New World Pictures
New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 1970 by Roger Corman and Gene Corman as New World Pictures, Ltd., a producer and distributor of motion pictures, eventually expanding into television production in 1984. New World eventually expanded into broadcasting with the acquisition of seven television stations in 1993, with the broadcasting unit expanding through additional purchases made during 1994.
Company type
July 8, 1970
January 22, 1997
Acquired by News Corporation
The Walt Disney Company
(through 20th Century Studios and BVS Entertainment)
(post-1989 films and TV programs only)
Shout! Studios
(through New Concorde)
(1970–1984 films only)
Vine Alternative Investments
(through Lakeshore Entertainment)
(1984–1989 films and TV programs only)
Fox Corporation (corporate assets only)
- Robert Rehme (CEO, 1983–1989)
- Ronald Perelman (CEO; 1989–1997)
News Corporation
(1996–2013)
21st Century Fox (2013–2019)
New World Television
New World Animation
20th Century Fox (then owned by News Corporation), controlled by Rupert Murdoch, became a major investor in 1994 and purchased the company outright in 1997; the alliance with Murdoch, specifically through a group affiliation agreement with New World reached between the two companies in May 1994, helped to cement the Fox network as the fourth major U.S. television network.
Although effectively defunct, it continues to exist as holding companies within the Fox Corporation corporate structure along with various regional subsidiaries (e.g. "New World Communications of Tampa").
History[edit]
New World Pictures (1970–1987)[edit]
Founded on July 8, 1970, New World Pictures, Ltd. was co-founded by B-movie director Roger Corman and his brother Gene, following their departure from American International Pictures (AIP).[2] As the last remaining national low-budget film distributor at the time, New World quickly became one of the most successful independent companies in the nation. Corman hoped to continue AIP's formula at New World, making low-budget films by new talent and distributing them internationally. However, it started out with only ten domestic offices, and one each in Canada and the United Kingdom; its films were distributed regionally by other companies.[3]
New World initially made exploitation films such as The Student Nurses and other small-scale productions. Corman helped launch the filmmaking careers of Jonathan Demme (Caged Heat, Crazy Mama), Jonathan Kaplan (White Line Fever), Ron Howard (Grand Theft Auto), Paul Bartel (Death Race 2000) and Joe Dante (Piranha), all of whom made some of their early films as interns for the company.[3] New World also released foreign films from acclaimed directors such as Ingmar Bergman (Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata), Federico Fellini (Amarcord) and Akira Kurosawa (Dersu Uzala). The distribution of such films was conceived by Corman in an effort to disassociate New World as an exhibitor of exploitation films.[3]
In 1983, Corman sold New World to Larry Kupin, Harry E. Sloan and Larry A. Thompson for $16.5 million; the three new owners decided to take the company public. Corman retained the film library, while New World acquired home video rights to the releases. In 1984, Robert Rehme – who formerly served as chief executive officer of Avco Embassy Pictures and Universal Pictures and had previously worked for New World as its vice president of sales in the 1970s – returned to the company as its new CEO. Later that year Thompson left the company to form his own firm.[4] On February 21, 1984, New World Pictures added 3 new pictures in order to expect to produce a minimum of 14 releases per year, and had plans to start their own regional network.[5]
In 1984, the company created three new divisions: New World International, which would handle distribution of New World's productions outside the United States; New World Television, a production unit focusing on television programs (the first television programs produced by the unit were the soap opera Santa Barbara and the made-for-TV movie Playing With Fire); and New World Video, which would handle home video distribution of films produced mainly by New World Pictures. It would eventually see success of its video division in its first few months of its operation.[6]
In May 1986, New World acquired post-production facility Lions Gate Studios for $4.4 million. That November the company acquired the Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG), the corporate parent of Marvel Comics from the liquidated Cadence Industries.[7][8]
New World Entertainment (1987–1992)[edit]
In 1987, New World acquired independent film studio Highgate Pictures and educational film company Learning Corporation of America.[9] By this time New World Pictures changed its name to New World Entertainment to better reflect its range of subsidiaries besides the film studio, including its purchase of Marvel Comics, and partner Harry Sloan said that the name change would have the revised banner "more accurately reflects the business the company is in".[10] Also that year New World almost purchased two toy companies, Kenner Parker Toys and Mattel, but both planned acquisitions never materialized (although Tonka would acquire Kenner in 1987).
Around this time, New World faced a major financial slump and the company began restructuring itself. This began with the sale of Marvel Entertainment Group to Andrews Group (run by financier Ronald Perelman) on January 6, 1989; Marvel Productions was excluded from the sale.[11] The bulk of its film and home video holdings were sold in January 1990 to Trans-Atlantic Pictures, a newly formed production company founded by a consortium of former New World executives (Trans-Atlantic was sold to Lakeshore Entertainment in 1996).[12] Highgate Pictures and Learning Corporation of America were shut down in 1990. On October 7, 1991, New World sold much of its "network" television assets to Sony Pictures Entertainment, who used these assets to relaunch TriStar Television.[13][14] Some television programs produced by New World such as Santa Barbara and The Wonder Years would remain in production by the company until their cancellations in 1993; New World would not return to producing programs for the major broadcast television networks until early 1995.
Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.