History Creator / UnitedArtists

* ''Film/CallMeBwana'' (1963; U.S. distributor)

#UA were little more than backers and distributors for assorted independent producers (including, for a few years, Darryl Zanuck's [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios Twentieth Century Pictures]] prior to its merger with Fox); that is, the company never owned actual studio facilities of its own. Because of this, they were usually viewed as the odd ones out of the studio system during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood. In fact, it sometimes seemed as though there were [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg seven big studios and United Artists]].

Things changed with the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem in the 1950s. While the other studios suffered as a result of this (''especially'' Creator/RKOPictures and Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer), UA prospered. Their method of business -- no high-overhead studio facilities, but instead a system that bankrolled outside production companies, giving creators freedom that no other studio would -- was ideally suited for the post-studio era. In the 1960s, this paid off with the company with releasing more hits every year, especially with ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' and ''Film/JamesBond'' series, along with many a Main/SpaghettiWestern from Creator/SergioLeone. Their tremendous success during this period, it should be said, was accomplished without any of the original owners. With Griffith dropping out in TheRoaringTwenties as his career floundered, and Fairbanks dying in 1939, only Chaplin and Pickford remained, and both sold their shares in UA to the new management they had hired in the mid-1950s. The studio went public in 1957.

In 1967, UA was purchased by the insurance company Transamerica, which sought to strengthen itself into a conglomerate in the vein of General Electric, RCA, or Gulf + Western (the latter of which bought Creator/{{Paramount}} that same year). This worked well for them, and soon nearly every major studio (save Creator/{{Disney}}, which remained independent) had been bought up by a larger company. Throughout TheSeventies, the ''James Bond'' and ''Pink Panther'' movies maintained their box-office popularity, and UA also did well with Creator/WoodyAllen films, a film version of Platform/{{Broadway}}'s ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'', and the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' franchise (the first installment of which won the studio yet another Academy Award for Best Picture). In 1973, UA became the North American theatrical distributor for films produced by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer.

United Artists was an American film studio founded in 1919. It stood out from the other Hollywood studios at the time for two reasons:

During the 1950s and '60s, United Artists released seven films (''Film/{{Marty}}'', ''[[Film/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays1956 Around the World in 80 Days]]'', ''Film/TheApartment'', ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', ''Film/TomJones'', ''Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight'', and ''Film/MidnightCowboy'') which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture. Three of the victorious films were produced by the Mirisch Company, a firm owned by brothers Walter, Marvin and Harold Mirisch that became closely identified with UA through these and a number of other films, including the aforementioned ''The Pink Panther''.

In 1967, UA was purchased by the insurance company Transamerica, which sought to strengthen itself into a conglomerate in the vein of General Electric, RCA, or Gulf + Western (the latter of which bought Creator/{{Paramount}} that same year). This worked well for them, and soon nearly every major studio (save Creator/{{Disney}}, which remained independent) had been bought up by a larger company. Throughout TheSeventies, the ''James Bond'' and ''Pink Panther'' movies maintained their box-office popularity, and UA also did well with Creator/WoodyAllen films, a film version of UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}}'s ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'', and the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' franchise (the first installment of which won the studio yet another Academy Award for Best Picture). In 1973, UA became the North American theatrical distributor for films produced by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer.

United Artists had an interesting history with animation. They distributed the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' cartoons created by Creator/WaltDisney between 1932 and 1937 (coincidentally, Disney now also owns the Twentieth Century Pictures library after it purchased 20th Century Fox, now 20th Century Studios, in 2019). In 1948, they distributed the cartoons of Creator/WalterLantz for two years during the studio's brief split with Creator/{{Universal}}. In 1957, United Artists' TV division bought out Associated Artists Productions, granting them ownership of nearly every Creator/WarnerBros movie made before 1950, the color ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Looney Tunes]]'' [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and]] ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' released before August 1948, live-action WB short subjects released prior to September 1948, the 1950 WB film ''Film/ChainLightning'' (so that a.a.p. could have all of the WB films of Creator/HumphreyBogart), and the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons made by Creator/FleischerStudios and Creator/FamousStudios for Creator/{{Paramount}}. A few years later, United Artists would become the distributor of the cartoons made by Creator/DepatieFrelengEnterprises, the studio ''Looney Tunes'' director Creator/FrizFreleng co-founded after leaving Warner Bros. (DFE also produced further ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons for WB from 1964-67).

United Artists had an interesting history with animation. They distributed the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' cartoons created by Creator/WaltDisney between 1932 and 1937 (coincidentally, Disney now also owns the Twentieth Century Pictures library after it purchased 20th Century Fox, now 20th Century Studios, in 2019). In 1948, they distributed the cartoons of Creator/WalterLantz for two years during the studio's brief split with Creator/{{Universal}}. In 1957, United Artists' TV division bought out Associated Artists Productions, granting them ownership of nearly every Creator/WarnerBros movie made before 1950, the color ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Looney Tunes]]'' [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and]] ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' made before 1948, and the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons made by Creator/FleischerStudios and Creator/FamousStudios for Creator/{{Paramount}}. A few years later, United Artists would become the distributor of the cartoons made by Creator/DepatieFrelengEnterprises, the studio ''Looney Tunes'' director Creator/FrizFreleng co-founded after leaving Warner Bros. (DFE also produced further ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons for WB from 1964-67).

United Artists had an interesting history with animation. They distributed the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' cartoons created by Creator/WaltDisney between 1932 and 1937. In 1948, they distributed the cartoons of Creator/WalterLantz for two years during the studio's brief split with Creator/{{Universal}}. In 1957, United Artists' TV division bought out Associated Artists Productions, granting them ownership of nearly every Creator/WarnerBros movie made before 1950, the color ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Looney Tunes]]'' [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and]] ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' made before 1948, and the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons made by Creator/FleischerStudios and Creator/FamousStudios for Creator/{{Paramount}}. A few years later, United Artists would become the distributor of the cartoons made by Creator/DepatieFrelengEnterprises, the studio ''Looney Tunes'' director Creator/FrizFreleng co-founded after leaving Warner Bros.

* ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' (1979; film now owned by Paramount)

* ''Film/{{Network}}'' (1976; In association with MGM)

* ''Series/TheFugitive''
* ''Series/GilligansIsland''

* ''Film/TheEnd'' (1978)