Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. (abbreviated as MGM or M-G-M, also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or Metro) is an American media company owned by Amazon, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. It is the current owner of United Artists.
Films[]
In 1928, Walt Disney attempted to strike a distribution deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since he was having issues with Winkler Pictures and its head, Charles Mintz, over the then-Universal Pictures-owned Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short film series. He took Oswald the Lucky Rabbit film reels and showed them to Fred Quimby. Quimby turned down the offers Walt gave him and MGM.
Mickey Mouse appeared in a 1934 MGM film called Hollywood Party, where he harassed Jimmy Durante and introduced the TechniColor cartoon, The Hot Chocolate Soldiers.
Walt Disney Productions contracted out the production of three Silly Symphony shorts - "Merbabies", "Pipe Dreams", and "The Little Bantamweight" - to Harman-Ising Productions. Of the three, Disney only kept "Merbabies". The other two were released by MGM as part of their Happy Harmonies series.
Originally, Mickey Mouse was going to dance with Gene Kelly for "The Worry Song" segment in the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh. Some sources claim Walt Disney initially agreed to loan out Mickey, but Roy Disney rejected the deal. According to Bob Thomas' book on Roy Disney, the studio was in debt after World War II and they were focusing on trying to get their own films out on time. According to Roy, they had no business making cartoons for other people.
MGM served as the distributor for the Walt Disney Animation Studios films Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone and The Jungle Book in Australia.
In 2005, MGM co-finance The Brothers Grimm with Walt Disney Pictures/Miramax Films under the Dimension Films label. Before that, the first co-production between Disney & MGM was It Runs in the Family in 2003 via Buena Vista International outside the United States while MGM distributes the film in the US.
With MGM currently distributing its own films in the US and Warner Bros Pictures internationally as of 2023, it is currently unknown whenever MGM would co-finance the outside-franchise films for Disney at the moment. However, between 2019 & 2020, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes the MGM home video catalog through 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (formerly 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment prior to January 2020) - despite Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox's properties in March 2019 - until the deal expires on 30th June 2020 as the former deal didn't last for long. At the same time, the home video deal was transferred to Warner Bros Home Entertainment for the first time in 20 years, replacing 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment as MGM's international home video distributor. Previously, MGM's films were distributed through the United Artists Releasing distribution banner from 2019 until Amazon shuts down UAR and it was now folded into MGM on 4th March 2023 following Amazon's acquisition of MGM two years earlier.
Theme park attractions[]
In 1985, Disney and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer entered into a licensing contract that gave Disney worldwide rights to use the MGM name and logo for what would become Disney-MGM Studios, which included working production facilities for movies and television shows and a satellite animation studio, which began operation prior to the park's debut. In 1988, MGM/UA responded by filing a lawsuit that claimed Disney violated the agreement by operating a working movie and television studio at the resort. On May 1, 1989, the theme park opened adjacent to the production facilities, with MGM's only affiliation being the original licensing agreement that allowed Disney to use MGM's name and lion logo in marketing, and separate contracts that allowed specific MGM content to be used in The Great Movie Ride. When the park first opened, the only two attractions were the Studio Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride.
Disney later filed a countersuit, claiming that MGM/UA and MGM Grand, Inc. had conspired to violate Disney's worldwide rights to the MGM name in the theme park business and that MGM/UA would harm Disney's reputation by building its own theme park at the MGM Grand hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. On October 23, 1992, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe ruled that Disney had the right to continue using the Disney-MGM Studios name on film product produced at the Florida facility, and that MGM Grand had the right to build a Las Vegas theme park using the MGM name and logo as long as it did not share the same studio backlot theme as Disney's property. The 33-acre (130,000 m2) MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas site and closed permanently in 2000.
Disney was contractually prohibited from using the Disney-MGM Studios name in certain marketing contexts; in those instances, the park was called The Disney Studios.
On August 9, 2007, Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton announced that Disney-MGM Studios would be re-branded as Disney's Hollywood Studios, effective January 7, 2008. On March 12, 2015, during an annual shareholders meeting, CEO Bob Iger hinted at another possible name change for the park coming in the near future.
Appearances in Disney films[]
- Saving Mr. Banks - When P. L. Travers arrived at the airport, Ralph was waiting for her, along with other drivers from other studios for other authors, one of them was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Vogt.
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