Cinemation Industries

Last updated
Cinemation Industries
IndustryExploitation film studio
Founded1965 [1]
Defunct1976
FateBankruptcy [1]
Headquarters New York City, United States

Cinemation Industries was a New York City-based film studio and distributor owned and run by exploitation film producer Jerry Gross. [2]

History

Gross released Girl on a Chain Gang (1966) and achieved success with Cinemation's release of sexploitation films such as Inga and Fanny Hill (both 1968). [3] Among other films, the company has distributed exploitation films such as Shanty Tramp (1967), Teenage Mother (1967), and The Cheerleaders (1973) as well as two blaxploitation films The Black Six (1974), and The Black Godfather (1974).

The company, however, also distributed unexpected smash hit independent films like Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat (1972). Other films released by the distributor include Peter Fonda's Idaho Transfer (1973), Freddie Francis' Son of Dracula (1974), Alain Resnais' Stavisky (1975), and the film version of Oh! Calcutta! (1972). It handled the U.S. rights for the Italian animated feature The Magic Bird , originally titled Putiferio va alla guerra. [4]

The company went bankrupt in late 1975, and all of its films in its catalog have been distributed by other companies. Jerry Gross resurfaced (after reportedly working as a clerk at a 7-Eleven store) a few years later with a new company, the Jerry Gross Organization. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Corman</span> American film director, producer, and actor (1926–2024)

Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.

American International Pictures LLC is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979.

DePatie–Freleng Enterprises was an American animation studio founded by former Warner Bros. Cartoons employees in May 1963, before dissolving in 1981. Based in Burbank, California, DFE produced animation for film and television.

<i>The Carol Burnett Show</i> American variety/sketch comedy television show (1967–1978)

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. In 1975, frequent guest star Tim Conway became a regular cast member after Waggoner left the series. In 1977, Dick Van Dyke replaced Korman but it was agreed that he was not a match and he left after 10 episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pye Records</span> British record label

Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy Pictures</span> American film company

Embassy Pictures Corporation was an American independent film production and distribution studio, active from 1942 to 1986. Embassy was responsible for films such as The Graduate, The Producers, The Fog, The Howling, Escape from New York, and This Is Spinal Tap, Swamp Thing, and television series such as The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time and The Facts of Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</span> American film distribution studio

ABC Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, previously known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios; the Searchlight Pictures label operates its own autonomous theatrical distribution and marketing unit.

Canal+ Image International was a British-French film, television, animation studio and distributor. A former subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief connection with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Anglo-EMI, the division under Nat Cohen, and the later company as part of the Thorn EMI conglomerate are outlined here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screen Gems</span> American film studio

Screen Gems is an American brand name owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation, initially as a cartoon studio, then a television studio, and later on as a film studio. The label currently serves as a film production that specializes in genre films, mainly horror.

<i>Fritz the Cat</i> (film) 1972 film by Ralph Bakshi

Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American adult animated black comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi in his directorial debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film focuses on its Skip Hinnant-portrayed titular character, a glib, womanizing and fraudulent cat in an anthropomorphic animal version of New York City during the mid-to-late 1960s. Fritz decides on a whim to drop out of college, interacts with inner city African American crows, unintentionally starts a race riot and becomes a leftist revolutionary. The film is a satire focusing on American college life of the era, race relations and the free love movement, as well as serving as a criticism of the countercultural political revolution and dishonest political activists.

Gerardo Rocco "Gerard" Damiano was an American director of adult films. He wrote and directed the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat, which starred Linda Susan Boreman aka Linda Lovelace. He also directed The Devil in Miss Jones, which ranked #7 in Variety's list of the top-grossing pictures of 1973. Damiano is one of the seminal directors of what is known as The Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryanston Distributing Company</span> Defunct American film company

Bryanston Distributing Company was an American film distribution company that was active during the 1970s. The company was founded by Louis Peraino and Philip Parisi in 1972. It went bankrupt in 1976, amid the company's numerous legal troubles.

<i>I Drink Your Blood</i> 1971 American exploitation horror film by David E. Durston

I Drink Your Blood is a 1971 American hippie exploitation horror film written and directed by David E. Durston, produced by Jerry Gross, and starring Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, and Lynn Lowry. The film centers on a small town that is overrun by rabies-infected members of a Satanic hippie cult after a revenge plot goes horribly wrong.

Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of productions in the entire field of audio-visual fiction and non-fiction. Company activity is based on the five pillars of film production/procurement of rights, TV production, film distribution, home entertainment, and licence trading/TV exploitation.

Roadshow Entertainment is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow that distributes films in Australia and New Zealand. Their first release was Mad Max. Roadshow Entertainment is an independent video distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

In the film industry, four-wall distribution is a process through which a studio or distributor rents movie theaters for a period of time and receives all of the box office revenue. The four walls of a movie theater give the term its name. Companies engaging in this practice were common in the United States during the late 1960s and 1970s; one of them was the Utah-based Sunn Classic Pictures.

Arthur Ronald Marks was an American film and television director, writer, producer and distributor best known for his work in the blaxploitation genre, directing films such as Bonnie's Kids, Detroit 9000, Friday Foster, Bucktown, The Monkey Hu$tle and J. D.'s Revenge. He also directed and produced numerous episodes of the American legal drama Perry Mason, as well as episodes of Starsky & Hutch, Mannix, I Spy, My Friend Tony, The Dukes of Hazzard, Steve Canyon, and Young Daniel Boone.

Lee Frost was a film director, producer, cinematographer, editor and occasional actor. Frost directed a string of exploitation films including Hot Spur (1968), The Scavengers (1969), Love Camp 7 (1969), Chain Gang Women (1971), Chrome and Hot Leather (1971), The Thing with Two Heads (1972), Policewomen (1974), The Black Gestapo (1975), Dixie Dynamite (1976) and Private Obsession (1995).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terence Hill and Bud Spencer</span> Film duo

Terence Hill and Bud Spencer are Italian actors who made numerous action-comedy and Spaghetti Western films together. They "garnered world acclaim and attracted millions to theater seats". While Hill's characters were agile and youthful, Spencer always played the "phlegmatic, grumpy strong-arm man with a blessed, naive child's laughter and a golden heart".

Manson International was an independent American film production company and distributor. The name was derived from the founders' surnames. Initially a distributor of foreign films, it became one of the pioneer film sales agencies in the country.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wyatt, Justin (1999). "Selling 'Atrocious Sexual Behavior'". In Radner, Hilary; Luckett, Moya (eds.). Swinging Single: Representing Sexuality in the 1960s. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 121–22. ISBN   0-8166-3351-7 . Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  2. "Jerry Gross". Variety . 2002-12-06. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  3. "Jerry Gross Swerves From Sexpo; Calls Policy Part-A.I.P., Part-Rugoff". Variety . August 4, 1971. p. 7.
  4. Baer, Joan (June 7, 1971). "Several Important Imports (Uptrend in Feature Schedules Sighted for Upcoming Year)". Boxoffice Barometer: 8. Retrieved May 25, 2013.