How Did UNIVERSAL Get So Big?
This video attempts to explain how the major movie studio grew to that size by profiling its various owners of it over the years.
To submit ideas and vote on future topics:
companymanideas.com
Patreon: / companyman
Twitter: / mikecompany17
A very special thanks to this wonderful group of Patrons:
Adamant, Ahmad, Amy Westacott, Andrew Jeeves, Astra, Atsumari, Audria Richmond, aziz alfozan, Ballard Ingram, Blake Anderson, Brett Walton, Brian Dover, Brian Smith, Brooks Sparling, Chris Lion-Transler, Christian & Penny Gray, Cocacolabear12, Dandaley, Dominic Berlingeri, Dylan Kinnard, Emerald Computers - Jason Dragon, Evil Andy, John &Becki Johnston, John Briscoe, John Sterling, Jon, Ken, Kevin Sullivan, Kib Bibens-LeFebvre, Laura Floyd, Logan Brown, Meow Wolf, milkshake, Moriah Krewec, MyNameIsKir, Peter Wesselius, ReignsRevenge, Robert T Kirton, Ron G, Ronnie Cheng, Sam Bennett, Sirpoptart, Sondre Grimsmo Sinnes, Tyrone Cowan.
Company Declines:
Kmart: • The Decline of Kmart.....
Blockbuster: • The Decline of Blockbu...
RadioShack: • The Decline of RadioSh...
Solo Cups: • The Decline of Solo......
Toys "R" Us: • The Decline of Toys R ...
hhgregg: • The Decline of hhgregg...
Pan Am: • The Decline of Pan Am....
ESPN: • The Decline of ESPN......
Gibson: • The Decline of Gibson....
iHeartMedia: • The Decline of iHeartM...
Bon-Ton: • The Decline of Bon-Ton...
Kodak: • The Decline of Kodak.....
General Electric: • The Decline of General...
Woolworth: • The Decline of Woolwor...
Dell: • The Decline of Dell......
Sears: • The Decline of Sears.....
Payless: • The Decline of Payless...
Hostess: • The Decline of Hostess...
Redbox: • The Decline of Redbox....
Nokia: • The Decline of Nokia.....
JCPenney: • The Decline of JCPenne...
Quiznos: • The Decline of Quiznos...
GameStop: • The Decline of GameSto...
NASCAR: • The Decline of NASCAR....
Shopko: • The Decline of Shopko....
MoviePass: • The Decline of MoviePa...
Reebok: • The Decline of Reebok....
The Gap: • The Decline of The Gap...
Pier 1 Imports: • The Decline of Pier 1 ...
Sbarro: • The Decline of Sbarro....
AOL: • The Decline of AOL...W...
Long John Silver's: • The Decline of Long Jo...
Chuck E. Cheese's: • The Decline of Chuck E...
GNC: • The Decline of GNC...W...
Hertz: • The Decline of Hertz.....
Steak 'n Shake: • The Decline of Steak '...
CiCi's Pizza: • The Decline of CiCi's ...
Boston Market: • The Decline of Boston ...
Yahoo: • The Decline of Yahoo!....
Montgomery Ward: • The Decline of Montgom...
Fry's Electronics: • The Decline of Fry's E...
Souplantation: • The Decline of Souplan...
Gateway: • The Decline of Gateway...
BlackBerry: • The Decline of BlackBe...
Sports Authority: • The Decline of Sports ...
Atari: • The Decline of Atari.....
KB Toys: • The Decline of KB Toys...
Pizza Hut: • The Decline of Pizza H...
MGM: • The Decline of MGM...W...
FYE: • The Decline of FYE...W...
HP: • The Decline of HP...Wh...
Forever 21: • The Decline of Forever...
Guitar Center: • The Decline of Guitar ...
______________________________
Website created by - fullertonmedia.com
I mean if your logo is always plastered in the sky everytime there’s a movie being played, everyone on the planet knows your name
@Olive shut the up
Someone didn’t watch the first 30 seconds of the video to realize they dont put it in front of every movie. They produce movies.
it gets really annoying tbh
haha
@@C1DIP still doesn’t mean you don’t know it
Bro this guy deserves so much more views and subs. His videos are always so informative and entertaining, and I don’t even care about business.
The whole "X person deserves more subs" idea never really contributes to the growth of the channel. If anything, I'd say it would inflate the ego of a person and give a skewed look on content creation. We can do more by sharing his videos and get his voice out there than to constantly remind the creator that they deserve something that isn't going to happen from comments alone. Not trying to cause an argument, this is my take on these kinds of posts
@@Chato829 I mean in a way it does through commenting, which gives him a boost in the KZhead recommendations, and then people that look in the comments see nice comments. Also how would it inflate his ego? That is a dumb point. He won’t get a skewed look, after doing KZhead for this long because one guy commented this. Also sharing his videos around isn’t smart, people hate it when others do that, me included. I should be able to compliment him, it gives them a boost in joy.
He's got 1.5 million subs I'm sure he's fairly content
@@NudlArm yep
I'd love for him to narrate porn
A little clarification. When World War II broke out, Decca in the UK sold its stake in Decca in the USA thus creating two different Deccas. In time, American Decca took over Universal Pictures which was absorbed by MCA. Later on, British Decca was merged into PolyGram. When Universal Music's parent absorbed PolyGram, the two Deccas become one again.
Thank you for that It makes the story even more interesting
Two halves become a whole once again!
A love story better than twilight
@@rustyshackelford3590 with more drama and better acting. :D
People may not understand this nowadays, but the era of silent films into the early era of audio being added in was a tremendous stumbling point for Universal and the industry as a whole. You talking about putting more emphasis on the actors in order the sell the movie ended up hurting them in this transitional period because some of those actors couldn't vocalize their acting roles. So you had men and women that people adored on the screen, suddenly turned on because of their high pitch or other vocal struggles. It would be like going to Hollywoods current slate of top actors and just removing them from the field and telling the industry to start over. There were studios who went back to silent films for a time due to the associated failures/issues/costs of adding such features.
Sure
That's the whole plot of the movie 'Singin' in the Rain".
@@needfuldoer4531 yep, singing in the rain was based on the transition from silent film that happened 30 years before
Vocalize? Who taught you how to spell in the English language
that's the correct spelling
After being bought by Comcast, they had made significant investments into their Orlando property, making Universal Orlando a significant competitor to Walt Disney World.
I love Universal Studios Orlando! Harry Potter world is incredible; you can actually ride the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4!
@@catdogmousecheese I prefer Universal to Disney World. Less horrible lines, less stress, and cheaper food.
Now they are building a New theme park. Hope its good.
i left disney after 3 years to work at universal been there 15 years now. treated ALOT better also
Fun fact, Universal and Warner started a joint venture 2 years ago called Studio Distribution Services to consolidate their physical media distribution.
Fascinating
Physical media on demand for every movie is how it should be to maximize profit and customers, it would keep the people happy as well!
I thought my life was miserable because I didn't have any success when I was young. But the founder of Universal spent 10 years working as a bookkeeper makes me realize that sometimes you don't need to hurry with your success...
Sometimes it takes a big leap onto something you think can become the next thing. There is always risk, but if you have vision and competence it may very well work out to the good. The most important for me is to not give up and never stop dreaming.
It doesn't matter when you do it, it matters what you do.
@@humb1s3rvant good advice! And funnily enough im already taking a big risk with my soon to be company, 480+ projects between video games shows and movies.
This is how a corporatist system maintains support among it's victims. By convincing people that "some day, you too could possibly become like these esteemed leaders of industry!....and don't forget, you're never too old!" Except you almost certainly never will
the 100 year anniversary trailer summed it up best.. "it began with one man's dream... to entertain and a goal to build the largest movie studio in the world."
I worked at Universal Studios Hollywood for 8 long years....lol....and hardly knew a fraction of this information. Started when they were owned by GE and went through the Comcast takeover. I learned a lot from this video!
Just another cog in the machine.
I feel Universal studios is my favorite of movie companies, because they have overall the best film library, the Universal monster movies, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future. Universal has less controversy than studios like Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros!
They are owned by Comcast, so take that as you will.
@@BestSomebodyNA even though I’m not a fan of Comcast, I still prefer them to other media conglomerates like Warner Bros Discovery who always have disastrous mergers in the past few decades! Since AOL Time Warner and Liberty Media!
@@BestSomebodyNA either companies die a hero or get bought out by massive corporation
@@BestSomebodyNA Universal is not responsible for Comcast being shitty to customers.
@LTNetjak I prefer Universal studios over Disneyland!
The Back to the Future trilogy is easily the best movie series they have put out there.
Cant stand watching any other one but the first one
I even have the Lego Delores set from 2013. It’s one of my favorite Lego set of all time.
Jurassic park too.
I agree. I love The Back to the Future trilogy.
@@eko9554*Delorean
I can't help but laugh as I'm reminded of all the jokes in 30 Rock about NBC being owned by a wig company (a subsidiary of GE) before being bought by Kabletown in season 4. Great job, Mike!
"Synergy!" XD
Had no idea they were so big!!!! Seagrams ownership was probably the most shocking to me, but Universal seems like a company that’s been chewed up, spit out, & passed around. Probably not what The original owner envisioned. But somehow they have been resilient!
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein is one of the best comedies of all time, even nearly 80 years later
In the 1930's it was said Universal almost went bankrupt. One of the most important stars of that time was said to be influential in saving the company. That person's name was Deanna Durbin. She starred in 21 films and people were drawn to her beauty, her knack for comedy, and amazing singing voice for that time. Two of my favorite movies from that decade are "Three Smart Girls" and "Three Smart Girls Grow Up". Starring Deanna Durbin obviously. In 1936 Deanna Durbin & Judy Garland worked at Universal studios during their early teenage years. They made a short film called "Every Sunday" (1936). Universal has a lot of great movies that are my favorite.
The whole Edison, camera, thing, reminded me of Panavision and their monopoly on cameras and lenses for decades, that would be an interesting company to explore.
Panavision would be a great one, not really known outside the industry but has far reaching effects!
One thing I love about Company Man is how his videos have stayed super simple. Great to have easy informative visuals to go over with a few stock video clips. I’ve been learning stuff that makes me popular at parties for a few years now. Keep up the great work!
I think the only major blunder that I can remember from them these past few years is the premature reveal of their Dark Universe project even before Tom Cruise's The Mummy was even shown in theaters and The Mummy bombed horribly.
One little side note about Vivendi. Vivendi was also the owner of StudioCanal, which as a result of corporate synergy, caused the two companies to collaborate on several movies, most notably Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love, Actually, and Shaun of the Dead.
I think it's really cool how Universal had such a widespread history across the world
I love how they were called the independent picture company then immediately merge with 5 other companies and change their name
One of my first movies ever as a kid was a VHS of Fast and the Furious, and when 2 Fast 2 Furious came out, my parents took me to the Orlando Florida universal studios and I got to see real versions of the cars I watched in the movies. Hell, I think most of my VHS library was from Universal.
Universal was the first studio to heavily produce TV movies. During the 70s NBC aired hundreds each year. They also were the first studio to heavily produce Direct to Video movies. MCA co-developed the LaserDisc format (with Philips/Magnavox). They had visions of releasing their large library of movies and TV shows via LaserDisc. Circa 1980 they sold their LaserDisc business to Pioneer, who kept the format alive till 2001.
As a wannabe film historian, I applaud your thoroughness with this episode (especially the part about Carl Laemmle). Universal’s “Big Three” monster movies remain my favorite: The original “Dracula,” Frankenstein,” and “The Wolf Man,” with “Bride of Frankenstein” thrown in for good measure. Great job! ❤️
What do you think of tarkovsky, goddard and bresson? They were giants of film history!
What you gonna do bro? You are the history 💀
Company man, I thank you for putting your time and effort to make these type of videos as I learn so much from them and about these companies. Would like to see what you have to say about Disney and their current struggles.
I always liked going to Universal Studios more than Disneyland because they both have a wide variety of franchises that isn’t just Universal.
@@danjoredd I went to the six flags in Vallejo California once and half of the rides were down for maintenance
With Disney now owning Pixar, Fox, Lucas FIlms, and Marvell. That may change.
@@danjoredd well imagine if Universal bought Fox instead?
If my memory serves me (and it might not) almost all of the "big movie" places were all started by folks that were born in like a 300 mile area, pretty remarkable.
Great video!!! The real story embedded here is the story of MCA and all the companies and innovations it started. If not for MCA, the Universal we know today would not exist. Although started as a talent booking company, it became the largest music company in the world (when MCA sold to Vivendi they kept Universal Music and still own it, and sold off Universal Studios to GE). I worked for MCA and it was huge in movies, television, theme parks, consumer products (MCA did indeed own Spencer), manufacturing, they even owned a savings and loan, and ran the hospitality concession at Yosemite National Park. MCA was led by Lee Wasserman for almost 70 years. That is a real story.
I've never knew that Universal has a fitting name for their studio to be owned by different companies from around the world until now
NBC Universal acquired DreamWorks Animation in 2016. They also launched their own streaming service in 2020. Peacock.
Wow, Comcast is the longest owner since MCA. That's crazy.
MCA didn’t just buy the TV rights to those Paramount films, they bought them completely (the films from 1930-1949). Paramount must have been kicking themselves when they saw how much money MCA•Universal was making with those films 🎞
I love the universal logo and theme! Also, great video man 🤙
How did Universal get so big? The logo of the planet Earth says a lot about that because the universe expands every single time.
Favorite Universal film: Back to the Future, hands down. Awesome video as always, Company Man.
I went to Universal Studios way back in 1973, before "movie rides" were a thing. I saw a show today demonstrated how the squad car scenes for the crime drama Adam-12 were filmed. I also saw a show featuring famous actors: Fred the Cockatoo from the very popular crime drama Barretta, and Chauncey the mountain lion mascot for the Ford/Mercury Cougar automobile. Costumed characters from famous Universal films were walking around the park and interacted with guests. My Mom practically cussed out the Frankenstein monster for following her. I took a picture in from of a painted snow scape scene.
Great video! Would love some content on UK businesses, maybe ones that have ties with US ones like Asda. Keep it up!
Company man you are what makes getting up in the morning so much easier, getting out of bed before work means putting on one of your videos while I get ready! Thank you! And never stop! Unless you want to lol
A couple things. When Vivendi sold, they kept Universal Music Group which is still separate. Also, GE wasn't sole owner. Black rock or Blackstone was a partial owner which required Comcast to make two purchases to get the everything but Music. Later, Comcast bought Illumination as well so they are not short on animation projects.
I always enjoy the work you do, keep up the great work man!
Wow! You out did it! Love the history of one of America’s Greatest Studios! Keep it up!
I find it interesting that all of these companies owned Universal but the name "Universal" didn't really deviate all that much, nor did the logo.
This is my first comment on your video. I wanted to let y know that you rock company man! I appreciate another well thought out video! I recommend looking into companies not as known by the public.
You made my day as I was thinking about this topic as I am catching up on some of the franchise films
I did a lot of research on Universal awhile back and was amazed at just how much they own, definitely an example of a "Bigger Than You Know" company in my eyes as their library isn't brought up as often as Disney or WB. What fascinated me the most was the DreamWorks Classics library as it involves a ton of classic cartoons, shows, and comics like He-Man, She-Ra (both co-owned by Mattel), Casper, Felix The Cat, Mr. Magoo, Underdog, Fat Albert, Lone Ranger, VeggieTales, 3-2-1 Penguins!, Dick Tracy, Brewster Rockit, Little Lulu, Turok, Noddy, Where's Waldo?, etc. Honestly, it'd be cool to see them do their own platform fighter or something with their IPs someday (plus they're close with Nintendo right now).
Bob the Tomato VERSUS! Turok FIGHT! ::Splat:: Fatality!
@@David-qi1ys Larry Vs. Moses (Prince of Egypt) Gru Vs. Megamind Shrek Vs. Fat Albert The Penguins Vs. Zidgel Vs. Chilly Willy Vs. Tennessee Tuxedo The possibilities are endless!
Today's episode was so great! You still maintain the slang and tone of your videos man !! Keep up the good work! Make more videos like this .....those are much needed by the people.
I loved this analysis though I usually do! How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Him Carrey is my lifetime movie!
You should do Disney vs Universal, because it is a rivalry of entertainment and more than just films, theme parks, streaming, or TV by themselves
Whenever I start a movie and that iconic Universal music kicks in, I know I'm in for a ride.
That theatrical theme always gets me .
Fascinating. Thanks for the education, friend. Now I appreciate how the name fits their history.
I always thought they were so big because they named their company universal, which is the reason i named my company multiuniversal
You should do a video on Belk, especially their “one day bankruptcy”
That may be your most intriguing work so far. Very interesting.
Great video company man
Crazy that this came out as I was taking pictures at the Universal theme park lol. So many different companies!! Jeeez
You gotta do one on Seagrams, that really threw me for a loop. Also, if you haven't seen it, watch the short "Your Studio and You" by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, it was made in Universal during the Seagram years
In the case of Seagram's when they sold the media assets to Panasonic they kept for a while the recording company UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP (UMG, one of the world's Big 3) until they sold it to other groups, who still license the name from Comcast. Another of the Big 3 recording companies, WARNER MUSIC GROUP (WMG, using Warner Bros. 1970's logo), was sold by WB in one of their M&A ventures. They also license their name from the now WBD. Sony (Music Entertainment or SME) became the other from the nowadays Big 3 by buying all recording assets from CBS (was still Columbia Records) before the latter ever became tangled with Viacom or Paramount.
thanks company man
Can you maybe try doing a video on Paramount? Not just the movie studio, the whole conglomerate company!
And 20th Century Fox (RIP)
MCA/Universal also partnered with Phillips Electronics in developing and releasing what would become known as the LaserDisc analog video format in 1978. Favorite Universal movies I can think of off hand: To Kill a Mockingbird (town square in that movie, on the Universal backlot, reused in other movies), An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (much funnier than the first movie), the Deanna Durbin musicals, The Egg and I, Send Me No Flowers, Harvey and... the (H.R.) Pufnstuf movie was a Universal release too.
Channel is so interesting and informative
That's crazy I was making food and wondering what time this guy was dropping a video I was like a minute or two into watching the old video when I got a notification he just uploaded a video 🤘 DOPE
The machines are in our BRAINS
I love the work you’ve done on these videos! I was wondering if it’s possibly in the future of this channel to make a video on Mancino’s Pizza and Grinders?
Great video 👍
The best thing about them and Warner Brothers, generally, is it’s not all tentpoles and IPs. The small and mid-budget movies either come from smaller studios or them. Fox too, until Disney bought them. Thank god Searchlight is still around, at least for the time being Sony has some, but they put a lot into Spider-Man. Paramount will hopefully invest Maverick profits into a small and mid-budget strategy, since they, again, generally, don’t release a lot of movies.
@WhyWeWatch1 here’s what I imagine would happen to both Sony and national amusements (the company that owns Viacomcbs which owns Paramount) For Sony:I think Disney should just outright buy Sony (after Hasbro sells the rights of the 1% of the Marvel characters they own back to Marvel (Aka Rom and Micronauts) ) For national amusements:I think TimeWarner (the company that owns Warner Bros.) should outright buy national amusements (the company that owns Viacomcbs which owns Paramount)
I'd love to see you cover the other big studios
I kid you not, I was literally thinking yesterday that I should look this up on youtube. Tysm!!!
I'm writing this from the Carl Laemmle building on the Universal lot. I've been here since the Seagram days. We still have trash cans around here with MCA stickers on them. General Electric was the worst owner, in terms of morale and company policy. I hate Comcast as a rule, but they don't get too involved, and they generally let us do our thing.
Jurassic Park is one of my top 5 movies, over all I like Universal, have not really heard of them being in controversy like other major film studios. Also remember seeing there intro from the 1990's Jersons: The Movie probably watched the VHS over 20 times as a kid and would see that globe with the universal logo scroll across the screen, thought it was cool.
Well, they are owned by Comcast. So, that's a pretty big negative. But, in fairness, that is not Universal's fault.
I like how the thumbnail says "A COMpany Man Production" the way the real logo says "A COMcast Company"
Great video!
Your the best Company man. 👌
I was watching another video and I just happen to see your video was uploaded 1 min ago. I had never clicked a video so fast In my life 😂
YAYYYY finally!!!!! i love universal so much thank u for getting to this
Gotta do a video on Comcast, the way they were able to pivot so many times and keep thriving is pretty good.
I forgot universal was a movie company untill this video. I always reference them to the theme park when I think universal . Mainly since I went there a couple times as a child, kind of a forgotten memory remembering it’s a movie company
Haven't seen their 110TH ANNIVERARY logo yet (Paramount did as well earlier in '22 as well). Both Uni and Paramount are America's oldest movie studios operating (3 more were already operating in Europe and still do, but they aren't quite as large though).
My favorite movie studio from time to time
I literally wore a Universal Studios shirt today so it’s crazy you posted on this company today 😅
greatest movie studio ever, i even have 2 shelves dedicated to universal movies on VHS in my room!
Love the video !
I was in Universal City last week on vacation. Great timing lol.
Fascinating
Great video.
I like watching movies made by Universal Pictures. Many years ago, I visited Universal Orlando. It was an amazing experience!
Seagrams is also an interesting story if anyone knows it, what industry DIDNT they dip their toe in?
Great video
Superb work as always. Any chance you can look into Bosch, Michelin, Continental AG or Denso
I went on a VIP tour of Universal Studios one Christmas back when I was in high school! It was, without a doubt, the coolest thing EVER!!! I have a piece of candy glass from that tour somewhere!
I would like to see you do a biography type video on some of these interesting people.
You should go look up channels by a man named Simon whistler
@Olive Was?
"A Company Man Video" okay Mr.Executive Producer lol that was a nice touch 😉
Hell yeah let’s go new video is up ✨
My favorite movie studio
As much as I love Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood would always be my top 5. I remember I was in a Impractical Jokers episode when they were on the studio tour ride.
My favorite part of the Universal story is how the stole Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from Walt Disney, because it led to Mickey Mouse and everything else
And that Disney got Oswald back by letting ESPN sportscaster Al Michaels move his contract to NBC.
commented @ 6 views. love the content!
When you go watch a movie and you see a globe with the name “UNIVERSAL” floating above and hear their amazing orchestra, you know it’s gonna be a great movie! My favorite Universal movie is, hands down, the Back To The Future trilogy. Would love if there was a Part IV one day… Could you please do a video on Univision or Telemundo, NBCUniversal’s Spanish option
I second this! I've always been curious about Telemundo
Part IV will never happen due to Zemekis saying he will never do it and Michael J Fox retired do to his parkinson's a few years back. Personally I wouldn't want it without them. Now something an an animated continuation of series I would be more open about
Used to live in North Hollywood arts district. There was a Laemmle movie theater there. Makes sense now.
Wow, what a crazy history!
Hey company man, will you ever do a video on viva pictures? Its quite the interesting independent movie production company that honestly needs more attention for its good movies and it would be an interesting new topic for you!
I would say they have done exceptionally well. I wasn't a fan of Comcast and when they bought was skeptical of what they would do with it. They have done amazing work in the theme parks and we are still season passholders to this day.