (Jason Biggs)
1. _The Mummy_ (1999) (Brendan Fraser)
1. _Nanny McPhee_ (2005) (Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster)
1. _Airport_ (1970) (Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, and Jean Seberg)
1. _The Little Engine That Could_ (2011) (Alyson Stoner, Whoopi Goldberg, and Patrick Warburton)
1. _Nirvana/Happy Tree Friends_ (1987-1994; 1999-present) (Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Flippy)

## Related pages

- List of Universal Pictures films
- Universal Studios Japan
- Universal Orlando Resort

## Infobox (company)

- **name**: Universal City Studios LLC
- **image caption**: The company's global headquarters at 10 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California
- **trade name**: Universal Pictures
- **logo**: Universal Pictures logo 2.png
- **logo caption**: Logo used since 2021
- **image**: Universal City, Comcast-NBCUniversal Headquarters New.jpg
- **image size**: 250px
- **predecessor**: Independent Moving Pictures
- **type**: Division (business), Division
- **industry**: Movie
- **hq location**: 10 Universal City Plaza
- **hq location city**: Universal City, California
- **hq location country**: U.S.
- **num locations**: 3
- **area served**: Worldwide
- **products**: Motion pictures
- **revenue**: US$11.622 billion
- **revenue year**: 2022
- **parent**: NBCUniversal