Paramount+’s new service, Paramount+, will add even more Nickelodeon programming to its content library in October 2021. This include shows like “The most fun you’ll ever have, date night”, “Bored with the school shootings?”, and “Iconic series that will make you feel old”.
Brian Robbins is President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and Chief Content Officer, of Movies and Kids & Family, Paramount+.
The company went public in 1919 and began producing more highly regarded films. It produced a series of film adaptations of the popular Broadway plays that were produced by the Lasky organization, including The Front Page (1928) and The Petrified Forest (1929). In 1928 Famous Players-Lasky bought Loew’s Motion Picture Company, which included Loew’s Paradise Theater in New York City and other theaters nationwide. Loew’s was one of the largest theater chains in the country. In 1929 it merged with First National Pictures Corporation to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation (MGM), a powerful film studio that was then among the most important in Hollywood.
During this period, Zukor wanted to expand his company into motion pictures that were more adult than those of his competitors. His first attempt to do so was with the production of a film called Quo Vadis (1951), which starred Anna Maria Alberghetti and Peter Ustinov. It was an adaptation of the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz and featured cowboys, Indians, and Roman soldiers in an action-packed story. It was not a box office success, but it did have some critical success.
Paramount Pictures Studio
In the mid-1920s Zukor purchased control of the Independent Moving Pictures (IMP) Corporation, which owned Eagle Film Company and Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. He renamed it Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in 1926; he also renamed the company Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1927 after he had purchased all of its shares. The following year he added to his holdings by purchasing Adolph Zukor’s other company, Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. In 1929 he merged these companies into one, Paramount Famous Studios (later known as Paramount Pictures Corporation), which was renamed Paramount Pictures in 1935.
Paramount Pictures was the leading Hollywood studio for over a decade, but it was not until the late 1930s that the company really began to dominate the industry. During this period it produced such films as The Big Parade (1925), The Ten Commandments (1923), and Wings (1927). In 1929 Zukor purchased Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, which included Goldwyn Studios and Goldwyn Theater. He merged these two companies into one, forming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, a powerful film studio that was then among the most important in Hollywood.
Paramount Pictures
Founded by Adolph Zukor in 1918 at 1 West 52nd Street in New York City, Paramount Pictures became one of America’s leading production companies by the 1920s. It went on to produce such popular films as Grand Hotel (1932) starring Greta Garbo; Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), starring Clark Gable; and Gone With the Wind (1939), a huge box office success.
In 1926 Zukor purchased control of Independent Moving Pictures Corporation, which owned Eagle Film Company and Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. He renamed it Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in 1927, and he also renamed the company Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1927 after he had purchased all of its shares. The following year he added to his holdings by purchasing Adolph Zukor’s other company, Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. In 1929 he merged these companies into one, Paramount Famous Studios (later known as Paramount Pictures Corporation), which was renamed Paramount Pictures in 1935.
Theatrical Distribution
Theatrical distribution has been a major part of the film industry since its inception: films were first shown to paying audiences at theaters for which they had been produced. In the beginning, film producers were responsible for distributing their films to theaters. For example, in 1910 Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures, had a contract with Thomas Edison’s National Electric Light Company (NELCO) whereby he was allowed to show his films at NELCO’s nickelodeons. This arrangement was not very satisfactory to either party: Edison did not want his films shown at other theaters and did everything possible to prevent them from being shown; while Laemmle wanted to distribute his films through a distribution company.
In the early 1900s, several film companies began to distribute their own films. The first such company was Biograph, founded in New York City by Dickson “Dixey” Hodder in October 1896. Biograph initially distributed its own films through its own theater chain; but it later formed an alliance with Marcus Loew’s Independent Motion Picture Company (IMP), which operated more than 200 theaters. The Biograph-IMP alliance was an important step in the development of film distribution because it allowed the two companies to share profits on a more equitable basis and to pool resources in an effort to build a nationwide distribution system.
In 1905 the Biograph-IMP alliance was expanded by forming the Biograph Company, which became the first chain of movie theaters. In 1907 Loew’s Consolidated Pictures Corporation (Loew’s) purchased control of IMPA, and by 1912 it controlled more than 250 theaters. Loew’s also owned Vitagraph Studios and distributed its films through its own chain of theaters. Another competitor was Triangle Film Corporation, founded by David Horsley in 1907; Triangle operated a chain of theaters and also distributed its own films through a series of independent distributors.
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