a film studio is a company that finances, produces and distributes films; since the hollywood golden age the physical work has mostly been handled by production subsidiaries or by independent companies that rent space on a studio lot. thomas edison built the first american movie studio, the black maria, near his west orange, new jersey laboratories in 1893. the first studio in the los angeles area was a selig polyscope branch in edendale in 1909, and nestor studios opened in hollywood in 1911, followed by about fifteen more independent companies that same year.
by the late 1920s five companies had become fully integrated majors: mgm, paramount, warner bros., 20th century-fox and rko, each owning a production studio, a distribution division and large theater chains. united artists was formed in 1919 by charlie chaplin, mary pickford, douglas fairbanks and d. w. griffith to distribute films its artist-owners made, and worked mainly as a backer and distributor rather than as a production plant. columbia and universal, the other two recognized majors, owned few or no theaters.
below the majors, republic pictures, active from 1935, and monogram pictures turned out B features, serials and series films; with producers releasing corporation and grand national among the smaller outfits, they were often grouped together as poverty row. these companies supplied the second half of the double bills that filled neighborhood and small-town theaters.
the 1948 supreme court ruling in united states v. paramount pictures, inc. forced the majors to separate exhibition from production and distribution, and the studio system ended. independent producers took a larger share: by 1957 they made half of full-length american films, and studios increasingly financed and distributed packages rather than making pictures themselves, the model united artists had used from the start.
later decades were a story of takeovers and sales. time warner bought turner broadcasting, and with it new line cinema, in 1996, then merged new line into warner bros. in 2008. sony pictures was formed by the merger of columbia and tristar. disney took over 20th century fox in 2019, and amazon bought mgm in 2022. international ticket sales now supply roughly 70 per cent of hollywood's movie revenue.
related profiles; The Golden Age of Hollywood, Post Production Studios, Film Presentation Formats
sources; film studio, studio system, united artists, united states v. paramount pictures, united artists created
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