Global InformationUniversal Pictures information
 Logo used since 2021 | |
 The company's global headquarters at 10 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California | |
Trade name | Universal Pictures |
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| Formerly | List
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| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Film |
| Predecessor | Independent Moving Pictures |
| Founded | April 30, 1912 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | 10 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California , U.S. |
Number of locations | 3 |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Products | Motion pictures |
| Revenue |  US$11.622 billion (2022) |
| Parent | NBCUniversal |
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| Subsidiaries |
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| Website |
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| Footnotes / references [1][2][3] | |
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (informally as Universal Studios or also known simply as Universal) is an American film production and distribution company, a division of Universal Studios, which is owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.
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 fifth oldest in the world after Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus and Nordisk Film.
The most commercially successful film franchises from Universal include Fast & Furious, Jurassic Park, and Despicable Me. Additionally, the studio's library includes many individual films such as Jaws and E.T. the Extraterrestrial, 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.[4]
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| 1912 | Universal Pictures is founded |
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| 1926 | NBC is founded |
| 1928 | Universal Cartoon Studios (later known as Universal Animation Studios) is founded |
| 1943 | MCA Inc. establishes Revue Studios (later Universal Television) |
| 1953 | NBC begins first compatible color broadcasts, preceding other networks by nine years |
| 1956 | NBC's first peacock logo debuts |
| 1963 | American Cable Systems is founded |
| 1964 | Universal Studios Hollywood opens |
| 1967 | NBC broadcasts the first Super Bowl |
| 1968 | American Cable Systems rebrands to Comcast |
| 1972 | Comcast began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) |
| 1975 | Universal releases Jaws |
| 1980 | PolyGram renames Casablanca Record & Filmworks to PolyGram Pictures |
| 1982 | Universal releases E.T. The Extra Terrestrial |
| 1984 | Walter Lantz Productions is sold to Universal |
| 1985 | Universal releases Back to the Future |
| 1986 | General Electric buys RCA for $6.4 billion, including NBC and a stake in A&E |
| 1989 | NBC relaunches Tempo Television as CNBC |
| 1990 | Universal Studios Florida opens Law & Order premieres on NBC Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting merge to form British Sky Broadcasting Universal Cartoon Studios (later Universal Animation Studios) is established |
| 1993 | Universal releases Jurassic Park |
| 1994 | DreamWorks Animation is founded |
| 1996 | NBC and Microsoft launch MSNBC |
| 1997 | Barry Diller purchases Universal's domestic television assets |
| 1998 | Seagram acquires PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Universal Television is renamed Studios USA Television |
| 1999 | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment is folded into Universal Pictures Universal Studios Florida expands to become Universal Orlando Resort |
| 2001 | Grand opening of Universal Studios Japan Universal releases The Fast and the Furious Vivendi purchases Studios USA |
| 2002 | NBC acquires Telemundo and Bravo Studios USA assets are folded into Universal Focus Features is formed Comcast acquires AT&T Broadband for $44.5 billion |
| 2003 | Universal becomes the first studio with five summer releases breaking the $100 million mark |
| 2004 | GE and Vivendi merge NBC and Universal into NBCUniversal |
| 2005 | The Office premieres on NBC Comcast sets up a joint-venture with PBS, Sesame Workshop & HIT Entertainment to form PBS Kids Sprout Comcast & Time Warner Cable jointly acquire Adelphia Cable assets for $17.6 billion |
| 2006 | USA Network begins 13-year streak as #1 cable network in total viewers |
| 2007 | Illumination is founded |
| 2010 | Universal releases Illumination's first film Despicable Me |
| 2011 | Vivendi divested in NBCU; Comcast buys 51% of NBCU from GE, turning it into a limited liability company NBCUniversal Archives is founded |
| 2012 | Universal celebrates its 100th anniversary NBCUniversal divests its A&E Networks minority stake |
| 2013 | Comcast buys GE's remaining 49% of NBCU Comcast/NBCU assumes full ownership of Sprout |
| 2014 | Comcast attempts to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion NBCUniversal reaches a new long-term deal with WWE |
| 2016 | NBCU acquires DreamWorks Animation |
| 2017 | Sprout relaunches as Universal Kids |
| 2018 | Comcast acquires Sky after a heated bidding war with 21st Century Fox |
| 2019 | NBCU acquires Cineo Lighting |
| 2020 | NBCU launches Peacock |
| 2021 | Grand opening of Universal Beijing Resort |
| 2023 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie becomes Illumination's highest-grossing film |
- ^ "Comcast Reports 4Th Quarter And Full Year 2022 Results" (PDF). cmcsa.com. Comcast. January 26, 2022. p. 4. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
- ^ "Contact Us". NBCUniversal. Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Brad Weston Launches Production Company With Backing From Universal, eOne". Variety. May 17, 2017.
- ^ "Our Story". MPAA.