TMI (Today’s Movie Info)
UNIVERSAL PICTURES and STUDIOS – founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle
now owned by NBC, Universal is the second oldest movie studio … Paramount is one month older
Laemmle broke with tradition and started giving credit to the actors within the movies, thereby helping create the star system
Lon Cheney became a breakout star for Universal thanks to his work in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Known as a low-budget film studio, Universal struggled financially for decades. Even during the “studio period”, Universal often had to borrow stars from other studios.
In 1942, it became the last studio to contract with Technicolor and released Arabian Nights (1942) and an update of its own hit Phantom of the Opera (1943)
In 1958, MCA purchased Universal’s giant back lot for its TV production. The studios were modernized and slowly more stars were signed to Universal contracts (Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, Doris Day)
Though never previously successful in consistenly producing film hits, the 1970’s brought such movies as: Airport (1970), The Sting (1973), American Graffiti (1973) and the biggest fish yet … Jaws (1975). Later came such franchises as Back to the Future (1985), Beethoven (1992) Jurassic Park (1993), Meet the Parents (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001), and The Bourne Identity (2002).
Universal has movie-related theme parks open to the public in southern California, Orlando Florida and Singapore.
Movie Reviews from the Dark 