Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global. It is the fifth oldest film studio in the world, the second oldest film studio in the United States, and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles.
Universal Pictures is an American film production and distribution company owned by Comcast through the NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment division of NBCUniversal.
Frank Yablans was an American studio executive, film producer, and screenwriter. Yablans served as an executive at Paramount Pictures, including President of the studio, in the 1960s and 70s. As a filmmaker, he is best known for writing and producing the film Mommie Dearest (1981), which was nominated for nine Razzies at the 2nd Golden Raspberry Awards, including "winning" Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay for Yablans.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California, United States. In addition to its flagship Lionsgate Films division, the company contains other divisions such as Lionsgate Television and Lionsgate Interactive. It owns a variety of subsidiaries such as Summit Entertainment, Debmar-Mercury, and Starz Inc.
United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists films when MGM was part of the venture and also distributed Disney films in certain territories until 1987. In 2001, MGM left UIP, and signed a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox's overseas arm. The company formerly distributed DreamWorks Pictures releases internationally as well until 2005.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment to manage its motion picture operations. It was launched in 1998 by integrating the businesses of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and TriStar Pictures, Inc.
Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. was an American independent motion picture company in operation from 1992 to 1997. Among Savoy Pictures' noteworthy feature films were A Bronx Tale, No Escape, Last of the Dogmen and Serial Mom.
Lionsgate Films is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America. It focuses on foreign and independent films and has distributed various commercially successful film franchises, including The Hunger Games, Rambo, Divergent, The Punisher, John Wick, Saw, Madea, Blair Witch, Now You See Me, Hostel, The Expendables, Sinister, The Twilight Saga and Step Up.
Frank G. Mancuso is an American former film studio executive. Mancuso was the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures between 1984 and 1991, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer between 1993 and 1999, when he retired.
Jon Feltheimer is the Chief Executive Officer of Lions Gate Entertainment and has held that position since 2000. Feltheimer has led Lionsgate to grow into the leading Canadian independent filmed entertainment studio.
James N. Gianopulos is an American businessman. He served as the head of 20th Century Fox and most recently as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Paramount Pictures until his ouster in September 2021.
Michael Burns is an American entertainment executive and Vice Chairman of Lionsgate, a film studio and global content platform. He joined Lionsgate's Board of Directors in 1999 and became Vice Chairman of the studio in March 2000. During his 21-year tenure, Lionsgate has grown from a fledgling independent studio into a diversified global entertainment company.
Kerry McCluggage is the owner and president of Craftsman Films, an independent production company developing motion picture and television content. He was Chairman of Paramount Television Group and President of Universal Television for more than ten years each. He was a co-founder of United Paramount Network (UPN). At Paramount Television, he oversaw programs such as Cheers , its spinoff Frasier , the Star Trek franchise, Entertainment Tonight , The Arsenio Hall Show , Judge Judy , Judge Joe Brown and Judge Mills Lane . and grew the operation from $700 million to $3.2 billion, making it one of the leading television production companies. From mid-2018 until the end of 2018, McCluggage was CEO of IDW Media Holdings, a subdivision of IDW Publishing.
Earl Spencer Lestz was an American film studio executive who was President of the Studio Group at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles from 1985 to 2005. He was later the Master Planning Director of Plymouth Rock Studios, a new film and television studio being developed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Lestz served as vice chair on the Executive Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, as Vice Chairman of the Hollywood Historic Trust, on the Board of Directors of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and on the Board of Governors of Goodwill Industries of Southern California. He was a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2004, Lestz was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
David Paul Kirkpatrick is an American film producer, studio executive and writer. He is widely known for his career at Paramount Pictures where he started as a story editor, oversaw the studio's exclusive development deal with Eddie Murphy and eventually became President of the Motion Picture Group.
Mandate Pictures was a full-service film production company acquired by Lionsgate in 2007.
Tim Palen is an American photographer and motion picture marketing executive. During his 17 years at Lionsgate he became known for using his own photography as part of the promotional campaigns for films. After Palen left Lionsgate in 2019 to found his own company, Barnyard Projects, he and Tyler Perry announced a joint venture, Peachtree and Vine, a production company located in Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Erik Feig is an American film executive and producer. In May 2019, Feig launched Picturestart with backing from Warner Bros., Endeavor Content, and Bron Studios and access to Scholastic Corporation's IP. He served as co-president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and president of Summit Entertainment. He has produced, supervised and originated the production of Academy Award-winning films including La La Land and The Hurt Locker, along with book adaptations and films geared toward the youth market, including The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games series, Divergent series, Red series and Step Up series. According to The New York Times, "Feig has built a reputation among book authors for cinematic adaptations." As of 2017, films he has supervised or produced have collectively grossed over $12 billion at the box office worldwide.
The 2019 merger of CBS Corporation and Viacom was announced on August 13, 2019, and was completed on December 4, 2019. The merger of equals reunited CBS Corporation and Viacom into a single company known as ViacomCBS after their separation from the first incarnation of Viacom in January 2006. Both companies were owned by the theater company National Amusements.
