1. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures), is an American motion
picture studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned
subsidiary NBCUniversal and is one of the six major movie studios. Its production
studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California.
Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City.
It was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann,
Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and Jules Brulatour.
Universal studios is the oldest movie studios in United States of America. In
addition to owning a sizable film library spanning the earliest decades of cinema
to more contemporary works, it also owns a sizable collection of TV shows through
its subsidiary NBCUniversal Television Distribution. It also acquired rights to
several prominent filmmakers' works originally released by other studios through
its subsidiaries over the years.
Universal’s theatrical slate includes films developed internally, along with co-
productions, acquisitions, and films developed by outside partners and distributed
by the studio.
Universal also produces, acquires, and distributes direct-to-DVD titles, classic titles
from the Universal library, consumer products (across all traditional categories, as
well as interactive and wireless platforms), and specialty motion pictures under
Focus Features. Through its international production group, the studio partners
with leading international film companies to make and acquire films for wide
commercial release or distribution in specific countries
For almost a century, Universal has been known for its diverse slate of films.
These include classics such as Jaws, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, the Jurassic Park
series, and Mamma Mia!; high-concept comedies like Bruce Almighty, The 40-
Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up; and homegrown franchises such as Back to the
Future, Meet the Parents, Fast and Furious, and Bourne.

2. Production
The Universal Film Studios own a unit for film production. The unit is
divided into different companies based in various countries all over the
world. Listed below are those companies.
1) Focus Features
It’s a subsidiary of Universal Pictures Division of NBCUniversal. It was founded in
1992 by Gramercy productions. Focus acts as both a producer and distributor for
its own films and distributor of foreign films.
2) Working Title Films
It is a British film production company, based in London, owned by Universal
studios. It produces feature films and several television productions. Some
famous films under its production are Les Miserables (2010), Johnny English
Reborn (2010), Nanny McPhee (2010), Thunderbirds (2004) and Bridget Jone’s
Diary (2001).

3. 3) Illumination Entertainment
It’s an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007.
It has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal
Studios and it is based in Santa Monica, California. The company is best known for
its 2010 animated feature Despicable Me, which was the first film by the
company. Its sequel, Despicable Me 2 was released on July 3, 2013, and its spin-
off Minions is set for release on July 10, 2015. Despicable me 2 marks the first
time that the company made a sequel.
4) Universal Animation Studios
It’s an American animation Studio which is a division of Universal
Studios, part of NBCUniversal, subsidiary of Comcast. The actual
animation production is done overseas, most notably by either Wang
Film Productions or Rough Draft Studios, with pre-production and post-
production being based in the United States of America.

4. 5) Legendary Pictures
It’s an American film production company based in Burbank, California. The
company co-produce and co-finance films with Warner Bros. Following the
expiration date of that deal in 2014, Legendary will begin the same work now with
Universal Studios.
Distribution
Universal Pictures creates and distributes theatrical and non-theatrical filmed
entertainment for a growing global marketplace. Universal’s content is released
across traditional and digital distribution channels, including theatrical exhibition,
physical and electronic home entertainment, pay and free television, and
subscription on-demand services.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment

5. Universal Studios Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home
Video, MCA/Universal Home Video and MCA Home Video) is the home
video distribution division of Universal Pictures. The company is owned
by NBCUniversal, the entertainment division of Comcast. This company was the
video distributor for DreamWorks title until DreamWorks was sold to Paramount
Pictures’ Parent company, Viacom, in 2006, at which point paramount took over
distribution. After Viacom stopped working with DreamWorks in 2008, Universal
Studios Home Entertainment was planned to resume distributing DreamWorks
movies but this deal wasn’t signed. In addition to DVD’s, Universal was the major
supporter of the HD DVD format until March 2008. Since July 2008, Universal
released Blu-ray discs; it was the first major Hollywood studio to do so.
Universal is the video distributor for Summit Entertainment releases (but instead
shows Summit’s logo on all releases) and Open Road film releases.
SOURCES
http://www.nbcuni.com/film/universal-pictures/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_Features
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Title_Films
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illumination_Entertainment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Animation_Studios
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_Pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Studios_Home_Entertai
nment