United Artists

United Artists Corporation (UA) is an American film studio. The original studio using that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, with the intention of controlling their own interests rather than depending upon the powerful commercial studios.
The current United Artists formed in November 2006 under a partnership between producer/actor Tom Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Paula Wagner left the studio on August 14, 2008. Cruise owned a small stake in the studio until late 2011. 
It is now a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which itself is owned by MGM Holdings. In 2022, Amazon announced they would be acquiring MGM, which also includes United Artists.
In 1956, Associated Artists Productions bought distribution rights to the pre-1948 color Warner Bros. cartoons plus the 1931-1933 Harman/Ising Merrie Melodies, sans "Lady, Play Your Mandolin!". Two years later, United Artists bought the company assuming their debt. In that deal, United Artists became the distributors of the a.a.p. library of pre-August 1948 Looney Tunes cartoons (which were technically under UA's television division) and the owners of Popeye theatrical shorts and other live-action Warner Bros. content. The company Transamerica bought 98% of UA's stock in the 1960s. When the company decided to exit the film business, they put up United Artists for sale. When United Artists was acquired by MGM in 1981, the distribution rights to the pre-August 1948 Looney Tunes went to MGM.
In 1986, Ted Turner and his company Turner Entertainment, bought all of MGM's assets, but not the company itself. This library would merge with Warner Bros. library in 1996, when Turner merged with Time Warner. 
== Assets ==
The assets Turner bought from United Artists were:
* The distribution rights to all pre-1948 color Warner Bros. cartoons, and Harman–Ising produced Merrie Melodies from 1931–1933 (save Lady, Play Your Mandolin!)
* The 1933-1957 Fleischer/Famous Popeye theatrical cartoons
* The distribution rights to most of the RKO Radio Pictures titles (Most of RKO's films' distribution rights were sold to United Artists. Despite this, RKO still retains the copyrights to their films.)
* All pre-1950 Warner Bros. live-action material
* Some United Artists assets
However, Turner did not buy the copyrights to the Pink Panther, which were still with the hands with MGM. Turner also did not buy the copyrights to some of Warner Bros. Monogram films and some of these remain with MGM/UA.
== Logos ==
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== References ==
Category:Companies