2. Hammer Film Productions
TYPE: Production company
INDUSTRY: Film production
FOUNDED: 1934
HEADQUARTER: London, United
Kingdom
KEY PEOPLE: Simon Oakes
PARENT: Exclusive Media
3. • Hammer Films is a film production company based in the UK.
Founded in 1934. They are best known for their series of Gothic
work. They also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and
comedies. In the later years they also produced television series.
• Hammer horror dominated the horror film market in its most
successful years, enjoying worldwide distribution and financial
success. This was due to their distribution partnership with major
United States studios, such as Warner Bros.
• However, during the 1960s and 1970s the saturation horror film
market by competitors and then loss of American funding forced
changes to Hammer films. The company ceased production in the
mid 1980s. In 2000 the company was bought by a consortium.
4. • During 1951, Hammer and Exclusive signed a 4 year
production and distribution contract with Robert Lippert, an
American film producer.
• In 1955 Hammer films adaption of Nigel Kneale’s BBC
Television science fiction serial ‘The Quatermass
Experiment’ was unexpectedly a big hit.
• In 1958, there was huge box office success of ‘The curse of
Frankenstein’ which led to the inevitable desire for a sequel
in the Revenge of Frankenstein.
• Dracula was an enormous access, breaking box office
records in the UK.
• During the period of 1955-1959, Hammer produced a
number of other, non horror films and comedies.
