History Creator / MetroGoldwynMayer

The new management still didn't help, and Schary was released from his contract after ''Raintree County'', a big-budget AmericanCivilWar period piece, flopped. Not long after this, Loews spun the company off and closed most of the theaters, leaving it open to takeover attempts from investors. As something of a bookend to this era, the last of MGM's classic musicals, ''{{Gigi}}'', was released in 1958.

Turner kept the MGM back catalog, however, and that catalog became the backbone of his cable-TV holdings. After a fiasco with [=Colorization=] in the late 1980s, Turner eventually created TurnerClassicMovies, which runs movies from the MGM and WarnerBros catalogs (which he got from UA via Associated Artists, a TV syndicator UA bought in The Sixties) uncut, uncolorized and with no commercials. WarnerBros ended up buying Turner's company in 1996, and so now the MGM catalog resides with them.

After Turner's brief involvement, MGM/UA began operating under new management and subsequently became profitable thanks to box-office hits such as ''Baby Boom'', ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'', ''Film/{{A Fish Called Wanda}}'', ''[[Film/{{ChildsPlay}} Child's Play]]'', and ''Film/{{Rain Man}}'', the latter a Best Picture Oscar winner. However, when Kerkorian decided to sell the company again, the studio head left. MGM ended up being sold to Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, who also held French film company Pathe and Creator/{{Cannon Films}} at the time. It turned out, however, that he had borrowed money for the deal under false pretenses, and after not being able to make the payments on the leveraged-buyout deal he'd used to buy MGM, his bank (Credit Lyonnais) foreclosed on him and took control of MGM and Pathe. Parretti ended up being convicted of securities fraud, and MGM ended up back with Kerkorian in 1997.

After Turner's brief involvement, MGM/UA ended up being sold to Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, who also held French film company Pathe at the time. It turned out, however, that he had borrowed money for the deal under false pretenses, and after not being able to make the payments on the leveraged-buyout deal he'd used to buy MGM, his bank (Credit Lyonnais) foreclosed on him and took control of MGM and Pathe. Parretti ended up being convicted of securities fraud, and MGM ended up back with Kerkorian in 1997.

& Film/ToLiveAndDieInLA

* Film/{{Rocky}}

After Thalberg's death, however, things started to change. Producers started taking charge of their own films, eventually leading to power struggles with Mayer over money and content. Mayer, whose taste in movies was decidedly conservative, supported the HaysCode and films with more general appeal than the more literary fare Thalberg preferred. Thalberg generally managed to win out, however, due to his connections with Nicholas Schenck, president of Loews, Inc. Not only were his films released more often than Mayer's preferred films, but he was at one point actually paid more than Mayer.

MGM spent most of the 1960s trying to ReTool itself for the new Hollywood. It made fewer pictures per year, and the ones it did make had to be huge hits because the company's future ended up depending on a hit. Huge, lavish productions were back in vogue, with MGM betting that big movies would be better suited to draw people away form their TV sets and into theaters. When it worked, it worked well (such as with the 1959 version of ''Film/BenHur''), but flops were bound to happen (the 1962 remake of ''MutinyOnTheBounty'' was one of the biggest), and each one just added to MGM's already huge debts. Many of their once-reliable stable of actors had been let out of their contracts due to the money problems, and the studios themselves were in declining shape. However, it did do one corporate CrowningMomentOfAwesome when it produced and released the critically acclaimed, taboo smashing box office hit, ''Film/{{Blowup}}'', in 1966 in direct defiance of the HaysCode and thus drove the final nail into that CensorshipBureau.

* TheLittleRascals

By the mid-1980s, MGM/UA was producing and distributing well-known movies again (such as ''Film/{{Fame}}'', ''Film/{{WarGames}}'' and the Film/JamesBond films), but was still racked with debt from years of poor performance (as well as UA's losses from backing ''Film/HeavensGate''). Kerkorian put the studio up for sale, and Ted Turner ended up winning the bidding in 1985. However, the massive amount of debt was off-putting, and Turner decided he wanted out only a few weeks later. Turner ended up selling UA and the MGM trademark back to Kerkorian, and the studios went to {{Lorimar}}; the studio lot eventually ended up with Creator/{{Sony}} after WarnerBros bought Lorimar (Columbia Pictures had been renting half of Warners' lot from them since the early 1970s, and the Lorimar deal meant Warners could finally kick them out).

* Film/TheWomen

MGM spent most of the 1960s trying to ReTool itself for the new Hollywood. It made fewer pictures per year, and the ones it did make had to be huge hits because the company's future ended up depending on a hit. Huge, lavish productions were back in vogue, with MGM betting that big movies would be better suited to draw people away form their TV sets and into theaters. When it worked, it worked well (such as with the 1959 version of ''BenHur''), but flops were bound to happen (the 1962 remake of ''MutinyOnTheBounty'' was one of the biggest), and each one just added to MGM's already huge debts. Many of their once-reliable stable of actors had been let out of their contracts due to the money problems, and the studios themselves were in declining shape. However, it did do one corporate CrowningMomentOfAwesome when it produced and released the critically acclaimed, taboo smashing box office hit, ''Film/{{Blowup}}'', in 1966 in direct defiance of the HaysCode and thus drove the final nail into that CensorshipBureau.

* BenHur

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''Among the media produced in some form by MGM:''

* MGMOneshotCartoons

* The StargateVerse

* TheWomen

MGM started in 1924 with the merger of three studios, the already well-established Goldwyn Picture Co. and two lesser known studios (Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures), under the aegis of New York-based theater chain Loews, Inc. Mayer was installed as vice president of studio operations, and Irving Thalberg (a young producer who had gotten his start at {{Universal}}) was hired on as director of production. From the time of the merger until Thalberg's untimely death in 1936, MGM was the top studio in Hollywood, making money even during the height of the Great Depression.

MGM spent most of the 1960s trying to ReTool itself for the new Hollywood. It made fewer pictures per year, and the ones it did make had to be huge hits because the company's future ended up depending on a hit. Huge, lavish productions were back in vogue, with MGM betting that big movies would be better suited to draw people away form their TV sets and into theaters. When it worked, it worked well (such as with the 1959 version of ''BenHur''), but flops were bound to happen (the 1962 remake of ''MutinyOnTheBounty'' was one of the biggest), and each one just added to MGM's already huge debts. Many of their once-reliable stable of actors had been let out of their contracts due to the money problems, and the studios themselves were in declining shape. However, it did do one corporate CrowningMomentOfAwesome when it produced and released the critically acclaimed, taboo smashing box office hit, ''{{Blowup}}'', in 1966 in direct defiance of the HaysCode and thus drove the final nail into that CensorshipBureau.

By the mid-1980s, MGM/UA was producing and distributing well-known movies again (such as ''Film/{{Fame}}'', ''{{WarGames}}'' and the Film/JamesBond films), but was still racked with debt from years of poor performance (as well as UA's losses from backing ''Film/HeavensGate''). Kerkorian put the studio up for sale, and TedTurner ended up winning the bidding in 1985. However, the massive amount of debt was off-putting, and Turner decided he wanted out only a few weeks later. Turner ended up selling UA and the MGM trademark back to Kerkorian, and the studios went to {{Lorimar}}; the studio lot eventually ended up with {{Sony}} after WarnerBros bought Lorimar (Columbia Pictures had been renting half of Warners' lot from them since the early 1970s, and the Lorimar deal meant Warners could finally kick them out).

Turner kept the MGM back catalog, however, and that catalog became the backbone of his cable-TV holdings. After a fiasco with {{Colorization}} in the late 1980s, Turner eventually created TurnerClassicMovies, which runs movies from the MGM and WarnerBros catalogs (which he got from UA via Associated Artists, a TV syndicator UA bought in The Sixties) uncut, uncolorized and with no commercials. WarnerBros ended up buying Turner's company in 1996, and so now the MGM catalog resides with them.

In 2006, MGM was bought by a consortium of investors led by {{Sony}}, with {{Comcast}} as a minor stakeholder as well. The studio was then hit with hard times yet again, which temporarily halted [[Film/JamesBond a certain secret agent from going on his 23rd mission]] and [[Film/TheHobbit a certain little person's chance to go on The Greatest Adventure]]. In 2010, MGM declared bankruptcy in a deal in which the studio was turned over to its creditors, with Spyglass Entertainment assuming a management role. As the company is now purely a production company, MGM's newest productions have gone to various entities for distribution, with LionsGate releasing ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', Film District taking on ''Film/RedDawn2012'', Warner Bros. acquiring most rights to ''Film/TheHobbit'', and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', the 23rd ''Film/JamesBond'' movie, staying with Sony.

* GoodbyeMrChips
* GoneWithTheWind
* GrandHotel
* TheGreatZiegfeld
* JamesBond
* MeetMeInStLouis
* TheMusicBox
* MrsMiniver
* OurGang
* ThePinkPanther
* ThePhiladelphiaStory

* TheSecretOfNIMH
* TexAveryMGMCartoons

In 2006, MGM was bought by a consortium of investors led by {{Sony}}, with {{Comcast}} as a minor stakeholder as well. The studio was then hit with hard times yet again, which temporarily halted [[Film/JamesBond a certain secret agent from going on his 23rd mission]] and [[TheHobbit a certain little person's chance to go on The Greatest Adventure]]. In 2010, MGM declared bankruptcy in a deal in which the studio was turned over to its creditors, with Spyglass Entertainment assuming a management role. As the company is now purely a production company, MGM's newest productions have gone to various entities for distribution, with LionsGate releasing ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', Film District taking on ''Film/RedDawn2012'', Warner Bros. acquiring most rights to ''Film/TheHobbit'', and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', the 23rd ''Film/JamesBond'' movie, staying with Sony.