Paramount Pictures is an American film production and distribution company, founded in 1912 by W.W. Hodkinson. It is Americas oldest exsisting film studio aswell as one of the top-grossing movie studios. Headquaters are located in Hollywood, California, United States.
History
1910s ;
- Paramount began its creation in May 1912. Adolph Zukor, who had invested in Nickelodeons, noticed that the majority of movies appealed to working-class immigrants. With Partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman, he planned to offer films that would appeal to the middle class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time, leading to the slogan "Famous Players in Famous Plays". By 1913, they had completed five films and Zukor was on his way to success. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature show Company.
- As Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned Paramount was a corporation so the other two companies were merged into Paramount. Paramount soon dominated the business.
- Zukor believed in stars, so he signed and developed many leading early stars such as, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Wallace Reid. Giving Paramount a leading position.
- Zukor shed most of his early partners, including the Frohman brothers, Hodkinson and Lasky, who was blamed for the near collapse of Paramount during the depression years. in 1935 Paramount became bankrupt, leading to Zukor reorganizing the company as Paramount Pictures, Inc. and was able to successfully bring the studio out of bankruptcy.
- Paramount created successful cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye the sailor. After the Production Code was enforced, Betty Boops character popularity declined as she was forced to have a more "tamed" personality and wear a longer skirt.
- The Paramount logo was designed by the founder in 1914
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