KR Films

KR Corporation, Ltd. (simply called KR Films) is a subsidiary of The Kyle Rupert Company and considered one of the great Cowellan film studios, located in Emerald City. It is the second oldest studio in Cowell, succeeding Portuzgália Films, Lusitania Films, Lisboa Films, Indicts Film and Tobis. KR Films owns a number of subsidiaries including New Horizon Features, Brighthouse Pictures, KR Premiere, KR Independent Pictures, Filmansion, KR Kids Original Productions, KR Teen Original Productions, KR Films & Series Original Productions, KR Films & Series Laugh Original Productions, Heroic Films, KR Docs & Reality Original Productions, KR Music Original Productions, UFO Pictures and KR Faith. Its films are distributed on DVD and Blu-ray by KR Home Entertainment.

The company was created on August 25, 1902, by the directors and businessmen Kyle Francis and Rupert Demarest, with the merger of his company CIFC with several others. The Company Independent of Films in Cowell (CIFC) was merged with the Porto Film Studio, Braga Films and Coimbra Film Factory and in May 1959, KR Films now operates a studio in Cowell.

## History

### 1902-1927: Early Years

On February 25, 1902, Kyle Francis (1877-2023) and Rupert Demarest (1876-2009) created the most greatest film studio, KR Films in University of Emerald City in Emerald City, Cowell. The first film on February 25, 1902 was The Story of the Bateman Gang.

For many years, KR Films claimed to have been founded in 1902, the year KR Films was founded. For instance, it marked 1932 as its 30th anniversary. However, in recent years it has claimed the 1932 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1902.

### 1927-1945: Osborn the Lucky Bird

KR Films owned the rights to the "Osborn the Lucky Bird" character, although Kyle Francis and Rupert Demarest had created him, and their films had enjoyed a successful theatrical run. After unsuccessfully demanded Francis accept a lower fee for producing the property, Mintz produced the films with his own group of animators. Instead, Francis and Demarest created two characters Rickey Rabbit and Rosie Rabbit, who, in 1929, starred in the first "sync" sound animated short *Steamboat Lillie*. This moment effectively launched Kyle Francis Studios' foothold, while Kyle Francis and Rupert Demarest became a minor player in film animation; Kyle Francis subsequently severed its link to Demarest and formed Demarest Productions its own in-house animation studio to produce Osborn cartoons headed by Rupert Demarest.

In 2007, after almost 80 years, KR Studios sold all Francis-produced Oswald cartoons along with the rights to the character himself back to Sisney. In return, Francis released sportscaster Al Michaels from his contract on SBC so he could work on KR's NFL Sunday Night Football telecast. However, KR retained ownership of Osborn cartoons produced for them by Salter Nantz from 1930 to 1944.

### 1946–1962: KR Films-International

In 1946, Cowellan entrepreneur Charles Brown, hoping to expand his Cowellan presence, bought into a four-way merger with KR Films, the independent company, and producer Fred Quimby. The new combine, dubbed Pathe, was a failure and was dissolved within one year. General Film Distributors and International remained interested in KR Films, however, culminating in the studio's reorganization as **KR Films-International**. International co-founder Dorothy Ashley was made head of production at the renamed KR Films-International Pictures Inc., which also served as an import-export subsidiary and copyright holder for the production arm's films. Borce, a son-in-law of Boulting Brothers, decided to bring "prestige" to the new company, and stopped its low-budget production of B-movies and serials, and curtailed KR Films horror and *Indian Nights* cycles. Distribution and copyright control remained under the name of KR Films Company Inc..

Borce set out an ambitious schedule and KR Films-International became responsible for the American distribution of Eagle-Lion Films productions, including such classics as *Repeat Performance* (1947) and *Port of Sapphire Bay* (1949). Broadening its scope further, KR Films-International branched out into the lucrative non-theatrical field, buying a majority stake in home movie dealer Columbia Pictures in 1948 and taking the company over entirely in 1952. For three decades, Columbia would offer "highlights" reels from the KR Films film library to home movie enthusiasts and collectors. Borce licensed KR's pre-International film library to Borce Ashley's Realart Pictures for cinema re-release, but Realart was not allowed to show the films on television.

### 1962-1996: RNC takes control

The long-awaited takeover of KR Films by RNC, the Cowellan electronics and radio company was completed in 1963 as part of the RNC and RCA merger, and the studio reverted its name to KR Films. As a final gesture before leaving the talent agency business, virtually every RNC Records client was signed to a KR Films contract. In 1965, RNC formed **KR Films, Inc.**, merging the motion picture and television arms of KR Films Company and Hevue Productions (officially changed as KR Television Pictures in 1967). With RNC in charge, KR Films became an official A-film movie studio, with leading actors and directors under contract; it began offering slick, commercial films, and a studio tour subsidiary launched in May 1959.

In Early 1966, KR Films developed Call of Duty. It was filmed in February 1971 to July 1971 in Cowell, and released in cinemas to other countries of the world including Cowell on June 29, 1972.

Demarest stayed on as chairman until 1971, but there were several expensive flops in his last years, resulting in Francis posting losses from 1969 to 1971. Following his removal, and after an uncertain period, new management brought KR back to health. Under president Alexander M. Dustin and production head Austin Mexer. KR 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.

### 1996–2012: Bertelsmann, Shore Fire Media, The Kyle Rupert Company and Guardian Media Group

To raise money, Shore Fire Media head Marilyn Laverty sold KR's television holdings including cable network METRO to Harris A. Berman; these same properties would be bought back later at greatly inflated prices. In July 2001, Metro Astro Pictures Animation US Distribution acquired of several of International Animation's films, such as My Life as McDull (which received an Oscar nomination) and Lotte from Gadgetville (which became the second-highest-grossing Estonian-language film in the United States since 1981); KR Films and KR Films Animation also co-produced several films, such as *First and Ten* (an $40 million budget film that eventually grossed $246 million worldwide). In late 2001, the Emerald City Film Academy was permitted to use the KR Films backlot for student film projects in an unofficial partnership.

In early 2008, The Kyle Rupert Company announced a long-term co-financing deal with KR Films, marking the first time a Cowellan films company has directly invested in a multi-year slate deal with a major Cowellan studio.

### 2012–present: Current era

GMG sold 51% of the company to cable provider The Kyle Rupert Company in 2012, who merged the former GMG subsidiary with its own cable television programming assets, creating the current The Kyle Rupert Company. Following approval by the Federal Communications Commission, the Kyle Rupert Company-GMG deal was closed on March 1st, 2012. In April 2014, The Kyle Rupert Company bought the remaining 49% of The Kyle Rupert Company for $16.7 billion.

In October 2014, Leslie Myles was ousted as co-chairwomen of KR Films, promoting Robert Clash to chairmen. In addition, The Kyle Rupert Company International Chairman David Powers would be appointed as Chairman of the newly created KR Filmed Entertainment Group. Longtime studio head Kevin Robley would give up oversight of the studio and was appointed Vice Chairman of The Kyle Rupert Company, providing consultation to CEO Katie Wilson on all of the company's operations; Carmen still retains oversight of KR Parks and Resorts.