All six major hollywood film studios today are owned and operated by u.s.-based corporations

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All six major hollywood film studios today are owned and operated by u.s.-based corporations

Try the new Google Books

Check out the new look and enjoy easier access to your favorite features

All six major hollywood film studios today are owned and operated by u.s.-based corporations

The movie industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States.

Despite the rise of Netflix and online streaming services, consumer spending in movie theaters has grown by approximately 30% since 2010, showing the industry’s ability to innovate and adapt to suit consumers’ tastes constantly.

The best way to examine current industry trends and get a feel for where they’re headed is to observe what major film studios are doing.

This article will look at the ten largest film studios by box office performance in the United States. We’ll discuss their histories and operations, as well as provide a list of their best-performing titles.

  1. Universal Studios Hollywood. Universal City, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $43.9 billion
    2019 Revenue: $23 billion
    Market cap: $5.4 billion

    Universal Pictures is the largest film production and distribution company in the world by annual revenue.

    It was founded in 1912, making it the oldest film studio in the United States and the fourth oldest.

    The company is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is itself wholly owned by Comcast.

    Universal Pictures has produced 254 movies during its over a century-long existence.

    These include numerous box office hits and culturally recognized classics across nearly all genres, including films such as Jaws, Psycho, Halloween, and Back to the Future.

    The company’s more recent box office successes include:

    • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

    • Insidious

    • Boss Baby

    • Minions

    • The Fate of the Furious

    Universal Pictures operates many well-known subsidiary studios such as Illumination, Dreamworks Animation, and Working Title Films.

    Universal Pictures is also a member of the Motion Pictures Association.

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  3. Warner Bros. Burbank California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $43.8 billion
    2019 Revenue: $86 billion

    Warner Bros is an entertainment and mass media conglomerate owned by ATT under its WarnerMedia division.

    In addition to being the second-largest movie studio in the United States by box office performance, it also places second in terms of total movies produced with a count of 249.

    The company is a member of the Motion Pictures Association and is often regarded as one of the “Big Five” American movie studios.

    Its film studio division, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, includes notable subsidiaries such as DC Films, Castle Rock Entertainment, and New Line Cinema.

    Some of the movie studio’s best performing recent movies and franchises include:

    • Harry Potter Series

    • The Dark Knight

    • Joker

    • Aquaman

    • The Hobbit

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  5. Columbia Pictures. Los Angeles, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $41.5 billion
    2019 Revenue: $13 billion

    Columbia Pictures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Pictures, which Sony, a Japanese multinational conglomerate, owns.

    The company is one of the largest film producers and distributors globally and a member of the “Big Five” American movie studios.

    The studio has produced a total of 245 movies since its inception in 1924, including box office top performers such as:

    • Spider-Man: Far From Home

    • Skyfall

    • Spider-Man 3

    • Spider-Man: Homecoming

    • Venom

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  7. Walt Disney Pictures. Burbank, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $38.4 billion
    2019 Revenue: $57 billion

    Walt Disney Pictures is the film studio division of The Walt Disney Company.

    The company produces many live-action feature films and animated films under its subsidiaries Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

    Unlike most other major studios on this list, Walt Disney Pictures doesn’t market or distribute its films. This is instead handled by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, another branch of The Walt Disney Company.

    Walt Disney Pictures is one of five studios The Walt Disney Company owns, the other four being Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and Searchlight Pictures.

    The studio has produced a total of 130 movies, including box-office top performers such as:

    • Avengers: Endgame

    • Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens

    • Avengers: Infinity War

    • The Lion King

    • Frozen II

    In recent years, Walt Disney Pictures has begun investing heavily into producing exclusive films and programs for the Disney+ streaming service to compete with its largest competitor, Netflix.

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  9. Marvel Studios. Burbank, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $33.7 billion
    2019 Revenue: $2 billion

    Marvel Studios is a major American film and television studio owned by The Walt Disney Studios.

    The company exclusively produces content based on characters and stories from Marvel Comics publications, such as Iron-Man, Spider-man, and the Hulk.

    In recent years, Marvel Studios has become especially famous for its Marvel Cinematic Universe Films, including the second highest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame, which earned over $2.79 at the box office.

    Other high performing Marvel Studios films include:

    • Avengers: Infinity War

    • The Avengers

    • Avengers: Age of Ultron

    • Black Panther

    • Iron Man 3

    Marvel Studios also produces various platform-exclusive films and programs for its parent company, Disney’s Disney+ streaming service, such as WandaVision and Cloak Dagger.

  10. Paramount Pictures. Hollywood, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $30.2 billion
    2019 Revenue: $730 million

    Paramount is an American film producer and distributor owned by ViacomCBS.

    The company is a member of the Motion Pictures Association and the smallest among the “Big Five” major American film studios.

    It was founded in 1912 and has since produced a total of 168 movies. These include numerous box office top sellers such as:

    • Titanic

    • Transformers: Dark of the Moon

    • Transformers: Age of Extinctions

    • Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

    • Shrek the Third

    Paramount Pictures also owns and operates various subsidiaries, including:

    • Paramount Home Entertainment. They manage film licensing across distribution platforms such as mobile devices and Blu-ray.

    • Paramount Players. This subsidiary owns MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, and Comedy Central Films.

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  12. Twenty-First Century Fox. Los Angeles, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $25.2 billion
    2019 Revenue: $4 billion

    20th Century Studios is a film and television studio wholly owned by The Walt Disney Studios, a branch of The Walt Disney Company.

    The company is well-known for its logo and fanfare that appears before each of its feature films.

    The studio has released 108 movies since its founding in 1935, including box office top performers such as:

    • Avatar

    • Titanic

    • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

    • Bohemian Rhapsody

    • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

    20th Century Fox also owns 20th Century Family, a television studio that produces family-friendly theatrical movies and holiday television specials.

    The company currently employs over 2,300 workers.

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  14. RatPac-Dune Entertainment. Los Angeles, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $16.5 billion

    RatPac-Dune Entertainment is a film studio formed through a joint venture between RatPac, owned by Brett Ratner, and Dune Entertainment.

    RatPac commonly produces films through partnerships with other major American film studios.

    Top-performing examples of these shared projects include:

    • Avatar

    • Batman v Superman

    • Wonder Woman

    • Suicide Squad

    • Life of Pi

    In 2013, the company famously closed a 75 motion picture, four-year co-financing arrangement with Warner Bros. It also closed a similar deal the following year with New Regency and Plan B Entertainment.

  15. Legendary Entertainment. Burbank, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $16.3 billion
    2019 Revenue: $5 billion

    Legendary Entertainment is an American mass media company established in 2000 by Thomas Tull.

    In 2005, the company signed movie production co-financing deals with both Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.

    Together, they’ve produced 53 feature films, including box office top performers such as:

    • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

    • Kong: Skull Island

    • Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

    • Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

    • Godzilla: King of the Monsters

    Legendary Entertainment manages multiple divisions such as Legendary Pictures, Legendary Television, and Legendary Animation.

    The company was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group in 2016 and is currently still its wholly-owned subsidiary.

    As of early 2021, Legendary Entertainment is engaging in an initiative to downsize its operations in many of its less-profitable divisions to focus on its core business segments of film and television.

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  17. Relativity Media. Beverly Hills, California
    2019 Box Office Performance: $15.35 billion

    Relativity Media is a motion picture and digital media production company founded in 2004.

    In addition to producing its films, the company also acquires titles from other studios to develop and distribute.

    Relativity Media manages multiple divisions, including:

    • Relativity Studios. Relativity Studios is the company’s film production segment. It has produced almost 200 feature films grossing a total of over $17 billion.

    • Relativity Media Home Entertainment. The company home entertainment division distributes both its feature films and third-party titles across several platforms.

    • Relativity Media International. Relativity Media International handles global marketing and distribution of the studio’s films.

    The company’s studio division was the third largest mini-major film studio in the world before the company’s bankruptcy in 2015.

    Relativity sold off the rights to many of its films to pay down its debts, including titles such as Suffragette, Shot Callers, and The Foreigner.

    It emerged from bankruptcy in 2016, again filed chapter 11 in 2018, and was then acquired by its current parent company UltraV Holdings.

    Relativity Media’s highest-grossing films to date include:

    • Fast and Furious 6

    • Hancock

    • Les Miserables

    • The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

    • Wanted