Today's Big Six

Conglomerate Parent Division Major Studio Subsidiary Other Mainstream Arthouse/"Indie" Genre/B movie U.S./Can.
Subsidiaries Subsidiaries Subsidiaries Market
Share (2007)
[1]

Time Warner Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Pictures New Line Cinema, 19.7%1
Entertainment HBO Films, Castle
Group, HBO Rock Entertainment,
Turner Entertainment,
Warner Bros.
Animation

Viacom Paramount Paramount Pictures DreamWorks Paramount Vantage 15.5%2

Motion Pictures Animation,
Group Nickelodeon Movies,
MTV Films

The Walt Walt Disney Walt Disney Pixar Animation Studios, Miramax Films Hollywood Pictures 15.3%3
Disney Motion Pictures Pictures/Touchstone Walt Disney Animation
Company Group Pictures (unified business Studios
with separate brands)

Sony Sony Pictures Columbia Pictures Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Screen Gems, 12.9%4
Animation Classics TriStar Pictures,
Destination Films,
Triumph Films,
Stage 6 Films

General Electric NBC Universal Universal Studios Universal Animation Focus Features 12.2%5
/ Vivendi SA Studios

News Fox Filmed 20th Century Fox 20th Century Fox Fox Searchlight Fox Atomic 11.9%6
Corporation Entertainment Animation, Fox Faith,
New Regency (20%
equity)

Note 1: Warner Bros.: 14.7%; New Line: 5.0%; Warner Independent: ?; Picturehouse: ? (Prev. totals: 2006—14.9%; 2005—21.7%; 2004—
17.7%)
Note 2: Paramount: 15.5%; DreamWorks SKG: ?; Paramount Vantage: ? (Prev. totals: 2006—11.0%; 2005—9.8%; 2004—6.8%)
Note 3: Buena Vista: 14.0%; Miramax: 1.3% (Prev. totals: 2006—16.7%; 2005—14.6%; 2004—16.5%)
Note 4: Sony/Columbia: 12.9%; Sony Classics: ? (Prev. totals: 2006—19.3%; 2005—11.1%; 2004—16.8%)
Note 5: Universal: 11.4%; Rogue Pictures: 0.8%; Focus Features: ? (Prev. totals: 2006—10.9%; 2005—13.2%; 2004—10.8%)
Note 6: 20th Century-Fox: 10.5%; Fox Searchlight 1.4% (Prev. totals: 2006—17.0%; 2005—16.5%; 2004—11.7%)

[edit] The "mini-majors"

Lions Gate Entertainment, which moved in 2006 from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Santa Monica, California, was the most successful North
American movie studio based outside of the Los Angeles metropolitan area before its relocation. Now known as Lionsgate, it traces its roots
back to the production company Lion's Gate Films, founded by director Robert Altman in the 1970s. The studio controls the highly profitable
Saw franchise.

Summit Entertainment, founded as an independent production and overseas sales company in 1996, was reconstituted as a full-fledged studio ten
years later.[2] It saw its first major success with Twilight in autumn 2008. Though it is based in Universal City and has a deal with Universal
Studios for the distribution of home entertainment media,[3] Summit's ownership and theatrical distribution operation are fully independent.

MGM, after decades as a major studio, continues to distribute motion pictures and television content as a minor, privately held media company.
In April 2005, it was purchased from Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation by a consortium including Sony, cable company Comcast,
Providence Equity Partners, and three other private investment firms. While Sony continues to hold a minority equity stake in the company,
MGM has a deal with 20th Century Fox for the distribution of home video and overseas theatrical product.[4] MGM is also the majority
shareholder of the latest incarnation of United Artists, whose other lead owners are Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Via its original 1981 merger
with UA, MGM controls the rights to the James Bond franchise. Columbia codistributed the first two Bond films starring Daniel Craig after the
2005 purchase, but MGM will resume sole distribution control with the next film in the series.[5]

The Weinstein Company was founded in late 2005 by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein after their departure from Miramax, which they had
founded in 1979. In 1993, they sold control of Miramax to the Walt Disney Company, continuing to run the studio in quasi-independent fashion
under the Disney umbrella. When the Weinsteins left Disney, they retained the right to the Dimension Films brand, which is used by The
Weinstein Company (as it was by Miramax) for genre films. The studio has not had a hit since 1408, released in June 2007.[6] It experienced
several high-level executive defections in 2008, and announced major layoffs in November.[7] Overture Films, whose primary equity holder is
Liberty Media, was founded in the fall of 2006. It released its first movie in January 2008;[8] by year's end it had surpassed The Weinstein
Company's share of the domestic box office gross.
DreamWorks SKG was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. Once again independent after two-and-half
years under the Viacom/Paramount corporate umbrella, it is now backed by India's Reliance ADA Group.[9] DreamWorks will not be a full-
service studio—it will produce and finance films, but as it did for most its first era as an independent, it will arrange distribution through the
majors. In October 2008, DreamWorks struck such a deal with Universal, though Paramount will continue to release the DreamWorks pictures
developed there through the end of 2009.[10] DreamWorks Animation, now a totally separate business, maintains a close-knit distribution deal
with Paramount that runs through 2012.[11]

In 2007, Lionsgate and MGM/UA were virtually tied for the position of most successful mini-major in terms of market share, each with 3.8%.[12]
In 2006, Lionsgate had a 3.6% market share, The Weinstein Company had a 2.5% market share, and MGM/UA had a 1.8% market share. The
next most successful independent was the Yari Film Group, with 0.4%.[13] In 2005, the still independent DreamWorks SKG had 5.7% and
Lionsgate had 3.2%. Of MGM/UA's four significant money-earners during 2005, it released three before its acquisition by the Sony-led
consortium; MGM/UA's total market share for the year was 2.1%. The Weinstein Company, in its first three months of operation, gained 0.5%
of the year's total market share. The next most successful independent was IMAX, with 0.2%.[14] In 2004, DreamWorks SKG had 10.0% (more
than the Paramount Motion Pictures Group), Newmarket had 4.3% (due almost entirely to The Passion of the Christ), Lionsgate had 3.2%, and
MGM/UA had 2.1%. The next most successful independent was Giant Screen Films, a distributor of IMAX-format movies, with 0.2%.[15]