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Universal Studios is a famous " Hollywood" movie studio located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, which is in the San Fernando Valley.1 History
DVD cover showing characters made famous by Universal Studios. Elsa Lanchester from Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Claude Rains from The Invisible Man (1933), Bela Lugosi from Dracula (1931), Claude Rains from Phantom of the Opera (1943), "The Creature" from Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Boris Karloff from Frankenstein (1931), Lon Chaney Jr. from The Wolf ManThe Wolf Man is a 1941 horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Wagger, staring Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patrick Knowels, Bela Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. It introduced a character that s (1941) and Boris Karloff from The MummyThe Mummy is the title of: a 1932 movie starring Boris Karloff: see The Mummy (1932 movie) a 1959 movie starring Christopher Lee: see The Mummy (1959 movie) a 1999 movie starring Brendan Fraser: see The Mummy (1999 movie) a novel by Anne Rice: see The Mum (1932)
The studio was founded by GermanThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east immigrant Carl LaemmleThis article is about Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures. See also Carl Laemmle Jr. for an article about his son. Carl Laemmle ( January 17, 1867 September 24, 1939) was a founder of Universal Pictures, one of the original major Hollywood mov on June 8June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. Events 536 St. Silverius becomes Pope (probable date). 1776 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivieres American invaders are driven bac, 19121912 is a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar) Events January 1 Establishment of Republic of China. January 6 New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U. January 17 British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four begin the. In 1929, Carl Laemmle Jr. took over the helm and tried to lift the reputation of the low-budget company by spending more on production and talent. The Universal horror classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy were the result of this move, but they were not financially successful for the company, and they returned to mass-produced dreck for some time thereafter.
In 1952, the studio was acquired by the record company Decca, who then sold it to MCA in 1962. Universal finally began to prosper, with the leadership of Lew Wasserman . This also marked Universal's entry into the television programming business; MCA owned Revue Studios , one of the biggest TV studios in Hollywood, which at the time produced such hits as Leave It to Beaver, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Wagon Train. The studio was renamed Universal Television, and made its name producing crime dramas and action/adventure series, such as the 1960s Dragnet revival, Adam-12, Emergency!, Columbo, Baretta, Knight Rider, Quantum Leap, and Law & Order. Another television division, EMKA, Ltd., owns the rights to a majority of Paramount Pictures' pre-1950 film library.
Three decades of steady success, with the occasional blockbusters like Jaws and , seemed to poise the studio for great future potential. However, the era of huge media mergers that began in the 1980s and continued in the 1990s put pressure on the firm. Wasserman sought and shepherded an alliance with Matsushita Electric (parent of Panasonic and other brands). The cash infusion was helpful, but the corporate culture of the Japanese firm did not mesh easily with the headstrong old Hollywood veterans. Matsushita tired of the battle and sold a controlling share of the studio to the Seagram company in 1995.
Seagram went on to acquire Polygram and other entertainment properties in order to build a media empire centered on Universal, but stock prices never took off the way they expected. In 1998, Universal's TV studios were spun off to USA Networks, and renamed Studios USA; in 2002, Universal bought back USA's cable and studio holdings, thus reinstating the Universal Television name; Universal retained its pre-1998 TV back catalog through all of this period.
In June 2000, Universal was acquired by the French company Vivendi, now Vivendi Universal. During this period, the studio was under the leadership of Ron Meyer, Stacey Snider, and Barry Diller.
In October 2003, it was announced that Vivendi would be selling the majority of Universal's holdings (including the studio and theme parks) to General Electric, parent of television network (and longtime Universal Television customer) NBC. The merger cleared regulatory approval in April 2004, and closed on May 12, 2004. As of the closing, GE owns 80% of the combined NBC Universal, with the remaining 20% kept by Vivendi; Vivendi will have the option to sell its share starting in 2006. Vivendi Universal retained Universal Music Group and StudioCanal; there were rumors of Universal Music being up for sale during the early days of the NBC-Universal merger talks, but no solid deal ever surfaced.
