Film & TV Companies / Useful Notes

Below is a list of notable companies involved in the production and distribution of countless works of film and television.

Also see the list of Animation Companies and TV Networks.

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"Big Five" major film studios

Disney
- Walt Disney Animation Units - The main unit is in Burbank (Still active), but there were units in Florida, Canada, Japan, Australia, France and the UK.
- Disney Television Animation
- Disneytoon Studios (defunct)
- Touchstone Pictures (defunct)
- Hollywood Pictures (defunct)
- Pixar
- Marvel Comics (acquired by Disney in 2009)
- Lucasfilm (acquired by Disney in 2012)
  - Industrial Light & Magic - Has a Singaporean studio.
  - Skywalker Sound - Sister studio of the above.
  - Lucasfilm Animation - Has a division in Singapore.
- 20th Century Studios (sale to Disney completed on March 20, 2019)
  - Searchlight Pictures
  - Blue Sky Studios (defunct)
  - Four Star Television (defunct) - an independent production company created by four/five Hollywood stars that was later bought in 1993.
  - 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television)
  - 20th Television Animation (formerly Fox Television Animation)
  - Touchstone Television (formerly Fox Television Studios, and later Fox 21 Television Studios; no relation to the unit now called ABC Signature)
- ABC Signature (formerly Touchstone Television, and later ABC Studios; ABC Signature originally operated as a separate unit of ABC Studios until both were merged in August 2020)
- It's a Laugh Productions
- FX Productions (FXP)
Paramount (a Paramount Global company)
- Paramount Animation
- Paramount Television Studios
- MTV Films
- Comedy Central Films
- VH1 Films
- Nickelodeon Movies
- Desilu Studios (defunct)
- Republic Pictures (defunct) - A film production company acquired in 1999 in the Viacom purchase of Spelling Entertainment.
- CBS Films (defunct) - A film studio that was owned by Viacom's then sister company CBS Corporation, the distribution was handled by Lionsgate. The studio stopped releasing theatrical films in 2019, before the Viacom/CBS re-merger was finalized.
- Miramax (acquired a 49% stake from beIN Media Group in 2019)
Sony Pictures (a Sony company)
- Columbia Pictures
  - TriStar Pictures
- Screen Gems
- Stage 6 Films
- Sony Pictures Animation
- Sony Pictures Classics
- Sony Pictures Imageworks - Sony's visual effects and digital animation production studio.
- Sony Pictures Studios - Sony's film/TV studio lot and audio post-production unit (previously owned by MGM and Lorimar-Telepictures).
- Sony Pictures Television
NBCUniversal
- Universal
- Universal Content Productions
- Universal Animation Studios
- NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan
- DreamWorks Animation
  - Pacific Data Images (defunct) - Also known as PDI/DreamWorks, this served as DWA's northern California branch. The studio was shut down in 2015 as part of a restructuring.
- Illumination Entertainment
  - Illumination Mac Guff
- Focus Features
  - Gramercy Pictures (defunct)
  - Savoy Pictures (library acquired in the USA Networks acquisition in 2002)
  - FilmDistrict
- PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (defunct, resurrected in 2017 as Universal Music Group's film division^noteWhile Universal Music Group was formerly co-owned with the movie studio of that name and still uses their logo, UMG is currently owned by Vivendi, owners of StudioCanal.)
  - ITC Entertainment (defunct, shut down in 1999 after the sale of the library to Carlton/Granada/ITV)
Warner Bros. Discovery
- Warner Bros.
- DC Studios
- New Line Cinema
- Castle Rock Entertainment
- Hanna-Barbera - Technically defunct, living on as the copyright holder of Scooby-Doo works and in spirit as Cartoon Network Studios.
- Warner Independent Pictures (defunct)
- First National Pictures (defunct)
- Lorimar (defunct)
  - Allied Artists (defunct)
- HBO Films
  - Talent Associates (defunct, a production company acquired by Time-Life Films, a predecessor to HBO)
- Warner Bros. Animation

Minor studios

A24
Amazon
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — currently a "minor", but once the greatest film studio of them all; considered one of the so-called "seven sisters" (along with the former Big Six) during the 1980s and 1990s
- The Cannon Group
- Orion Pictures
- United Artists
- Amazon Studios
  - Prime Video
Amicus Productions
Bevanfield Films
Bleecker Street
Blumhouse Productions
BUBBLE Studios
Burbank Films Australia
Daiei
DreamWorks/Amblin Partners (partially owned by Universal)
- DreamWorks Television
- Amblin Entertainment
  - Amblimation
  - Amblin Television
Ealing Studios
Entertainment One
FilmCow
Film4 Productions
Fox Corporation
- Fox Entertainment
Legendary Pictures (distribution handled by Warner Bros. from 2005 to 2014 and Universal from 2014 to 2019)
Lionsgate
- After Dark Horrorfest
- Summit Entertainmentk
Mondo TV
Oats Studios
Path�
Pure Flix Entertainment
The Rank Organisation
Shochiku
StudioCanal
STX Entertainment
Tigon British Film Productions
Toei Company
- Toei Animation: Mostly known for their art films made between 1958 to 1972 (namely their Puss in Boots adaptation made in 1969), all of the Dragon Ball series, most of the 80s Transformers series, One Piece, Sailor Moon , and their Anime First magical girl shows (Ojamajo Doremi, Pretty Cure).
Toho
Tsuburaya Productions
UAV Entertainment
Village Roadshow: Australian studio known for its work for Warner Bros..
Vivid Entertainment Group
The Weinstein Company (defunct) - Asseets sold to Lantern Capital after the Harvey Weinstein scandal
- Dimension Films: Formerly a label of Miramax until 2005
WWE Studios
Yoram Gross

Production houses

Sound and sound effects companies

Advantage Audio
Animation City Editorial Services, Inc. (ACES): A sound production company owned by DiC Entertainment.
Anime Sound Production: A sound effects company in Japan founded by Shoji Kato, a former employee of Fizz Sound Creation.
Audio Planning U
Chura Sound: A sound effects company founded by ex-Swara Productions, Rakuonsha and Sound Garden employee Eiko Morikawa and Hiroki Nozaki who also previously worked at Sound Garden.
Dolby Laboratories
E&M Planning Center (defunct)
EFX Systems
Fizz Sound Creation: A sound effects company in Japan known for providing many of the sound effects you hear in anime (and early tokusatsu) both past and present, to the point where even productions they aren't involved in use their sound library ^note
Hacienda Post
Horta Editorial and Sound
Magic Capsule
Producers' Sound Service
Rakuonsha
Sound Box: A sound effects company founded by former Toyo Sound employees, Shizuo Kurahashi and Kenji Shibasaki.
Sound Garden (defunct)
Sound Ring: A defunct sound effects company in Japan founded in 1995 by former E&M Planning employees, Michihiro Ito and Takahisa Ishino.
Swara Productions: A sound effects company founded by legendary Japanese sound designer Katsumi Ito, a former employee of Fizz Sound Creation.
THX
Todd-AO/Glen Glenn Studios
Twenty-First Century Entertainment: Not to be confused with the defunct production company 21st Century Film Corporation.
Vitello Productions
Zack Production
Zound FX

Indie production companies

Knockoff makers

Related to showbiz

Actors Equity (union for actors and stage managers in the U.S.}
Bollywood (the film industry in India)
Equity (British actors' union)
History of Hollywood
Nollywood (the film industry in Nigeria)
Unions In Hollywood
Vivendi (French mass media conglomerate)

Useful Notes / Film & TV Companies

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