Media institutions AS

2. AS MEDIA STUDIES
OLIVIA SPENCER-PERKINS

3. Back in the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, the film
industry operated under the studio system. This means that certain companies
controlled practically the entire process of film making, from production to
distribution and exhibition. There were eight studios then, with five having fully
integrated conglomerates, a production studio, creative workers under long-term
exclusive contracts, distribution division and a wide network of theatre chains. These
five studios were 20th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures and
Warner Bros. There were three other companies that were considered to be major
studios, namely Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and United Artists, though they
had substantially smaller theatre chains.
These came to an end in 1948 when the set up was challenged in the Supreme Court
under anti-trust laws. Production was thereafter separated from distribution and
exhibition.
Still, the term studio system is being used up to now as reference to the outputs of
the different companies. Here is a list of the ten biggest Hollywood studios. The top
six are considered to be the major studios, while the last four, along with Relativity
Media and DreamWorks Animation, are considered as mini-majors that compete
directly with the majors, though they also sometimes work together to help with the
distribution of home videos and in the foreign market.

4. Sony is the conglomerate behind Sony
Pictures Entertainment. Its major
studio subsidiary is Columbia Pictures.
The company is also friendly to
independent producers with its own art
house division that is called Sony
Pictures Classics. The company, through
its distribution subsidiary called Screen
Gems, also backs genre and B movie
producers. With a 17% share of the
entire US and Canadian markets. Sony
is considered as the biggest studio
these days. It also owns companies and
prominent film brands like Tri Star
Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation,
Destination Films, Triumph Films, Stage
6 Films and Affirm Films.

5. Time Warner is a conglomerate that owns the second biggest share of
the combined markets of the US and Canada at 15.4%. Its parent division
is called Warner Bros. Entertainment, while it’s major studio subsidiary
is named Warner Bros Pictures.
It is also the owner of other
brands and divisions. Among
them are New Line Cinema,
Castle Rock Entertainment,
Turner Entertainment Co.,
Warner Bros. Animation and
DC Entertainment.

6. The Walt Disney Company controls about 14.3% of the entire North
American market. Its parent division is called The Walt Disney Studios.
Movie productions are done under its major studio subsidiary called Walt
Disney Pictures.
The Walt Disney
Company also owns
other important film
brands and divisions,
among them being
Lucas film, Marvel
Studios, Pixar,
Touchstone Pictures,
Walt Disney
Animation Studios
and Disney nature.

7. Viacom is the
conglomerate behind
the Paramount Motion
Pictures Group. Its
major studio
subsidiary is
Paramount Pictures,
while art house movies are released under the name of
Paramount Vantage.
It also has a company dedicated for B movies called In surge
Pictures. It has an 8.5% share of the entire North American
market. It also owns MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.

8. News Corporation is the outfit behind the Fox Entertainment
Group. The major studio subsidiary is 20th Century Fox, while
independent movies are distributed through its Fox Searchlight
Pictures. Other companies under News Corporation include Fox
Faith. 20th Century Fox
Animation, Blue Sky
Studios and Fox
Animation Studios. It
also has a minority
stake in New Regency
Productions. The
company owns a 10.6%
share of the US and
Canadian markets.

9. Viacom is the
conglomerate behind
the Paramount
Motion Pictures
Group. Its major
studio subsidiary is
Paramount Pictures, ,
while art house
movies are released
under the name of Paramount Vantage. It also has a company
dedicated for B movies called In surge Pictures. It has an 8.5%
share of the entire North American market. It also owns MTV
Films and Nickelodeon Movies.

10. Lions Gate Entertainment is the most successful studio not
based in Los Angeles. Established in 1997 by Frank Giustra, the
company is also the owner of Artisan Entertainment. It has
recently been renamed as Lions Gate and the studio is now also
the owner of Summit Entertainment,
the highest
earning mini
major studio
from 2009 to
2012. Lions Gate
also has a share
in Roadside
Attractions.

11. Harvey and Bob Weinstein
established The Weinstein
Company in 2005 after
leaving Miramax Films,
which they had helped
establish in 1979. It holds
the right to Dimension
Films, an outfit that the
brothers regularly use for
genre movies.
While it had a hit back in 2007 with the movie called “1408,” it
then experienced a dry spell of two years without scoring a
blockbuster. Their long relationship with Quentin Tarantino has
helped the outfit turn around its fortunes, with the success of
the director’s 2009 movie “Inglorious Bastards” considered as a
watershed moment for the company.

12. MGM has downgraded itself
from being a major studio into
a minor media company that
distributes films and television
content.
It fully owns United Artists after it bought out the shares of Tom
Cruise and Paula Wagner. It still owns the rights to the franchise
of the James Bond movies. Its home video and overseas
theatrical products are distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Columbia Pictures, on the other hand, has helped distribute the
first two Bond movies that starred Daniel Craig, with its mother
company Sony helping out in subsequent releases.

13. Steven Spielberg,
Jeffrey Katzenberg
and David Geffen
established
DreamWorks in 1994.
Though not a full-
service studio,
DreamWorks arranges
for the production
and financing of
movies.
It then ties up with one of the majors for help in the
distribution. It actually had a brief stint as part of the Viacom
group, but it became independent again after over two years.
The Reliance ADA Group of India currently backs the company.
Katzenberg has since completely divested from the company
and now runs a separate studio called DreamWorks Animation.