Paramount Pictures facts for kids
Formerly
|
|
---|---|
Subsidiary | |
Industry | Film |
Founded | May 8, 1912 |
Founders | William Wadsworth Hodkinson Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky |
Headquarters | 5555 Melrose Avenue, , |
Area served
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Worldwide |
Key people
|
Jim Gianopulos (Chairman & CEO) |
Products | Motion pictures |
Parent | Viacom |
Divisions |
List of divisions
Current:
Paramount Home Media Distribution Paramount Digital Entertainment Paramount Famous Productions Paramount Animation Paramount Players Paramount Television MTV Films Nickelodeon Movies Comedy Central Films BET Films United International Pictures (50%) Former: Insurge Pictures Paramount Parks Paramount Stations Group Paramount Vantage |
Paramount Pictures is a production and distribution company. It is the oldest movie studio in the United States. It has been in existence for 100 years. Paramount is owned by media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount is one of the Big Six movie studios
History
Paramount Pictures Inc. can trace its beginnings to the creation in May, 1912 of the Famous Players Film Company. Organized in 1914 by a Utah theater owner, W. W. Hodkinson, Paramount Pictures was the first successful nationwide distributor. Until this time, movies were sold on a statewide or regional basis. This was inefficient and costly to producers.
In 1916, Adolph Zukor created a three-way merger of his Famous Players Film Company, Jesse L. Lasky's Lasky Feature Play Company, and Paramount. The new company was called Famous Players-Lasky and grew quickly. Lasky ran the production side. Hiram Abrams was in charge of distribution and Zukor handled the business side of the company.
In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took on the name Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation. Three years later, because of the importance of the Publix theater chain, it was later known as Paramount-Publix Corporation. The company went into bankruptcy in 1933. When the company emerged from bankruptcy, it was known as Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Paramount Pictures had been an early supporter of television. It created stations in 1939 in Los Angeles (later to become KTLA) and Chicago's WBKB.
Film
- Nickeldeon Movies (1996-2016)
- DreamWorks Animation (2006-2012)
- Walt Disney Animation Studios (1996-2014)
- Pixar Animation Studios (1998-2016)
- DisneyToon Studios (2002-2008)
From the 1980s to the present day
Paramount's successful run of lightweight pictures in the 1980s and 1990s created hits like Flashdance, the Friday the 13th series; Raiders of the Lost Ark, Beverly Hills Cop and the Star Trek features.
In 1993, entertainment conglomerate Viacom made a bought Paramount.
Paramount is the last major movie studio located in Hollywood. Other studios such as Warner Brothers and Columbia moved to Burbank, California.
On December 11, 2005, Paramount said it had purchased DreamWorks SKG in a deal worth $1.6 billion. On February 1, 2006, the studio announced that the DreamWorks acquisition was completed.
In March 2010, Paramount started Insurge Pictures, a low-budget label.
Images for kids
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Detail of Publix Theatre logo on what is now Indiana Repertory Theatre.
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For its 90th anniversary, Paramount adopted the logo shown here. In 2012, it was used in tandem with the current one. This picture shows the 2010 modification of the logo, which includes Viacom's revised byline introduced in 2006. The first film to use the revised Viacom byline was Iron Man 2.
See also
In Spanish: Paramount Pictures para niños