Universal Studios

Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal) is a major film company owned by NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. Universal was the distributor and owner of the Disney-animated Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons since February 9, 2006, but Universal still owns the rights to all of the post-Disney-animated Oswald cartoons. 
Its massive backlot at its Universal Studios Hollywood studio and theme park has served as a former filming location for Disney films. Universal has resorts in California and Florida, which are those states' primary competitors against Disneyland and Walt Disney World, respectively. Additionally, Universal has owned two animation studios, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation (with the latter being co-founded by former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg alongside Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and being acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016), which are also meant to compete against Disney's current animation studios Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios respectively, as well as Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Animation.
==Oswald the Lucky Rabbit==
On March 4, 1927, Winkler Pictures head Charles Mintz signed a contract with Universal within the presence of its vice president at the time, R. H. Cochrane. The contract stated that Winkler would produce 26 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons for Universal during the 1927-28 season. Universal had been negotiating deals with cartoon producers for the past three months; they wanted to get back into the cartoon business after ten years of no cartoons from the company."Universal Announces Release Of "Oscar, the Rabbit" Cartoons" - Motion Picture World (3/12/1927)
The Oswald character was designed and the cartoons were animated at the Walt Disney Studio, under the direct supervision of Walt Disney"Disney, Walt" - The Film Daily Presents the Product Guide and Director's Annual 1937 and under a contract with Winkler Pictures. The titular character's name had reportedly been chosen by P.D. Cochrane, the head of Universal's publicity department. He gathered suggestions from the staff around the office, put them all into a hat, and drew out a name.The History of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Part One Universal released the first cartoon, Trolley Troubles, to theaters on September 5, 1927.
In February 1928, Winkler signed a contract with Universal that would guarantee three more years worth of Oswald cartoons."And That's That" Column - The Film Daily (2/1928)"Universal Signs for 3 More Years of Oswald" - Motion Picture News (2/1928) The following month, the Walt Disney Studio's contract with Winkler to animate the Oswald cartoons would be terminated following the departure of several animators to Winkler and budget disputes. Ub Iwerks would be one of the few animators who stayed with Disney, and the two would go on to create Mickey Mouse.
Winkler Pictures would go on to produce an additional 26 Oswald cartoons for Universal, and they would be released from 1928 to 1929. During the production of the cartoons, animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising went to Universal to try and convince the studio to put them in charge instead of Mintz. Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Pictures, got tired of the internal politics and terminated Winkler Pictures' contract. He decided to produce the series in-house with director Walter Lantz taking charge."The History of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Part Two""Lester Kline" - The Film Daily (4/15/1929)"Benny Rubin and Oswald Make Universal One-Reelers Super Shorts" - Universal Weekly"Lantz, Walter" - The Film Daily Presents the Product Guide and Director's Annual 1937 Walter Lantz would go on to direct and produce 142 cartoons with Oswald.
In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, multiple Universal characters made cameos, such as Woody Woodpecker, Wally Walrus, and others.
In February 2006, The Walt Disney Company obtained the rights to the Oswald character and the animated short films made by the Disney Studio from NBCUniversal as part of a deal which sent sportscaster Al Michaels from ESPN to NBCUniversal's NBC Sports. The rights to the Winkler/Mintz and Lantz/Universal-produced Oswald films would stay with NBCUniversal.
==Relationship with Marvel==
On August 31, 2009, Disney announced that it would acquire Marvel Entertainment for approximately $4 billion. Universal announced that Marvel Super Hero Island, a themed land at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park at the Universal Orlando Resort, would not be affected by the deal and would continue to operate as long as the contract allowed. Disney CEO Robert Iger acknowledged that Disney would honor all of Marvel's contracts with competitors, but that Marvel characters would simultaneously be able to appear in some Disney parks.http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/disney-marvel-theme--5246/ Marvel properties and characters are not permitted to appear in Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, as Universal holds the rights to use the characters east of the Mississippi River. As such, Disney has taken other measures to promote its Marvel properties within the Resort. For example, monorail trains have been wrapped in advertisements promoting films such as The Avengers and Iron Man 3. As these monorail trains featured Marvel characters, they were operated only on the Resort and Express lines of the Walt Disney World Monorail System, which run entirely outside the theme parks, unlike the Epcot line, which enters and loops through its namesake park. The resort does have a Marvel-themed store, Super Hero Headquarters, which is located outside of park gates in Disney Springs.
Marvel characters and properties are featured more prominently in other Disney park resorts, specifically at the Disneyland Resort in California, where Universal has long since abandoned its rights to use the Marvel characters in its own California park. The Disneyland Resort has featured meet-and-greets with Captain America and Thor, has featured the Avengers Half Marathon as part of RunDisney, features Iron Man, Thor, and Spider-Man (and formerly Captain America when the attraction operated as part of Innoventions) at its upcoming Super Hero HQ attraction in Tomorrowland, has hosted film sneak peeks for Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, and has run Marvel Cinematic Universe movie marathons at the Magic Eye Theater during its 24-hour events. The first Marvel attraction at a Disney park, the Iron Man Experience, is now open in Tomorrowland at Hong Kong Disneyland.
==Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons==
# 	Title 	Release date
1 	Trolley Troubles 	September 5, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
2 	Oh Teacher 	September 19, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
3 	The Mechanical Cow 	October 3, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
4 	Great Guns 	October 17, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
5 	All Wet 	October 31, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
6 	The Ocean Hop 	November 14, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
7 	The Banker's Daughter	November 28, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
8 	Empty Socks 	December 11, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
9 	Rickety Gin 	December 26, 1927"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
10	Harem Scarem 	January 9, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
11	Neck 'n' Neck 	January 23, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1927)
12	The Ol' Swimmin' Hole	February 6, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
13	Africa Before Dark 	February 20, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
14	Rival Romeos 	March 5, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
15	Bright Lights 	March 19, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
16	Sagebrush Sadie 	April 1, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
17	Ride 'Em Plowboy 	April 15, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
18	Ozzie of the Mounted 	April 30, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
19	Hungry Hobos 	May 14, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
20	Oh What a Knight 	May 28, 1928"Comedies and Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
21	Poor Papa 	June 11, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
22	The Fox Chase 	June 25, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
23	Tall Timber 	July 9, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
24	Sleigh Bells 	July 23, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
25	High Up 	August 6, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
26	Hot Dogs 	August 20, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
27	The Sky Scrapper 	September 3, 1928"Universal Short Subjects" - Motion Picture News (1928)
==Disney productions filmed at Universal==
As Universal Studios Hollywood has such a massive and versatile studio backlot, many other movie studios tend to use the backlot as a filming location. Disney is not an exception to this. Some Disney films and shows that have been shot or co-produced at Universal include:
===Films===
*The Devil and Max Devlin (1981, Walt Disney Productions)
*Dick Tracy (1990, Touchstone Pictures)
*Raising Helen (2004, Touchstone Pictures)
*Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, Walt Disney Pictures)
*The Muppets (2011, Walt Disney Pictures)
*Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, Walt Disney Pictures)
*Saving Mr. Banks (2013, Walt Disney Pictures)
===Television series===
*Monk (USA Network, 2002-2009, ABC Studios and Universal Media Studios) - Co-produced with Universal.
*Desperate Housewives (ABC, 2004-2012, ABC Studios) - Wisteria Lane is filmed on the Colonial Street residential set.
*Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 2005-2010, ABC Studios and CBS Paramount Network Television) - Grandview is filmed on sets such as Courthouse Square, which is famous for its use in Back to the Future until an accidental fire destroyed much of the set in June 2008.
==Connections==
*Jeff Bennett voiced Peter Puppy in the Earthworm Jim cartoon.
*Dan Castellaneta voiced Dr. Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series and the title character in the Earthworm Jim cartoon.
*Jim Carrey portrayed the title character in the How the Grinch Stole Christmas! live-action film.
*Jim Cummings voiced Psycrow in the Earthworm Jim cartoon.
*Michael J. Fox portrayed Marty McFly in the Back to the Future films.
*Christopher Lloyd portrayed Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future films.
*Kath Soucie voiced Princess What's-Her-Name in the Earthworm Jim cartoon.
*Eric Bauza voices the title character in the modern Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Non-Disney companies
Category:Production companies