UNIVERSAL STUDIOS Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures), is an American motion

picture studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned

subsidiary NBCUniversal and is one of the six major movie studios. Its production

studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California.

Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City.

It was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann,

Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and Jules Brulatour.

Universal studios is the oldest movie studios in United States of America. In

addition to owning a sizable film library spanning the earliest decades of cinema

to more contemporary works, it also owns a sizable collection of TV shows through

its subsidiary NBCUniversal Television Distribution. It also acquired rights to

several prominent filmmakers' works originally released by other studios through

its subsidiaries over the years.

Universal’s theatrical slate includes films developed internally, along with co-

productions, acquisitions, and films developed by outside partners and distributed

by the studio.

Universal also produces, acquires, and distributes direct-to-DVD titles, classic titles

from the Universal library, consumer products (across all traditional categories, as

well as interactive and wireless platforms), and specialty motion pictures under

Focus Features. Through its international production group, the studio partners

with leading international film companies to make and acquire films for wide

commercial release or distribution in specific countries For almost a century, Universal has been known for its diverse slate of films.

These include classics such as Jaws, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, the Jurassic Park

series, and Mamma Mia!; high-concept comedies like Bruce Almighty, The 40-

Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up; and homegrown franchises such as Back to the

Future, Meet the Parents, Fast and Furious, and Bourne.

Production The Universal Film Studios own a unit for film production. The unit is

divided into different companies based in various countries all over the

world. Listed below are those companies.

1) Focus Features

It’s a subsidiary of Universal Pictures Division of NBCUniversal. It was founded in

1992 by Gramercy productions. Focus acts as both a producer and distributor for

its own films and distributor of foreign films.

2) Working Title Films

It is a British film production company, based in London, owned by Universal

studios. It produces feature films and several television productions. Some

famous films under its production are Les Miserables (2010), Johnny English

Reborn (2010), Nanny McPhee (2010), Thunderbirds (2004) and Bridget Jone’s

Diary (2001).

3) Illumination Entertainment

It’s an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007.

It has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal

Studios and it is based in Santa Monica, California. The company is best known for

its 2010 animated feature Despicable Me, which was the first film by the

company. Its sequel, Despicable Me 2 was released on July 3, 2013, and its spin-

off Minions is set for release on July 10, 2015. Despicable me 2 marks the first

time that the company made a sequel.

4) Universal Animation Studios

It’s an American animation Studio which is a division of Universal

Studios, part of NBCUniversal, subsidiary of Comcast. The actual

animation production is done overseas, most notably by either Wang

Film Productions or Rough Draft Studios, with pre-production and post-

production being based in the United States of America.

5) Legendary Pictures

It’s an American film production company based in Burbank, California. The

company co-produce and co-finance films with Warner Bros. Following the

expiration date of that deal in 2014, Legendary will begin the same work now with

Universal Studios.

Distribution Universal Pictures creates and distributes theatrical and non-theatrical filmed

entertainment for a growing global marketplace. Universal’s content is released

across traditional and digital distribution channels, including theatrical exhibition,

physical and electronic home entertainment, pay and free television, and

subscription on-demand services.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Universal Studios Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home

Video, MCA/Universal Home Video and MCA Home Video) is the home

video distribution division of Universal Pictures. The company is owned

by NBCUniversal, the entertainment division of Comcast. This company was the

video distributor for DreamWorks title until DreamWorks was sold to Paramount

Pictures’ Parent company, Viacom, in 2006, at which point paramount took over

distribution. After Viacom stopped working with DreamWorks in 2008, Universal

Studios Home Entertainment was planned to resume distributing DreamWorks

movies but this deal wasn’t signed. In addition to DVD’s, Universal was the major

supporter of the HD DVD format until March 2008. Since July 2008, Universal

released Blu-ray discs; it was the first major Hollywood studio to do so.

Universal is the video distributor for Summit Entertainment releases (but instead

shows Summit’s logo on all releases) and Open Road film releases.

SOURCES http://www.nbcuni.com/film/universal-pictures/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_Features

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Title_Films

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illumination_Entertainment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Animation_Studios

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_Pictures

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Studios_Home_Entertai

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