Movie Industry

History & evolution of motion picture studios. Major firms & leaders, economics, mergers, independents, marketing, theaters, examples (Paramount, Miramax).

At one time the term movie studio meant just that–a location where the company conducted its business, filmed its product, and performed the remainder of the tasks necessary to make a finished film. A studio may or may not also have had a distribution apparatus of its own, but it must have access to such an apparatus to get its films to the theaters. What a studio does not necessarily need today is the physical plant that once was so essential, for soundstage space can be rented and most films make use of real locales to a much greater extent and have little need of the back lot that used to be so important. The studio to be created here will require an office building of some size for the different departments, some of which can be housed in other buildings or even other parts of town when that…