Research into institutions and distributors

Universal studios:

Universal pictures is a subsidiary of NBC universal, it is one of the six major movie studios. It was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle; it is the oldest American movie studio that is still in continuous production. The next oldest would be Paramount Pictures. On May 11th, 2003, the controlling stake in the company was sold by Vivendi Universal to General Electric who are the parents of NBC. This resulted in a media super-conglomerate which was renamed as NBC Universal. Universal Studios inc however still kept its name. Universal studios not only owned a sizable film library spanning the earliest decades of cinema to more contemporary works but also owns a sizable collections of TV shows through its subsidiary NBC Universal Television Distribution. It also managed to acquire right to several prominent filmmakers’ works that were originally released by other studios through its subsidiaries over the years.

Universal studios have been quite successful over the years as they have come up with film hits like ‘Jaws’. ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘back to the future’ and ‘E.T. the extra terrestrial’.

Link to Universal Studio's Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAR49CWiEjY&feature=related

Paramount Pictures:

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production/distribution company located in Hollywood. It was founded in 1912 and is currently owned by media conglomerate Viscom, it is the second oldest existing film studio in America. It is also the last major film studio that is still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures is continuously ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) movie studios.

Paramount Pictures has been quite successful over the years as they have come up with film hits such as ‘iron man’ and ‘paranormal activity 2’.

Link to Paramount Pictures Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Uz_FtGwMo

20th century fox:

20 century fox or the fox film corporation is one of the six major American film studios as of 2011. It is located in the Century City area of Los Angeles. The company was formed on May 31st, 1935 as a result of the merger of ‘Fox Film Corporation’ (which was founded by William Fox in 1915) and ‘Twentieth Century Pictures’ (which was founded by Darryl F Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz). Fox had formed the ‘Fox Film Corporation’ by merging two companies he had established in 1913 (‘the Greater New York film rental’ and ‘Fox Office Attractions Company’). The Greater New York Film Rental Company was a distribution company where as the Fox Office Attractions Company was a production company.

20th Century Fox has produced film hits such as ‘The A-Team’, ‘Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son’ and ‘X Men: First Class’.

Link to 20th Century Fox intro:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDdYlyLRoI&feature=related

Warner Bros:

Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Wonskolaser founded the Warner Bro’s company on the 4th April 1923. Warner Bro’s is one of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York. Warner Bros has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros Studios, Warner Bros Pictures, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros Television, Warner Bros Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Warner Bros has produced films hits such as ‘The Book of Eli’, ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows- Part 1’ and ‘The Hangover Part 2’.

Link to Warner Bro's:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnBbcnPNEus

Revolver entertainment:

Revolver entertainment is a marketing-lead, all rights film distribution company that was founded in 1917. It has operations in both London and Los Angeles. One thing that revolver is well-known for would be the promotional stunts that they host. Examples of this would be the Zombie gathering in Leicester Square, in which they tried to beat the world record for this as a promotional stunt for their film ‘The Zombie Diaries’. Another example would be the fact that they were superimposing the facers of political leaders onto Kidulthood billboards in London. One of their most recent successes would be the action thriller Shank. Revolver entertainment films are usually distributed by Magnolia home entertainment.