Indeed, there’s no business like show business. While it’s true that finding success in the entertainment industry guarantees you a fat pay check for every project and more than enough money for you to live in style for the rest of your days, it’s not without its consequences. It comes with long filming hours away from loved ones. Yet more days and months promoting your movie away from family. And it can eventually lead to the disintegration of many relationships in Hollywood. We aren’t even surprised anymore when we see a news headline of our favorite actors and actresses ending their marriages.
The movie studios are not spared from intrigue and politics either. At the end of the day, show business is just business. Regardless of friendships, rifts, and reconciliations, the bottom line of the film industry is always the same: bring in the dough. Joining the industry is a risk that many are willing to take for the sake of a couple of million bucks. So long as they have their priorities set, they can have it all, thanks to the movie studios that make it all possible.
14 Open Road Films (approx. $152 million)
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Perhaps the newest player in the game, Open Road Films is an infant compared to the other film studios that have been around for almost a century. Founded in 2011 and based in Los Angeles, it has released many financially successful films such as A Haunted House parts 1 and 2, The Nut Job, and Nightcrawler. Its titles are distributed in the home entertainment market by Universal Studios Home Entertainment and the studio has likewise signed a deal with Netflix.
13 Dreamworks SKG (approx. $180 million)
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Despite being a relatively young studio, Dreamworks SKG still makes it to the list, simply because it’s backed by such bigwigs as Walt Disney Studios and Touchstone Pictures, both of which market and distribute the studio’s films. More importantly, it was founded by none other than media mogul and acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, whose name is a brand equity in itself. Dreamworks has been behind such blockbuster hits as the Shrek franchise and naturally, many of Spielberg’s movies, like Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, and Catch Me If You Can.
12 The Weinstein Company (approx. $181 million)
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After movie moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein bid adieu to their baby, Miramax Films, the two brothers decided to set up their own movie outfit called The Weinstein Company. They established it in 2005 and today, it’s considered one of the most profitable mini-major film studios in North America. In its 10-year existence, The Weinstein Company has been responsible for several films that did well in the box office, like the Scary Movie and Scream franchises, as well as critically successful films as The King’s Speech and Django Unchained.
11 Lionsgate Films (approx. $420 million)
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While most of the biggest Hollywood studios were created and based in the United States, Lionsgate Films’ origins can be traced to Canada. It was formed in 1962 in Montreal under the name Cinepix Film Properties, then renamed to Lionsgate Films in 1998 in Vancouver. However, the company’s headquarters are based in Los Angeles, due to its proximity to Hollywood. The movie that put the company on the media map was American Psycho in 2000 and today, its biggest cash cows are the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises.
9 Paramount Pictures (approx. $882 million)
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It’s almost as old as Hollywood itself, having been founded in 1912. Today, it’s considered America’s oldest running film studio and has set records by being the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in strictly digital-form. It has created such classics from Hollywood’s Golden Age of films, like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sabrina, and Rear Window. Paramount’s highest grossing film has remained to this day Titanic, followed by the second and third Transformers films in the franchise.
7 Universal Pictures (approx. $956 million)
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It’s the world’s fourth oldest running film studio, having been born in 1912 under the name Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Today, it’s one of the big six film studios in the United States and rightly so. It has created some of the most bankable box office hits in movie history, such as Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Despicable Me 2, and Furious 7. An added bonus for movie lovers is the company’s Universal Studios theme park, which features attractions from many of its blockbuster hits.
6 Columbia Pictures (approx. $1.18 billion)
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It’s a division of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, but its name and tenure in the entertainment industry can speak for itself. Columbia Pictures was established in 1918 by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and the former’s best friend, Joe Brandt. The studio eventually became known as the home of the screwball comedy, producing many romantic comedies by late greats like Cary Grant and Lucille Ball. It survives today thanks to Sony and its most recent successful films are the Men in Black franchise, Da Vinci Code, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
5 Warner Brothers Pictures (approx. $1.3 billion)
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It’s not quite as antiquated as Paramount and Universal, but it’s no less prestigious or successful. Warner Brothers Pictures officially opened for business in 1923 and was the brain child of four brothers who migrated to Canada from Poland. In 1989, the studio merged with Time Inc. and became known as the TimeWarner Company. It’s had under its company some of Hollywood’s biggest names, like Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and Vivien Leigh. Some of its most successful movie hits today are the Harry Potter franchise, 300, and The Lego Movie, to name a few.
4 Buena Vista Film Distribution Company (approx. $1.4 billion)
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The Buena Vista company was formerly part of the Walt Disney media conglomerate. But today, it’s merely the distribution arm of all the films under the Disney umbrella and because it’s such a gargantuan company, Buena Vista is thus considered one of Hollywood’s most profitable film companies. Disney established it in 1953 as the corporation’s sole film distributor and it’s responsible for marketing such blockbuster hits as The Lion King, Toy Story, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
3 MGM Pictures (approx. $1.53 billion)
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It was once considered the largest, most glamorous, and most revered studio in Hollywood. It’s hardly chopped liver now, despite the fact that many other film studios have achieved success in their own right. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures came into fruition in 1924 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Despite its many ups and downs, the studio has survived and continues to deliver many successful hits, like Casino Royale, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and The Hobbit series of films.
2 Twentieth Century Fox (approx. $1.56 billion)
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It’s also one of the longstanding film studios around and like many of its counterparts, Twentieth Century Fox certainly had its share of being passed from one hand to another. Founded in 1935, the studio was bought in the 1980s by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, cementing the company’s stability and guaranteed continuity. It also dabbles in TV shows, but its movies are definitely the root of the company’s profit. Fox is responsible for the blockbuster films Avatar, Independence Day, and the X-Men film franchise.
1 Walt Disney Studios (approx. $1.78 billion)
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The fact that Walt Disney Studios owns Lucasfilms, Pixar, and Marvel, plus has its own animation company, is it any wonder why it’s the most bankable film studio in the world today? It was established in 1923 by the famous Walt Disney, who created his first feature-length animated film, Snow White and The Seven Dwarves. Since then, Disney has developed a plethora of animated and non-animated films that have been some of the most successful in movie history.
Sources: businessinsider.com
