Founding and early years In 1924, movie-theater magnate
Marcus Loew had a problem. He had bought
Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for $3 million to provide a steady supply of films for his large
Loew's Theatres chain. However, he found that his new property only provided a lackluster assortment of films. Seeking to solve this problem, Loew purchased
Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 for $5 million to improve the quality of the films shown in his theaters. Loew acquired the Goldwyn studio, including its
Culver City studio lot, its
Leo the Lion "Ars Gratia Artis" slogan and its contracted stars and projects, after negotiations with its president, Frank Joseph Godsol, as
Samuel Goldwyn had lost control of the company bearing his name that he had formed in 1922. Goldwyn reluctantly sold his remaining interest in Goldwyn Pictures to Loew for $1 million. However, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant
Nicholas Schenck was needed at New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. A solution came with
Louis B. Mayer, head of Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Loew bought the Mayer studio for $75,000. Loews Incorporated completed the merger of its theater chain and the three studios on April 17, 1924, celebrated with a fete on April 26, 1924. Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with 24-year-old
Irving Thalberg as head of production. Marcus Loew died in 1927 and control of Loew's passed to Nicholas Schenck. In 1929,
William Fox of
Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew family's holdings with Schenck's assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision. Mayer was active in the
California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the
Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on
antitrust grounds. In the summer of 1929, Fox was seriously injured in an automobile accident. By the time that he recovered, the
stock-market crash in the fall of 1929 had nearly bankrupted Fox and ended any chance of the Loew's merger. Schenck and Mayer had an acrimonious relationship (Mayer reportedly referred to Schenck as "Mr. Skunk"), and the abortive Fox merger increased the animosity.
1920s From the outset, MGM capitalized on filmgoers' desire for glamor and sophistication. Having inherited few big names from their predecessor companies, Mayer and Thalberg began at once to create and publicize a host of new stars, among them
Joan Crawford,
Greta Garbo,
John Gilbert,
William Haines and
Norma Shearer (who followed Thalberg from Universal and eventually married him). Established names such as
Wallace Beery,
Lon Chaney,
Buster Keaton and
William Powell were hired from other studios. They also hired top directors such as
Clarence Brown,
Tod Browning,
Victor Seastrom,
King Vidor and
Erich von Stroheim. The arrival of talking pictures in 1928–29 afforded opportunities to other new stars, many of whom would carry MGM through the 1930s, such as
Clark Gable,
Nelson Eddy,
Jean Harlow,
Myrna Loy,
Jeanette MacDonald (often paired with Eddy),
Robert Montgomery,
Robert Taylor and
Spencer Tracy. MGM was among the first studios to experiment with filming in
Technicolor. Using the two-color Technicolor process, MGM filmed portions of
The Uninvited Guest (1924),
The Big Parade (1925) and
Ben-Hur (1925) in the process. MGM released
The Viking (1928), the first complete Technicolor feature with a synchronized score and sound effects, but with no spoken dialogue. With the arrival of sound film, MGM moved slowly and reluctantly into the new era, releasing features such as
White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) with music and sound effects and
Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) with limited dialogue sequences. The studio's first full-fledged talkie, the musical
The Broadway Melody (1929), was a box-office success and won the
Academy Award for Best Picture.
1930s MGM was the last major studio to convert to sound. The studio's first all-color, "all-talking" sound feature with dialogue was the musical
The Rogue Song in 1930. MGM included a sequence shot in Technicolor's superior new three-color process, a musical number in the otherwise black-and-white
The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), starring Jeanette MacDonald and
Ramon Novarro. The studio then produced a number of three-color short subjects, including the musical
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935). Its first complete Technicolor feature was
Sweethearts (1938) with MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, the earlier of the popular singing team's two films in color. After that point, MGM regularly produced several Technicolor films per year, with
Northwest Passage (1939) perhaps one of the most notable of the era. and
Wallace Beery in
Min and Bill (1930) In addition to a large short-subjects program of its own, MGM also distributed the shorts and features produced by
Hal Roach Studios, including comedy shorts starring
Laurel and Hardy,
Our Gang and
Charley Chase. The studio's distribution deal with Roach lasted from 1927 to 1938, and MGM benefited in particular from the success of the popular Laurel and Hardy films. In 1938, MGM purchased the rights to the
Our Gang series from Roach and production of the successful series moved to the MGM studios, where it continued until 1944. From 1929 to 1931, MGM produced a series of comedy shorts titled
All Barkie Dogville Comedies in which trained dogs were dressed in clothing to parody contemporary films, with voices supplied by actors. One of the shorts,
The Dogway Melody (1930), spoofed MGM's hit 1929 musical
The Broadway Melody. MGM entered the music industry by purchasing the "Big Three" starting with
Miller Music Publishing Co. in 1934, then Robbins Music Corporation. In 1935, MGM acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of
Leo Feist, Inc., the last of the Big Three. During the 1930s, MGM produced approximately 50 pictures per year, although it never met its goal of releasing a new film every week (it was only able to release one film every nine days). Loew's 153 theaters were mostly located in New York, the Northeast and Deep South.
Gone with the Wind (1939)'s world premiere was held at
Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. A fine reputation was gained for lavish productions that were sophisticated and polished to cater to an urban audience. Still, as the
Great Depression deepened, MGM began to economize by recycling existing sets, costumes and furnishings from previous projects, a practice that did not subside. In addition, MGM saved money because it was the only of the big five studios that did not own an off-site
movie ranch. Until the mid-1950s, MGM could make a claim that its rivals could not: the studio never lost money, although it did produce an occasional disaster such as
Parnell (1937), Clark Gable's biggest flop. MGM was the only Hollywood studio that continued to pay dividends during the 1930s. in
Fury (1936) MGM stars dominated the box office during the 1930s, and the studio was credited for inventing the Hollywood stable-of-stars system as well. MGM contracted with the American Musical Academy of Arts Association to handle all of their press and artist development. The AMAAA's main function was to develop the budding stars and to make them appealing to the public. Stars such as Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Jeanette MacDonald and Norma Shearer, reigned as the top-paid figures at the studio. Another MGM actress of the era,
Jean Harlow, who had previously appeared in the
Howard Hughes film ''
Hell's Angels'' (1930), now had a big break and became a Hollywood sex symbol and one of MGM's most admired stars. Despite Harlow's gain, Garbo arguably remained the biggest star at MGM. Shearer was still a money maker despite her screen appearances becoming scarce, and Crawford continued her box-office popularity until 1937. MGM also received a boost through the man who would become known as "King of Hollywood", Clark Gable. Gable's career took off to new heights after he won an Oscar for the
Columbia film
It Happened One Night (1934). Mayer and Irving Thalberg's association began warmly, but eventually relations between the two became strained; Thalberg preferred literary works and expensive costume pictures over the lower-budget, family-oriented crowd pleasers Mayer wanted. Thalberg, always physically frail, was removed as head of production in 1932. Mayer encouraged other staff producers, among them his son-in-law
David O. Selznick, but no one seemed to have the sure touch of Thalberg. As Thalberg's health deteriorated in 1936, Mayer could now serve as his temporary replacement. Rumors had begun circulating for some time that Thalberg was leaving MGM to set up his own independent company; his premature death at age 37 in September 1936 cost MGM dearly. In animation, MGM purchased the rights in 1930 to distribute a series of cartoons that starred a character named
Flip the Frog, produced by
Ub Iwerks. The first cartoon in this series (titled
Fiddlesticks) was the first sound cartoon to be produced in two-color Technicolor. In 1933, Ub Iwerks canceled the unsuccessful Flip the Frog series and MGM began to distribute its second series of cartoons, starring a character named
Willie Whopper, that was also produced by Iwerks. In 1934, after Iwerks' distribution contract expired, MGM contracted with animation producers/directors
Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising to produce a new series of color cartoons. Harman and Ising came to MGM after breaking ties with
Leon Schlesinger and
Warner Bros. Pictures and brought with them their popular
Looney Tunes character,
Bosko. These were known as
Happy Harmonies, and in many ways resembled the
Looney Tunes sister series,
Merrie Melodies. The
Happy Harmonies regularly ran over budget, and MGM dismissed Harman and Ising in 1937 to start its own
animation studio. After initial struggles with a poorly received series of
The Captain and the Kids cartoons, the studio rehired Harman and Ising in 1939, and Ising created the studio's first successful animated character,
Barney Bear. ,
Judy Garland,
Ray Bolger and
Jack Haley in
The Wizard of Oz (1939), which since its release became one of MGM's most iconic and beloved films. In 1937, Mayer hired
Mervyn LeRoy, a former Warner Bros. producer/director as MGM's top producer and Thalberg's replacement. LeRoy convinced Mayer to acquire the film rights to the popular children's book
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; MGM purchased the rights from
Samuel Goldwyn for $75,000 in 1938. MGM's hits in 1939 included
The Wizard of Oz;
Ninotchka, starring
Greta Garbo;
The Women, starring
Joan Crawford and
Norma Shearer; and
Gone with the Wind, starring
Vivien Leigh as
Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as
Rhett Butler. Although
Gone With the Wind was produced by
Selznick International Pictures, the film was distributed by MGM as part of a deal for producer
David O. Selznick, Mayer's son-in-law, to obtain the services of Gable as well as financial assistance necessary for Selznick to complete the film. After Selznick International foundered in 1944, MGM acquired the full rights to
Gone With the Wind.
1940s Within one year, beginning in 1942, Mayer released his five highest-paid actresses from their MGM contracts: Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Jeanette MacDonald and Norma Shearer. After being labeled "
box office poison", Crawford's MGM contract was terminated and she moved to Warner Bros., where her career took a dramatic upturn. Garbo and Shearer never made another film after leaving the lot. Of the five stars, Loy and MacDonald were the only two whom Mayer later rehired, in 1947 and 1948 respectively; Crawford returned to MGM after Mayer's departure for the musical drama
Torch Song in 1953. Increasingly, before and during World War II, Mayer came to rely on his "College of Cardinals"—senior producers who controlled the studio's output. This management-by-committee resulted in MGM losing its momentum, developing few new stars, and relying on the safety of sequels and bland material. (
Dorothy Parker memorably referred to the studio as "Metro-Goldwyn-Merde".) Production values remained high, and even
"B" pictures carried a polish and gloss that made them expensive to mount. After 1940, production was cut from 50 pictures a year to a more manageable 25 features per year. During this period, MGM released several very successful
musicals with stars such as
Fred Astaire,
Judy Garland,
Gene Kelly, and
Frank Sinatra. MGM's biggest cartoon stars would come in the form of the cat-and-mouse duo
Tom and Jerry, created by
William Hanna and
Joseph Barbera in 1940. The
Tom and Jerry cartoons won seven
Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953. In 1941,
Tex Avery, another Schlesinger alumnus, joined the animation department. Avery gave the unit its image, with successes such as
Red Hot Riding Hood,
Swing Shift Cinderella, and the
Droopy series.
1950s Audiences began drifting to television in the late 1940s, and MGM and the other studios were finding it increasingly difficult to attract them to theaters. With its high overhead expenses, MGM's profit margins continued to decrease. Word came from
Nicholas Schenck in New York to find "a new Thalberg" who could improve quality while paring costs. Mayer thought he had found this savior in
Dore Schary, a writer and producer who had found success at running
RKO Pictures. Lavish musicals were Schary's focus, and hits like
Easter Parade (1948),
Annie Get Your Gun (1950) and the popular musical films of tenor
Mario Lanza, including
That Midnight Kiss (1949) and
The Great Caruso (1951), helped to keep MGM profitable during this period. and he was replaced by Schary. Gradually cutting loose expensive contract players (including $6,000-a-week Judy Garland in 1950 and "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable in 1954), saving money by recycling existing movie sets instead of building costly new scenery, and reworking expensive old costumes, Schary managed to keep the studio running much as it had through the early 1940s, although his preference for hard-edged, message movies over costume dramas and lighter, family friendly pictures, would never bear much fruit. One bright spot continued to be MGM's musical pictures, under the aegis of producer
Arthur Freed, who was operating what amounted to an independent unit within the studio. During the 1950s, MGM produced some well-regarded and profitable musicals that would later be acknowledged as classics, among them
An American in Paris (1951), ''
Singin' in the Rain (1952), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). However, Brigadoon (1954), Deep in My Heart (1954), It's Always Fair Weather (1955), Invitation to the Dance (1956), and Les Girls (1957) were extravagant song and dance flops, and even The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings'' (1957), two musicals that are now considered classics and among the studio's best, lost money upon their initial releases. ,
Donald O'Connor and
Debbie Reynolds in ''
Singin' in the Rain'' (1952) In 1952, as a settlement of the government's restraint-of-trade action,
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. 334 US 131 (1948),
Loews, Inc. gave up control of MGM. Cost overruns and the failure of the big-budget epic
Raintree County (1957) prompted the studio to terminate Schary's contract. Schary's reign at MGM had been marked with few legitimate hits, but his departure (along with the retirement of Schenck in 1955) left a power vacuum that would prove difficult to fill. Initially
Joseph Vogel became president and
Sol Siegel head of production. In 1957 (by coincidence, the year Mayer died), the studio lost money for the first time in its 34-year history. which was also on
ABC.
Parade was canceled by ABC in the second quarter of 1956. MGM took bids for its movie library in 1956 from Lou Chesler and others, but decided on entering the television market itself. Chesler had offered $50 million for the film library. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, by then the heads of the MGM cartoon studio, took most of their unit and made their own company,
Hanna-Barbera Productions, a successful producer of television animation. In 1956, MGM sold the television rights for
The Wizard of Oz to
CBS, which scheduled it to be shown in November of that year. In a landmark event, the film became the first American theatrical fiction film to be shown complete in one evening on prime time television over a major American commercial network. (
Laurence Olivier's version of
Hamlet was shown on prime time network television a month later, but split in half over two weeks, and the 1950 film,
The Titan: Story of Michelangelo was telecast by ABC in 1952, but that was a documentary.) Beginning in 1959, and lasting until 1991, telecasts of
The Wizard of Oz became an annual tradition, drawing huge audiences in homes all over the United States and earning additional profits for MGM. The studio was all too happy to see
Oz become, through television, one of the two or three most famous films MGM has ever made, and one of the few films that nearly everybody in the United States has seen at least once. Today
The Wizard of Oz is regularly shown on the
Turner-owned channels, no longer just once a year. Avery left the studio in 1953, leaving Hanna and Barbera to focus on the popular
Tom and Jerry and
Droopy series. After 1955, all cartoons were filmed in
CinemaScope until MGM closed its cartoon division in 1957. In 1959, MGM enjoyed what is quite probably its greatest financial success of later years, with the release of its nearly four-hour
Technicolor epic
Ben–Hur, a remake of its 1925 silent film hit and adapted from the novel by
General Lew Wallace. Starring
Charlton Heston in the title role, the film was critically acclaimed, and won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a record that held until
Titanic matched it in 1997 and
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King also did in 2003.
1960s During this period, MGM fell into a questionable practice that eventually nearly doomed the studio: an entire year's production schedule relied on the success of one big-budget epic film each year. This policy began in 1959, when
Ben–Hur proved profitable enough to carry the studio through 1960. However, four succeeding big-budget epics—like
Ben–Hur, each a remake—failed:
Cimarron (1960),
King of Kings (1961),
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), and, most notoriously,
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). The Cinerama film
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (also 1962), the first film in
Cinerama to actually tell a story, was also a financial failure. One other big-budget epic that was a success, however, was the MGM-Cinerama co-production
How the West Was Won (1962), with a huge all-star cast.
King of Kings, while a commercial and critical bomb at the time, has since come to be regarded as a film classic. The losses caused by these films led to the resignations of Sol Siegel and Joseph Vogel who were replaced by
Robert M. Weitman (head of production) and
Robert O'Brien (president). The combination of O'Brien and Weitman seemed to temporarily revive the studio. MGM released
David Lean's immensely popular
Doctor Zhivago (1965), later followed by such hits as
The Dirty Dozen (1967),
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and
Where Eagles Dare (1968). However the company's time was taken up
fighting off proxy attacks by
corporate raiders, and then MGM backed another series of box office failures, including the musical remake of
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and ''
Ryan's Daughter'' (1970). Weitman moved over to Columbia in 1967 and O'Brien was forced to resign a few years later. In 1961, MGM resumed the release of new
Tom and Jerry shorts, and production moved to Rembrandt Films in
Prague,
Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) under the supervision of
Gene Deitch, who had been hired away from
Terrytoons. Although Deitch's
Tom and Jerry cartoons were considered to be vastly inferior to the earlier Hanna and Barbera shorts, they did receive positive reviews in some quarters. In 1963, the production of
Tom and Jerry returned to Hollywood under
Chuck Jones and his
Sib Tower 12 Productions studio (later absorbed by MGM and renamed
MGM Animation/Visual Arts). Jones' group also produced its own works, winning an
Oscar for
The Dot and the Line (1965), as well as producing the classic television version of
Dr. Seuss's
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) featuring the voice of
Boris Karloff.
Tom and Jerry folded in 1967, and the animation department continued with
television specials and one feature film,
The Phantom Tollbooth. A revived
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation was in existence from 1993 to 1999. In the mid-1960s, MGM began to diversify by investing in real estate. and in 1967
Time Inc. became the company's second-largest shareholder.
1970s In 1969,
Kirk Kerkorian purchased 40% of MGM stock. What appealed to Kerkorian was MGM's asset value, which included subsidiary businesses, real estate, and the value of 45 years' worth of glamour associated with the name, which he attached to a Las Vegas hotel and
casino. As for film-making, that part of the company was bleeding money and was quickly and severely
downsized under the supervision of
James T. Aubrey Jr. With changes in its business model including fewer pictures per year, more location shooting and more distribution of independent productions, MGM's operations were reduced. Aubrey sold off MGM's accumulation of props, furnishings and historical memorabilia, including a pair of Dorothy's
ruby slippers from
The Wizard of Oz. Lot 3, of back-lot property, was sold off for real-estate development. In 1971, it was announced that MGM was in talks with
20th Century-Fox about a possible merger, a plan which never came into fruition. Under Aubrey, MGM also sold off
MGM Records and its overseas theater holdings. Kerkorian had largely distanced himself from the operations of the studio, focusing on the
MGM Grand Hotel, investing $120 million into that project. The rise of ancillary markets was enough to allow MGM to increase production to 10–15 films a year compared to three to six in the previous decade, but first it needed to revive its distribution unit. MGM proceeded to return to theatrical distribution in 1981 with its purchase of
United Artists (UA), as UA's parent company
Transamerica Corporation decided to jettison the studio following the huge financial debacle of ''
Heaven's Gate'' (1980); after this acquisition, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Co. was renamed "MGM/UA Entertainment Company". After the purchase of UA, David Begelman's duties were transferred to that unit. Under Begelman, MGM/UA produced a number of unsuccessful films, and he was fired in July 1982. Out of the 11 films he put into production, only one film,
Poltergeist (1982), proved to be a clear hit during his tenure with the studio.
WarGames (1983) and
Octopussy (1983) were both hits for MGM/UA, but did not push MGM into the profit range that Kerkorian wanted. Not even MGM's greatest asset – its library – was enough to keep the studio afloat. In 1982, the company entered into a relationship with mini-major studio and film distributor
The Cannon Group, Inc. for theatrical and home video distribution; this would not be the last time Cannon and MGM would be involved with each other. Other producers and companies, such as
Dino De Laurentiis and PSM Entertainment, also made deals with MGM/UA. On August 7, 1985,
Turner Broadcasting System offered to buy MGM/UA. As film licensing to television became more complicated,
Ted Turner saw the value of acquiring MGM's film library for his
Superstation WTBS. On March 25 of the following year, the deal was finalized in a cash-stock deal for $1.5 billion, and the company was renamed "MGM Entertainment Co.". Turner immediately sold MGM's UA subsidiary and film library back to Kerkorian for roughly $480 million. The
MGM studio lot and lab facilities were sold to
Lorimar-Telepictures. Turner retained the pre-May 1986 library of MGM films, along with the
RKO Radio Pictures and pre-1950
Warner Bros. Pictures films which UA had previously purchased. the
Popeye cartoons released by Paramount (both the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library and
Popeye cartoons were sold to
Associated Artists Productions, which was later bought by UA), and the US/Canadian rights to the RKO library, in addition to MGM's television series. Turner used the acquired films to launch the new cable channel
Turner Network Television (TNT). After Kerkorian reclaimed MGM in August 1986, the MGM/UA name continued to be used, but the company changed its name, this time to MGM/UA Communications Co., which was renamed from United Artists Corporation, now using MGM and UA as separate brands. The change became official on September 10, 1986, and at that time, the
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ticker symbol was changed from UA, yet again, to MGM. In 1987, MGM/UA Communications Co.,
Paramount Pictures and
Universal Pictures teamed up in order to market feature film and television product to China. Kerkorian, however, continued to try to sell portions of MGM/UA. In July 1988, Kerkorian announced plans to split MGM and UA into separate studios. Under this deal, Kerkorian, who owned 82% of MGM/UA Communications, would have sold 25% of MGM to
Barris Industries (controlled by producers
Burt Sugarman,
Jon Peters, and
Peter Guber). The proposition to spin off MGM was called off a few weeks later. In 1989, two Australian-based media entities attempted to gain control of MGM/UA. The first was
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation, which had purchased 20th Century Fox in 1985, making a $1.35 billion bid; rival Australian media company
Qintex attempted to buy MGM from Kerkorian—topping Murdoch's bid with a $1.5 billion offer—but the deal collapsed as Qintex was plagued by financial issues. Ted Turner also attempted to buy MGM/UA again, but these efforts also failed.
1990s In 1990, Italian financier
Giancarlo Parretti announced he was about to buy MGM/UA. Although the French government had scuttled Parretti's bid to buy
Pathé due to concerns about his character, background, and past dealings, Parretti gained backing from
Crédit Lyonnais and bought MGM/UA from Kirk Kerkorian. To finance the purchase, Parretti licensed the MGM/UA library to
Time Warner for home video and Turner for domestic television rights He merged the studio with his Pathé Communications Corporation—formerly
The Cannon Group—to form MGM–Pathé Communications Co., ironically reuniting MGM with a distributor it had partnered with years prior. The well-respected executive,
Alan Ladd Jr., a former president of MGM/UA, was brought on board as CEO of MGM in 1991. However, a year later, Parretti's ownership of MGM–Pathé dissolved in a flurry of lawsuits and a default by Crédit Lyonnais, and Parretti faced
securities-fraud charges in the United States and Europe. It was later revealed that Parretti's deal to buy MGM/UA was largely based on fraudulent and/or highly leveraged loans; upon taking over MGM, he had fired almost all of the financial staff, resulting in chaos at MGM amid complaints from actors, directors and others who were not being paid.
Danjaq, LLC also began litigation against MGM during this time after Parretti attempted to sell the international television rights to the
James Bond franchise without their knowledge or approval, as a method of financing his buyout of MGM; this in turn caused the planned production of the seventeenth
Bond film to be postponed (the length of the lawsuit ultimately led to
Timothy Dalton's departure from the role and
Pierce Brosnan taking over for the seventeenth installment, 1995's
GoldenEye). On the verge of bankruptcy, Crédit Lyonnais took full control of MGM–Pathé via loan default in mid-1992 and reverted its name back to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The bank fired Ladd and replaced him with former Paramount executive
Frank Mancuso Sr. Mancuso then hired Michael Marcus as chairman, MGM Pictures and former Warner Bros. executive
John Calley as United Artists head. A television production division was started up. As part of his exit package, Ladd took some of the top properties, including
Braveheart. On December 21, 1992, MGM's 15% investment ($30 million in cash) in
Carolco Pictures plus a $30 million convertible note was approved by Carolco's board. MGM also started distributing Carolco's films in January 1994 after its deal with
TriStar Pictures ended. While MGM had to convince parent Credit Lyonnais to allow the deal, Lyonnais was Carolco's main lender thus allowing the bank to collect outstanding debts and extend a new line of credit. MGM Holdings, Inc. was formed to take on about $1 billion in MGM's liabilities off MGM's balance sheet in the third quarter of 1993. Credit Lyonnais extended a $400 million line of credit allowing a Chemical Bank lead bank group to extend a $350 million line of credit in 1994. In 1994, MGM had a hit in
Stargate. and another deal with
Rysher Entertainment. Crédit Lyonnais soon placed MGM up for sale. Bidders included
News Corporation,
The Walt Disney Company and
General Electric (GE); independent production firms
New Regency and
Morgan Creek Productions; and several foreign firms, including France's
Chargeurs, Germany's
Bertelsmann and the British/Dutch media company
PolyGram. Nevertheless, the highest bidder was none other than Kirk Kerkorian, who re-purchased the studio in October 1996 for $1.3 billion, becoming MGM's owner for the third time; others involved in the deal included MGM studio head Mancuso and Australian television station
Seven Network (which Kerkorian would later purchase himself in 1998). John Calley left as head of United Artists to become head of
Sony Pictures Entertainment around this time, allegedly because of Mancuso not keeping him informed of the planned buyout and his low salary. 1997 proved to be an eventful year for MGM. On April 11, 1997, MGM bought
Metromedia's film subsidiaries (
Orion Pictures,
The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and the
Motion Picture Corporation of America) for US$573 million, substantially enlarging its library of films and television series and acquiring additional production capacity. The deal closed in July of that year. This catalog, along with the
James Bond franchise, was considered to be MGM's primary asset. MGM's long-running cable television series,
Stargate SG-1, premiered on Showtime on July 27. MGM and
Danjaq, LLC filed a lawsuit against Sony Pictures in November, as Sony was intending to launch a rival Bond franchise backed by
Kevin McClory; the lawsuit alleged that Calley had used confidential information from his tenure at MGM/UA to assist Sony with their attempt at making a
James Bond film. MGM acquired the rights to the unofficial Bond production
Never Say Never Again from
Jack Schwartzman's estate that December. In December 1997, MGM attempted to purchase 1,000 films (referred to as the
Epic film library) held by
Consortium de Réalisation, but was outbid by
PolyGram. However, they ultimately succeeded when they acquired of the pre-1996
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library from
Seagram in 1999 for $250 million, increasing their library holdings to 4,000. Prior to that, MGM had held a home video license for 100 of the films since spring 1997. The PolyGram libraries were purchased by its
Orion Pictures subsidiary so as to avoid its 1990 video distribution agreement with
Warner Home Video. By 1998, MGM had started a specialty film unit using The Samuel Goldwyn Company under the Goldwyn Films name.
Samuel Goldwyn Jr. sued Metromedia over salary and damages when he worked at Goldwyn Company under Metromedia and sued MGM over the use of the Goldwyn name claiming trademark infringement and unfair competition. MGM and Metromedia settled on January 10, 1999, with MGM's Goldwyn Films changing its name to G2 Films. In the middle of that year, MGM and Sony settled in an out-of-court lawsuit that saw MGM trading its
Spider-Man film rights (itself obtained by MGM through a messy legal process involving Cannon and Carolco) to Sony in exchange for gaining the rights to
Casino Royale. In March 1999, MGM announced that it had paid $225 million to end its home video distribution contract with Warner Home Video and re-acquired the home video rights to their post-1986 catalog while Warner Home Video took over home video distribution of the pre-1986 catalogue. MGM also ended its international theatrical distribution agreement with
United International Pictures (UIP) after UIP was accused by the
European Union (EU) of being an illegal
cartel. On June 22, 1999, MGM announced they had formed a three-year international distribution agreement and strategic alliance with
20th Century Fox for theatrical and home video releases outside North America, alongside a deal to jointly explore cable and satellite distribution ventures worldwide. The Fox deal would begin in February 2000 for home video releases and November 2000 for theatrical releases, and last until the end of January 2003. In the same month, MGM announced it would restructure United Artists as an arthouse film producer/distributor, while G2 Films was renamed United Artists International and became a sales distributor for films produced by the restructured business. However, United Artists International was shut down the following year due to lucrative international television output deals which had affected the box office results for United Artists' films.
2000s In 2000, Kirk Kerkorian announced that MGM would release two major films in 2002—
Rollerball and ''
Hart's War. These were likely the last films in the original post-May 1986 library of MGM titles dating back to Poltergeist II: The Other Side'', before significant corporate changes, such as
Compaq's merger with
Hewlett-Packard in May 2002, reshaped the broader media and technology landscape. MGM purchased 20% of
Rainbow Media Group from
Cablevision Systems for $825 million in 2001. MGM attempted to take over
Universal Studios in 2003, but failed, and was forced to sell several of its cable channel investments (taking a $75-million loss on the deal). In January 2002, MGM formed the MGM Entertainment Business Group with lawyer Darcie Denkert as president. This placed her in charge of MGM on Stage, the company's theatrical arm. Her friend Dean Stolber joined her as co-president of the theatrical unit. On May 27, 2003, MGM re-acquired full home video distribution rights to its films internationally, while Fox would continue to distribute on behalf of MGM in select developing regions. In 2002, Kerkorian again put MGM up for sale, with a suggested sale price of $7 billion. In 2004, many of MGM's competitors started to make bids to purchase MGM, beginning with
Time Warner. Time Warner's bid was expected, since the company's largest shareholder was Ted Turner, whose Turner Broadcasting System had merged with Time Warner in 1996. After a short period of negotiations with MGM, Time Warner was unsuccessful. The leading bidder proved to be
Sony Corporation of America, backed by
Comcast and private equity firms
Texas Pacific Group (now TPG Capital, L.P.), DLJ and
Providence Equity Partners. Sony's primary goal was to ensure
Blu-ray Disc support at MGM; cost synergies with
Sony Pictures Entertainment were secondary. Time Warner made a counter-bid (which Ted Turner reportedly tried to block), but on September 13, 2004, Sony increased its bid of US$11.25 per share (roughly $4.7 billion) to $12 per share ($5 billion), and Time Warner subsequently withdrew its bid of $11 per share ($4.5 billion). MGM and Sony agreed on a purchase price of nearly $5 billion, of which about $2 billion was to pay off MGM's debt. From 2005 to 2006, the
Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group domestically distributed films by MGM and UA. However, problems quickly arose between MGM and Sony. The largest issue was Sony failing to meet sales projections for MGM's catalog on DVD; when this occurred, Providence Equity brought in
Harry Sloan as chairman of MGM. Sloan began to champion MGM's future as being independent of Sony as opposed to a label under Sony control; other issues both between MGM and Sony as well as inside both companies began to manifest, resulting in MGM reestablishing itself as an independent studio. In February 2006, MGM announced it would return as a theatrical distribution company. MGM struck deals with
The Weinstein Company (TWC),
Lakeshore Entertainment, Bauer Martinez, and many other independent studios, and then announced its plans to release 14 feature films for 2006 and early 2007. MGM also hoped to increase the amount to over 20 by 2007.
Lucky Number Slevin, released April 7, was the first film released under the new MGM era. The TWC distribution agreement covered three years, but ended three months early. On May 31, 2006, MGM announced it would transfer the majority of
its home video output from
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. MGM also announced plans to restructure its worldwide television distribution operation. In addition, MGM signed a deal with
New Line Television in which MGM would handle New Line's U.S. film and series television syndication packages. MGM served as New Line's barter sales representative in the television arena until 2008. A
tentative agreement was signed in Seoul on March 15, 2006, between MGM, South Korea-based entertainment agency Glovit and
Busan city officials for a
theme park scheduled to open in 2011. MGM Studio City was projected to cost $1.02 billion, built on 245 acres owned by the city in a planned tourist district and contain 27 attractions, a film academy with movie sets, hotels, restaurants and shopping facilities. Glovit was expected to find funding and oversee management of the park, while MGM received a licensing agreement making them handle content and overall planning and the option to buy a 5%–10% share. On November 2, 2006, producer/actor
Tom Cruise and his production partner,
Paula Wagner, signed an agreement with MGM to run
United Artists. Wagner served as United Artists' chief executive. Over the next several years, MGM launched a number of initiatives in distribution and the use of new technology and media, as well as joint ventures to promote and sell its products. In April 2007, it was announced that MGM movies would be able to be downloaded through Apple's
iTunes service, with MGM bringing an estimated 100 of its existing movies to iTunes service, the California-based computer company revealed. The list of movies included the likes of modern features such as
Rocky,
Ronin,
Mad Max, and
Dances with Wolves, along with more golden-era classics such as
Lilies of the Field and
The Great Train Robbery. In October, the company launched
MGM HD on
DirecTV, offering a library of movies formatted in Hi Def. MGM teamed up with
Weigel Broadcasting to launch a new channel titled
This TV on November 1, 2008. On August 12, 2008, MGM teamed up with
Comcast to launch a new video-on-demand network titled Impact. On November 10, 2008, MGM announced that it would release full-length films on
YouTube. On April 14, 2008, a South Korea government agency announced that MGM and Incheon International Airport Corporation agreed to build MGM Studio Theme Park. The selected site was a 1.5 million square meter
Yeongjongdo island property near the
Incheon International Airport. Ultimately, the park was designed but never built. In August 2008, MGM and Fox announced they would be releasing a Hollywood Musicals boxset featuring 50 classic Hollywood musicals spread across 61 DVDs. The set would also include postcard reproductions of the one sheet posters for every title and became available on November 11. As of mid-2009, MGM had US$3.7 billion in debt, and interest payments alone totaled $250 million a year. MGM was earning approximately $500 million a year on income from its extensive film and television library, but the
economic recession is reported to have reduced this income substantially. Whether MGM could avoid voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy had been a topic of much discussion in the film industry. MGM had to repay a $250-million line of credit in April 2010, a $1-billion loan in June 2011, and its remaining US$2.7 billion in loans in 2012. MGM and its United Artists subsidiary were now producing very few films each year, and it was widely believed that MGM's solvency would depend on the box-office performance of these films (especially
Skyfall). There was some indication that
Relativity Media and its financial backer, Elliott Associates (a
hedge fund based in New York), had been acquiring MGM debt in an attempt to force the company into
involuntary bankruptcy. On August 17, 2009, chief executive officer
Harry E. Sloan stepped down and MGM hired Stephen F. Cooper as its new CEO, a corporate executive who guided
Enron through its post-2001 bankruptcy and oversaw the restructuring and growth of
Krispy Kreme in 2005. Expectations were that Cooper was hired to act quickly on MGM's debt problems.
2010s MGM stated in February 2010 that the studio would likely be sold in the next four months, and that its latest film,
Hot Tub Time Machine, might be one of the last four films to bear the MGM name. However, some stated that the company might continue as a label for new James Bond productions, as well as other movie properties culled from the MGM library. MGM Holdings, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 160 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 3, 2010, with a prepackaged plan for exiting bankruptcy which led to MGM's creditors taking over the company. On December 20, 2010, MGM executives announced that the studio had emerged from bankruptcy.
Spyglass Entertainment executives
Gary Barber and
Roger Birnbaum became co-Chairs and co-CEOs of the studio. On January 4, 2011, MGM and Weigel Broadcasting announced plans to distribute
MeTV nationwide. On February 2, 2011, MGM named
Jonathan Glickman to be the film president of MGM. Six days later, MGM was finalizing a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to handle distribution of its films worldwide, including the two upcoming Bond films
Skyfall and
Spectre, and MGM having the right to be co-financier on selected Sony films, such as
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The deal was finalized on April 13, 2011. 20th Century Fox's deal with MGM handling its library distribution worldwide was set to expire in September 2011. However, the deal was renewed and extended on April 14, 2011 and, after five years, was renewed and extended again on June 27, 2016. It was expired in June 2020 due to
Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox's properties (including 20th Century Fox) in 2019. MGM moved forward with several upcoming projects, including remakes of
RoboCop and
Poltergeist (the
RoboCop and
Poltergeist remakes were released in 2014 and 2015, respectively), and released their first post-bankruptcy film,
Zookeeper, which was co-distributed by Columbia Pictures on July 8, 2011. The new MGM, under Barber and Birnbaum's control, focuses on co-investing on films made by another party, which handle all distribution and marketing for the projects. MGM handles international television distribution rights for the new films as well as its library of existing titles and also retains its in-house production service. In separate 2011 deals, the rights to MGM's completed films
Red Dawn and
The Cabin in the Woods were dealt to
FilmDistrict as well as
Lionsgate Films, respectively. On October 3, 2012, Birnbaum announced his intention to exit his role as an MGM executive and return to "hands-on" producing. He remained with the studio to produce films on "an exclusive basis". In December 2012, Denkert retired as co-president of MGM on Stage after producing five Broadway and West End plays. In 2013, the Orion brand was revived as a television production label for a syndicated court show. The Orion Pictures name was extended in fourth quarter 2014 for smaller domestic and international video on demand and limited theatrical releases. In March 2017, MGM announced a multi-year distribution deal with
Annapurna Pictures for some international markets and including home entertainment, theatrical and television rights. Later on October 31, 2017, the two companies formed a US distribution joint venture called Mirror Releasing. However, this partnership was not exclusive to all MGM films, as several of them continue to be released through existing studio partners, such as
Warner Bros. and
Paramount. It also does not include newly relaunched
Orion Pictures. On February 5, 2019, Annapurna and MGM rebranded and expanded their US distribution joint venture as
United Artists Releasing, marking another revival of the United Artists brand, with the Orion Pictures distribution team and films joining the venture. The decision was made to coincide with the United Artists brand's 100th anniversary. In April 2017, MGM Studios and
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment faced a class-action lawsuit by a woman (suing on behalf of herself and others) who had bought a 50th anniversary DVD box set titled
Bond 50, Celebrating Five Decades of Bond 007. The packaging had stated “All the Bond films gathered together for the first time,” however, two films were missing:
Casino Royale (1967), which is a
Columbia Pictures film, and
Never Say Never Again (1983), the rights for which had been in dispute until 2012 and not resolved in time for the creation of the box set. In 2018, MGM and TCF settled, providing $8.7 million worth of digital copies of the movies, despite neither of the missing film being associated with MGM. Following the
Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations in October 2017, MGM was listed as one of 22 potential buyers interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company. In October 2017, MGM's board renewed Gary Barber's contract as chairman and CEO until December 2022. In February 2018, Chris Brearton, the former media M&A attorney of
Latham and Watkins, was appointed as chief operating officer. On March 19, 2018, MGM Holdings announced that Barber had been fired by the studio's board of directors. MGM gave no reason for his firing. For the interim, the company would be led by the newly formed "Office of the CEO". In April 2019, MGM signed a two-year, first-look deal for films with Smokehouse Pictures, owned by
George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The deal's first film is a yet-to-be-named
John DeLorean film based on journalist Alex Pappademas'
Epic magazine article "Saint John", written by Keith Bunin and Clooney as director with a possibility of starring. In April 2019, MGM made a multi-film non-exclusive creative partnership with
AGBO Films to co-develop, co-produce and co-finance a slate from the MGM library. The deal includes a new film projects joint development fund with the first film under the deal to be a remake of
The Thomas Crown Affair. MGM agreed to a $100 million co-financing slate deal with
Bron Creative in June 2019. The slate consisted of at least nine films including three Orion Pictures films. MGM was one of the first studios to delay the films, including
No Time to Die, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed by an April 2020 layoff of 7% of employees. A shuffle of top executives occurred in the first four months. Glickman left in January 2020 and was replaced by Michael De Luca as chairman of the motion picture group. A motion picture group president, veteran executive and producer
Pamela Abdy, was named in early April. Co-presidents of production Cassidy Lange, Adam Rosenberg left by May 1, 2020.
2020s In May 2020, MGM made an investment, facilitated by its television group, in Audio Up podcast production studio, platform and network. Audio Up would also produce 5 podcasts per year for MGM and agreed to an exclusive first look for its works. Later that month, MGM agreed to a two-year film and television first-look development deal with Killer Films. In 2013 and 2015,
Starz Entertainment signed exclusive film licensing agreements with MGM for 585 movies and 176 television series. In August 2019, Starz found an MGM-owned film, ''
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'', covered by the agreement to be streaming on
Amazon Prime Video, and had it pulled. Starz pressed them and MGM admitted in November that 244 films and television series were being shown on other platforms including
Epix. MGM indicated that month that the license tracking system was fixed; Starz instead found an additional 100 MGM films on other platforms. With this seeming to diminish their channel's value to cable operators, Starz sued on May 4, 2020, to uncover all contract violations. . In December 2020, MGM began to explore a potential sale of the studio, with the
COVID-19 pandemic and the domination of streaming platforms due to the closure of movie theaters as contributing factors. The company hired
Morgan Stanley and LionTree Advisors to handle the process on behalf of the studio. On May 17, 2021, online retail and technology company
Amazon entered negotiations to acquire the studio. The negotiations were made directly with MGM board chairman Kevin Ulrich whose
Anchorage Capital Group is a major shareholder. On May 26, 2021, it was officially announced that MGM would be acquired by Amazon for $8.45 billion, subject to regulatory approvals and other routine closing conditions; with the studio continuing to operate as a label under Amazon's existing content arm, complementing
Amazon Studios and
Amazon Prime Video. On February 8, 2022,
Paul Thomas Anderson's
Licorice Pizza became the studio's first fully produced, marketed and distributed film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 33 years, after 1988's
Rain Man. On March 17, Amazon finalized the merger. Later that day, Amazon Studios and Prime Video SVP Mike Hopkins revealed that Amazon would continue to partner with United Artists Releasing, which would remain in operation to release all future MGM titles theatrically on a "case-by-case basis," while "all MGM employees will join my organization." It was also revealed that Amazon had no plans to make changes to the studio's production slate and release schedules nor make all MGM content exclusive to Prime Video, providing some hope that the studio would operate autonomously from Amazon Studios. These plans are expected to not impact the future of the James Bond franchise and its creative team. Two
town halls further detailing MGM's future post-merger took place on March 18, which included one for MGM employees and one for Amazon Studios/Prime Video employees. Both revealed the new interim reporting structure as part of Amazon's "phased integration plan", which would involve De Luca,
Mark Burnett (Chairman of
MGM Worldwide Television) and
COO Chris Brearton reporting to Hopkins on behalf of the studio. On March 22, the studio made its first post-merger acquisition with
Luca Guadagnino's
Bones and All, for which the studio purchased the global distribution rights. On April 27, 2022, it was announced that De Luca and Abdy would leave the studio for Warner Bros. A few months later, in August, it was announced MGM and Warner Bros. had signed a multi-year pact to distribute MGM's titles internationally outside North America, both theatrically in international territories and on home video worldwide, beginning with
Bones and All and
Creed III. The deal however excludes the films
Till,
Women Talking, and MGM's 26th James Bond film, which would be distributed by
Universal Pictures, with whom MGM had an international distribution deal earlier. On November 30, 2022, it was announced that Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, would be given full control of MGM's film and television divisions, with Brearton stepping down as COO to become the Vice President of PVS Corporate Strategy for
MGM+ and MGM Alternative Television. On March 4, 2023, it was revealed that Amazon had shut down United Artists Releasing's operations and folded it into MGM, amid the decision to release Amazon Studios'
Air into theaters instead of Prime Video amidst 2024 Oscar buzz. This made
Creed III the first film released and distributed by MGM itself under the new parent company instead of UAR. On March 22, 2023, longtime MGM distribution head Erik Lomis died. In May 2023, Amazon Studios created Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, an international
film and television distribution unit for both MGM and Amazon projects. The first films from the new distributor were
Saltburn, which premiered at the
Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2023, and
Sitting in Bars with Cake, which was released on Prime Video on September 8, 2023. On October 4, 2023, Pablo Iacoviello, Amazon's director of monetization for local originals, announced at the TV forum Iberseries & Platino Industria in
Madrid that Amazon Studios would be renamed to Amazon MGM Studios itself to reflect this. On September 17, 2023, Orion Pictures'
American Fiction earned the studio its first win for the
People's Choice Award at that year's
Toronto International Film Festival. In January 2024, Amazon announced hundreds of layoffs across Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video and
Twitch in order to "prioritize our investments for the long-term success of our business, while relentlessly focusing on what we know matters most to our customers," according to Mike Hopkins. In March 2024, beginning with the Prime Video release of the remake of
Road House, the studio kicked off the
centennial anniversary celebration of its founding, with a "100 Years" logo variant appearing on titles produced by MGM throughout the year. In April 2024, the studio, in collaboration with
Fandango at Home,
Rotten Tomatoes and
iTunes, offered customers a "100 Essential Movies" bundle of 100 films from its library as part of their centennial for a limited time. In September 2024, Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video became the seventh member of the MPA, marking MGM's return to membership for the first time since 2005. ==Headquarters==