Can actor and partner restore United Artists to its former glory? Here you will get the answer.
November 4, 2006 (Press Release) --
LOS ANGELES -- Just months after being pushed out of Paramount Pictures, Tom Cruise has landed another mission, somewhat improbable: to bring back a venerable Hollywood studio fallen on hard times.
In the deal announced Thursday, Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, were named to lead United Artists, which was founded in 1919 by screen icons Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in the spirit of giving filmmakers the freedom to create without studio interference.
''Tom Cruise is one of the most powerful stars in the world. He's making the same move that his forebears did 85 years ago," said critic and film historian Leonard Maltin. "The truth is that the name United Artists has been relatively meaningless for decades. It's just been a corporate name with no vestige of its original significance."
United Artists' early releases included Chaplin's classics ''The Gold Rush'' (1925) and ''City Lights" (1931); Griffith's "Orphans of the Storm'' (1921); Fairbanks' adventures ''The Three Musketeers'' (1921) and "The Mark of Zorro" (1920), and ''Coquette'' (1929), which brought a Pickford a best-actress Oscar.
''These were the box-office titans of their day giving the public what they wanted in terms of the huge popcorn pictures but also being able to express their artistic side and get movies made that mattered historically,'' said Tom O'Neil, a columnist for the awards Web site www.theenvelope.com.
Decades of distinguished films
United Artists operated as an artist-centered company in the decades after its founders' heyday, with a stream of hits, classics and Oscar winners behind it including ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959), "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), ''Rocky'' (1976) and a long string of James Bond movies starting with ''Dr. No.'' (1962). The UA logo will appear on the latest Bond film, ''Casino Royale,'' which opens Nov. 17.
MGM acquired UA in 1981, a year after United Artists was driven to the financial brink with one of Hollywood's costliest flops ever, ''Heaven's Gate.'' From 1967 until then, United Artists had been owned by Transamerica. A consortium bought MGM in 2004, including Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp.
In recent years, United Artists had been relegated to art-house duty, releasing small in-house productions and low-budget acquisitions. It had some solid successes with critical favorites such as Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary ''Bowling for Columbine'' (2002), the Oscar-nominated ''Hotel Rwanda'' (2004) and "Capote" (2005), which won an best actor Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Source: http://www.msn.com
Posted by JAN M. OLSEN
In the deal announced Thursday, Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, were named to lead United Artists, which was founded in 1919 by screen icons Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in the spirit of giving filmmakers the freedom to create without studio interference.
''Tom Cruise is one of the most powerful stars in the world. He's making the same move that his forebears did 85 years ago," said critic and film historian Leonard Maltin. "The truth is that the name United Artists has been relatively meaningless for decades. It's just been a corporate name with no vestige of its original significance."
United Artists' early releases included Chaplin's classics ''The Gold Rush'' (1925) and ''City Lights" (1931); Griffith's "Orphans of the Storm'' (1921); Fairbanks' adventures ''The Three Musketeers'' (1921) and "The Mark of Zorro" (1920), and ''Coquette'' (1929), which brought a Pickford a best-actress Oscar.
''These were the box-office titans of their day giving the public what they wanted in terms of the huge popcorn pictures but also being able to express their artistic side and get movies made that mattered historically,'' said Tom O'Neil, a columnist for the awards Web site www.theenvelope.com.
Decades of distinguished films
United Artists operated as an artist-centered company in the decades after its founders' heyday, with a stream of hits, classics and Oscar winners behind it including ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959), "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), ''Rocky'' (1976) and a long string of James Bond movies starting with ''Dr. No.'' (1962). The UA logo will appear on the latest Bond film, ''Casino Royale,'' which opens Nov. 17.
MGM acquired UA in 1981, a year after United Artists was driven to the financial brink with one of Hollywood's costliest flops ever, ''Heaven's Gate.'' From 1967 until then, United Artists had been owned by Transamerica. A consortium bought MGM in 2004, including Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp.
In recent years, United Artists had been relegated to art-house duty, releasing small in-house productions and low-budget acquisitions. It had some solid successes with critical favorites such as Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary ''Bowling for Columbine'' (2002), the Oscar-nominated ''Hotel Rwanda'' (2004) and "Capote" (2005), which won an best actor Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Source: http://www.msn.com
Posted by JAN M. OLSEN
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