Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
| File:Mgmlogob.jpg | |
| Company type | Owned by MGM Holdings, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motion pictures |
| Predecessor | MCA Inc.  |
| Founded | April 16, 1924 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, USA (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc.: Santa Monica, California, USA) |
Key people | Harry E. Sloan (Chairman and CEO) |
| Products | Motion pictures Television programs |
Number of employees | 1,440 (as of 2004) [1] |
| Parent | Providence Equity Partners (29%) TPG Capital, L.P. (21%) Sony (20%) Comcast (20%) DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (7%) Quadrangle Group (3%) [2] |
| Website | http://www.mgm.com/, |
They suck asshole Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs.
From the end of the silent film era through World War II, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the most prominent motion picture studio in Hollywood, with the greatest output of all of the studios: at its height, it released an average of one feature film a week, along with many short subjects and serials. A victim of the massive restructuring of the motion picture industry during the 1950s and 60s, it was ultimately unable to cope with the loss of its theater chain (due to the Paramount decrees), and the power shift from studio bosses to independent producers and agents.
On April 8, 2005, the company was acquired by a partnership led by Sony and Comcast in association with Texas Pacific Group (now TPG Capital, L.P.) and Providence Equity Partners. MGM Mirage, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MGM", is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Sony Pictures will distribute several MGM/Sony (with either Columbia or TriStar Pictures) co-productions—most notably Casino Royale—but outside of the co-productions MGM is now actively involved in acquiring worldwide film rights and distributing theatrical motion pictures domestically. 20th Century Fox will be handling the international theatrical distribution and worldwide home video distribution of MGM titles.
History
The beginning
In 1924, theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem. He'd bought Metro Pictures (founded in 1916) and Goldwyn Pictures (founded in 1917) to provide a steady supply of films for his large theater chain, Loews, Inc. However, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York to oversee the theaters.
Loew addressed the situation by buying Mayer Pictures on April 16, 1924. Because of his decade-long success as a producer, Louis B. Mayer was made a vice-president of Loews and head of studio operations in California, with Harry Rapf and the twenty-five year old "boy wonder" Irving Thalberg as heads of production. For decades, MGM's legal name was "Loews, Inc."
Originally, the new studio's films were presented in the following manner: Louis B. Mayer presents a Metro-Goldwyn picture, but Mayer soon added his name to the studio. Though Loew's Metro was the dominant partner, the new studio inherited Goldwyn's studios in Culver City, California, the former Goldwyn mascot Leo the Lion (which replaced Metro's parrot symbol), and the corporate motto Ars Gratia Artis ("Art for Art's Sake").
Also inherited from Goldwyn was a runaway production, Ben-Hur, which had been filming in Rome for months without producing much usable film. Mayer took charge of the situation by scrapping most of what had been shot and bringing production back to Culver City. Though Ben-Hur was the most costly film made up to its time, it became MGM's first great public-relations triumph, establishing an image for the company that persisted for years. Also in 1925, MGM passed Universal Studios as the largest studio in Hollywood—a lead it kept for most of the next quarter-century.
Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to his longtime associate, Nicholas Schenck. Rival mogul William Fox saw an opportunity to expand his empire, and in 1929, with Schenck's assent, bought the Loew family's holdings. However, Mayer and Thalberg were outraged. Despite their high posts in the company, they were not shareholders. Mayer in particular used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to sue Fox for violating federal antitrust law. During this time, Fox was badly hurt in an automobile accident. By the time he recovered, the stock market crash had virtually wiped out his financial holdings, ending any chance of the Loews merger going through even if the Justice Department had given its blessing. Schenck and Mayer had never gotten along; in fact, Mayer reportedly called his boss "Mr. Skunk" in private. The abortive Fox merger only increased the animosity between them. Schenck blamed Mayer rather than the stock market crash for costing him an instant fortune. The animosity between the two men led to a heated rivalry between the New York and Hollywood sides of the company that lasted over 30 years.
MGM's golden age
From the outset, MGM tapped into the audience's need for glamour and sophistication. Having inherited few big names from their predecessor companies, Mayer and Thalberg began at once to create and publicize a host of new stars, among them Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, William Haines, Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford. Established names like Lon Chaney, William Powell, Buster Keaton, and Wallace Beery were hired from other studios. The arrival of talking pictures in 1928–29 gave opportunities to other new stars, many of whom would carry MGM through the 1930s: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy, Jeanette MacDonald, and Nelson Eddy among them. In 1928 MGM released the first all-color sound feature (in Technicolor and including a synchronized score and sound effects but no spoken dialogue), entitled The Viking. In 1930, MGM released The Rogue Song which became their first all color all-talking feature (in Technicolor). In the same year, they purchased the rights to distribute a series of cartoons that starred a character named Flip the Frog), produced by Ub Iwerks. The first cartoon in this series (entitled Fiddlesticks) was also the first sound cartoon to be produced in Technicolor.
Like its rivals, MGM produced fifty pictures a year. Loews' theaters were mostly located in New York and the northeast, so MGM films were very sophisticated and polished. As the Depression deepened, MGM could make a claim its rivals could not: it never lost money. It was the only Hollywood studio that continued to pay dividends during the 1930s.
MGM stars dominated the box office in the 30's. Norma Shearer (the top star and money maker for the studio), Joan Crawford, and Greta Garbo all reigned as not only the top three figures at the studio but in Hollywood itself. Garbo started losing her American audience after Queen Christina (1934), Shearer was still the top money maker despite screen appearances becoming scarce, and Joan Crawford continued her box office power up until 1937. By 1943 all three had left the studio. Joan Crawford moved to Warner Brothers where her career took a dramatic upturn for the better, Shearer and Garbo never made another film after leaving MGM.
Mayer and Irving Thalberg's relationship was lukewarm at best; Thalberg preferred literary works to the crowd-pleasers Mayer wanted. Thalberg, always physically frail, was removed as head of production in 1932. Mayer encouraged other staff producers, among them his son-in-law David O. Selznick, but no one seemed to have the sure touch of Thalberg. As Thalberg fell increasingly ill in 1936, Louis Mayer could now serve as his temporary replacement also. Rumors flew that Thalberg was leaving to set up his own independent company; his early death in 1936, at age thirty-seven, cost MGM dearly.
As a result of Thalberg's death, Mayer became head of production as well as studio chief, becoming the first million-dollar executive in American history. The company remained profitable, although a change toward "series" pictures (Andy Hardy, Maisie, the Thin Man pictures, et al.) is seen by some as evidence of Mayer's restored influence.
In 1933, MGM began to distribute its second series of cartoons, starring a character named Willie Whopper, that was also produced by Ub Iwerks. In 1934, MGM hired Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising to produce a new series of color cartoons. These were known as Happy Harmonies and in many ways resembled the early Merrie Melodies they had previously done for Warner Bros. The Happy Harmonies regularly ran over budget, and MGM dismissed Harman-Ising and started its own animation studio in 1937. After the resulting struggles with a poorly-received series of Captain and the Kids cartoons, the studio re-hired Harman and Ising. MGM's biggest cartoon stars came in the form of the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. The Tom and Jerry cartoons won seven Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953. In 1941, Tex Avery joined the animation department. It was Avery who gave the unit its image, with successes like Red Hot Riding Hood, Swing Shift Cinderella, and the Droopy series.
Increasingly, before and during World War II, Mayer came to rely on his "College of Cardinals"—senior producers who controlled the studio's output. This management-by-committee may explain why MGM seemed to lose its momentum, developing few new stars and relying on the safety of sequels and bland material. Production values remained high, and even "B" pictures carried a polish and gloss that made them expensive to mount, and artificial in tone. After 1940, production was cut from fifty pictures a year to a more manageable twenty-five features per year. It was during this time that MGM released very successful musicals with newly-acquired contract players such as Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Frank Sinatra, to name just a few.
As audiences drifted away after the war, MGM found it difficult to attract audiences. While other studios backed away from the popular musicals of the war years, MGM increased its output to as many as five or six each year, roughly one-quarter of its annual output. Such pictures were expensive to produce, requiring a full staff of songwriters, arrangers, musicians, dancers, and technical support, and releasing so many each year affected the company’s finances. By the late forties, as MGM's profit margins decreased, word came from Schenck in New York: find "a new Thalberg" who could improve quality while paring costs. Mayer thought he had found this savior in Dore Schary, a writer and producer who had had a couple of successful years running RKO.
Mayer's taste for wholesomeness and "beautiful" movies conflicted with Schary's preference for gritty message pictures. In August 1951, after a period of friendly antagonism with Schary, Mayer was fired. One report says that Mayer called Schenck and New York with an ultimatum—"It's him or me". Mayer tried to stage a boardroom coup to oust his old nemesis, but failed.
Gradually cutting loose expensive contract actors (perhaps most noteworthy, that of Judy Garland in 1950), Schary managed to keep the studio running much as it had through the early 1950s. Under Schary, MGM produced some well-regarded musicals, among them An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon. However, it was a losing fight, as the mass audience preferred to stay home and watch television. (An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain, as well as the 1951 Technicolor remake of Show Boat, were box office hits; The Band Wagon was not.)
In 1954, as a settlement of the government's restraint-of-trade action, U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al., Loews, Inc. gave up control of MGM. It would take another five years before the interlocking arrangements were completely undone, by which time both Loews and MGM were sinking.
The lion loses its roar
As the studio system faded in the late 1950s and 1960s, MGM's prestige faded with it. In 1957 (by coincidence, the year L.B. Mayer died) the studio lost money for the first time in its 34-year history. Prior to this, in 1956, cost overruns and the failure of the big-budget epic Raintree County prompted the studio to release Schary from his contract. Schary's reign at MGM had been marked with few bona-fide hits, but his departure (along with the retirement of Schenck in 1955) left a power vacuum that would prove difficult to fill. By 1960, MGM had released all of its contract players, with many either retiring or moving onto television.
Television, thought to be a passing fad, increasingly dominated entertainment, and at the urging of Leonard Goldenson, longtime head of Paramount's theater chain who now ran ABC, MGM made a few feeble moves into the new medium. Like those of the other studios, MGM's first attempts at programming were either glorified trailers (MGM Parade), or based on past movie successes like The Thin Man. (Years later, they would produce highly successful TV series, like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the sitcom version of The Courtship of Eddie's Father).
1956 was also the year that MGM sold the TV rights for what is now one of its most beloved movies, The Wizard of Oz, to CBS, which scheduled it to be shown in November of that year. In a landmark event, ‘’Oz’’ became the first theatrical film to be shown complete in one evening on prime time television over a major American commercial network. (Olivier's version of Hamlet was shown on prime time network TV a month later, but split in half over two weeks). With its second showing on CBS in 1959, The Wizard of Oz became an annual tradition, drawing huge audiences in homes all over the U.S. and earning additional profits for the studio. The studio was all too happy to see Oz become, through television, one of the two or three most famous films MGM has ever made, and one of the few films that nearly everybody in the U.S. has seen at least once.
1957 also marked the end of the cartoon era at MGM, as the animation unit was closed due to budget issues. How it was closed is a matter of some debate; according to Joseph Barbera, the accountants called MGM with the message, "close the animation studio".[1] Instead, MGM decided to rerelease older cartoons (they had proved popular when released alongside new shorts). Hanna and Barbera moved to television with the formation of Hanna-Barbera Productions.
In 1959, however, MGM enjoyed one of its most spectacular successes of later years, with the release of its nearly four hour Technicolor version of Ben-Hur. Starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the film would go on to win 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a record that held until Titanic matched it in 1997. Ben-Hur was also an immense success both critically and at the box office.
In 1961, MGM resumed releasing new Tom and Jerry shorts, and production moved to Rembrandt Films in Czechoslovakia, under the supervision of Gene Deitch. Deitch's Tom and Jerry cartoons are noteworthy as being very distant from the original Hanna and Barbera style of animation. In 1963, the production of Tom and Jerry returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones and his Sib Tower 12 Productions studio (later absorbed by MGM and renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts). Jones' group also produced its own works, winning an Oscar for The Dot and the Line, as well as producing the classic television version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (with Theodore Geisel). Tom and Jerry folded in 1967, and the animation department continued with television specials and one feature film, The Phantom Tollbooth.
MGM fell into a habit in this period that would eventually sink the studio: an entire year's production schedule relied on the success of one big-budget epic each year. This policy began in 1959, when Ben-Hur was profitable enough to carry the studio through 1960. However, later attempts at big-budget epics failed, among them Cimarron (1961), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), and most notoriously, the 1962 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty. One other epic that was a success, however, was the MGM-Cinerama co-production How the West Was Won, with a huge all-star cast.
As MGM sank (along with the other main-line studios), a series of studio heads came and went, along with a succession of corporate managers, all hoping to bring back the studio's glory days.
Kerkorian takes over
In 1967, MGM was sold to the Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman, Sr. (whose son Edgar, Jr. would later buy Universal Studios). Two years later, an increasingly unprofitable MGM was bought (though some say raided) by Nevada millionaire Kirk Kerkorian. What appealed to Kerkorian was MGM's Culver City real estate, and the value of 45 years' worth of glamour associated with the name, which he attached to a Las Vegas hotel and casino. As for film-making, that part of the company was quickly and severely downsized under the supervision of James T. Aubrey, Jr. Aubrey, known from his days as head of programming at CBS as "the smiling cobra", sold off the studio's accumulation of props, furnishings and historical memorabilia, including Dorothy's red slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Put up for sale was venerable Lot 3, 40 acres (160,000 m²) of back-lot property, which became an up-scale real-estate project.
Through the 1970s studio output slowed considerably—Aubrey preferred four or five medium-budget pictures each year, along with a smattering of low-budget fare. With output cut back so severely, Kerkorian closed MGM's sales and distribution offices in 1973, handing that duty to United Artists. Kerkorian now distanced himself from the operations of the studio, focusing on his casino properties. Another chunk of the back lot was sold in 1974; the last shooting done on the backlot was the introductory material for That's Entertainment! a retrospective documentary that became a surprise hit for the studio. The shoddy look of the famous MGM exteriors and back lots, shown in That's Entertainment! (for instance, the "New York" street), was startling; a studio that had previously had so much glamour and expertise in making big-budget films looked as if it had been reduced to nothing more than the average, low-budget studio. In addition to MGM's fast declining image, the MGM Recording Studios were sold in 1975.
In 1979, Kerkorian declared that MGM was now primarily a hotel company, but he did commit to increased production and an expanded film library when he bought the sinking United Artists in 1981.
MGM/UA, Turner and Pathé
UA, which was essentially bankrupt following the disaster of Heaven's Gate, cut its production schedule sharply. The "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" lettering on the studio's logo was changed to reflect their acquisition of UA, now reading "MGM/UA Entertainment Co."—the new name for the company.
Following a failed attempt to take over CBS in 1985, the ambitious Georgia-based media entrepreneur Ted Turner bought MGM/UA. But his bankers, concerned about the already heavy debt-load his companies carried, refused to back him, and exactly seventy-four days later (October 17, 1986), Turner announced he was re-selling most of MGM/UA to Kirk Kerkorian for approximately $780 million USD ($480 million for United Artists and $300 million for the MGM logo).
Turner retained the one MGM asset he really craved, the MGM film library, as well as the United Artists Television package (excepting most shows produced by UA itself and its predcessor Ziv Television Programs, with Gilligan's Island going to Turner). Kerkorian got United Artists and the rights to the MGM name and trademark. The venerable Culver City lot, home to MGM and its predecessor since 1918, was sold to Lorimar-Telepictures, a television production company.
How much of MGM's back catalog Turner actually obtained was a point of conflict for a time; eventually it was determined that Turner owned all of the MGM library, dating back to pre-merger days, as well as the pre-1948 Warner Bros. catalog, the entire RKO library, and a good share of United Artists's own backlist.
Turner began broadcasting MGM films through his Turner Network Television, and caused a controversy when he began "colorizing" many black and white classics. In 1987, the company was reverted back to "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer"; however, co-productions between MGM and UA carried a specially created MGM UA logo. Productions made by MGM carried a new version of the original studio logo.
 | The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. The dispute is about The MGM/Pathe takeover, related legal disputes etc. . |
In 1990, an obscure Italian promoter, Giancarlo Parretti, announced that he had taken control of France's Pathé Frères, and was about to buy MGM/UA. Despite a cloudy past Parretti got backing from Credit Lyonnais and took control of MGM/UA through a leveraged buyout. However in 1991 his ownership dissolved in a flurry of lawsuits and a default by Crédit Lyonnais, and Parretti faced securities fraud charges in the United States and Europe. Pathé was purchased by Chargeurs in 1992.
Despite a few commercial successes, Credit Lyonnais was unable to stem the tide of red ink during the mid-1990s; putting the studio up for sale, it found only one willing bidder: Kirk Kerkorian. Now the owner of MGM for the third time, Kerkorian at last conceded that a solid business plan was the studio's only hope. By committing to more and better pictures, selling a portion of the studio to Australia's Seven Network, and installing a professional management team, Kerkorian was able to convince Wall Street that a revived MGM was worthy of a place on the stock market.
However, despite a few successful pictures and a re-built film library, it was clear that MGM could not compete in a business that required hundreds of millions in capital for even the most ordinary picture.
1997–2001
In 1997, MGM bought John Kluge's collection of film properties (Orion Pictures, The Samuel Goldwyn Company (or Goldwyn Entertainment Company) and the Motion Picture Corporation of America), substantially enlarging its catalog. This catalog, along with the James Bond franchise, was considered to be MGM's primary asset. In the same year, the series, Stargate SG-1, was released, being owned by MGM.
Until 2001, MGM severed ties with UIP (United International Pictures) a joint venture between MGM, Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures. In January 2001, MGM began distributing films internationally through 20th Century Fox.
2004
Many of MGM's competitors started to make bids to purchase the studio, beginning with Time Warner. It was not unexpected that Time Warner would bid, since the largest shareholder in the company was Ted Turner. His Turner Entertainment group had risen to success in part through its ownership of the pre-1986 MGM library. After a short period of negotiation with MGM, Time Warner was unsuccessful.
The leading bidder, though, proved to be Sony, backed by Comcast and venture capital bankers Texas Pacific Group (now TPG Capital, L.P.) and Providence Equity Partners. Time Warner made a counter-bid (which Ted Turner reportedly tried to block), but on September 13, 2004, Sony increased its bid of $11.25/share (roughly $4.7 billion) to $12/share ($5 billion), and Time Warner subsequently withdrew its bid of $11/share ($4.5 billion).
MGM and Sony agreed on a purchase price of nearly $5 billion, of which about $2 billion was to pay off MGM debt [3] [4].
2006
MGM announced that it would return as a theatrical distribution company. MGM negotiated and struck deals with The Weinstein Company, Lakeshore Entertainment, Bauer Martinez, and many other independent studios, and then announced its plans to release 14 feature films for 2006 and early 2007. MGM also hoped to increase the amount to over 20 by 2007.
Lucky Number Slevin, released April 7, is the first film to be released under the new MGM era. It also distributed Breaking and Entering with Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company. Other recent films under the MGM/Weinstein deal include Clerks II and Bobby. Upon the MGM/Weinstein films' release on home video, however, full distribution rights revert to Weinstein (under Genius Products).
On May 31, MGM announced that it would transfer home video output from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (excepting those MGM/Columbia Pictures co-productions, such as the 2006 remake of Casino Royale, where Columbia is a majority partner).[2]
MGM also announced plans to restructure its worldwide television distribution operation.[3] In addition MGM signed a deal with New Line Television in which MGM would handle New Line's U.S. film and series television syndication packages. MGM will also serve as New Line's barter sales rep in the television arena for the next two years.[4]
On November 2, producer/actor Tom Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, signed an agreement with MGM to run United Artists. Wagner will serve as United Artists' chief executive. Cruise will produce and star in films for UA and MGM will distribute the movies.
2007
In April, it was announced that MGM movies will be able to be downloaded through iTunes. MGM is bringing an estimated 100 of its existing movies to Apple’s iTunes service, the California-based computer company revealed. And those movies will include the likes of modern classics such as Rocky, Ronin, Mad Max, and Dances with Wolves, along with more golden classics such as Lilies of the Field and The Great Train Robbery.[5]
New films
MGM will continue to produce and fund its own products, most of which will be distributed by MGM domestically and 20th Century Fox internationally, while others will be distributed via Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment. Current films include Casino Royale (the latest in a long line of James Bond films) and Rocky Balboa, part of the famed "Rocky" series.
The studio owns the distribution rights to a live-action film version of The Hobbit, which is being planned for production with New Line Cinema (this is due to MGM's UA division acquiring the rights to and producing an earlier animated version of The Lord of the Rings, though that film is now owned by Warner Bros.). MGM has also announced that it will continue to work on sequels for The Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair.
MGM's library today
As of the present day, Turner Entertainment Co. owns the rights to the pre-1986 MGM film library. MGM itself owns nearly all of its own post-1986 library, most of the post-1952 United Artists catalog (although it also includes a tiny fraction of pre-1952 UA material), a majority of the Orion Pictures film and television library (which includes material from predecessors American International Pictures, Heatter-Quigley Productions, and Filmways) and the pre-1996 Samuel Goldwyn library.
The studio also owns the theatrical rights to most of the Granada International catalog, including their inherited ITC Entertainment (The Return of the Pink Panther, Capricorn One, On Golden Pond, etc.) library, the Cannon Films library (King Solomon's Mines, That Championship Season, etc.) and the "Epic Productions" library catalogs.
The Epic Productions library alone includes most of the pre-1996 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library, selected Nelson Entertainment (including the pre-Turner-merger Castle Rock Entertainment library with the exception of co-productions with Columbia Pictures) and Embassy Pictures properties, and those of other smaller defunct studios, including Atlantic Releasing Corporation, Scotti Bros. Pictures and Hemdale Film Corporation - itself incorporated into the Orion library.
Notable films
See also
- Leo the Lion, the MGM mascot
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio
- MGM Mirage, the Las Vegas, Nevada-based hotel development company.
References
- ^ Barbera, J: How Bill & Joe met Tom & Jerry, interviews with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Warner Home Video, 2005
- ^ Thomas K. Arnold and Gregg Kilday, "MGM forwards vid deal to Fox", hollywoodreporter.com, 31 May 2006
- ^ "MGM Expands Worldwide Television Distribution Group". Retrieved 2006-10-24.
- ^ "MGM To Handle U.S. Syndication Sales For New Line Television". Retrieved 2006-12-16.
- ^ MGM brings classic movies to iTunes. Google news, April 12, 2007.