Major film studio

There are thousands of movies around the world, and many comes out each year, every studio try to produce the best movie they can to interest more people and that in returns will have the result of substantial money coming back to the studio itself.

The production companies fund the making of movies offering the resources and manpower required to make it all possible. It is exciting to look back over the past hundred years and look at the great movies which have been produced by some of the most influential production companies in the world.

Since the dawn of film making, the U.S. major film studios have dominated both American cinema and the global film industry. Lots and lots of film studios around the world but there are some really major studios that have the brights names in the business.

Today, the Big Six majors routinely distribute hundreds of films every year into all significant international markets. It is very rare, if not impossible, for a film to reach a broad international audience on multiple continents and in multiple languages without first being picked up by one of the majors for distribution.

The major film making studios are:-

1. Walt Disney Studios :- The Walt Disney Studios is ‘The Walt Disney Company’s’ studio entertainment unit operating in America as their parent division. Then more productions are done under its major studio subsidiary called Walt Disney Pictures.
2. Warner Bros. Entertainment :- Time Warner is a large American multinational media corporation which owns Warner Bros. Entertainment. Warner Bros. has been around for over 100 years now and has created some of the best movies which have helped change the way movies are made. Warner Bros. Entertainments major studio subsidiary is named Warner Bros. Pictures which is a producer of film, television and music entertainment.
3. Fox Entertainment Group :- 20th Century Fox (also known as 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, 20th Century Fox Pictures and Fox) is a movie studio and one of Hollywood’s ”big six” major movie studios located in America. 20th Century Fox is now a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox (as of 2013-present) but was previously owned by News Corporation (1985-2013).
4. Universal Filmed Entertainment Group :- Universal Studios is owned by Comcast through its subsidiary NBC Universal and is one of Hollywood’s ”big six” movie studios. Among Universal Studios units (a division) is Universal Animation Studios which creates animated feature films and TV series.
5. Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group :- Sony Pictures Entertainment is Sony’s movie production, television production and distribution which operates in America. Sony Pictures entertainment’s major studio subsidiary is Columbia Pictures which Sony acquired in 1989 from ‘The Coca-Cola Company’ for $3.4 billion.
6. Paramount Motion Pictures Group :- Paramount Pictures (aka Paramount Pictures Corporation and Paramount) is a movie studio company operating in America as one of Hollywood’s ”big six” movie studios. Paramount Pictures is a subsidiary of Viacom a U.S. media conglomerate.Paramount Pictures has been producing movies since 1912 and has produced some of the greatest movies ever created.

What would the world be like without movies, a lot less entertaining. As that would mean we have lost the ultimate source of entertainment which mankind has ever created which causes us to feel all emotions at an increased level without actually going anywhere. Movies make us laugh, cry, jump with joy and grab the nearest pillow in fear which if we were all being honest would have to admit to missing if it wasn’t there (that of course being movies).

Movie Buff

I am a movie buff, but what does that mean?  It’s a person who loves movies a lot, but how much can you love movies, I spend all my free time watching movies, but that’s not all, in order for me to keep track of what I am watching I have to keep some kind of record of what I watched, so I use a database for my watched movie collection.

There are many databases on the internet but personally I prefer movinzer, it suits my needs a lot and it has custom fields, unlike other soft wares it very flexible. Now for what I watch, I watch everything, sometimes on certain guide like for example following a franchise until I finish the whole movies in it other times I watch things randomly.

There is no good or bad movie in my dictionary; I simply watch anything and everything, except gay porn films. The movies I watched span from early days of cinema to 2017, movies from early 1890s.

Currently my database has almost 3000 movies; I started building up my database in Sep. 2009 and I am adding to it every time, adding those movies can be very time consuming, sometimes I spend the whole weekend adding what I saw.

Another important thing about being a movie lover is to watch movies from all over the world and from every genre; I watch drama movies, romance, comedy etc.

Movies from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa as well as American movies of course, almost half of my entire database is American movies and the other half is from the rest of the world.

You can have you own small theater at home if you like and that’s what I did, I remember there were times where I used to watch movies 10 hours per day. Movies have been my best and only hobby in my life, true I do enjoy other things but not as much as movies.

I tried to watch TV shows and not because they are bad, but they consume extremely long time to finish one story; currently I don’t have the luxury of time to watch TV shows.

One of the other things that I used enjoy as a kid was computer games, unfortunately I can’t find time also to play any games nowadays.

My favorite genres are fantasy and sci fi, but may be that would be typical for any man, movies can also teach about life, other cultures, and different people.

One of the longest movies I watch was a crime silent movie dated 1927, black and white French film, it was 7 hours and it took me three days to finish it.

Most young people like to watch movies with computer effects nowadays but old movies have different kind of flavor, I love classic movies or what they used call silver screen.

Movies are my passion, if I don’t watch a movie, I feel I am bored and without energy that day.

Significant Films

Since the early start of the cinema and movies piled up, one on top of each other but there were some films that have been considered milestones in the history of movie industry that spans over 100 years.

1. The Birth of a Nation (1915) :- A controversial, explicitly racist, but landmark American film masterpiece – the most important picture of the silent era.
2. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) :- This anti-war drama from Irish director Rex Ingram was adapted from Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s 1916 best-selling novel about the Great War. It proved to be Metro Pictures’ most expensive big budget film, with a production budget of almost $800,000.
3. The Public Enemy (1931) :- Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are best friends and fellow gangsters, their lives frowned upon by Tom’s straight laced brother, Mike, and Matt’s straight laced sister, Molly. From their teen-aged years into young adulthood, Tom and Matt have an increasingly lucrative life, bootlegging during the Prohibition era. But Tom in particular becomes more and more brazen in what he is willing to do, and becomes more obstinate and violent against those who either disagree with him or cross him. When one of their colleagues dies in a freak accident, a rival bootlegging faction senses weakness among Tom and Matt’s gang, which is led by Paddy Ryan. A gang war ensues, resulting in Paddy suggesting that Tom and Matt lay low. But because of Tom’s basic nature, he decides instead to take matters into his own hands.
4. It Happened One Night (1934) : – One of the greatest romantic comedies in film history, and a film that has endured in popularity. It is considered one of the pioneering “screwball” romantic comedies (noted for rapid fire dialogue) of its time, setting the pattern for many years afterwards.
5. Gone With the Wind (1939) : – The most beloved, enduring and popular film of all time – cinema’s greatest, star-studded, historical epic film of the Old South during wartime that boasted an immortal cast in a timeless, classic tale of a love-hate romance.
6. Citizen Kane (1941) : – A fresh, sophisticated, and classic masterpiece, and probably the world’s most famous and highly-rated film, with its many remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations (in photography, editing, and sound). Often considered the “greatest film ever made” on most ‘best of’ lists.
7. The Ten Commandments (1956) : – The blockbuster film (3 hours and 40 minutes long) made with VistaVision was produced with an exorbitant budget of $13 million – the costliest picture made to date.
8. Psycho (1960) : – The greatest, most influential Hitchcock horror/thriller ever made and the progenitor of the modern Hollywood horror-slasher film, based on Robert Bloch’s novel. The story included the untimely, violent murder of the main protagonist early in the film, a cross-dressing transvestite murderer, insanity, a stuffed corpse, and Oedipal Freudian motivations.
9. The Exorcist (1973) : – The Exorcist was notable for being one of the biggest box-office successes (and one of the first ‘blockbusters’ in film history, predating Jaws (1975)), and surpassing The Godfather (1972) as the biggest money-maker of its time (it eventually grossed $193 million domestically). And it remains one of the few horror films nominated for Best Picture.
10. Star Wars (1977) : – George Lucas’ space opera, made for $11 million, was released in theaters in mid-summer and grossed nearly $200 million on its first release, topping Jaws (1975) as the highest earning film to date. After adjusting for inflation, its US gross profit was second only to Gone with the Wind (1939). Until Jaws (1975) and then Star Wars (1977), the summer was typically Hollywood’s slow season — not true afterwards.

This is only short list of some of the most important films ever made and there are many other great films.

 

 

Academy Awards

Academy Awards or as they are known more commonly as The Oscars are annual awards giving in prestigious ceremony to people who achieved cinematic excellence in the United States  by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony started in 1929 at  Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and it was broadcast to radio for the first time in 1930 and to the TV in 1953.

Photo showing the 31st ceremony in  Pantages Theater, Hollywood, 1959

The Oscars is the oldest entertainment awards ceremony,  2017 ceremony will be the 89th marking 89 years celebration of achievements in film industry, other awards like the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording, are based after on Academy Awards. 

It worth to say that the first Academy Awards lasted only 15 mins and was attended by 270 people, the ticket cost was 5$ only for each guest (70$ now), however the media knew about the winners three months later, that was changed in the next year in 1930 when they names of the winners start been given to the newspaper at 11 pm on the ceremony night until 1941 when the Los Angeles Times announced the winners before the ceremony began, as a result, the Academy used a sealed envelope to reveal the name of the winners.

Emil Jannings a german actor was the very first person to win the first award for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh, in 1957 the Best Foreign Language Film category was introduced to the list of categories that the award was given to, and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first to be given in 2002.

Spotlight 2016 – Last year’s Best Picture Winner –

Academy Award for Best Picture the most important award in the ceremony is given at the end of the presentation since 1973.  The origin of the name Oscar is disputed as there are several claims about the name but one thing for sure is the name Oscar was officially used since 1939 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Until 2010, winners were expected to return the statuettes to the Academy after the ceremony and wait several weeks to have inscriptions applied to prevent the leak of information regarding the name of winners and the statuettes presented at the ceremony have blank baseplates, in the years post 2010 the winners have an option of their names engraved at inscription-processing station at the party after the ceremony.

Awards categories:-

• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role
• Best Actress in a Leading Role
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Best Animated Feature
• Best Animated Short Film
• Best Cinematography
• Best Costume Design
• Best Documentary Feature
• Best Documentary Short Subject
• Best Film Editing
• Best Foreign Language Film
• Best Live Action Short Film
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
• Best Original Score
• Best Original Song
• Best Production Design
• Best Sound Editing
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Visual Effects
• Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
• Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

Dudley Nichols was an American screenwriter, director and the first to boycott the ceremonies, the Academy Award for Best Picture is given to producers who produced the film, this is the only category in which every member is eligible to submit a nomination.

Dolby Theatre hosted the Academy Awards ceremonies for the last few years.

The name for Academy Award for Best Picture has changed with years, in the early years it used to be called Academy Award for Outstanding Picture 1927/28–1928/29, from  1929/30–1940 the name was changed to Academy Award for Outstanding Production, then to Academy Award for Outstanding Motion Picture in 1941–1943, in 1944 it changed to Academy Award for Best Motion Picture until 1961 where it took the final name of Academy Award for Best Picture until the present day.

Since 1950, the ownership of the statuettes was restricted so neither the winners nor their heirs can sell those statuettes without first trying to sell them  back to the academy for 1 US $, if the winner does not agree with this condition, he or she will not receive the statue. The academy keeps the returned statuettes in its treasury.

 Inside Dolby Theater during The Oscars

A film must start in the previous calendar year, from midnight at the start of January 1 to midnight at the end of December 31, in Los Angeles County, California and play for seven consecutive days, to qualify except for the Best Foreign Language Film, also the film must at least 40 minutes of length , except for short subject awards and it must exist either on a 35 mm or 70 mm film print or in 24 frame/s or 48 frame/s progressive scan digital cinema format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels.

NBC was the first network to broadcast the ceremony in 1953, in 1960 ABC took over broadcasting the awards presentation.

Several venues were used to host the ceremony, starting in 1929 at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel  then moving to Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard and the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles from 1930-1943, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood  from 1944 to 1946, Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles started hosting the show from 1947 to 1948.

The 21st Academy Awards in 1949 were held at the Academy Award Theatre, from 1950 to 1960, Pantages Theatre at Hollywood was the chosen place, 1953-1957 were the years when the awards took place simultaneously in Hollywood and New York, first at the NBC International Theatre (1953) and then at the NBC Century Theatre.

In 1961 the Oscars moved to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California and then in 1969 to  Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Music Center. Finally in 2002 Dolby Theatre  became the venue for the ceremony until our present day.

2016 Awards witnessed 34.3 millions viewers but  year 1998 holds the record of 55.249 million viewers.

The funny fact about the movies that are nominated and/or won academy awards are only seen by few people due to the fact that the majority of these movies are deep drama movies that interest only few of the crowds compared to the big budget blockbusters movies, for instance Birdman cost only 18 millions and Boyhood only 4 Millions compared to 4100-$200 Million  movies like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Big Hero 6.”, Each of them made at least $200 million at the North American box office alone, by comparison, Boyhood earned $44 million and Birdman $72 million.

A decade ago,  blockbusters were more regularly rewarded by the Academy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the best picture in 2004, Gladiator in 2001 and Titanic in 1998.

In Oscars history, the biggest-budget film ever nominated was James Cameron’s sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar,” which made $2.8 billion at the global box office.

 

Oscar Winners 2016

2017 ceremony will be held at Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Sunday, February 26, 2017

The list below shows the movies that are nominated for this years’ awards:-

1. Arrival 2016

2. FENCES 2016

3. HACKSAW RIDGE 2016

4. HELL OR HIGH WATER 2016

5. HIDDEN FIGURES 2016

6. LA LA LAND 2016

7. LION 2016

8. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA 2016

9. MOONLIGHT 2016

There are many movie awards around the world and each country has its own movie award ceremony, names like Palme d’Or in France, BAFTA Awards in UK, The Golden Bear in Germany and Filmfare Awards in India  are very prestigious awards but the Academy awards surpass any other  to be the lighthouse that attracts all eyes around the world towards it.