Major Film Studios

A major film studio is a production and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the major film studios, often simply known as the majors, are commonly regarded as the five diversified media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries collectively command approximately 80–85% of U.S. box office revenue. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary motion picture business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate.

Since the dawn of filmmaking, the U.S. film studios have dominated both American cinema and the global film industry. U.S. studios have benefited from a strong first-mover advantage in that they were the first to industrialize filmmaking and master the art of mass-producing and distributing high-quality films with broad cross-cultural appeal. Today, the Big Five majors – Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and Paramount Pictures – routinely distribute hundreds of films every year into all significant international markets (that is, where discretionary income is high enough for consumers to afford to watch films). It is very rare, if not impossible, for a film to reach a broad international audience on multiple continents and in multiple languages without being picked up by one of the majors for distribution.

Overview

The "Big Five" majors are all film studios active since Hollywood's Golden Age. Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. were two members of the original "Big Five", but two of them, Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, were part of the "Little Three" in the next tier down. Walt Disney Productions was an independent production company during the Golden Age, then became a mini-major in the 1950s, and then became a major in the mid-1980s. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, RKO, and 20th Century Fox were the other three "Big Five" majors, that exist today only as a mini-major, a small independent company, and a subsidiary of Disney that brought the "Big Six" studios to an end, respectively. United Artists was the other member of the "Little Three", a distribution company for several independent producers which later began producing films, grew to major status, and was then acquired by MGM. Columbia produced and distributed films, was later bought by Sony along with Tri-Star Pictures, and later became part of the company Sony Pictures Entertainment.

While the main studios of the Big Five are located within 15 miles (24 km) of each other, Disney is the only studio that has been owned by the same conglomerate since its founding and was also the sole member whose parent entity is still located near Los Angeles on Disney's studio lot and in the same building, until 2019, when the company acquired 20th Century Fox. Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, and Columbia were previously owned by many different companies and now report to conglomerates that are respectively located elsewhere in Dallas (AT&T), New York City (Viacom), Philadelphia (Comcast), and Tokyo (Sony); moreover, Disney and Columbia are the only ones whose parent companies are still headquartered near the Pacific Ocean. Paramount is the only one still based in Hollywood with Columbia being in Culver City; furthermore, Paramount and Columbia are the only ones still located within or near central Los Angeles city limits. Both Disney and Warner Bros. are located in Burbank and Universal is in the unincorporated area of Universal City.

Most of today's Big Five also control subsidiaries with their own distribution networks that concentrate on arthouse pictures (e.g. Disney's Fox Searchlight Pictures) or genre films (e.g. Sony's Screen Gems); several of these specialty units were shut down or sold off between 2008 and 2010. The five major studios are contrasted with smaller production and/or distribution companies, which are known as independents or "indies". The leading independent producer/distributors such as Lionsgate and STX Entertainment are sometimes referred to as "mini-majors". From 1998 through 2005, DreamWorks SKG commanded a large enough market share to arguably qualify it as a seventh major, despite its relatively small output. In 2006, DreamWorks was acquired by Viacom, Paramount's corporate parent. In late 2008, DreamWorks once again became an independent production company; its films were distributed by Disney's Touchstone Pictures until 2016, at which point distribution switched to Universal.

The Big Five major studios are today primarily backers and distributors of films whose actual production is largely handled by independent companies – either long-running entities or ones created for and dedicated to the making of a specific film. The specialty divisions often simply acquire distribution rights to pictures in which the studio has had no prior involvement. While the majors still do a modicum of true production, their activities are focused more in the areas of development, financing, marketing, and merchandising. Those business functions are still usually performed in or near Los Angeles, even though the runaway production phenomenon means that most films are now mostly or completely shot on location at places outside Los Angeles.

Majors

Present

Studio parent (conglomerate)	Major film studio unit	Year founded	Arthouse/indie	Genre movie/B movie	Animation	Other divisions and brands	US/CA market share (2018)
NBCUniversal (Comcast)	Universal Pictures	1912	Focus Features	Focus World Gramercy Pictures Working Title Films	Big Idea Entertainment DreamWorks Animation Illumination Illumination Mac Guff NBCU Ent. Japan Universal Animation Studios	Carnival Films Makeready (JV) OTL Releasing United International Pictures (JV) Universal 1440 Entertainment WT2 Productions	14.9%
Viacom (National Amusements)	Paramount Pictures	1912		BET Films Comedy Central Films MTV Films Nickelodeon Movies Paramount Players	MTV Animation Nickelodeon Animation Studio Paramount Animation	Awesomeness Films CMT Films Melange Pictures Paramount Digital Entertainment United International Pictures (JV) VH1 Films Viacom 18 Motion Pictures (49%)	6.4%
WarnerMedia (AT&T)	Warner Bros. Pictures	1923	CNN Films HBO Documentary Films	DC Films New Line Cinema	Cartoon Network Studios Wang Film Productions (50%) Warner Animation Group Warner Bros. Animation	Adult Swim Films Castle Rock Entertainment Cinemax Films CNN Films Flagship Entertainment (49%) Fullscreen HBO Films Hello Sunshine (part) Turner Entertainment	16.3%
Walt Disney Studios (The Walt Disney Company)	Walt Disney Pictures	1923	A&E IndieFilms (50%) Fox 2000 Pictures Fox Searchlight Pictures Hulu Documentary Films (67%)	Disneynature ESPN Films (80%) Lucasfilm Marvel Studios NatGeo Films (73%)	20th Century Fox Animation Blue Sky Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios Lucasfilm Animation Marvel Animation Pixar Animation Studios	20th Century Fox Buena Vista International Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Fox Family Fox Star Studios (shared) Zero Day Fox Walt Disney Pictures India UTV Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing	36.3%
Sony Pictures (Sony)	Columbia Pictures	1924	Sony Pictures Classics	Affirm Films Screen Gems Stage 6 Films Ghost Corps	Funimation Films (95%) Madhouse (shared) Manga Entertainment (95%) Sony Pictures Animation	TriStar Pictures Destination Films Left Bank Pictures Sony Pictures Japan Sony Pictures Family Entertainment Sony Pictures Releasing Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Sony Wonder TriStar Productions Triumph Films Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing	10.9%

Past

Past majors include:

• RKO Pictures (1928–1959) defunct, then several times revived as an independent studio; their latest films were released in both 2012 and 2015, respectively.
• United Artists (1919–1981) acquired by MGM in 1981. Note: United Artists library wasn't included in the 1986 Ted Turner sale in 1986.
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (1924–1986) acquired by Ted Turner in 1986, then sold the studio back to Kirk Kerkorian later that year and kept the pre-May 1986 library; became a mini-major studio up on the sale; emerged from bankruptcy in 2010.
• 20th Century Fox (1935–2019) became a part of Walt Disney Studios when The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019.

Mini-majors

Mini-major studios (or "mini-majors") are the larger film production companies that are smaller than the major studios and attempt to compete directly with them.

Present

Studio parent (conglomerate)	Mini-major studio unit	Year founded	Other divisions and brands	US/CA market share (2018)
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group (Lionsgate)	Lionsgate Films	1962	3 Arts Entertainment (majority) Globalgate Entertainment Good Universe Grindstone Entertainment Group Lionsgate Premiere Manga Entertainment US Pantelion Films (49%) Roadside Attractions (43%) Summit Entertainment	3.3%
The Amblin Group (Participant Media Reliance Entertainment Entertainment One Alibaba Pictures Universal Pictures)	Amblin Partners	2015	Amblin Entertainment DreamWorks Pictures
STX Entertainment (Hony Capital Tencent PCCW TPG Growth Liberty Global)	STX Films	2014	STX International STX Family	2.3%
Gaumont Film Company		1895	Gaumont Animation
CBS Corporation (National Amusements)	CBS Films	2007
MGM Holdings (Anchorage Capital Group (~35%) Highland Capital Management (10%+) Solus Alternative Asset Management (10%+) Third Point LLC Maglan Capital LP)	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures	1924	Orion Pictures Orion Classics United Artists Releasing (JV)	1.4%
Egmont Group	Nordisk Film	1906	Avanti Film Danish Films Maipo Film (NO) Min Bio Solar Films (FI) Trust Nordisk Zentropa (JV)
Highlight Communications	Constantin Film	1950	Hager Moss Film Mister Smith Entertainment (minority)

Past

Past mini-majors include:

• Castle Rock Entertainment - purchased in 1993 by Turner Broadcasting System; TBS merged with Time Warner in 1996
• Allied Artists Pictures, 1967 The current entertainment company Allied Artists International is considered the successor to AAP.
• New Line Cinema - purchased in 1994 by Turner Broadcasting System; TBS merged with Time Warner in 1996; New Line merged with Warner Bros. in 2008
• Relativity Media - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 30, 2015 Emerged from bankruptcy in 2016, only to re-file in May 2018, sold to UltraV Holdings
• United Artists - became a major studio then acquired by MGM in 1981; relaunched in 2006 by Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, but after both of them resigned in 2008, MGM used the company as a brand namesake for franchises such as Rocky and James Bond.
• Orion Pictures - in 1990, was considered the last of the mini-majors Purchased in 1988 by Kluge/Metromedia; purchased in 1997 by MGM
• Avco Embassy, 1967 - acquired by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio in 1982; acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 1985; its theatrical division acquired by Dino DeLaurentiis in 1986. Sony Pictures Entertainment currently owns the television rights to most of the theatrical library and the logo, names, and trademarks through its ELP Communications subsidiary
• TriStar Pictures - consolidated in 1987 into Columbia, one of the partners in the joint venture that created it.
• DreamWorks Animation - acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016
• DreamWorks Pictures - now a label of Amblin Partners
• The Walt Disney Company/Walt Disney Productions - became a major studio
• The Weinstein Company - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but bought by Lantern Entertainment in 2018 then its assets transferred to Spyglass Media Group
• Republic Pictures - Produced many serials and was formed by the consolidation of six minor studios in 1935. It was rebooted in 1985. Viacom then purchased it in the early 2000s
• FilmDistrict - merged into Focus Features (a subsidiary of Universal) in 2014
• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment - sold to Universal Studios in 1999, pre-March 31, 1996 library sold to MGM
• Artisan Entertainment - purchased in 2003 by Lions Gate Entertainment
• Overture Films - distribution and marketing assets sold to Relativity Media in 2010; Overture's film library acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment by May 2016.
• Summit Entertainment - acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment in 2012
• The Cannon Group - purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
• Global Road Entertainment - formerly Open Road Films, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 6, 2018;, by November 2018, has reverted back to Open Road, purchased by Raven Capital Management on approval as of December 19, 2018 by a Delaware bankruptcy judge.
• Miramax Films - owned by The Walt Disney Company from 1993 to 2010, sold to Filmyard Holdings from 2010, then to beIN Media Group in 2016
• Weintraub Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy September 1990, resulting in the company folding up operations

The studios

Lions Gate Entertainment, which moved in 2006 from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Santa Monica, California, was the most successful North American movie studio based outside the Los Angeles metropolitan area before its relocation. Now known as Lionsgate, it was founded in 1997 by financier Frank Giustra. (The company is unrelated to Lion's Gate Films, the Los Angeles–based production company run by filmmaker Robert Altman in the 1970s.) In 2003, the company doubled in size with the acquisition of Artisan Entertainment. In January 2012, Lionsgate acquired Summit Entertainment, which was the highest-grossing mini-major the previous three years. Summit was founded as an independent overseas sales company in 1991, moved into production in the mid-1990s, and was reconstituted as a full-fledged studio in 2006. Lionsgate also owns a minority stake in the independent distribution company Roadside Attractions.

Lionsgate is apparently on the cusp of becoming a major studio with the parent's purchase of Summit Entertainment as well as its controlling share of Roadside Attractions (43%) and Pantelion Films (as specialty units). With its top five box office showing it was declared a new major studio by Variety; however, The Hollywood Reporter does not yet recognize the company as a major.

MGM, after decades as a major studio, continues to distribute motion pictures and television content as a minor, privately held media company. In April 2005, it was purchased from Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation by a consortium including Sony, cable company Comcast (who now owns Universal Pictures), Providence Equity Partners, and three other private investment firms. MGM has a deal with 20th Century Fox for the distribution of home video and overseas theatrical product. MGM is also once again the sole owner of United Artists, after Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner sold back their minority stakes. Via its original 1981 merger with UA, MGM controls the rights to the James Bond franchise. Columbia co-distributed the first two Bond films starring Daniel Craig after the 2005 purchase. After a third Bond film with Craig was put on hold when MGM slipped into deep financial trouble, Sony reached an agreement with MGM in April 2011 to distribute Skyfall. Sony's distribution rights to the franchise expired in late 2015 with the release of Spectre. In 2017, MGM and Eon offered a one-film contract to co-finance and distribute the upcoming 25th film worldwide, which was reported on 25 May 2018 to have been won by Universal Pictures.

DreamWorks was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. Once again independent with the founding of a new company after two-and-a-half years under the Viacom/Paramount corporate umbrella, it is backed by India's Reliance ADA Group. DreamWorks is not a full-service studio—it produces and finances films, but as it did for most of its first era as an independent, it arranges distribution through the majors. In February 2009, after dropping out of a deal with Universal, DreamWorks struck such a deal with Disney, though Paramount was releasing the DreamWorks pictures developed there through mid-2011. The first independent DreamWorks film to be released under the new deal, via Touchstone, was I Am Number Four in February 2011. Katzenberg, who was completely divested from the new DreamWorks, ran DreamWorks Animation as a totally separate business. The company maintained distribution deals with DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. On August 22, 2016, Universal Studios' parent company NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, thereby granting Universal ownership access to every DreamWorks Animation product and distribution rights for future movies. As part of the agreement, Katzenberg relinquished control of DreamWorks Animation to Illumination's CEO Chris Meledandri while heading as new chairman of DreamWorks New Media. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, released on February 22, 2019, was the first DreamWorks Animation movie to be distributed by Universal Studios.

Instant major studios

"'Instant major' is a 1960s coined term for a film company that seemingly overnight has approached the status of major" In 1967, three "instant majors" studios popped up, two of which were partnered with a Television network theatrical film unit with most lasting until 1973:

• Cinerama Releasing Corporation (distributor for ABC Pictures Corporation)
• National General Corporation (distributor for Cinema Center Films)
• Commonwealth United Corporation

Other significant, past independent entities

• New World Pictures - acquired by News Corporation (then parent company of 20th Century Fox) in 1997.
• Turner Pictures - purchased along with Hanna-Barbera, Castle Rock Entertainment, New Line Cinema and Turner Entertainment Co. (including most of the pre-May 1986 MGM library, and US and Canadian distribution rights to the RKO Radio film library) in 1996 by Time Warner.
• DreamWorks Pictures - purchased by Viacom; then owners of both Paramount Pictures and CBS Corporation in 2006; distributed the films from 2005 to 2011; reformed as an independent; The Walt Disney Company distributed the live-action films until 2016; now a label after being reorganized as Amblin Partners
• DreamWorks Animation - purchased in 2016 by NBCUniversal.
• Lucasfilm - purchased in 2012 by The Walt Disney Company.
• Marvel Studios/Marvel Entertainment - purchased in 2009 by The Walt Disney Company.
• Pixar Animation Studios - purchased in 2006 by The Walt Disney Company.
• The Samuel Goldwyn Company - purchased in 1996 by John Kluge/Metromedia International; purchased in 1997 by MGM.

History

The majors before the Golden Age

In 1909, Thomas Edison, who had been fighting in the courts for years for control of fundamental motion picture patents, won a major decision. This led to the creation of the Motion Picture Patents Company, widely known as the Trust. Comprising the nine largest U.S. film companies, it was "designed to eliminate not only independent film producers but also the country's 10,000 independent [distribution] exchanges and exhibitors." Though its many members did not consolidate their filmmaking operations, the New York–based Trust was arguably the first major North American movie conglomerate. The independents' fight against the Trust was led by Carl Laemmle, whose Chicago-based Laemmle Film Service, serving the Midwest and Canada, was the largest distribution exchange in North America. Laemmle's efforts were rewarded in 1912 when the U.S. government ruled that the Trust was a "corrupt and unlawful association" and must be dissolved. On June 8, 1912, Laemmle organized the merger of his production division, IMP (Independent Motion Picture Company), with several other filmmaking companies, creating the Universal Film Manufacturing Company in New York City. By the end of the year, Universal was making movies at two Los Angeles facilities: the former Nestor Film studio in Hollywood, and another studio in Edendale. The first Hollywood major was in business.

In 1916, a second powerful Hollywood studio was established when Adolph Zukor merged his Famous Players Film Company movie production house with the Jesse L. Lasky Company to form Famous Players-Lasky. The combined studio acquired Paramount Pictures as a distribution arm and eventually adopted its name. That same year, William Fox relocated his Fox Film Corporation from Fort Lee, New Jersey to Hollywood and began expanding. In 1918, four brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner—founded the first Warner Brothers Studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. On April 4, 1923, the Warner Brothers incorporated their fledgling movie company as "Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc."

The Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America and the Independent Producers' Association declared war in 1925 on what they termed a common enemy — the "film trust" of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, and First National, which they claimed dominated the industry by not only producing and distributing motion pictures, but by entering into exhibition as well. On October 6, 1927, Warner Bros. released The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, and a whole new era began, with "pictures that talked," bringing the Studio to the forefront of the film industry. The Jazz Singer played to standing-room-only crowds throughout the country and earned a special Academy Award for Technical Achievement. Fox, in the forefront of sound film along with Warners, was also acquiring a sizable circuit of movie theaters to exhibit its product.

The majors during the Golden Age

Template:Details Between late 1928, when RCA's David Sarnoff engineered the creation of the RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) studio, and the end of 1949, when Paramount divested its theater chain—roughly the period considered Hollywood's Golden Age—there were eight Hollywood studios commonly regarded as the "majors". Of these eight, the so-called Big Five were integrated conglomerates, combining ownership of a production studio, distribution division, and substantial theater chain, and contracting with performers and filmmaking personnel: Loew's/MGM, Paramount, Fox (which became 20th Century-Fox after a 1935 merger), Warner Bros., and RKO. The remaining majors were sometimes referred to as the "Little Three" or "major minor" studios. Two—Universal and Columbia (founded in 1924)—were organized similarly to the Big Five, except for the fact that they never owned more than small theater circuits (a consistently reliable source of profits). The third of the lesser majors, United Artists (founded in 1919), owned a few theaters and had access to production facilities owned by its principals, but it functioned primarily as a backer-distributor, loaning money to independent producers and releasing their films. During the 1930s, the eight majors averaged a total of 358 feature film releases a year; in the 1940s, the four largest companies shifted more of their resources toward high-budget productions and away from B movies, bringing the yearly average down to 288 for the decade.

Among the significant characteristics of the Golden Age was the stability of the Hollywood majors, their hierarchy, and their near-complete domination of the box office. At the midpoint of the Golden Age, 1939, the Big Five had market shares ranging from 22% (MGM) to 9% (RKO); each of the Little Three had around a 7% share. In sum, the eight majors controlled 95% of the market. Ten years later, the picture was largely the same: the Big Five had market shares ranging from 22% (MGM) to 9% (RKO); the Little Three had shares ranging from 8% (Columbia) to 4% (United Artists). In sum, the eight majors controlled 96% of the market.

The majors after the Golden Age

File:Walt Disney Studios Alameda Entrance.jpg

Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

File:Gate 4 Warner Bros. Studios.jpg

Warner Bros. in Burbank, California.

File:Gate2universalstudios.JPG

Universal Studios in Universal City, California.

File:Sony Pictures Entertainment entrance 1.jpg

Columbia Pictures in Culver City, California.

File:Paramountpicturesmelrosegate.jpg

Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.

1950s–1960s

The end of the Golden Age had been signaled by the majors' loss of a federal antitrust case that led to the divestiture of the Big Five's theater chains. Though this had virtually no immediate effect on the eight majors' box-office domination, it somewhat leveled the playing field between the Big Five and the Little Three. In November 1951, Decca Records purchased 28% of Universal; early the following year, the studio became the first of the classic Hollywood majors to be taken over by an outside corporation, as Decca acquired majority ownership. The 1950s saw two substantial shifts in the hierarchy of the majors: RKO, perennially the weakest of the Big Five, declined rapidly under the mismanagement of Howard Hughes, who had purchased a controlling interest in the studio in 1948. By the time Hughes sold it to the General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955, the studio was a major by outdated reputation alone. In 1957, virtually all RKO movie operations ceased and the studio was dissolved in 1959. (Revived on a small scale in 1981, it was eventually spun off and now operates as a minor independent company.) In contrast, there was United Artists, which had long operated under the financing-distribution model the other majors were now progressively shifting toward. Under Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who began managing the company in 1951, UA became consistently profitable. By 1956—when it released one of the biggest blockbusters of the decade, Around the World in 80 Days—it commanded a 10% market share. By the middle of the next decade, it had reached 16% and was the second-most profitable studio in Hollywood. Despite RKO's collapse, the majors still averaged a total yearly release slate of 253 feature films during the decade.

The 1960s were marked by a spate of corporate takeovers. MCA Inc., under Lew Wasserman, acquired Universal in 1962; Gulf+Western took over Paramount in 1966; and the Transamerica Corporation purchased United Artists in 1967. Warner Bros. underwent large-scale reorganization twice in two years: a 1967 merger with the Seven Arts company preceded a 1969 purchase by Kinney National, under Stephen J. Ross. MGM, in the process of a slow decline, changed ownership twice in the same span as well, winding up in the hands of financier Kirk Kerkorian. The majors almost entirely abandoned low-budget production during this era, bringing the annual average of features released down to 160. The decade also saw an old name in the industry secure a position as a leading player. In 1923, Walt Disney had founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother Roy and animator Ub Iwerks. Over the following three decades Disney became a powerful independent focusing on animation and, from the late 1940s, an increasing number of live-action movies. In 1954, the company—now Walt Disney Productions—established Buena Vista Film Distribution to handle its own product, which had been distributed for years by various majors, primarily United Artists and then RKO. (Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released by RKO, was the second biggest hit of the 1930s.) In its first year, Buena Vista had a major success with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the third biggest movie of 1954. In 1964, Buena Vista had its first blockbuster, Mary Poppins, Hollywood's biggest hit in half a decade. The company achieved a 9% market share that year, more than Fox and Warner Bros. Though over the next two decades, Disney/Buena Vista's share of the box-office would again hit similar marks, its relatively small output and exclusive focus on family movies meant that it was not generally considered a major.

1970s–1980s

The early 1970s were difficult years for all the majors. Movie attendance, which had been declining steadily since the Golden Age, hit an all-time low in 1971. In 1973, MGM president James T. Aubrey Jr. drastically downsized the studio, slashing its production schedule and eliminating its distribution arm (UA would distribute the studio's films for the remainder of the decade). From fifteen releases in 1973, the next year MGM was down to five; its average for the rest of the 1970s would be even lower. Like RKO in its last days under Hughes, MGM remained a major in terms of brand reputation, but little more. MGM, however, was not the only studio to trim its release line. By the mid-1970s, the industry had rebounded and a significant philosophical shift was in progress. As the majors focused increasingly on the development of the next hoped-for blockbuster and began routinely opening each new movie in many hundreds of theaters (an approach called "saturation booking"), their collective yearly release average fell to 81 films during 1975–84. The classic set of majors was shaken further in late 1980, when the disastrously expensive flop of Heaven's Gate effectively ruined United Artists. The studio was sold the following year to Kerkorian, who merged it with MGM. After a brief resurgence, the combined studio again declined. From the mid-1980s on, MGM/UA has been at best a "mini-major", to use the present-day term.

Meanwhile, a new member was finally admitted to the club of major studios and two significant contenders emerged. With the establishment of its Touchstone Pictures brand and increasing attention to the adult market in the mid-1980s, Disney/Buena Vista secured acknowledgment as a full-fledged major. Film historian Joel Finler identifies 1986 as the breakthrough year, when Disney rose to third place in market share and remained consistently competitive for a leading position thereafter. The two contenders were both newly formed companies. In 1978, Krim, Benjamin, and three other studio executives departed UA to found Orion Pictures as a joint venture with Warner Bros. It was announced optimistically as the "first major new film company in 50 years". Tri-Star Pictures was created in 1982 as a joint venture of Columbia Pictures (then owned by the Coca-Cola Company), HBO (then owned by Time Inc.), and CBS. In 1985, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired 20th Century-Fox, the last of the five relatively healthy Golden Age majors to remain independent throughout the entire Golden Age and after.

In 1986, the combined share of the six classic majors—at that point Paramount, Warner Bros., Columbia, Universal, Fox, and MGM/UA—fell to 64%, the lowest since the beginning of the Golden Age. Disney was in third place, behind only Paramount and Warner Bros.. Even including it as a seventh major and adding its 10% share, the majors' control of the North American market was at a historic ebb. Orion, now completely independent of Warner Bros., and Tri-Star were well positioned as mini-majors, each with North American market shares of around 6% and regarded by industry observers as "fully competitive with the majors". Smaller independents garnered 13%—more than any studio aside from Paramount. In 1964, by comparison, all of the companies beside the then seven majors and Disney had combined for a grand total of 1%. In the first edition of Finler's The Hollywood Story (1988), he wrote, "It will be interesting to see whether the old-established studios will be able to bounce back in the future, as they have done so many times before, or whether the newest developments really do reflect a fundamental change in the US movie industry for the first times since the 20s."

1990s–present

With the exception of MGM/UA—whose position was effectively filled by Disney—the old-established studios did bounce back. The purchase of 20th Century Fox by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation presaged a new round of corporate acquisitions. Between 1989 and 1994, Paramount, Warner Bros., Columbia, and Universal all changed ownership in a series of conglomerate purchases and mergers that brought them new financial and marketing muscle. Paramount's parent company Gulf+Western was renamed Paramount Communications in 1989 and was merged with Viacom five years later. Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. to give birth to the conglomerate Time Warner. Coca-Cola sold Columbia to Japanese electronics firm Sony also in 1989. And Universal's parent MCA was purchased by Matsushita. By the early 1990s, both Tri-Star and Orion were essentially out of business: the former consolidated into Columbia, the latter bankrupt and sold to MGM. The most important contenders to emerge during the 1990s, New Line Cinema, Miramax, and DreamWorks SKG, were likewise sooner or later brought into the majors' fold, though DreamWorks and Miramax are now independent again.

The development of in-house pseudo-indie subsidiaries by the conglomerates—sparked by the 1992 establishment of Sony Pictures Classics and the success of Pulp Fiction (1994), Miramax's first project under Disney ownership—significantly undermined the position of the true independents. The majors' release schedule rebounded: the six primary studio subsidiaries alone put out a total of 124 films during 2006; the three largest secondary subsidiaries (New Line, Fox Searchlight, and Focus Features) accounted for another 30. Box-office domination was fully restored: in 2006, the six major movie conglomerates combined for 89.8% of the North American market; Lionsgate and Weinstein were almost exactly half as successful as their 1986 mini-major counterparts, sharing 6.1%; MGM came in at 1.8%; and all of the remaining independent companies split a pool totaling 2.3%.

Only one of the major studios changed corporate hands during the first decade of the 2000s, though it did so three times: Universal was acquired by Vivendi in 2000, and then by General Electric four years later. Universal was fully acquired by Comcast in 2013. More developments took place among the majors' subsidiaries. The very successful animation production house Pixar, whose films were distributed by Buena Vista, was acquired by Disney in 2006. In 2008, New Line Cinema lost its independent status within Time Warner and became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Time Warner also announced that it would be shutting down its two specialty units, Warner Independent and Picturehouse. In 2008 as well, Paramount Vantage's production, marketing, and distribution departments were folded into the parent studio, though it retained the brand for release purposes. Universal sold off its genre specialty division, Rogue Pictures, to Relativity Media in 2009. Disney closed down Miramax's operations in January 2010, and sold off the unit and its library that July to an investor group led by Ronald N. Tutor of the Tutor Perini construction firm and Tom Barrack of the Colony Capital private equity firm.

Since June 14, 2018, Warner Bros. is owned by AT&T after it completed its acquisition of Time Warner, renaming it "WarnerMedia".

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company (which its division, The Walt Disney Studios owns a numerous studio units including a major film studio, Walt Disney Pictures) announced its intent to acquire a key assets of 21st Century Fox (which includes another major film studio, 20th Century Fox along with Fox Searchlight Pictures and Blue Sky Studios). Both companies approved the deal on July 27, 2018 and closed on March 20, 2019. Because of the deal, the number of major film studios was reduced to 5 after 20th Century Fox became a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, thus ending the era of the "Big Six" studios and Fox as a major studio for 83 years.

On August 13, 2019, Paramount Pictures parent, Viacom announced its reunion with CBS Corporation, with the combined company would be called "ViacomCBS". The two companies previously merged in 1999 but splitted in 2006. The deal is expected to be completed on late 2019. Meanwhile, CBS Corporation's mini-major film studio, CBS Films will be folded into CBS Entertainment Group after releasing its 2019 film slate, switching its focus to creating original film content for CBS All Access.

Organizational lineage

The eight Golden Age majors

The eight major film studios of the Golden Age have gone through the following significant ownership changes ("independent" meaning customarily identified as the primary commercial entity in its corporate structure; "purchased" meaning acquired anything from majority to total ownership):

Note: This doesn't include Walt Disney Studio which was primarily an animation studio at the time.

Columbia Pictures

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• Independent as CBC Film Sales, 1918–1924 (founded by Harry Cohn, Joe Brandt, and Jack Cohn)
• Independent, 1924–1968, company changes name as Columbia Pictures Corporation; goes public in 1926;
• Columbia Pictures Industries, 1968–1982 (merger between Columbia Pictures Corporation and Screen Gems. CPI becomes the parent of both companies)
• The Coca-Cola Company, 1982–1987 (purchased by Coca-Cola; Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture with HBO and CBS initiated in 1982—CBS drops out in 1985 and HBO in 1986)
• Columbia Pictures Entertainment, 1987–1991 (divested by Coca-Cola; Coke's entertainment business sold to Tri-Star and takes 49% in CPE. Renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1991)
• Sony, 1989–present (purchased by Sony)

20th Century Fox

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• Fox Film, 1915–1935 (founded by William Fox)
• 20th Century Pictures, 1933–1935 (founded by Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck)
• Independent, 1935–1985 (founded by William Fox, Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck; fully purchased by Marc Rich and Marvin Davis in 1981; Rich's interest purchased by Davis in 1984; half of Davis's interest purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in March 1985)
• News Corporation, 1985–2013 (purchased the remainder of Davis's shares in September)
• 21st Century Fox, 2013–2019 (renamed media conglomerate when News Corporation split into two companies on June 28, 2013)
• The Walt Disney Company, 2019–present (Disney acquired 20th Century Fox as part of a $71.3 billion purchase of their parent company 21st Century Fox, which was announced on December 14, 2017 and completed on March 20, 2019)

Warner Bros. Pictures

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• Independent (1923–1929) (founded by Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner, and Sam Warner; Sam Warner died in 1927)
  • Warner Bros.–First National 1929–1967) acquired First National Pictures; syndicate led by Jack Warner, Serge Semenenko of First National Bank of Boston, and Charles Allen Jr. purchased controlling interest in 1956
  • Warner Bros.–Seven Arts (1967–1969) purchased by and merged with Seven Arts Productions
• Kinney (1969–1972) Kinney purchased Warner Bros.–Seven Arts
  • Warner Communications, 1972–1990 (Kinney spun off non-entertainment assets and changed name)
• Time-Warner, 1990–2001 (on January 10, 1990 in New York City, New York as a merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications)
  • Time Warner Entertainment, 1992–2001
  • AOL Time Warner, 2001–2003 (AOL merged with Time Warner in 2001)
  • Time Warner, 2003–2018 (AOL Time Warner reverted to their original name in 2003, and remained until AT&T's acquisition in 2018 despite spinning off AOL and Time, Inc.)
  • WarnerMedia, 2018–present (Time Warner renamed after AT&T acquisition)
    • AT&T, 2018–present

Paramount Pictures

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• Independent as Famous Players Film Company, 1912–1916 (founded by Adolph Zukor)
• Independent as Famous Players-Lasky, 1916–1921 (founded by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky)
• Independent, 1922–1966 (as Paramount Pictures, company adopted distribution division's name)
• Gulf+Western Industries, 1966–1989 (purchased by Gulf+Western)
• Paramount Communications, 1989–1994 (Gulf+Western changed name after selling non-entertainment assets)
• National Amusements, 1994–present (owner of both iterations of Viacom)
  • Viacom, 1994–2006 (Viacom purchased Paramount)
  • Viacom, 2006–present (Viacom split into two companies: "new" Viacom—with Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, and other cable channels—and CBS Corporation—which includes CBS Television Studios; both companies are controlled by National Amusements)
  • ViacomCBS, 2019 (Pending re-merger between Viacom and CBS to form ViacomCBS)

Universal Pictures

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• Independent, 1912–1946 (founded by Carl Laemmle, Pat Powers, Adam Kessel, Charles Baumann, Mark Dintenfass, William Swanson, David Horsley, and Jules Brulatour)
• Universal-International, 1946–1952 (merged with International Pictures)
• Decca, 1952–1962 (purchased by Decca)
• MCA Inc., 1962–1996 (MCA purchased Decca)
• Matsushita Electric, 1990–1995 (Matsushita purchased MCA)
• Seagram, 1995–2000 (purchased by Seagram from Matsushita)
• Vivendi Universal, 2000–2004 (Vivendi purchased Seagram)
• NBCUniversal, 2004–present
  • General Electric/Vivendi, 2004–2011 (jointly owned by GE (80%) and Vivendi, S.A. (20%) and merged with NBC to form NBC Universal)
  • Comcast/General Electric, 2011–2013 (Comcast purchased 51% of redubbed NBCUniversal)
  • Comcast, 2013–present (Comcast bought the remaining 49% from GE)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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• Loew's Inc., 1924–1959 (founded by Marcus Loew; controlling interest in Loew's purchased by William Fox in 1929; Fox was forced to sell off interest in 1930; operational control ceded by Loew's to studio management in 1954)
• Independent, 1959–1981 (fully divested by Loew's; purchased by Edgar Bronfman Sr. in 1967; purchased by Kirk Kerkorian in 1969)
• MGM/UA Entertainment Co., 1981–1986 (United Artists purchased by Kerkorian in 1981 and merged into MGM)
• Turner Broadcasting System, 1986 (purchased by Ted Turner in 1986)
  • MGM Entertainment Co., 1986
• MGM/UA Communications Co., 1986–1990 (repurchased by Kerkorian seventy-four days later)
• MGM-Pathe Communications, 1990–1992 (purchased by Giancarlo Parretti in 1990)
• Crédit Lyonnais, 1992–1997 (foreclosed upon by bank after Parretti defaulted)
• Tracinda Corporation, 1997–2005 (repurchased by Kerkorian)
• MGM Holdings, 2005–present
  • Sony/Comcast/4 private equity firms, 2005–2010 (purchased by Sony, Comcast, and private investment firms—Providence Equity Partners currently owns the greatest number of shares—and privately held as a minor media company independent of Sony/Columbia)
  • Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, other former bondholders (2011–present) including Carl Icahn (2011-2012)

United Artists

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• Independent, 1919–1967 (founded by Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford; operational control by Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin from 1951; fully purchased by Krim and Benjamin in 1956)
• Transamerica, 1967–1981 (purchased by Transamerica)
• MGM, 1981–present (purchased by Kirk Kerkorian from Transamerica and merged into MGM)
  • MGM/UA Entertainment Co., 1981-1986 (United Artists purchased by Kerkorian in 1981 and merged into MGM)
  • Turner Broadcasting System, 1986 (purchased by Ted Turner in 1986)
    • MGM Entertainment Co., 1986
  • MGM/UA Communications Co., 1986-1990 (repurchased by Kerkorian seventy-four days later)
  • MGM-Pathe Communications, 1990-1992 (purchased by Giancarlo Parretti in 1990)
  • Crédit Lyonnais, 1992–1997 (foreclosed upon by bank after Parretti defaulted)
  • Tracinda Corporation, 1997–2005 (repurchased by Kerkorian)
  • MGM Holdings, 2005–present
    • Sony/Comcast/4 private equity firms, 2005–2010 (purchased by Sony, Comcast, and private investment firms—Providence Equity Partners currently owns the greatest number of shares—and privately held as a minor media company independent of Sony/Columbia)
    • Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, other former bondholders (2011–present) including Carl Icahn (2011-2012)

RKO Radio Pictures

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• RCA, 1928–1935 (founded by David Sarnoff)
• Independent, 1935–1955 (half of RCA's interest purchased by Floyd Odlum, control split between RCA, Odlum, and Rockefeller brothers; controlling interest purchased by Odlum in 1942; controlling interest purchased by Howard Hughes in 1948; Hughes interest purchased by Stolkin-Koolish-Ryan-Burke-Corwin syndicate in 1952; interest repurchased by Hughes in 1953; fully purchased by Hughes in 1954)
• General Tire and Rubber, 1955–1984 (purchased by General Tire and Rubber—coupled with General Tire's broadcasting operation as RKO Teleradio Pictures; production and distribution halted in 1957; movie business dissolved in 1959 and RKO Teleradio renamed RKO General; RKO General establishes RKO Pictures as production subsidiary in 1981)
• GenCorp, 1984–1987 (reorganization creates holding company with RKO General and General Tire as primary subsidiaries)
• Wesray Capital Corporation, 1987–1989 (spun off from RKO General, purchased by Wesray—controlled by William E. Simon and Ray Chambers—and merged with amusement park operations to form RKO/Six Flags Entertainment)
• Independent, 1989–present (operates as RKO Pictures LLC) owned by Ted Hartley, who is the CEO. The company's recent films are A Late Quartet (2012) and Barely Lethal (2015).