Formerly:

• Famous Players Film Company (1912–1916)

• Famous Players–Lasky Corporation (1916–1927)

• Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation (1927–1930)

• Paramount Publix Corporation (1930–1935)

• Paramount Pictures Inc. (1935–1950)

  
  

  Predecessors:

• Famous Players Film Company

• Famous Players–Lasky Corporation

• Republic Pictures

Founded: May 8, 1912

Founders:

• William Wadsworth Hodkinson

• Adolph Zukor

• Jesse L. Lasky

Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film and television production and distribution company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest in the United States (after Universal Pictures), and the only member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles. Founded in 1916 by film producer Adolph Zukor, Paramount initially placed 24 actors and actresses under contract, honoring each with a star on its logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22, and their hidden meaning was removed.

History

Famous Players Film Company

Paramount is the sixth oldest surviving film studio in the world, following Gaumont Film Company (1895), Pathé (1896), Titanus (1904), Nordisk Film (1906), and Universal Studios (1912). It is also the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures traces its roots back to the 1912 founding of the Famous Players Film Company. Its Hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, an early investor in nickelodeons, recognized that movies primarily appealed to working-class immigrants. Partnering with Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman, Zukor aimed to produce feature-length films that would attract the middle class by featuring popular theatrical actors of the time, inspiring the slogan "Famous Players in Famous Plays." By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, beginning with Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt.

Meanwhile, in 1913, another emerging producer, Jesse L. Lasky, launched the Lasky Feature Play Company with funds borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, who later became known as Samuel Goldwyn. The Lasky company hired Cecil B. DeMille, a stage director with little film experience, as their first employee. DeMille found a suitable location for production in Hollywood: a rented old horse barn, which was converted into a production facility with an enlarged open-air stage. This site, located between Vine Street, Selma Avenue, Argyle Avenue, and Sunset Boulevard, later became known as the Lasky-DeMille Barn. In 1914, the Lasky company released its first feature film, The Squaw Man.

On May 8, 1914, Paramount Pictures Corporation, originally known as Progressive Pictures, was founded by W. W. Hodkinson, a theater owner from Utah who had acquired and merged five smaller companies. A week later, on May 15, 1914, Hodkinson signed a five-year contract with the Famous Players Film Company, the Lasky Company, and Bosworth, Inc. to distribute their films. At the time, actor, director, and producer Hobart Bosworth had begun producing a series of films based on the works of Jack London. Paramount became the first successful nationwide film distributor, addressing the costly challenge that film producers faced when distributing films on a statewide or regional basis. Unlike Famous Players and the Lasky Company, which were privately owned, Paramount was a corporation.

Famous Players–Lasky

In 1916, Adolph Zukor orchestrated a three-way merger of his Famous Players Film Company, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Jesse Lasky bought out W. W. Hodkinson's interest in Paramount and combined the three companies into one entity. The new corporation, named Famous Players–Lasky Corporation, was officially founded on June 28, 1916, but continued to use the "Paramount" name as well. This merger created the largest film company of the time, valued at $12.5 million (equivalent to approximately $241.8 million in 2023). The company's rapid growth was facilitated by Lasky, his partners Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille, who managed production, Hiram Abrams, who oversaw distribution, and Zukor, who crafted ambitious expansion plans. With only First National, an exhibitor-owned company, as a serious competitor, Famous Players–Lasky and "Paramount Pictures" quickly rose to dominate the industry. The merger was finalized on November 7, 1916.

Adolph Zukor, a strong believer in the power of stars, signed and developed many of the early film industry's leading names, including Mary Pickford, Marguerite Clark, Pauline Frederick, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Wallace Reid. With such a roster of talent, Paramount introduced the practice of "block booking," which required exhibitors to purchase a year's worth of Paramount productions if they wanted films featuring a particular star. This strategy gave Paramount a dominant position in the 1920s and 1930s but also attracted government scrutiny on antitrust grounds for over two decades.

By the mid-1920s, the original Lasky-DeMille barn property was too small to handle all of Paramount's West Coast productions. On January 5, 1926, Jesse Lasky reached an agreement to purchase the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street, for $1.0 million (equivalent to $13.8 million in 2023). On March 29, the company began an eight-month renovation program to upgrade the existing facilities and construct new ones. On May 8, Lasky relocated operations from the Sunset and Vine lot to the new facility, which remains part of Paramount Pictures' headquarters today. Zukor also brought in independent producer B. P. Schulberg, known for his talent-spotting skills, to oversee the new West Coast operations.

On April 1, 1927, the company was renamed Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. In September of the same year, the Paramount studio in Astoria, New York City, was temporarily closed to equip it with technology for producing sound films. Also in 1927, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons created by Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios in New York City. The Fleischers, experienced animators, were among the few capable of challenging Walt Disney's dominance in the field. Paramount's newsreel series, Paramount News, ran from 1927 to 1957. The studio was also a pioneer in the production of "talkies" (films with sound), and in 1929, it released its first musical, Innocents of Paris. The film featured a score by Richard A. Whiting and Leo Robin, with Maurice Chevalier starring and singing the film's most famous song, "Louise."

Publix, Balaban and Katz, Loew's competition and wonder theaters

Adolph Zukor was the driving force behind Paramount's ascent, building a network of nearly 2,000 screens and operating two production studios: one in Astoria, New York (now the Kaufman Astoria Studios), and another in Hollywood, California. He was also an early investor in radio, acquiring a 50% interest in the newly formed Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1928, though he sold it within a few years—a prelude to future interactions between Paramount and CBS. In 1926, Zukor expanded Paramount's reach by acquiring the successful Balaban & Katz theater chain. This acquisition brought Barney Balaban, who would become Paramount's president in 1936; his brother A. J. Balaban, who would oversee stage productions nationwide and produce talkie shorts; and their partner Sam Katz, who managed the Paramount-Publix theatre chain from the Paramount Theatre Building in New York City's Times Square.

Balaban and Katz pioneered the "Wonder Theater" concept, first promoted in Chicago around 1918. The Chicago Theater, an ornate and lavish venue, was branded as a "wonder theater." After Publix acquired Balaban, they initiated an expansion of these wonder theaters, beginning construction in New York City in 1927. While Balaban and Publix dominated the Chicago market, Loew's was the leading player in New York City and did not want Publix theaters to outshine its own. To avoid competition, the two companies negotiated an agreement: Loew's would take over the New York City area projects, developing five wonder theaters, while Publix continued developing Balaban's wonder theaters in the Chicago area.

On April 24, 1930, Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation was renamed the Paramount Publix Corporation.

1920s and 1931–40: Receivership and reorganization

Over time, Adolph Zukor parted ways with most of his early partners; the Frohman brothers, W.W. Hodkinson, and Samuel Goldwyn were out by 1917, while Jesse Lasky remained until 1932, when he was blamed for Paramount's near-collapse during the Great Depression and subsequently removed. In 1931, to address the company's financial troubles, Zukor hired John D. Hertz, a taxi and rental car magnate, as chairman of the finance committee to assist vice-president and treasurer Ralph A. Kohn. However, Hertz resigned on January 6, 1933, after his efforts to revive the company failed. Due to over-expansion and the use of overvalued Paramount stock for acquisitions, the company incurred a $21 million debt, leading to receivership on January 26, 1933, and filing for bankruptcy on March 14, 1933. On April 17, 1933, bankruptcy trustees were appointed, and Zukor lost control of the company. The studio remained under trustee control for more than a year to restructure its debt and pursue a reorganization plan, formally proposed on December 3, 1934. After lengthy court hearings, Federal Judge Alfred C. Coxe Jr. approved the reorganization under Section 77-B of the Bankruptcy Act on April 25, 1935.

On June 4, 1935, John E. Otterson became president of the newly rebranded Paramount Pictures Inc. Zukor returned as production chief, but after Barney Balaban was appointed president on July 2, 1936, Zukor was replaced by Y. Frank Freeman and was symbolically named chairman of the board. Paramount Pictures was re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange on August 28, 1935, and under Balaban's leadership, the studio was successfully relaunched.

Paramount Pictures continued to emphasize its star power throughout the 1920s, featuring luminaries such as Gloria Swanson, Wallace Reid, Rudolph Valentino, Florence Vidor, Thomas Meighan, Pola Negri, Bebe Daniels, Antonio Moreno, Richard Dix, Esther Ralston, Emil Jannings, George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Clara Bow, Adolphe Menjou, and Charles "Buddy" Rogers. The advent of talkies in the late 1920s and early 1930s brought in a new wave of popular stars, including Richard Arlen, Nancy Carroll, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Ruggles, Ruth Chatterton, William Powell, Mae West, Sylvia Sidney, Bing Crosby, Claudette Colbert, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Fredric March, Jack Oakie, Jeanette MacDonald, Carole Lombard, George Raft, Miriam Hopkins, Cary Grant, and Stuart Erwin. During this era, Paramount could be described as a "movie factory," producing sixty to seventy films a year, benefiting from its vast theater chain and the practice of block booking, which encouraged other chains to follow suit.

In 1933, Mae West significantly boosted Paramount's success with her provocative films She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel. However, her sexually suggestive content also led to the enforcement of the Production Code after the Catholic Legion of Decency threatened a boycott. Meanwhile, Paramount's collaboration with Fleischer Studios continued to thrive, with animated characters like Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor achieving widespread popularity. The Screen Songs series featured live-action music stars under contract to Paramount hosting sing-alongs of popular tunes. By 1935, polls revealed that Popeye had even surpassed Mickey Mouse in popularity. However, after an unsuccessful attempt at expanding into feature films and a breakdown in communication between Max and Dave Fleischer, Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and rebranded it as Famous Studios. While Famous Studios continued producing cartoons until 1967, it failed to maintain the artistic acclaim the Fleischer brothers had achieved during their management.

1941–50: United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.

In 1940, Paramount agreed to a government-ordered consent decree that prohibited block booking and "pre-selling," the practice of collecting up-front money for films that were not yet in production. As a result, Paramount significantly reduced its film output from 71 films annually to just 19 during the war years. Despite this cutback, the studio continued to thrive, benefiting from the popularity of new stars like Bob Hope, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Paulette Goddard, and Betty Hutton, and experiencing unprecedented box office success due to high wartime attendance. However, this success drew the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, who decided to revisit their antitrust case against the five major integrated studios. Paramount's monopoly over Detroit movie theaters, through its subsidiary United Detroit Theaters, further fueled the scrutiny. This led to the landmark Supreme Court decision in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948), which ruled that movie studios could not also own theater chains. As a result, Adolph Zukor's creation was dismantled, with the theater chain being separated into a new entity, United Paramount Theaters, marking the effective end of the classic Hollywood studio system.

1951–66: Split and after

With the separation of production and exhibition mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court, Paramount Pictures Inc. was divided into two entities. On December 31, 1949, Paramount Pictures Corporation was established to handle production and distribution, while the 1,500-screen theater chain was transferred to United Paramount Theaters (UPT). Leonard Goldenson, who had overseen the chain since 1938, became president of the new company. The Balaban and Katz theater division, which was included in UPT, eventually became the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation, which later acquired the Famous Players trademark. With substantial cash reserves and valuable downtown real estate, Goldenson sought new investments. Restricted from film-making due to antitrust rulings, he acquired the struggling ABC television network in February 1953. Under his leadership, ABC achieved financial success and, by the mid-1970s, led in the national Nielsen ratings before being sold to Capital Cities in 1985. Capital Cities, in turn, was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 1996. United Paramount Theaters was renamed ABC Theaters in 1965 and was sold to Henry Plitt in 1977, becoming Plitt Theaters. In 1985, Cineplex Odeon Corporation merged with Plitt, and Paramount's TV division developed a strong relationship with ABC, providing numerous hit series.

Paramount had been an early supporter of television, launching experimental stations in Los Angeles and Chicago in 1939. The Los Angeles station became KTLA, the first commercial station on the West Coast, while the Chicago station, WBKB, was sold to UPT in 1948 and later resold to CBS as WBBM-TV. In 1938, Paramount acquired a stake in television manufacturer DuMont Laboratories, becoming a minority owner of the DuMont Television Network. Paramount also launched its own network, the Paramount Television Network, in 1948 through Television Productions, Inc. The company applied to the FCC for additional owned-and-operated stations in San Francisco, Detroit, and Boston, but the applications were denied due to the FCC's five-station cap. The FCC also ruled that Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont, which owned three stations, restricted Paramount from acquiring additional stations. Paramount refused to divest its stake in DuMont, which, combined with Paramount's antitrust issues, hindered both companies' growth. As CBS, ABC, and NBC each acquired the maximum number of stations by the mid-1950s, DuMont struggled and eventually ceased operations in 1956 after Paramount vetoed a merger offer from ABC due to antitrust concerns.

In 1951, Paramount invested in International Telemeter, an experimental pay TV service that began in Palm Springs, California, on November 27, 1953. However, the service was shut down on May 15, 1954, due to FCC pressure. Following the loss of its theater chain, Paramount Pictures experienced a decline, reducing studio-backed productions and releasing contract players. By the mid-1950s, most of the studio's prominent figures were gone, leaving only Cecil B. DeMille, who had been associated with Paramount since 1913. DeMille produced his most successful film at Paramount, a 1956 remake of his 1923 film The Ten Commandments. He passed away in 1959, and in February 1958, Paramount sold 764 of its pre-1950 films to MCA Inc./EMKA, Ltd. (now Universal Television), reflecting the studio's diminishing interest in its film library.

1966–70: Early Gulf+Western era

By the early 1960s, Paramount's future appeared uncertain. The film industry was in a period of instability, the theater chain was no longer part of the company, and earlier investments in DuMont and early pay-television had proven unsuccessful. The Golden Age of Hollywood had ended, leading to the sale of key assets such as the iconic Paramount Building in Times Square and KTLA, which was sold to Gene Autry in 1964 for a remarkable $12.5 million. At this time, the only remaining successful asset was Dot Records, acquired by Paramount in 1957, but its profits began to decline by the mid-1960s. Founding father Adolph Zukor, born in 1873, was still serving as chairman emeritus and referred to chairman Barney Balaban, born in 1888, as "the boy." The leadership, reflecting its age, struggled to adapt to the evolving industry. In 1966, Paramount was sold to Charles Bluhdorn's industrial conglomerate, Gulf and Western Industries. Bluhdorn made significant changes, including appointing the relatively unknown producer Robert Evans as head of production. Despite some initial difficulties, Evans revitalized Paramount's reputation for commercial success with notable films such as The Odd Couple, Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, Chinatown, and 3 Days of the Condor.

Gulf and Western also acquired Desilu Productions, the former RKO Pictures lot, from Lucille Ball in 1967. By leveraging established Desilu shows like Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix, the newly reincorporated Paramount Television positioned itself as a specialist in half-hour situation comedies. In 1968, Paramount established Films Distributing Corp to handle sensitive film content, including Sin With a Stranger, one of the first films to receive an X rating under the MPAA's new rating system.

1971–80: CIC formation and high-concept era

In 1970, Paramount joined forces with Universal Studios to establish Cinema International Corporation (CIC), a new entity created to distribute films from the two studios internationally. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer became a partner in the mid-1970s. Both Paramount and CIC ventured into the burgeoning video market, launching Paramount Home Video (now Paramount Home Entertainment) and CIC Video, respectively.

Robert Evans left his role as head of production in 1974, and his successor, Richard Sylbert, proved to be too literary and refined for Gulf and Western’s Charles Bluhdorn. By 1976, a new team led by Barry Diller and his associates, known as the "Killer-Dillers" or "Dillettes" (depending on perspective), took over. This team included Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dawn Steel, and Don Simpson, each of whom would later lead major movie studios.

Under Diller’s leadership, Paramount focused on "high concept" films such as Saturday Night Fever and Grease, which achieved tremendous global success. Additionally, Paramount’s acquisition of the Star Trek property allowed it to develop a long-running science fiction franchise that could compete with the immense popularity of Star Wars. Diller’s television experience inspired him to propose the creation of Paramount Television Service (PTVS), a fourth commercial network. In 1976, Paramount acquired the Hughes Television Network (HTN) and its satellite time to support PTVS but eventually sold HTN to Madison Square Garden Corporation in 1979.