In 1893, Thomas Edison built the first movie studio in the United States when he constructed the Black Maria, a tarpaper-covered structure near his laboratories in West Orange See more

Smaller studios operated simultaneously with the majors. These included operations such as Republic Pictures, active from 1935, which produced films that occasionally … See more

By the 1950s, the physical components of a typical movie studio had become standardized. Since then, a movie studio has usually been … See more

With the growing diversification of studios into such fields as video games, television stations, broadcast syndication, television, theme parks, home video and publishing, they have become multi-national corporations.
International … See more

The Big 5
By the mid-1920s, the evolution of a handful of American production companies into wealthy motion picture industry conglomerates that … See more

The Big Five's ownership of movie theaters was eventually opposed by eight independent producers, including Samuel Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, … See more

Halfway through the 1950s, with television proving to be a lucrative enterprise not destined to disappear any time soon—as many in the film … See more