SNL Studios

Last updated
SNL Studios
Company type Joint venture
Industry Production company
Founded1997;28 years ago (1997)
Products Saturday Night Live
A Night at the Roxbury
Superstar
The Ladies Man
Owners Lorne Michaels
Universal Television (formerly NBC Studios)
Paramount Pictures (1997-2004)
Footnotes /references
[1]

SNL Studios (also known as "Saturday Night Live Studios") is an American production company founded in 1997 [2] as a joint venture between Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels, NBC Studios, and, initially, Paramount Pictures. [2] [3] Paramount's part of the venture was dissolved in 2004 following NBC's merger with Universal Pictures to form NBCUniversal. SNL Studios currently produces Saturday Night Live in association with Broadway Video (also owned by Michaels), [4] and in the past also produced movies, mainly featuring Saturday Night Live sketch characters: A Night at the Roxbury , Superstar and The Ladies Man .

Contents

History

Before SNL Studios

Prior to SNL Studios' formation, several films based on popular Saturday Night Live sketches were produced in addition to the series itself. The first of these was The Blues Brothers , released on June 20, 1980 by Universal Pictures (24 years prior to its merger with NBC), directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, based on their band of the same name that performed on the show in sketches. The film received positive reviews from critics, grossed $115 million in theaters, and has since become a cult classic. However, it was the second SNL film, Wayne's World , released 12 years later on February 14, 1992, that would successfully kickstart the trend of films based on SNL sketches. Wanye's World starred Mike Myers and Dana Carvey and was based on Myers' own SNL sketch. It grossed $183.1 million at the box office in addition to receiving positive reviews. Wayne's World, produced by SNL creator Lorne Michaels, was released by Paramount Pictures, which at the time had a film production deal with Michaels. Throughout the 90's, Paramount would go on to release several titles based on SNL sketches; the only ones during that time that they weren't involved with were It's Pat (released by Touchstone Pictures) and Blues Brothers 2000 (released by Universal as they distributed the original movie). With the exceptions of Wayne's World and its sequel, many of these films were critically panned, and only a few were successful at the box office.

Formation and subsequent history

In 1997, a decision was made to create a production company centered around the SNL name; thus, SNL Studios was formed, originally established as a joint venture between Lorne Michaels, NBC Studios, and Paramount, the third of which left the venture after the NBC-Universal merger in 2004. Following the announcement of SNL Studios' creation, veteran Saturday Night Live producer Marci Klein was named as the president of SNL Studios Television in 1999, while Richard Feldman was appointed head of SNL Studios Films in June of the same year. [5] A Night at the Roxbury was the first film produced under the name, released in 1998, though no on-screen logo was used until a year later with the release of Superstar . SNL Studios would also proceed to take over production of the SNL series from NBC Studios beginning in 1999, with Michaels' other company, Broadway Video, remaining on board.

To date, there have been no new films produced under the label after The Ladies Man . Another film based on an SNL sketch, MacGruber , would be released in 2010, although it would not carry the SNL Studios name. SNL Studios continues to produce the Saturday Night Live TV show.

Filmography

Films

All films listed are distributed by Paramount Pictures.

TitleRelease date
A Night at the Roxbury October 2, 1998
Superstar October 5, 1999
The Ladies Man October 13, 2000

TV series

TitleAir dateNotes
Saturday Night Live 1999–presentCo-production with Broadway Video; previously co-produced by NBC Productions (1975–1996) and NBC Studios (1996–1999)

See also

References

  1. ↑ SNL Studios on the Internet Movie Database
  2. 1 2 Hindes, Andrew; Hontz, Jenny (June 29, 1998). "NBC, Par to form 'SNL' pic team". Variety . Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2008.
  3. ↑ Eller, Claudia (October 1, 1999). "Studios see green in less-than-worthy 'SNL' film spinoffs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Saturday Night Live - All Bios - Newest - NBC Official Site". NBC. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ Adalian, Josef (December 2, 1999). "Klein tapped prexy of SNL TV prod'n arm". Variety. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
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