Universal Studio

The oldest studio in the United States, Universal was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle and others. An early nickelodeon owner, in 1909 he founded the Yankee Film Company, which evolved into the Independent Moving Pictures Company, producing some of the first films in the early 20th century.

Although production was in New York City at this time, in 1915 he purchased a large area of land in the north side of Hollywood, which became a filmmaking complex known as Universal City.

In 1915, Laemmle opened the largest production facility, Universal City Studio, which became the largest studio in Hollywood for a decade.  All studio operations were moved to this location.

On August 29, 1936, Universal’s creditors took over the studio for $4.5 million. The takeover was largely due to the studio’s 1935/36 combined loss of $1.098 million and it was taken over by Standard Capital. It was renamed the New Universal Studios.

The years later, on November 12, 1946, Universal merged with International Pictures to form Universal-International. In 1952, Universal-International was taken over by Decca Records.

With TV movies, Universal became the largest supplier of network broadcast television programming, reaching a crest in 1977 by providing Roots, the most popular TV movie of its era.

Currently Universal Studios is owned b COMCAST, a division of the mega media conglomerate NBCUniversal.
Universal Studio