Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship studio of Universal Studios, the film studio arm of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The company has made and distribute numerous famous films. The company also specialize in amusement parks, like Super Nintendo World.
Universal's most commercially successful film franchises include Fast & Furious, Jurassic Park, and Despicable Me. Additionally, the studio's library includes many individual films such as Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, both of which became the highest-grossing films of all time during their initial releases. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and was one of the "Little Three" majors during Hollywood's golden age.
They also produces and distributes The Super Mario Bros. Movie with Universal's Animation studio, Illumination Entertainment.
History[]
Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour, Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States and the oldest globally after Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus and Nordisk Film, and is one of the "Big Five" film studios.
In 1982, Universal was filed a lawsuit against Nintendo. Due to claiming that both the titular character and scenario of Nintendo's game Donkey Kong infringed on Universal's rights to King Kong. However, the district court ruled in favor of Nintendo.
Universal is a producer and distributor of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023 and the 2026's sequel of the film.
Trivia[]
- In 1958, they were owned by MCA, but only the studio lot, not Universal Pictures. In 1962 MCA would take full ownership in Universal. In 1990, Universal and its parent company, MCA, were acquired by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (now Panasonic). In 1995, Seagram acquired 80% of MCA from Matsushita. In December 9, 1996, MCA became Universal Studios, Inc. In June 2000, Seagram was sold to French water utility and media company Vivendi, the conglomerate then became known as Vivendi Universal. Vivendi sold 80% of Vivendi Universal Entertaiment to General Electric (GE), owner of NBC, in 2004 to form NBCUniversal. In January 27, 2011, GE purchased Vivendi's share in NBCUniversal. 2 days later, GE sold 51% of NBCUniversal to Comcast. In March 19, 2013, Comcast bought the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion, thus giving Comcast full ownership of NBCUniversal.
- In April 11th, 2023, Universal's Latam YouTube channel, uploaded Bowser singing Peaches in English instead of Spanish.[1]But there is a Spanish version of the song uploaded in April 22nd, 2023.[2]