Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. was an American conglomerate. The company originally focused on manufacturing and resource extraction, but it began purchasing a number of entertainment companies beginning in 1966 and continuing through the 1970s. Most notable among the acquisitions were film studio Paramount Pictures in 1966, television studio Desilu Productions in 1967, arcade and later videogame manufacturer Sega in 1969, book publisher Simon & Schuster in 1975, and a number of music labels including Dot Records. Some of these properties were reorganized under the Paramount brand, with Dot Records becoming the nucleus of Paramount Records and Desilu being renamed Paramount Television.
Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command the significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the major film studios, often known simply as the majors or the Big Five studios, are commonly regarded as the five diversified media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries collectively command approximately 80 to 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.
Amicus Productions was a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England, active between 1962 and 1977. It was founded by American producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was an American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969.
Kinney Services Inc. was an American conglomerate company from 1966 to 1972. Its successors were Warner Communications and WarnerMedia and its current successor is Warner Bros. Discovery. Kinney National's predecessors were Kinney Service Corporation and National Cleaning Contractors Inc., whose merger began in January 1966 and was completed in August of the same year. National Cleaning Contractors was founded in 1886 by Louis Frankel and Max Sweig as National Window Cleaning & House Renovating Co., and was later known as National House Cleaning Contractors Inc.
Lumiere Pictures and Television, formerly known as EMI Films, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, and Weintraub Entertainment Group, and later UGC DA, and 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.
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.
National Telefilm Associates (NTA) was an audio-visual marketing company primarily concerned with the syndication of American film libraries to television, including the Republic Pictures film library. It was successful enough on cable television between 1983 and 1985 that it renamed itself Republic Pictures and undertook film production and home video sales as well.
Hemdale Film Corporation was an independent American-British film production company and distributor. The company was founded in London in 1967 as the Hemdale Company by actor David Hemmings and John Daly, naming the company from a combination of their surnames. The company produced numerous acclaimed films, often in conjunction with companies such as TriStar and Orion Pictures, including The Terminator (1984), Platoon (1986) and The Last Emperor (1987), the latter two being back-to-back winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associates and Sierra On-Line. Between 1997 and 2001, the company switched parents and names multiple times before ending up organized under Vivendi Universal. On July 10, 2008, Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard.
National General Corporation (NGC) was a theater chain holding company, film distribution and production company and was considered one of the "instant majors". It was in operation from 1951 to 1974.
Ely Abraham Landau was an American film producer and production executive best remembered for films of plays in the American Film Theatre series.
Stephen A. Unger is an American "leading executive recruiter" who served as managing partner of the media and entertainment divisions at the three largest executive search firms in the world. From 2004 to 2005 he wrote a regular weekly column on leadership for the Daily Variety, a trade publication considered to be the "Bible of Show Business."
Oliver A. Unger was an American film producer, distributor, and exhibitor. In a 45-year career, he was also a television producer and owner of movie theaters and television stations throughout the United States.
Cinema Center Films (CCF) was the theatrical film production company of the CBS Television Network from 1967 to 1972. Its films were distributed by National General Pictures. The production unit was located at CBS Studio Center in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, and produced 30 films.
Cinerama Releasing Corporation (CRC) was a motion picture company established in 1967 that originally released films produced by its namesake parent company that was considered an "instant major".
Computer Usage Company (CUC) (1955–1986), sometimes called Computer Usage Corporation, was the first independent company to market computer software.
Milton Goldstein was an American film industry executive.
Anthony B. Unger is an American film producer whose 40-year international career includes such titles as Nicolas Roeg's 1973 thriller Don't Look Now as well 1969's Battle of Neretva, The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Magic Christian and The Promise. His 1970 credits include the first color production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and the Ava Gardner vehicle Tam-Lin. In the 1980s he produced The Unseen and Chuck Norris' Silent Rage.
