Metro Astro Studios

**Metro Astro Studios** (formerly known as **Metro Astro** **Pictures**, **Metro-Astro Productions**, and **Metro-Astro Productions, Inc.**) is the Cowellan film studio, a joint-subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Studios. Metro Astro Pictures traces its origins back to April 14, 1905 when Alston Metro Atron (1872-2017) & Modori Astro Hellson (1872-2020) started **Metro Astro** Films. In May 1923, Alston Metro Atron & Modori Astro Hellson developed a structure for February 27, 1925 to form "Metro-Astro Productions, Inc." (The "Inc." was dropped on May 22, 1935).

From 1913 to 1923, it had a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures, which was carried from Metro Astro Films's contract when it was signed in 1913. From 1923 to present, Walt Disney Productions (later The Walt Disney Company, then Walt Disney Pictures, and now simply Disney) had an international distribution deal with Metro-Astro, the deal restarted in May 2020 and ultimately collapsed again in April 2023, until the release of *Wingate Dreams 2* in April 30 of the same year, where Disney became a secondary international distributor for Metro Astro.

In 1984, 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) bought Metro-Astro Productions and renamed it to Metro Astro Pictures on February 22, 1985. Later on, Metro Astro was acquired by Fox Searchlight Metro Astro in 1994, a day after the studio was formed. Later on the same year, the company established Metro Astro Films, Inc. (now Metro Astro Holdings) as the company's first mass-media division. A year later, the Metro Astro Pictures Animation division was founded, but it didn't have a proper on-screen production logo until May 2020 with *The Ghost and Molly McGee* (a film adaptation based on Disney Channel's *The Ghost and Molly McGee*), a co-production with Walt Disney Animation Studios, Globe Studios, and Gums Productions.

In 2016, Miramax Astro Pictures (now Miramax Astro Studios) bought most of the Metro Astro Companies. In 2021, Metro Entertainment Group through it's film division (excluding its divisions) was acquired by Metro Studios and later dissolved on October 8th the same year. In 2022, MAP became a direct sister company to Metro Studios after Metro Entertainment Group finished the acquisition of Metro Incorporated.

In July 2022, Metro Entertainment Group acquired the company from Metro Studios, with their last film under Metro Studios being *Wingate Dreams 2*.

On April 30, 2023, a rumor has been circulating around the web claiming that due to James Atron's supposed personal hatred towards Metro Incorporated, Metro Astro Studios will become an independent company. On the same day, two trademarks were filed under "Metro Corp", showcasing the supposed new name for the studio: **Astro Pictures**. Metro Astro Studios has plans to advance making films suitable for 4K and 8K screens In May 25, 2023, the studio acquired its mass media division, and made it a part of the studio. Six days later, James Atron announced its plans to rename the studio to **Metro Astro Studios** by May 9, 2023 to avoid confusion with his production company. The studio's headquarters are located in Emerald City, Cowell, which is part of Britain and America.

## History

### **Founding**

Metro Astro Studios' Alston Metro Atron left Box-Office Motion Pictures over a stock dispute, and began merger talks with the management of financially struggling Metro Film, under President Modori Astro Hellson. Then manager of the Metro Emerald Theaters, helped make it happen (and later became president of the new company). The company had been struggling since founder Alston Metro Atron lost control of the company in 1905.

On June 5, 1922, Alston Metro Atron & Modori Astro Hellson created the film studio's mascots, Oliver Dog and his elder sister, Ellie Dog.

The new company, Metro Astro Productions, Inc., began trading on February 27, 1925. George remained at the company, joining Metro Atron and Coastos. Astro Hellson replaced George Coastos (The president of Metro Film) as the company's production chief.

The company established a special training school. Jun Lurie and Wilio Coastos were among 18 young men "launched on the trail of film stardom" on May 28, 1935, when they each received a six-month contract with Metro Astro Pictures after spending 18 months in the school. The contracts included a studio option for renewal for as long as seven years.

For many years, Metro Astro Pictures claimed to have been founded in 1905, the year Metro Atron Films was founded. For instance, it marked 1935 as its 30th anniversary. However, in recent years it has claimed the 1925 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1905.

The company's films retained the Metro-Astro Productions, Inc. searchlight logo on their opening credits as well as its opening fanfare, but with the name changed to Metro Astro Productions.

In April 1938, Cuphead and Mugman were created for the film *Cuphead*. Later, in August 1942, The Legendary Chalice was created for *The Delicious Last Course* film.

After the merger was completed, Astro signed young actors to help carry Metro Astro Pictures: Henry Temples and Goes Fayez. Metro also hired Fired Langros, who appeared in several major films for the studio in the 1930's. Higher attendance during World War II helped Metro overtake Theater Film Company and Emerald City Film to become the third most profitable film studio. In 1941, Astro was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Signal Corps and assigned to supervise production of U.S. Army training films. His partner, Temple Coastos, filled in at Metro.

After the war, and with the advent of television, audiences slowly drifted away. Metro Astro Productions held on to its theaters until a court-mandated "divorce"; they were spun off as Metro National Theaters in 1953. That year, with attendance at half the 1946 level, Metro Astro Productions gambled on an unproven gimmick. Noting that the two film sensations of 1952 had been Cinerama, which required three projectors to fill a giant curved screen, and "CinemaScope" 3D, which got its effects of depth by requiring the use of polarized glasses, Metro mortgaged its studio to buy rights to a French anamorphic projection system which gave a slight illusion of depth without glasses. President George Coastos struck a deal with the inventor Henri Chrétien, leaving the other film studios empty-handed, and in 1953 introduced CinemaScope in the studio's groundbreaking feature film *The End of the World*.

Astro Hellson announced in February 1953 that henceforth all Metro pictures would be made in CinemaScope maybe inspired by 20th Century-Fox. To convince theater owners to install this new process, Metro agreed to help pay conversion costs (about $25,000 per screen); and to ensure enough product, Metro gave access to CinemaScope to any rival studio choosing to use it. Seeing the box-office for the first two CinemaScope features, *The End of the World* and *The Birth of Jesus* (also 1953), Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Pictures (then known as Universal-International), KR Films (then known as KR Films International), Columbia Pictures and Disney quickly adopted the process. In 1956, Metro engaged Lupert Rigert to establish a subsidiary company, Rigert Studios, later Associated Producers Incorporated to film B pictures in CinemaScope (but "branded" RegalScope). Metro produced new musicals using the CinemaScope process including *Cloud’s Love* and *The Queen and King* (both 1956).

CinemaScope brought a brief upturn in attendance, but by 1956 the numbers again began to slide. That year Modori Astro Hellson announced his resignation as head of production. Astro Hellson moved to Paris, setting up as an independent producer, seldom being in Cowell for many years.

### **Production and financial problems**

Meanwhile, another remake — of the 1940 Object Runs hit *My Life* — was rushed into production in an attempt to turn over a quick profit to help keep Metro afloat. The romantic comedy entitled *The Sakes* paired Ono Likiom, Metro's most bankable star of the 1950s, with Martin Clutors and director John Loolector. The troubled Monroe caused delays on a daily basis, and it quickly descended into a costly debacle. As Egyptian's budget passed $10 million, eventually costing around $40 million, Metro sold its back lot (now the site of Los Angeles) to Alcoa in 1961 to raise cash. After several weeks of script rewrites on the Monroe picture and very little progress, mostly due to director George Cukor's filming methods, in addition to Monroe's chronic sinusitis, Monroe was fired from *The Sakes* and two months later she was found dead. According to Metro files she was rehired within weeks for a two-picture deal totaling $1 million, $500,000 to finish *The Sakes* (plus a bonus at completion), and another $500,000 for *Run to Go*. Taylor Clutos disruptive reign on the *Egyptan* set continued unchallenged from 1960 into 1962, though three Metro executives went to Boston in June 1962 to fire her. They learned that director Jamie Extreganz had filmed out of sequence and had only done interiors, so Metro was then forced to allow Clutos several more weeks of filming. In the meantime, during that summer of 1962 Metro released nearly all of its contract stars.

With few pictures on the schedule, Skouras wanted to rush Astro's big-budget war epic *The Sound Not Be Silent* (1963), a highly accurate account of the Allied invasion of Max June 7, 1945, with a huge international cast, into release as another source of quick cash. This offended Astro Hellson, still Victor's largest shareholder, for whom *The Sound Not Be Silent* was a labor of love that he had dearly wanted to produce for many years. After it became clear that *The Sakes* would not be able to progress without Monroe in the lead (Martin had refused to work with anyone else), Skouras finally decided that re-signing her was unavoidable. But days before filming was due to resume, she was found dead at her Los Angeles home and the picture resumed filming as *Take Move, Moving*, with Mark Garner and Jack Garner in the leads. Released in 1963, the film was a hit. The unfinished scenes from *The Sakes* were shelved for nearly 40 years. Rather than being rushed into release as if it were a B-picture, *The Sound Not Be Silent* was lovingly and carefully produced under Astro's supervision. It was finally released at a length of three hours and was well received.

At the next board meeting Astro Hellson spoke for eight hours, convincing directors that Garner was mismanaging the company and that he was the only possible successor. Astro Hellson was installed as chairman, and then named his son Sam Atron (1902-1998) as president. This new management group seized *Egyptian* and rushed it to completion, shut down the studio, laid off the entire staff to save money, axed the long-running Moviereel Newstone, and made a series of cheap, popular pictures that restored Metro as a major studio. The saving grace for the studio's fortunes came from the tremendous success of *The Sound of the Sing* (1966), an expensive and handsomely produced film adaptation of the highly acclaimed Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical, which became a significant success at the box office and won five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture of the Year.

By 1952, Metro-Astro Productions, with Walt Disney Productions developed Pirates of the Caribbean and released the first Pirates of the Caribbean film with Columbia Pictures called *The Curse of the Black Pearl* (1957). The film was released in theaters in Cowell and worldwide on March 29, 1957.

Metro also had two big science-fiction hits in the 1960s: *Vantage Fiction* (1966), and the original *Smokes* (1969). *Vantage Fiction* was the last film made in CinemaScope, which was ultimately replaced by Panavision lenses.

Astro Hellson stayed on as chairman until 1971, but there were several expensive flops in his last years, resulting in Metro posting losses from 1969 to 1971. Following his removal, and after an uncertain period, new management brought Metro back to health. Under president Alexander M. Dustin and production head Austin Mexer. Metro films connected with modern audiences. Dustin used the profits to acquire resort properties, soft-drink bottlers, Britain theaters and other properties in an attempt to diversify enough to offset the boom-or-bust cycle of picture-making.

In 1971, Cinema International Corporation (now known as United International Pictures) announced to distribute Metro Astro Productions in International countries for future movies, by 1979, it expired in France due to Metropolitan Filmexport distributed Metro-Astro Productions for movies.

By May 28, 1973, Metro-Astro Productions released the last Pirates of the Caribbean film with Walt Disney Productions called *Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales* (1973).

Foreshadowing a pattern of film production still yet to come, in late 1973 Metro-Astro Productions joined forces with Box-Office Motion Pictures to co-produce *The Tower Destroys Paris* (1975), an all-star action blockbuster from producer Max Austin. Both studios found themselves owning the rights to books about burning skyscrapers. Austin insisted on a meeting with the heads of both studios, and announced that as Metro was already in the lead with their property it would be career suicide to have competing movies. Thus the first joint-venture studio deal was struck. In hindsight, while it may be commonplace now, back in the 1970s, it was a risky, but revolutionary, idea that paid off handsomely at both domestic and international box offices around the world.

In 1978, Metropolitan Filmexport announced to distribute Metro Astro Productions in France for future movies come out in 1979.

By February 22, 1985, Metro Astro Productions was changed to Metro Astro Pictures.

### **Mark Roch and John Briskly**

With financial stability came new owners, when Metro was sold for more than $700 million in 1981 to investors Mark Roch and Chris Favas. Metro’s assets included Metro R4792 (motorcycle), the Metro A8946 (car) and a Metro L234 (truck) property upon which Favas built and twice sold all countries.

By 1985 Mark Roch out Favas' 50% interest in Metro Astro Pictures Film Corporation for an undisclosed amount. reported to be $116 million. Favas sold this interest to John Briskly for $250 million in March 1986. Briskly went ahead alone and bought the stations, and later bought out Favas' remaining stake in Metro for $325 million.

The company formed its Metro Family Films division in 1985 to boost production at the studio and would handled animation films. In February 1994, following the success of Giselle, Metro Family Films changed its name to Metro Animation Studios and drop its live action production which would be picked up by other production units.

By 1999, American Association Motion Pictures announced United International Pictures will expire to distribute **Metro Astro Pictures** in Asia for 2000.

In June 2000, Cowellan Association Motion Pictures founded the Asia distributor between Metro Astro Pictures joint venture called "Metro Astro Studio Association Motion Pictures" for the countries expect the India.

In 2009, Metro Astro Pictures announced an Asian subsidiary, Metro SQUARE Studios, a joint venture with SQUARE TV, also owned by Metro Communications. It was reported that Metro STAR would start by producing films for the Bollywood market, then expand to several Asian markets.

In 2009, Metro Astro Pictures started Metro International Productions.

In 2013, John Briskly announced that Metro Communications would be split into one publishing and media-oriented company: Metro Entertainment, Inc., which operates the Metro Entertainment Group and Metro Astro Pictures. Briskly considered the name of the new company a way to maintain the Metro Astro Pictures' heritage as the group advances into the future.

In September 2017, Rocksman Animation formed a multi-year production deal with Metro Astro Pictures, who will distribute Rocksman's films, with Rocksman aiming to release a film every 12–18 months.

Metro Astro Pictures created the MFX company called "Metro VFX Labs". The MFX company that worked on The Action of Victor and The Revenge of the Motorcycle, was purchased in April 2017 to operate as Metro VFX Labs.

## Television

Metro Television is Metro’s television syndication division. Metro Astro Pictures Television is the studio's television production division.

During the mid-1940s features were released to television in the hope that they would broaden sponsorship and help distribution of network programs. Blocks of one-hour programming of feature films to national sponsors on 128 stations was organized by Metro Astro Studios and Motion Telefilm Associates. Metro Astro Studios received 50 percent interest in MTA Film network after it sold its library to Motion Telefilm Associates. This gave 90 minutes of cleared time a week and syndicated feature films to 110 non-interconnected stations for sale to national sponsors.

In 2016, Metro Television Studios went defunct due to merged by Metro 21 into Metro 21 Television Studios

### **Buyout of Five Star**

John Briskly's Metro Astro Studios bought out the remaining assets of Five Star Television from Eddie Palton's Contract Video in 1996. Most of Five Star Television's library of programs are controlled by Metro Astro Pictures Television today. After Briskly's numerous buyouts during the buyout era of the eighties, Metro Communications had built up financial debts of $7 billion. The high levels of debt caused Brially to sell many of the Cowellan magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s.

## Music

Between 1933 and 1937, a custom record label called *Metro Moviereel* was produced starting at V-100 and running through V-136. It featured songs from Metro movies, first using material recorded and issued on Metro's Bluebird label and halfway through switched to material recorded and issued on LRC's dime store labels (Melotone, Perfect, etc.). These scarce records were sold only at Metro's Theaters.

Metro Music has been Metro's music arm since 2000. It encompasses music publishing and licensing businesses, dealing primarily with Metro Entertainment Group. television and film soundtracks.

In January 2009, Metro Music renamed into Metro Music Group.

Prior to Metro Music Group, Metro Astro Records was its music arm from 1958 to 1983.

## Radio

The *Metro Astro Productions Presents* radio series were broadcast between 1936 and 1942. More often than not, the shows were a radio preview featuring a medley of the songs and soundtracks from the latest movie being released into the theaters, much like the modern day movie trailers we now see on TV, to encourage folks to head down to their nearest Picture House.

The radio shows featured the original stars, with the announcer narrating a lead up that encapsulated the performance.

## Divisions

### **Metro Family**

Metro Family is family friendly production division of Metro Astro Pictures under president David Powers. Besides family friendly theatrical films, the division oversees mixed media (live-action with animation), family animated holiday television specials based on film properties and film features based on TV shows.

On October 30, 2017, Powers was transferred from him post as president of Metro Astro Pictures Animation, the prior Metro Family Films, to be president of a newly created Metro Astro Pictures division, Metro Family, which as a mandate similar to Metro Family Films. The division pick up supervision of a “Robert's Pizza” film and some existing deals with animation producers.

On June 5, 2022, Percy Dog and his elder sister, Ellie Dog celebrated their 100th anniversary together.

**Upcoming productions**

* an unnamed *Robert's Pizza* film (December 18, 2023)
* an upcoming *Fragile* prequel (April 25, 2024)
* *Motorcycle* 5 (June 12, 2024)
* The Gangsta's Paradise: 100 Years Later (February 27, 2025)

## Logo and fanfare

Metro Astro Pictures uses a well-known searchlight structure logo since 1925. Its fanfare was originally composed in 1925 by Alfred Newman, it used 20th Century Fox's fanfare. It was before 20th Century Fox was established. It was re-recorded in 1935 when Metro Astro Pictures was officially established.

The original layout of the logo was designed by special effects animator and matte painting artist Timmy Costal The logo was originally created as a matte painting on several layers of glass and animated frame-by-frame.

In 1952, Michael Manor, an artist at Pacific Title, was hired to recreate the original logo design for the new CinemaScope picture process. Alfred Newman also re-composed the logo's fanfare with an extension to be heard during the CinemaScope logo that would follow after the Fox logo for films made using the new lenses used from Metro Astro Pictures.

In Spring 1974, the 1935 fanfare was re-recorded and was used until 1989. The 1975 short fanfare first appeared in "Chasing Friendship” (1975).

On Summer 1981, Manor repainted and updated the logo design. The Metro fanfare was also re-orchestrated in 1981 used from 20th Century Fox fanfare.

In 1994, after a few failed attempts, Metro in-house television producer John Pation was hired to produce a new logo for the company, this time using the then-new process of computer-generated imagery (CGI) adding more detail and animation, with the longer 21-second Metro fanfare would be used as the underscore used Fox fanfare.

In 1997, Alfred's son David Newman recorded the new version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare to reopen the Newman Scoring Stage.

On March 11, 2005, A "100th anniversary" version of the logo was introduced to coincide with. Metro Astro Pictures' 100th anniversary the following year. It also has the 100th Anniversary fanfare.

In October 2009, a newly updated CGI logo produced by Yellow Sun Animation debuted.

The Metro Entertainment Group, the corporate successor to the old Metro Communications, used a logo incorporating a minimalist representation of the searchlights featured in the logo.

In May 30, 2023, a majestic super ultra newer updated CGI logo designed by the YouTuber James Atron (born 1994) (and animated at Yellow Sun Animation), it added the for 77 searchlight building, Fox Searchlight Metro Astro, 1994 staircase are mixed up. Added the real city signs, the logo has debut from *Wingate Dreams 2*. New fanfare mixed up with 1997 and others recorded by the Simba Lion Prince fanfare.