Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an
American motion picture production and
distribution company, based in
Hollywood, California. It has become the longest-lived American movie studio ever, in existence for 94 years (only
Denmark's
Nordisk Film, founded in
1906, is older). Paramount is owned by media conglomerate
Viacom.
Early history
Paramount Pictures Inc. can trace its beginnings to the creation in May, 1912, of the
Famous Players Film Company. Founder
Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners
Daniel Frohman and
Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success.
That same year, another aspiring producer,
Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish (later to be known as
Samuel Goldwyn.) As their first employee, the Lasky company hired a stage director with no film experience,
Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a suitable location site in Hollywood, near
Los Angeles, for his first film,
The Squaw Man.
Beginning in 1914, both Lasky and Famous Players released their films through a start-up company, Paramount Pictures. Organized early that year by a Utah theater owner,
W. W. Hodkinson, who had bought and merged several smaller firms, Paramount was the first successful nation-wide distributor. Until this time films were sold on a state-wide or regional basis; not only was this inefficient, but it had proved costly to film producers.
Soon the ambitious Zukor, un-used to taking a secondary role, began courting Hodkinson and Lasky. In 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky company, and Paramount. The new company, Famous Players-Lasky, grew quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldfish and DeMille running the production side, Hodkinson in charge of distribution, and Zukor making great plans. With only the exhibitor-owned
First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its "Paramount Pictures" soon dominated the business.
Zukor believed in stars - after all, he had begun by offering "Famous Players in Famous Plays," as his first slogan put it. He signed and developed many of the leading early stars, among them
Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks,
Gloria Swanson,
Rudolph Valentino, and
Wallace Reid. With so many important players, Paramount was able to introduce "block booking," which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on anti-trust grounds for more than twenty years.
The driving force behind Paramount's rise was Zukor. All through the teens and twenties, he built a mighty theatrical chain of nearly 2,000 screens, ran two production studios, and became an early investor in radio, taking a 50% interest in the new
Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928. By acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz chain in 1926, he gained the services of both
Barney Balaban, who became Paramount's president, and Sam Katz, who ran the Paramount-Publix theater chain. Zukor also hired independent producer
B. P. Schulberg, an unerring eye for new talent, to run the West Coast studio. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took on the name Paramount-Famous Lasky Corportation. Three years later, because of the importance of the Publix theater chain, it was later known as Paramount-Publix Corporation.
Eventually Zukor shed most of his early partners, the Frohman brothers, Hodkinson and Goldfish/Goldwyn were out by 1917 while Lasky hung on until 1932, when, blamed for the near-collapse of Paramount in the depression years, he too was tossed out. Zukor's overexpansion and use of overvalued Paramount stock for purchases led the company into receivership in 1933. A bank-mandated reorganization team, led by
John Hertz and
Otto Kahn kept the company intact, and miraculously, kept Zukor on. He was bumped up to an honorary "chairman emeritus" role in 1935, while Barney Balaban became chairman. When the company emerged from bankruptcy, it was known as Paramount Pictures, Inc.
As always, Paramount films continued to emphasize stars; in the 1920s there were Swanson, Valentino, and
Clara Bow. By the 1930s, talkies brought in a range of powerful new draws:
Marlene Dietrich,
Mae West,
Gary Cooper,
Claudette Colbert, the
Marx Brothers,
Dorothy Lamour,
Carole Lombard, and
Bing Crosby among them. In this period Paramount can truly be described as a movie factory, turning out sixty and seventy pictures a year. Such were the benefits of having a huge theater chain to fill, and of block booking to persuade other chains to go along.
Paramount's cartoon division was also a big success because of two major characters: Popeye the Sailor and Betty Boop. Fleischer Studios put out both cartoons until 1942, then Famous Studios took over both cartoons.
In 1940, Paramount agreed to a government-instituted consent decree: block booking and "pre-selling" (the practice of collecting up-front money for films not yet in production) would end. Immediately Paramount cut back on production, from sixty-plus pictures to a more modest twenty annually in the war years. Still, with more new stars (like
Bob Hope,
Alan Ladd, and
Betty Hutton), and with war-time attendance at astronomical numbers, Paramount and the other integrated studio-theater combines made more money than ever. At this, the
Federal Trade Commission and the
Justice Department decided to reopen their case against the five integrated studios. This led to the
Supreme Court decision of 1948 that broke up Adolph Zukor's amazing creation and effectively brought an end to the classic Hollywood
studio system.
The 1950s to the 1970s
As movie attendance declined after
World War II, Paramount and the others struggled to keep the audience. Hovering nearby were the
Federal Trade Commission and the
Justice Department, still pursuing restraint-of-trade allegations. This case finally came before the Supreme Court as
U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al., and in May, 1948, the court agreed with the government, finding restraint of competition, and calling for the separation of production and exhibition. Paramount was split in two. Paramount Pictures Corporation remained the production distribution, with the 1,500-screen theater chain handed to the new
United Paramount Theaters on December 31, 1949. Cash-rich and controlling prime downtown real estate, UPT-head
Leonard Goldenson began looking for investments; barred from film-making, he acquired the struggling
ABC in February, 1953.
Paramount Pictures had been an early backer of television, launching experimental stations in 1939 in
Los Angeles (later to become
KTLA) and
Chicago's WBKB. It was also an early investor in the pioneer
DuMont Laboratories and through that, the
DuMont Television Network, but because of anti-trust concerns after the 1948 ruling, proved to be a timid and obstructionist partner, refusing to aid DuMont as it sank in the mid-1950s.
With the loss of the theater chain, Paramount Pictures went into a decline, cutting studio-backed production, releasing its contract players, and making production deals with independents. By the mid-1950s, all the great names were gone; only C.B. DeMille, associated with Paramount since 1913, kept making pictures in the grand old style. Like some other studios, Paramount saw little value in its film library. When the talent agency
MCA, then wielding major influence on Paramount policy, offered $50 million for 750 pre-1948 features (with payment to be spread over many years), it was thought that Paramount had made the best possible deal. To address anti-trust concerns, MCA set up a separate company,
EMKA, Ltd., to peddle these films to television. MCA later admitted that over the next forty years it took in more than a billion dollars in rentals of these supposedly worthless pictures.
The Paramount cartoons and shorts went to various television distributors, with
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. acquiring the majority of the cartoons and live action short subjects made before 1951. Some lesser known features were included in this deal as well. The Popeye cartoons were sold to Associated Artists Productions. The Superman cartoons went to Motion Pictures for Television, producers of the Superman television series. The rest of the cartoons made from 1950-1962, were sold to
Harvey Comics. Except for the Superman cartoons and the features sold to Universal, most television prints of these films have had their titles refilmed to remove most traces of their connection to Paramount. (The original copyright lines were left intact on Popeye cartoons.)
By the early 1960s Paramount's future was doubtful. The high-risk movie business was wobbly; the theater chain was long gone; investments in DuMont and in early pay-television came to nothing. Even the flagship Paramount building in Times Square was sold to raise cash, as was KTLA (sold to
Gene Autry in 1964 for a then-phenomenal $12.5 million). Founding-father Adolph Zukor, born in 1873, was still chairman emeritus; he referred to chairman Barney Balaban (born 1888) as 'the boy'. Such aged leadership was incapable of keeping up with the changing times, and in 1966, a sinking Paramount was sold to the
Charles Bluhdorn's industrial conglomerate
Gulf and Western Industries. Bluhdorn immediately put his stamp on the studio, installing a virtually unknown producer,
Robert Evans, as head of production. Despite some rough times, Evans held the job for eight years, restoring Paramount's reputation for commercial success with
The Odd Couple,
Love Story,
Rosemary's Baby and
The Godfather.
|
One of the early Paramount Television logos following the Desilu merger. This logo was nicknamed "The Split Rectangle" for obvious reasons |
Gulf and Western Industries also bought the neighboring
Desilu television studio (once the lot of
RKO Pictures) from
Lucille Ball in 1967. Using Desilu's established shows like
Star Trek,
Mission: Impossible and
Mannix as a foot in the door at the networks, Paramount Television eventually became known as a specialist in half-hour situation comedies.
Robert Evans quit as head of production in 1974; his successor
Richard Sylbert, was too literary and tasteful for G+W's Bluhdorn. By 1976, a new, television-trained team was in place:
Barry Diller, and his 'killer-Dillers,' associates
Michael Eisner,
Jeffrey Katzenberg and
Don Simpson. The specialty now was simpler, 'high concept' pictures like
Saturday Night Fever, and
Grease. With his television background, Diller kept pitching an idea of his to the board: a fourth commercial network. But the board, and Bluhdorn, wouldn't bite. Neither would Bluhdorn's successor, Martin Davis. When Bluhdorn died unexpectedly, Davis dumped all of G+W's industrial, mining, and sugar-growing subsidiaries and refocused the company, renaming it
Paramount Communications. Diller took his fourth-network idea with him when he moved to
Twentieth Century-Fox in 1984, where the new proprietor,
Rupert Murdoch, was a more interested listener.
Paramount Pictures was unconnected to
Paramount Records, until it purchased the rights to use Paramount Records' name (but not its catalogue) in the late 1960s. The Paramount name was used for soundtrack albums and some pop re-issues from the
Dot Records catalogue. Paramount had acquired the pop-oriented Dot in 1958, but by 1970 Dot had become an all-country label [
1]. In 1974, Paramount sold all of its record holdings to
ABC Records, which in turn was sold to
MCA in 1978.
From the 1980s to the present day
Paramount's successful run of lightweight pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like
Flashdance, the
Friday the 13th slasher series;
Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels;
Beverly Hills Cop and a string of films starring comedian
Eddie Murphy; and the
Star Trek features. While the emphasis was decidedly on the commercial, there were occasional quality efforts like
Atlantic City and
Forrest Gump. During this period responsibility for running the studio passed from Eisner and Katzenberg to Don Simpson to
Stanley Jaffe and
Sherry Lansing and, late in 2005,
Brad Grey. More so than most, Paramount's slate of films included many remakes and television spinoffs; while sometimes commercially successful, there have been few compelling films of the kind that once made Paramount the industry leader.
With the influx of cash from the sale of G+W's industrial properties in the mid-1980s, Paramount bought a string of television stations and
KECO Entertainment's theme park operations, renaming them
Paramount Parks. In
1993,
Sumner Redstone's entertainment conglomerate
Viacom made a bid for Paramount; this quickly escalated into a bidding war with Barry Diller. But Viacom prevailed, ultimately paying $10 billion for the Paramount holdings. In 1995, Viacom and
Chris-Craft Industries'
United Television launched
United Paramount Network (UPN), fulfilling Diller's 1970s plan for a Paramount network. In 1999 Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the shaky UPN to its more-established
CBS unit.
Reflecting in part the troubles of the broadcasting business,
Viacom announced early in 2005 that it would split itself in two. The split was completed in January 2006. The CBS television and radio networks, the Infinity radio-station chain (now called
CBS Radio), the Paramount Television production unit (now called
CBS Paramount Television) and
UPN (which will soon be
The CW Television Network in a joint venture with rival,
Time Warner's
Warner Bros.) are part of
CBS Corporation. Paramount Pictures is now lumped in with
MTV,
BET, and the
New Viacom's other highly profitable cable channels.
Through a series of mergers and acquistitions, many of Paramount's early cartoons, shorts, and feature films are owned by numerous entities. The cartoons and shorts that were sold to U.M.&M. in 1956 have been reacquired by Paramount Pictures, following Viacom's purchase of
Republic Pictures. EMKA/
NBC Universal owns 750 of Paramount's pre-1948 sound features, except for a few feature films that either ended up in U.M.&M./NTA's possession, or had been retained by Paramount due to other rights issues (such as
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek). The Popeye cartoons and Superman cartoons are owned by
Time Warner's subsidaries,
Turner Entertainment and
DC Comics (respectively). The rest of the cartoons that were sold to
Harvey Comics from 1951-1962 are owned by
Classic Media. As for distribution of the material Paramount itself still owns, it has been split in half, with Paramount themselves owning theatrical rights, while what became
CBS Paramount Television handles television distribution (under the CBS license).
Paramount is the last major film studio located in Hollywood proper. When Paramount moved to its present home in 1927, it was in the heart of the film community. Since then, former next-door neighbor
RKO closed up shop in 1957;
Warner Brothers (whose old Sunset Boulevard studio was sold to Paramount in 1949 as a home for KTLA) moved to
Burbank in 1930;
Columbia joined Warners in Burbank in 1973 then moved again to
Culver City in 1989; and the Pickford-Fairbanks-Goldwyn-United Artists lot, after a lively history, has been turned into a
post-production and music-scoring facility for Warners, known simply as "The Lot". For a time the semi-industrial neighborhood around Paramount was in decline, but has now come back. The recently refurbished studio has come to symbolize Hollywood for many visitors, and its
studio tour is a popular attraction.
On December 11, 2005, Paramount announced that it had purchased
DreamWorks SKG in a deal worth $1.6 billion. The announcement was made by
Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, who noted that enhancing Paramount's pipeline of pictures is a "key strategic objective in restoring Paramounts stature as a leader in filmed entertainment." The agreement does not include
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the most profitable part of the company that went public last year. But Paramount does gain the right to distribute the studio's lucrative animated films, including the
Shrek franchise. On
February 1,
2006, the studio announced that the DreamWorks acquisition was completed.
The Paramount mountain has been the company's logo since its inception and is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo. The mountain is based on a particular mountain,
Three Sisters in
Central Oregon. It is also based on a doodle made by
W. W. Hodkinson based the memories of his childhood in
Utah. Some claim that
Ben Lomond is the mountain Hodkinson doodled. [
2]
The logo began as a charcoal rendering of the mountain ringed with twenty-two superimposed stars. In 1953, the logo was redesigned as a
matte painting. A stylized version was introduced in the 1960s and was replaced in 1987 by a version created by
Apogee, Inc. with
computer generated lake and stars. For Paramount's 90th anniversary in 2002, a new completely computer-generated logo was created. [
3]
Some of Paramount movies have customized logos:
The Core (2003): The "A
Viacom Company"
byline fades, and then the camera zooms in on the mountain meaning we are going in to the core of the earth.
Four Brothers (2005) The opening Paramount logo has snow falling on top of it.
1920s
*
The Covered Wagon (1923)
*
The Ten Commandments (1923, with
Technicolor sequences)
*
Wanderer of the Wasteland (1924, Paramount's first all-
Technicolor feature)
*
Hotel Imperial (1927)
*
Wings (1927)
*
Wedding March (1928, with
Technicolor sequences)
*
Redskin (film) (1928, with
Technicolor sequences)
*
Interference (1928, Paramount's first all-talkie)
*
The Virginian (1929)
*
Applause (1929)
*
The Love Parade (1929)
*
The Cocoanuts (1929)
*
Glorifying the American Girl (1929, with
Technicolor sequences)
*
Pointed Heels (1929, with
Technicolor sequences)
1930s
*
The Vagabond King (1930, Paramount's first all-
Technicolor talkie)
*
Follow Thru (1930, Paramount's second all-
Technicolor talkie)
*
Morocco (1930)
*
Paramount on Parade (1930, with
Technicolor sequences)
*
Animal Crackers (1930)
*
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
*
One Hour with You (1932)
*
The Sign of the Cross (1932)
*
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
*
Shanghai Express (1932)
*
Love Me Tonight (1932)
*
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
*
Duck Soup (1933)
*
Cleopatra (1934)
*
It's a Gift (1934)
*
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
*
The Plainsman (1936)
*
The General Died at Dawn (1937)
*
Easy Living (1937)
*
Union Pacific (1939)
*
Beau Geste (1939)
*
Midnight (1939)
1940s
*
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
*
The Lady Eve (1941)
*
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
*
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
*
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
*
Road to Morocco (1942)
*
This Gun for Hire (1942)
*
Holiday Inn (1942)
*
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
*
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
*
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
*
Double Indemnity (1944)
*
Going My Way (1944)
*
Murder, He Says (1945)
*
The Lost Weekend (1945)
*
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
*
To Each His Own (1946)
*
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
*
My Favorite Brunette (1947)
*
Road to Rio (1947)
*
The Big Clock (1948)
*
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
*
The Paleface (1948)
*
The Heiress (1949)
*
My Friend Irma (1949)
*
Samson and Delilah (1949)
1950s
*
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
*
A Place in the Sun (1951)
*
Detective Story (1951)
*
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
*
Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
*
Roman Holiday (1953)
*
Shane (1953)
*
Stalag 17 (1953)
*
The War of the Worlds (1953)
*
The Country Girl (1954)
*
Rear Window (1954)
*
White Christmas (1954)
*
Sabrina (1954)
*
The Rose Tattoo (1955)
*
To Catch a Thief (1955)
*
The Desperate Hours (1955)
*
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
*
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
*
The Ten Commandments (1956)
*
War and Peace (1956)
*
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
*
Funny Face (1957)
*
The Tin Star (1957)
*
Teacher's Pet (1958)
*
Vertigo (1958)
*
The Blob (1958)
1960s
*
Psycho (1960, distributor only)
*
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
*
Blue Hawaii (1961)
*
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
*
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
*
Hud (1963)
*
The Nutty Professor (1963)
*
Seven Days in May (1964) (distribution)
*
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
*
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)
*
Alfie (1966)
*
Seconds (1966)
*
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
*
El Dorado (1967)
|
The 1975-1986 version of the Paramount logo. |
*
Half a Sixpence (1968)
*
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
*
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
*
Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
*
The Italian Job (1969) (distribution)
* Paint Your Wagon'' (1969)
1970s
*
Darling Lili (1970)
*
Love Story (1970)
*
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
*
The Out-of-Towners (1970, plus remake in 1999)
*
A New Leaf (1971)
*
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, distribution only, now owned by
Warner Bros.)
*
The Godfather (1972)
*
Paper Moon (1973)
*
Chinatown (1974)
*
The Conversation (1974)
*
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
*
The Great Gatsby (1974)
*
The Little Prince (1974)
*
The Day of the Locust (1975)
*
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
*
The Bad News Bears (1976)
*
Bugsy Malone (1976)
*
The Last Tycoon (1976)
*
Marathon Man (1976)
*
King Kong (1976)
*
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
*
Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)
*
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
*
Sorcerer (1977) (co-production with Universal)
*
Grease (1978)
*
Up in Smoke (1978)
*
Prophecy (1979)
*
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
*
The Warriors (1979)
*
Meatballs (1979)
1980s
*
Airplane! (1980)
*
Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!) (1980)
*
Friday the 13th (1980)
*
Ordinary People (1980)
*
Popeye (1980) (co-production with
Walt Disney Productions)
*
Dragonslayer (1981) (co-production with
Walt Disney Productions)
*
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
*
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (co-production with
Lucasfilm Ltd.)
*
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
*
48 Hrs. (1982)
*
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
*
Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
*
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
*
The Dead Zone (1983)
*
Still Smokin' (1983)
*
Terms of Endearment (1983)
*
Staying Alive (1983)
*
Flashdance (1983)
*
Trading Places (1983)
*
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
*
Footloose (1984)
*
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
*
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (co-production with
Lucasfilm Ltd.)
*
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
*
Witness (1985)
*
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
*
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
*
Clue (1985)
*
Blue City (1986)
*
Crocodile Dundee (1986) (distribution)
*
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
*
Pretty in Pink (1986)
*
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
*
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
*
Top Gun (1986)
|
The 1988-1989 version of the Paramount logo. |
*
Fatal Attraction (1987)
*
The Untouchables (1987)
*
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
*
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
*
Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)
*
The Accused (1988)
*
Coming to America (1988)
*
Crocodile Dundee II (1988) (distribution)
*
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
*
The Naked Gun (1988)
*
Scrooged (1988)
*
Black Rain (1989)
*
Harlem Nights (1989)
*
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (co-production with
Lucasfilm Ltd.)
*
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
*
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
*
Major League (1989)
1990s
*
Days of Thunder (1990)
*
Ghost (1990)
*
Another 48 Hrs. (1990)
*
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
*
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
*
The Addams Family (1991)
*
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
*
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991)
*
Regarding Henry (1991)
*
Patriot Games (1992)
*
Wayne's World (1992)
*
Boomerang (1992)
*
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
*
Addams Family Values (1993)
*
The Firm (1993)
*
Wayne's World 2 (1993)
*
Indecent Proposal (1993)
|
The 1995-2002 version of the Paramount logo. |
*
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
*
Forrest Gump (1994)
*
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)
*
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
*
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
*
Nobody's Fool (1994)
*
Andre (1994)
*
Lassie (1994)
*
Braveheart (1995)
*
The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)
*
Clueless (1995)
*
Tommy Boy (1995)
*
Congo (1995)
*
Virtuosity (1995)
*
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
*
Home for the Holidays (1995)
*
Sabrina (1995)
*
Primal Fear (1996)
*
Black Sheep (1996)
*
Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996)
*
Harriet the Spy (1996) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Escape From L.A. (1996)
*
Mission: Impossible (1996)
*
The First Wives Club (1996)
*
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
*
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
*
The Evening Star (1996)
*
The Phantom (1996)
*
The Relic (1997)
*
Face/Off (1997)
*
Good Burger (1997) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Breakdown (1997)
*
In & Out (1997)
*
Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)
*
The Saint (1997)
*
Kiss the Girls (1997)
*
The Rainmaker (1997)
*
Event Horizon (1997)
*
Private Parts (1997)
*
Titanic (1997) (co-production with
20th Century Fox)
*
Deep Impact (1998) (with DreamWorks SKG)
*
Saving Private Ryan (1998) (with
DreamWorks SKG)
*
The Truman Show (1998)
*
The Rugrats Movie (1998) (and its two sequels in 2000 & 2003) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
*
Snake Eyes (1998)
*
Dead Man on Campus (1998) (co-production with
MTV Films)
*
Payback (1999)
*
Varsity Blues (1999)
*
200 Cigarettes (1999)
*
Election (1999)
*
The Wood (1999)
*
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999) (co-production with
Warner Bros.)
*
The General's Daughter (1999)
*
Runaway Bride (1999)
*
Superstar (1999)
*
Sleepy Hollow (1999) (co-production with
Mandalay Pictures)
*
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
2000s
*
Snow Day (2000) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Rules of Engagement (2000)
*
Shaft (2000)
*
What Women Want (2000)
*
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Mission: Impossible II (2000)
*
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000) (with
MTV Films)
*
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001) (with
Nickelodeon Movies and
20th Century Fox).
*
Save the Last Dance (2001) (with
MTV Films)
*
Rat Race (2001)
*
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001)
*
Along Came a Spider (2001)
*
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) (Based on the video games)
*
The Score (2001) (co-production with
Mandalay Pictures)
*
Zoolander (2001)
*
Vanilla Sky (2001)
*
Pootie Tang (2001) (with
MTV Films)
*
Orange County (2002) (with
MTV Films)
*
We Were Soldiers (2002)
*
Crossroads (2002) (with
MTV Films)
*
Clockstoppers (2002) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Hey Arnold!: The Movie (2002) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
*
The Hours (2002)
*
Jackass: The Movie (2002) (with
MTV Films)
*
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
*
The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
*
School of Rock (2003)
*
The Core (2003)
*
Rugrats Go Wild! (2003) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
*
The Italian Job (2003)
*
Paycheck (2003)
*
Timeline (2003)
*
Tupac: Resurrection (2003) (co-production with
MTV Films)
*
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
*
The Stepford Wives (2004)
*
Team America: World Police (2004)
* Mean Girls (2004)
*
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) (with
Dreamworks SKG and
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Napoleon Dynamite (2004) (co-production with
Fox Searchlight Pictures and
MTV Films)
*
Without a Paddle (2004)
*
Collateral (2004) (with
DreamWorks SKG)
*
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) (distribution)
*
Alfie (2004)
*
Elizabethtown (2005)
*
Coach Carter (2005) (co-production with
MTV Films)
*
The Honeymooners (2005)
*
War of the Worlds (2005) (co-production with
DreamWorks SKG and
Amblin Entertainment)
*
The Longest Yard (2005) (with
Columbia Pictures and
MTV Films)
*
The Weather Man (2005)
*
Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) (with
MGM,
Nickelodeon Movies and
Columbia Pictures)
*
Four Brothers (2005)
*
Aeon Flux (2005) (co-production with
Lakeshore Entertainment and
MTV Films)
*
Sahara (2005)
*
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
*
Bad News Bears (2005) (remake of the 1976 film)
*
Failure to Launch (2006)
*
Last Holiday (2006)
*
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
*
Over the Hedge (2006) (distributor)
*
Nacho Libre (2006) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (2006) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
World Trade Center (2006)
*
The Eye (2006)
*
Flushed Away (2006) (distributor)
*
Charlotte's Web (2006) (with
Walden Media,
The Kerner Entertainment Company and
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Jackass: Number Two (2006) (filming)
*
Sunset Boulevard (2006)
*
The Fairly OddParents Movie (2007, with
Nickelodeon Movies and
20th Century Fox)
*
Transformers (2007) (with
Dreamworks SKG,
TriStar Pictures, and
Warner Bros.)
*
Mighty Mouse (2007) (with
Nickelodeon Movies)
*
Interstellar (2008) (with,
TriStar Pictures)
*
Iron Man (2008, with
Marvel Entertainment)
Following
Viacom's split into
(new) Viacom and
CBS Corporation, these shows are now owned by CBS Corporation's
CBS Paramount Television.
1960s
*
Mission: Impossible (1966-73)
*
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-69)
*
Mannix (1967-75)
*
The Brady Bunch (1969-74)
1970s
*
The Odd Couple (1970-75)
*
The Brady Kids (1972-74)
*
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-74)
*
Happy Days (1974-84)
*
Laverne and Shirley (1976-83)
*
The Love Boat (1977-86)
*
Mork and Mindy (1978-82)
*
Taxi (1978-83)
1980s
*
Solid Gold (1980-88)
*
Entertainment Tonight (1981-Present)
*
Family Ties (1982-89)
*
Cheers (1982-93)
*
Webster (1983-89)
*
MacGyver (1985-92)
*
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94)
*
Friday the 13th: The Series (1987-90)
*
War of the Worlds (1988-1990)
*
Mission: Impossible (1988-1990)
1990s
*
Wings (1990-1997)
*
Sightings (1991-1997)
*
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1996)
*
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
*
Frasier (1993-2004)
*
JAG (1995-2005)
*
Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
*
7th Heaven (1996-2006)
*
Moesha (1996-2001)
*
Sabrina The Teenage Witch (1996-2003)
*
The Sentinel (1996-1999)
*
Becker (1998-2004)
*
Seven Days (1998-2001)
*
Charmed (1998-2006)
2000s
One on One (2001-2006)
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
Dr. Phil (2002-Present)
NCIS (2003-Present)
Unexplained Mysteries (2003-2004)
The 4400 (2004-Present)
The Insider (2004-Present)
Sex, Love & Secrets (2005)
Everybody Hates Chris (2005-Present)
South Beach (2006)
* Berg, A. Scott.
Goldwyn. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.
* DeMille, Cecil B.
Autobiography. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1959.
* Eames, John Douglas, with additional text by Robert Abele.
The Paramount Story: The Complete History of the Studio and Its Films. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
* Evans, Robert.
The Kid Stays in the Picture. New York: Hyperion Press, 1994.
* Gabler, Neal.
An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. New York: Crown Publishers, 1988.
* Lasky, Jesse L. with Don Weldon,
I Blow My Own Horn. Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1957.
* Mordden, Ethan.
The Hollywood Studios. New York: Fireside, 1989.
* Schatz, Thomas.
The Genius of the System. New York: Pantheon, 1988.
* Sklar, Robert.
Movie-Made America. New York: Vintage, 1989.
* Zukor, Adolph, with Dale Kramer.
The Public Is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1953.
*
Haunted Hollywood*
Official website
