American International Pictures (AIP) was a B-Movie production company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1954 by James H. Nicholson (no relation to Jack Nicholson, who did coincidentally enough appear in several AIP movies) and Samuel Z. Arkoff as American Releasing Corporation, and changed its name to American International Pictures two years later.
AIP's 1950s films, released as double features to drive-in theaters, were largely targeted towards the youth market, and included many teenage melodramas and science fiction movies. Many of these were produced or directed by Roger Corman or Bert I. Gordon, and had lurid but memorable titles and a focus on "edgy" youth subcultures and trends like Rock & Roll and hot rod culture.
This was hardly an accident: coming up with a title and subject matter was how production usually began at AIP. In an interview in the '80s, Arkoff described the so-called "ARKOFF formula" that AIP had used during the height of its popularity, which went as follows:
- Action (exciting, entertaining drama),
- Revolution (anti-establishment themes and ideas),
- Killing (just that),
- Oratory (highly memorable and quotable dialogue and lines),
- Fantasy (Wish-Fulfillment), and
- Fornication (sex appeal).
The studio's marketing strategy was likewise known as "Peter Pan Syndrome", which stated that targeting young men in their teens and early twenties was the best way to appeal to the greatest audience. The logic was that little kids will watch pretty much anything that older kids will, but older kids won't watch "kiddie" movies; likewise, girls will watch pretty much anything that boys will, but boys won't watch "chick flicks".
In the early 1960s, AIP produced a series of horror films inspired by works of Edgar Allan Poe, and began releasing many dubbed foreign films (primarily lowbrow Italian movies and Japanese Kaiju films) in the US.note In the mid '60s, AIP launched the "beach party" genre, which helped turn Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon into teen idols. The beach movies were succeeded later in the decade by movies about bikers and hippies. With the formation of the American International Television (AIP-TV) unit in 1964, television became as important a market as movie theaters for AIP's films.
No less than 34 of their films have ended up on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is the highest for any single source on that show.
James H. Nicholson resigned from the company in 1972 (and died soon later). AIP caught the Blaxploitation trend around this time, but in the middle of the decade tried to move into higher-budget fare, with little success. Arkoff sold AIP in 1979 to Filmways, and under other names AIP continued to exist as units of Filmways and Orion Pictures. Today, MGM owns the rights to most of AIP's films.
In 2020, MGM revived AIP as as a label for films acquired by MGM for distribution (both digitally and theatrically).
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes
- Act of Vengeance
- The Amazing Colossal Man
- The Amazing Transparent Man
- The Amityville Horror
- Angel, Angel, Down We Go
- The Angry Red Planet
- Attack of the Giant Leeches
- Attack of the Puppet People
- Beach Blanket Bingo
- Beach Party
- Bikini Beach
- Black Caesar
- Black Mama, White Mama
- Blacula
- Bloody Mama
- Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw
- Boxcar Bertha
- The Brain That Wouldn't Die (theatrical distributor)
- Breaker! Breaker!
- A Bucket of Blood
- Circus of Horrors
- Coffy
- The Comedy of Terrors
- Cooley High
- Count Yorga, Vampire
- The Return of Count Yorga
- Cry of the Banshee
- Daddy-O
- Dementia 13
- Die, Monster, Die!
- Dillinger (1973)
- Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
- The Dunwich Horror
- Earth vs. the Spider
- Empire of the Ants
- The Eye Creatures
- The Food of the Gods
- Force 10 from Navarone
- Foxy Brown
- Frogs
- Gunslinger (as American Releasing Corp.)
- The Haunted Palace
- The Honeymoon Killers (theatrical distributor)
- Horrors of the Black Museum
- House of Usher
- How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
- How To Make A Monster
- I Was a Teenage Werewolf
- The Incredible Melting Man
- Invasion of the Saucer Men
- The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
- It Conquered the World
- It Lives by Night
- Jennifer
- The Last Man on Earth
- The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
- Love at First Bite
- Madhouse (1974)
- The Masque of the Red Death
- Master of the World
- Meteor
- Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)
- Night of the Blood Beast
- Night of the Eagle
- The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
- Panic in Year Zero!
- The Pawnbroker
- The Phantom Planet
- The Pit and the Pendulum
- Planet Of The Vampires (a.k.a. Terrore nello spazio).
- The Premature Burial
- Psych-Out
- Queen of Blood
- The Raven (1963)
- Riot on Sunset Strip
- Rolling Thunder
- Scream and Scream Again
- The Screaming Skull
- Seven (1979)
- Shake, Rattle & Rock!
- The She-Creature
- Sisters (1973)
- Squirm
- Sugar Hill (1974)
- Tales of Terror
- T.A.M.I. Show
- Teenage Caveman
- The Terror
- Terror from the Year 5000
- The Thing with Two Heads
- Thunder Alley (1967)
- The Time Travelers
- The Tomb of Ligeia
- The Town That Dreaded Sundown
- The Trip (1967)
- The Undead
- The Vampire Lovers
- Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
- War of the Colossal Beast
- Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
- The Wild Angels
- Wild in the Streets
- Witchfinder General
- Wuthering Heights (1970 version)
- X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
- Zontar, the Thing from Venus
- Alakazam the Great
- At the Earth's Core
- Atragon
- Attack of the Monsters
- Attack of the Mushroom People
- Black Sabbath
- Cannibal Girls
- Colossus and the Headhunters
- Death Line
- Deranged
- Dagora, the Space Monster
- The Day the Earth Froze
- Destroy All Monsters
- Destroy All Planets
- La Dolce Vita
- Frankenstein Conquers the World
- Gamera vs. Monster X
- Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster
- Godzilla vs. the Thing
- Holocaust 2000
- Jack and the Witch
- Journey to the Seventh Planet
- The Land That Time Forgot
- The Little Norse Prince
- Mad Max
- Psycho-Circus
- Reptilicus
- Return of the Giant Monsters
- Spirits of the Dead
- Summer Holiday
- The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
- The Vampire Lovers
- Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
- Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
- War of the Monsters
- What's Up, Tiger Lily?
- Breaking News in Yuba County
- How It Ends
- Minimata
