Research on Media Companies

Recently I've decided to do research on a couple media companies (One major studio and one minor studio), and here's what I've found:

First is Comcast/NBCUniversal 

Ralph Roberts, along with Julian A. Brodsky and Daniel Aaron, founded comcast in 1963. Comcast is one of the nation's biggest providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services. In 2011, they bought 51% NBCUniversal for $13.8b, which was founded by David Sarnoff in 1926. NBCU owns and operates entertainment and news cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local television station groups, television production operations and a major motion picture company and theme parks. Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast as well as Ralph Roberts’ son, said “Now that we have two years of operations under our belt, our optimism drove our decision to buy the other 49 percent ahead of schedule. We didn’t have to do this now, but we like the businesses and we got an attractive price.”

1914- Film production began on the iconic Universal City lot. Damon and Pythias was the first film to be completed on a Universal lot.  

1928- Universal releases its first "all-talkie", a war-torn love story called Melody of Love. Laemmle produced the film on a tight schedule, filming mostly at night on a rented sound-on-film recording system, remaining a historic milestone for Universal. 

1930s- Universal released iconic horror blockbusters in the 1930s, including Frankenstein and Dracula, introducing the "monster movie" phenomenon that persists today. These "low-cost" and "formulaic" films appealed to both American and European audiences, providing an escape from the reality of the depression era, willingly spending what little money they had. Universal's unique approach to the horror world cemented the studio's authority in the genre. 

1939- The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is televised for the first time in 1939 on NBC. The parade is a hallmark event in American culture, playing on the televisions of millions of families around the country. This year will mark its 100th anniversary, and for the first time, it will be a location other than New York City. 

Recently, NBCU has been giving out video game themed movies such as The Super Mario Bros. and Five Nights at Freddy’s. In April, Universal Pictures released Illumination and Nintendo's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, earning over $1.3 billion at the global box office, breaking the record on Peacock as the most watched Pay 1 movie on the platform.

Some films and franchises that gained the studio its popularity include: Frankenstein, Oppenheimer, NOPE, Good Boys, and Shrek. 

Frankenstein is a stage adaptation of a nightmare Mary Shelley had in the early 1800s, in which she wrote about in an 1818 novel and developed into a story. Director James Whale, along with some help from his significant other, chose specific people he felt were fit for the leading roles based on previous appearances they had made in other films. As the monster was being developed, where it didn't only scare people but was also scared of them, producer David Lewis recommended 43-year-old B-movie actor known as Boris Karloff to Whale. By 1931, he had already acted in more than 70 movies, but it was Frankenstein that allowed him to hit his "big break." Whale cast Colin Clive (his leading man in Journey’s End, both the play and the movie) because of “his tenacity on screen” and also for a “romantic quality which makes strong men leave civilization to shoot big game.” Since Whale had sufficient experience in working with Clive, he knew how to guide him into combining Frankenstein’s excesses with authentic truth. 

One movie the studio is planning to release in the next year is Despicable Me 4 on July 3, 2024

An official synopsis for the movie reads that Despicable Me 4 visits Gru as his family "welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad."

Directors: Patrick Delage and Chris Renaud

Stars: Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Steve Carell, etc.

As part of Universal's deal with Netflix, the film will stream on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next ten, and returning to Peacock for the remaining four.

If you want to find more information on NBCU, you can find the information above in these sources:

https://corporate.comcast.com/policy/nbcuniversal-transaction  https://www.financierworldwide.com/comcast-completes-early-acquisition-of-nbcuniversal  https://www.nbcuniversal.com/history  https://mousetrapnews.com/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-moving-to-disney-in-2024/#:~:text=The%20first%20Macy's%20Thanksgiving%20Parade,a%20lot%20of%20different%20emotions. https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/nbcuniversal-making-tv-shows-movies-based-video-games https://www.universalpictures.com/upcoming-films https://screenrant.com/megan-2-movie-news-updates/

Blumhouse Productions

Blumhouse production was founded in 2000 by Jason Blum. Prior to Blumhouse, Blum served as co-head of the Acquisitions and Co-Productions department at Miramax Films in New York. Blumhouse's model began with the original Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and grossed close to $200 million worldwide, making it the most profitable film in Hollywood history.

Films and franchises Blumhouse is popular for is Hush, The Purge, Paranormal Activity, M3GAN, and The Lie. 

Hush was produced by Trevor Macy through Intrepid Pictures and Jason Blum. It was available on Netflix by April 8th 2016. The idea was revealed at a buyers' screening at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was disclosed that Mike Flanagan had directed the film, and co- wrote it with his wife Kate Siegel, who also stars in it. Flanagan said that he made the main character a deaf mute because he wanted to direct a film "without dialogue."

A new release coming out to theaters March 8, 2024 is “Imaginary” 

The movie is about a woman who returns to her childhood home to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real and unhappy that she abandoned him.

The director is Jeff Wadlow and some stars include DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Veronica Falcon, and others. 

That concludes my research, subscribe for more Lit Littman Posts!