History Creator / RepublicPictures

However, despite the promises made to the partners of now being able to have higher budgets, and independence from each other in exchange for cooperating to help Republic as a whole, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether it didn't really last when Yates began to assert authority over his new studio]], and many of the other partners left by 1937 -- Monogram was reactivated as a separate company (and eventually became Creator/AlliedArtists), and others left for places like Creator/ColumbiaPictures (then still a Poverty Row firm). With Yates now firmly in place as head of Republic, the studio began cranking out movies and serials by the carload, mainly Westerns featuring Wayne, Autry and Rogers. Unlike other independent studios, Republic frequently had higher budgets for their product, and by the mid 1940s they were occasionally making A-quality movies, including ''Film/JohnnyGuitar'' and ''Film/TheQuietMan''. They also tended to adhere to UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode as much as they could, unlike many other independent producers, which tended to dodge the code or avoid it outright. And with the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem, that meant more money could be injected into production, with some late '40s/early '50s releases even having color!

The company was founded in 1935 by the merger of ''six'' different independent film studios. You see, a man named Herbert J. Yates and his film lab, ''Consolidated Film Industries'', had been offering their services to smaller, low-budget outfits (frequently known in Hollywood as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_Row Poverty Row]]") for some time. With the Great Depression going on, six studios -- Monogram Pictures, Mascot Pictures, Liberty Pictures, Majestic Pictures, Chesterfield Pictures and Invincible Pictures -- were all in debt to him. He decided to have them merge into one large company, under his leadership, or else face foreclosure on their debts. Republic Pictures Corporation was formed as a merger of these six studios, [[AllYourPowersCombined each of which brought something different to the table]]. Monogram, the largest of the six, was the B-movie maker and had a nationwide distribution system. Mascot had the serials and the most technologically advanced studios in the field, and had just signed Gene Autry. Majestic had a knack for making low-budget films appear high-budget, with big stars and rented sets. The duo of Chesterfield and Invincible were skilled at mysteries and melodramas. [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers As for Liberty, well... Republic adopted their]] VanityPlate (a ringing bell tower, which was later replaced by the eagle you see on the right).

In 1994, the Spelling Entertainment Group, operated by legendary TV producer Creator/AaronSpelling and owned by video rental chain Blockbuster, bought Republic (resulting in Spelling's Worldvision Home Video merging with Republic's video operations, while Republic's TV production operations were integrated into Spelling Television and their syndication operations into Worldvision Enterprises); shortly thereafter, Blockbuster was bought by [[Creator/ParamountGlobal Viacom]], which had ''also'' just acquired Creator/{{Paramount}} (ironically enough, given NTA's ownership of many Paramount cartoons). The small feature film library Spelling already owned (much of which was inherited from Taft Entertainment) was integrated into the Republic library, as Republic became the holding company and copyright holder for the Spelling Entertainment Group theatrical and direct-to-video libraries. For the rest of the decade, Spelling and Republic's film and video operations were slowly wound down and absorbed into Paramount's far larger holdings, though the Spelling Entertainment Group library would be licensed out to Artisan Entertainment (later absorbed into Creator/{{Lionsgate}}) for video releases starting in 1998. Viacom became full owner of the Spelling Entertainment Group in 1999, and the following year, acquired Creator/{{CBS}}, reuniting the original Republic library with the studio much of it was shot on, by then known as CBS Studio Center.

In 2006, Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun off the company's motion picture and basic cable interests as a new Viacom. This had the effect of reversing the 1994 Spelling/Republic merger, with the former Spelling Entertainment Group theatrical and direct-to-video libraries being held by the ''Melange Pictures'' subsidiary of Paramount, who licensed home media rights to this library to Olive Films from 2012 to 2022 after the licensing deal with Lionsgate expired (currently this deal excludes ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' and ''Film/TheRunningMan'' - Paramount has held video rights to the former since 2006, and the latter since 2022; the rest of this library is now distributed by Kino Lorber), and the former Spelling Entertainment Group television library being held by the Spelling Television subsidiary of what has been known as CBS Studios since 2020. Also in the split, CBS Corporation assumed ownership of CBS Studio Center.

In 2006, Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun off the company's motion picture and basic cable interests as a new Viacom. This had the effect of reversing the 1994 Spelling/Republic merger, with the former Spelling Entertainment Group theatrical and direct-to-video libraries being held by the ''Melange Pictures'' subsidiary of Paramount, who has licensed home media rights to this library to Olive Films since 2012 after the licensing deal with Lionsgate expired (currently this deal excludes ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' and ''Film/TheRunningMan'' - Paramount has held video rights to the former since 2006, and the latter since 2022), and the former Spelling Entertainment Group television library being held by the Spelling Television subsidiary of what has been known as CBS Studios since 2020. Also in the split, CBS Corporation assumed ownership of CBS Studio Center.

In 2006, Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun off the company's motion picture and basic cable interests as a new Viacom. This had the effect of reversing the 1994 Spelling/Republic merger, with the former Spelling Entertainment Group theatrical and direct-to-video libraries being held by the ''Melange Pictures'' subsidiary of Paramount, who has licensed home media rights to this library to Olive Films since 2012 after the licensing deal with Lionsgate expired, and the former Spelling Entertainment Group television library being held by the Spelling Television subsidiary of what has been known as CBS Studios since 2020. Also in the split, CBS Corporation assumed ownership of CBS Studio Center.

In 1994, Spelling Entertainment, operated by legendary TV producer Creator/AaronSpelling and owned by video rental chain Blockbuster, bought Republic (resulting in Spelling's Worldvision Home Video merging with Republic's video operations, while Republic's TV production operations were integrated into Spelling Television and their syndication operations into Worldvision Enterprises); shortly thereafter, Blockbuster was bought by [[Creator/ParamountGlobal Viacom]], which had ''also'' just acquired Creator/{{Paramount}} (ironically enough, given NTA's ownership of many Paramount cartoons). For the rest of the decade, Spelling and Republic's film and video operations were slowly wound down and absorbed into Paramount's far larger holdings, though Republic's library would be licensed out to Artisan Entertainment (later absorbed into Creator/{{Lionsgate}}) for video releases starting in 1998. Viacom became full owner of Spelling Entertainment in 1999, and the following year, acquired Creator/{{CBS}}, reuniting the original Republic library with the studio much of it was shot on, by then known as CBS Studio Center.

In 1994, Spelling Entertainment, operated by legendary TV producer Creator/AaronSpelling and owned by video rental chain Blockbuster, bought Republic (resulting in Spelling's Worldvision Home Video merging with Republic's video operations); shortly thereafter, Blockbuster was bought by [[Creator/ParamountGlobal Viacom]], which had ''also'' just acquired Creator/{{Paramount}} (ironically enough, given NTA's ownership of many Paramount cartoons). For the rest of the decade, Spelling and Republic's film and video operations were slowly wound down and absorbed into Paramount's far larger holdings, though Republic's library would be licensed out to Artisan Entertainment (later absorbed into Creator/{{Lionsgate}}) for video releases starting in 1998. Viacom became full owner of Spelling Entertainment in 1999, and the following year, acquired Creator/{{CBS}}, reuniting the original Republic library with the studio much of it was shot on, by then known as CBS Studio Center.

By the 1980s, NTA had made a killing on syndicating and licensing the Republic library, and realized that the name was valuable--therefore, in 1985 NTA bought the logo and trademark, and became the new Republic Pictures Corporation. Its existing home video division became '''Republic Pictures Home Video''', and they commenced production and distribution of new films--though not many of these actually received theatrical releases. They also formed a TV production/distribution arm, mainly making TV movies and miniseries, with the occasional regular series like ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast1987'', and distribution of shows like ''Series/PressYourLuck'' (for reruns only--a plan for first-run syndication having failed). They also notably had the rights to ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', having managed to acquire the entirety of the movie by 1993, after winning a landmark legal case that reactivated the film's trademark.