Universal Pictures facts for kids
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Trade name
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Universal Pictures |
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Formerly
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List
Universal Film Manufacturing Company (1912–1923)
Universal Pictures Corporation (1923–1936) Universal Productions, Inc. (1936–1937) Universal Pictures Company, Inc. (1937–1963) Universal Pictures, Inc. (1963–1964) Universal City Studios, Inc. (1964–1996) Universal Studios Inc. (1996–2014) |
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| Industry | Film |
| Predecessor | Independent Moving Pictures |
| Founded | April 30, 1912 |
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| Headquarters | 10 Universal City Plaza,
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U.S.
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Number of locations
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3 |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Products | Motion pictures |
| Revenue |  US$11.622 billion (2022) |
| Parent | Universal Studios |
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Universal Pictures is a very old and famous American company. It makes and shares movies. It's part of Universal Studios, which is owned by Comcast.
The company was started in 1912 by Carl Laemmle and several other people. This makes Universal the oldest movie studio still around in the United States. It's also the fifth oldest in the whole world!
Universal has made many popular movies. Some of its most successful movie series are Fast & Furious, Jurassic Park, and Despicable Me. They also made classic films like Jaws and E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Both of these movies were the highest-earning films of their time.
Contents
The Start of Universal Pictures
Universal was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, and a few other people. Carl Laemmle first bought some small movie theaters called nickelodeons.
Back then, a company called the "Edison Trust" tried to control all movies. They made theaters pay fees to show their films. Laemmle and other theater owners didn't like this. So, they decided to make their own movies instead.
In 1909, Laemmle started a company called Independent Moving Pictures (IMP). He was one of the first to give actors credit for their work. Before this, actors were not named in movies. By naming stars like Florence Lawrence, he helped create the idea of movie stars.
The Universal Film Manufacturing Company officially started on April 30, 1912. It was a merger of several smaller movie companies. Laemmle became the president. Universal became a "vertically integrated" company. This means it handled everything: making movies, sharing them, and showing them in theaters.
By the end of 1912, Universal moved its movie-making to the Hollywood area.
Universal City Studios Opens
On March 15, 1915, Carl Laemmle opened Universal City Studios. This was the world's largest movie production place at the time. It was built on a big farm near Hollywood.
Unlike other movie studio bosses, Laemmle let tourists visit his studio. Universal became the biggest studio in Hollywood for ten years. It mostly made movies for smaller towns. These were often inexpensive dramas, westerns, and serials (movies shown in parts).
In 1916, Universal started a system to brand its movies. This helped theater owners and audiences know what kind of movie they were getting.
- Red Feather Photoplays were low-budget films.
- Bluebird Photoplays were more mainstream movies.
- Jewel movies were high-budget films with famous actors.
Some famous directors like John Ford and Lois Weber (one of the few women directors) made "Jewel" films. Later, the most expensive films were called "Super-Jewel" productions.
Laemmle was careful with money and didn't own many theaters. He also paid for all his films himself, without borrowing money. This almost caused problems when director Erich von Stroheim spent too much on his films. But Universal used clever ads to attract moviegoers.
Lon Chaney was a popular actor for Universal in the 1910s. He starred in famous Universal horror films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).
In the early 1920s, Laemmle put Irving Thalberg in charge of movie production. Thalberg made Universal's movies better quality. But he later left to work for another studio. Without Thalberg, Universal became a less important studio for many years.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Other Cartoons
In 1927, Universal wanted to make cartoons again. They hired Charles Mintz to produce 26 "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" cartoons. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created Oswald and animated the first cartoons.
The Oswald cartoons were very popular. But Mintz tried to make Disney accept less money. So, Mintz took most of Disney's animators to work for his own studio. Disney and Iwerks then secretly created Mickey Mouse.
Universal later started its own animation studio. Walter Lantz led this studio, and it later created the famous character Woody Woodpecker in 1940.
In 2006, Universal's parent company, NBCUniversal, sold the Disney-animated Oswald cartoons and the character rights back to The Walt Disney Company.
The Laemmle Family and Horror Films
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In 1928, Carl Laemmle Sr. made his son, Carl Jr., the head of Universal Pictures. Carl Sr. was known for hiring many of his relatives. People even called him "Uncle Carl."
Carl Jr. wanted to modernize Universal. He built new theaters and updated the studio for sound movies. He also tried to make more high-quality films. One of his early successes was All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), which won an Oscar for Best Picture.
Carl Jr. also created a special type of movie for Universal: horror films. These movies became very famous and lasted into the 1940s. Some of the most well-known are Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), and The Invisible Man (1933).
The Laemmles Lose Control
Carl Jr.'s spending to make better films was risky during the Great Depression. Universal had to borrow money for a big movie called Show Boat (1936). The Laemmle family's ownership of Universal was used as a guarantee for the loan.
The movie went over budget. Universal couldn't pay back the loan, so the company that lent the money took control of the studio in 1936. The Laemmles were removed from the company they had started.
After the Laemmles left, the new owners cut movie budgets. But a young singer named Deanna Durbin became a big star for Universal. Her movie Three Smart Girls (1936) was a huge hit and helped save the studio financially.
By the early 1940s, Universal focused on making lower-budget movies. These included westerns, dramas, and sequels to their popular horror films. They also signed popular radio stars like W. C. Fields and the comedy team Abbott and Costello. Abbott and Costello's movie Buck Privates (1941) made them famous around the world.
Universal also borrowed famous directors like Alfred Hitchcock for films like Saboteur (1942) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943).
Universal International and Decca Records
In 1946, Universal merged with another company, International Pictures, and was renamed Universal-International. The goal was to make more "prestige" films. They stopped making many low-budget movies and horror films.
However, many of their new films didn't do well at the box office. So, the studio went back to making popular, less expensive films. Movies like Ma and Pa Kettle (1949) and Francis (1950) (about a talking mule) became popular. Abbott and Costello's films, like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), were also big hits.
In 1952, Decca Records took full control of Universal. In the 1950s, Universal-International had success with monster and science fiction films. They also made popular dramas starring actors like Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis.
A big change happened when agent Lew Wasserman made a deal for his client James Stewart. Stewart got a share of the profits from his movies instead of a large salary. This idea became common in Hollywood and helped Universal.
MCA Takes Over Universal
In the late 1950s, the movie business was changing. More people were watching television. MCA, a big talent agency, bought Universal's studio lot in 1958. MCA started to have a big influence on Universal's movies.
In 1962, MCA officially took over Universal Pictures. Universal became a major movie studio again, making many high-quality films with famous actors and directors. In 1964, they also launched a popular studio tour for visitors.
Television production became a huge part of Universal's work. They made many TV shows, especially for NBC. Universal also helped popularize the idea of "made-for-television movies."
In the 1970s, Universal teamed up with Paramount Pictures to share films outside the US and Canada. Universal had big movie hits like Airport (1970), The Sting (1973), and the huge success Jaws (1975).
Other popular films from this time include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Back to the Future (1985), and Jurassic Park (1993).
New Owners and Expansions
In 1990, a Japanese electronics company called Matsushita Electric bought MCA (Universal's parent company). In 1996, the company changed its name to Universal Studios, Inc., and Universal Pictures became a division of it.
Universal Pictures also started working with other film companies. They acquired rights to films from StudioCanal, like Mulholland Drive (2001). They also co-produced films like Love Actually (2003).
In 2013, Universal made a deal with Legendary Pictures to distribute their films for five years.
In 2016, Universal's parent company, NBCUniversal, bought DreamWorks Animation. This meant Universal would distribute DreamWorks films starting in 2019, including How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
In 2019, Universal Pictures began talks to distribute future movies based on Lego toys.
Universal's Film Library
Universal Pictures has a huge collection of movies. Besides its own films, it also releases movies from the EMKA, Ltd. catalog, which includes many old Paramount Pictures films.
Popular Movie Series
Universal has been behind many famous movie series over the years.
- Universal Monsters (1931–1956)
- Abbott and Costello (1940–1955)
- Woody Woodpecker (1940–present)
- Jaws (1975–1987)
- Back to the Future (1985–1990)
- Jurassic Park (1993–present)
- American Pie (1999–2020)
- Fast & Furious (2001–present)
- Despicable Me (2010–present)
- The Purge (2013–present)
- The Secret Life of Pets (2016–present)
- Sing (2016–present)
- How to Train Your Dragon (2019–present)
- Trolls (2020–2023)
- Shrek (2022–present)
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023–present)
Highest-Grossing Films
Universal was the first studio to release three movies that earned over a billion dollars in one year. This happened in 2015 with Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Minions.
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‡ Includes theatrical reissue(s).
Images for kids
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Poster for Ivanhoe (1913)
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Share of the Deutsche Universal-Film AG, issued March 4, 1930
See also
In Spanish: Universal Pictures para niños
- DreamWorks
- Woody Woodpecker
