roger corman worked as a producer and director of low-budget films, most of them for american international pictures. aip was founded on april 2, 1954, by james h. nicholson and samuel z. arkoff as the american releasing corporation, and it released films from 1955 until 1980; corman was one of its principal producers.
the little shop of horrors (1960) was directed and produced by corman from a screenplay by charles b. griffith, shot for roughly $28,000 with its interiors completed in two days. with aip he directed all eight films of the edgar allan poe cycle released between house of usher (1960) and the tomb of ligeia (1964); seven starred vincent price, the exception being the premature burial (1962), and the series reused sets and effects footage to keep costs down. he also made the wild angels (1966) with peter fonda and the trip (1967), which he produced and directed from a screenplay by jack nicholson.
after leaving aip, corman founded new world pictures with his brother gene on july 8, 1970. the company made cheap exploitation pictures and also distributed foreign films, including ingmar bergman's cries and whispers and autumn sonata, federico fellini's amarcord and akira kurosawa's dersu uzala.
new world was a training ground. corman gave francis ford coppola his first feature, dementia 13 (1963), and martin scorsese directed boxcar bertha (1972) for him. new world hires included jonathan demme (caged heat), ron howard (grand theft auto), joe dante (piranha, written by john sayles) and james cameron, who designed effects on battle beyond the stars (1980) after gale anne hurd recommended him.
related profiles; American New Wave, Francis Ford Coppola, Movie Studios
sources; wikipedia: roger corman, wikipedia: american international pictures, wikipedia: new world pictures, wikipedia: the trip (1967), wikipedia: battle beyond the stars
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