Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Logo History

Nostalgia 🥰

what the crack? lion in the logo in the begginning he never roared later he roared variant where he never roared

Metro Pictures Corporation was founded on June 23, 1915, by Richard A. Rowland (1880-1947) and Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957), and started out distributing films produced by Solax Studios. However, Mayer left the studio soon after operations began to form his own company, Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, in 1918. Richard Rowland would continue to produce a number of films in New York City, Fort Lee, New Jersey, and Hollywood, where he established a backlot at North Cahuenga Boulevard (which remains open and is today known as Red Studios Hollywood). Marcus Loew, a theater magnate who had been seeking products for his ever-expanding collective of nickelodeons, vaudeville houses, and movie palaces, acquired Metro Pictures in 1920.

Dissatisfied with Metro's output following his purchase of the studio, Loew later purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 and combined the two studios in the hope of creating higher-quality content for his theaters. The same year, Louis B. Mayer sold Louis B. Mayer Productions to Loew for $75,000 (around $1.17 million adjusted for inflation). On April 17, 1924, the three studios were merged to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (MGM). With Mayer serving as head of the studio, MGM became one of the major players in the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was one of the "Big Five" film studios, alongside Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. At its peak in the 1930s, the studio was releasing 50 films a year. In 1952, Loews Inc. was forced to relinquish control of MGM due to the outcome of United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., which forced studios and theaters to separate. By the time the split was completed in 1959, MGM was in decline due to a combination of the split, the decline of the old studio system, and the rise of television. In 1957, the same year Louis B. Mayer died, the company filed a loss for the first time ever.

In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian purchased the company. However, in 1973, MGM closed its distribution offices and signed a distribution agreement with United Artists for distribution in the United States; the company also made a similar agreement with CIC for international distribution. In 1981, MGM purchased the failing United Artists before renaming itself MGM/UA Entertainment Co. a year later, with UA's distribution branch being renamed MGM/United Artists Distribution and Marketing (later MGM/UA Distribution Co.). MGM was also a founding partner in CIC's successor United International Pictures. On March 25, 1986, MGM/UA was purchased by Ted Turner (who temporarily renamed the company MGM Entertainment Co.), but after a large amount of debt, Turner sold it back on August 26, keeping the pre-1986 MGM library. MGM was then renamed MGM/UA Communications Co. In 1990, it became MGM-Pathé Communications Co. after Giancarlo Parretti purchased the company and merged it with Pathé Communications (not to be confused with the French studio, which Parretti attempted to buy but failed due to French governmental concerns over his business background). Due to lawsuits, it was sold back to Kerkorian yet again and the company became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1992. In 2000, MGM broke off its international distribution agreement with UIP and instead signed with 20th Century Fox to take over international distribution rights for MGM's films. On April 8, 2005, a consortium led by Sony's American branch bought the company.

In 2009 and 2010, MGM suffered financial problems and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 3, 2010. After escaping from bankruptcy on December 20, Spyglass executives Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum became co-CEOs and co-chairs of the company. Birnbaum left on October 3, 2012, and Barber was fired in March 2018. For much of the 2010s, much of MGM's output was produced with and/or distributed by Columbia, Paramount, Universal, or Warner Bros. Pictures in all territories outside of the Nordics, Israel, Central Europe, the Middle East and Portugal. In 2017, MGM signed an agreement with Annapurna Pictures to distribute titles from both parties in the US, with third-party titles being released under the Mirror banner. MGM also signed an agreement with Universal that same year to handle the international distribution of MGM titles. In 2019, the partnership became known as United Artists Releasing and Orion Pictures' distribution staff was added to the venture.

On May 26, 2021, online shopping company Amazon announced its intention to acquire MGM for $8.45 billion, a deal that was finalized on March 17, 2022. On August 15, 2022, MGM announced a new distribution agreement with Warner Bros. for international markets outside of North America (including China), which excluded two titles from Orion and the 26th Bond film, which will be retained by Universal. As part of the deal, Warner Bros. will take over home video rights in all regions. In 2023, Amazon Studios was renamed into Amazon MGM Studios with MGM serving as a banner of the company for its films. As of 2024, its major film franchises include Rocky and James Bond, while its most recent television productions include Fargo and The Handmaid's Tale.

The current company and studio location are located in Beverly Hills, California. MGM owned a more well-known set of studios in Culver City from 1925 until 1986 when the backlot was sold to Lorimar-Telepictures; the lot is now owned by Sony through the Sony Pictures Entertainment subsidiary of Sony Entertainment and is known as Sony Pictures Studios.

Brilliant logo history of MGM! The lion is truly one of the most recognisable at the start of movies. The 2021 logo's probably my favorite one, in fact, I consider it to be one of the greatest of the 2020s.

Fun fact: Jackie actually replaced Slats much earlier than 1928 (like around 1925 or 1926), and his movies predated talkies before then. The roar he used the most also seemed to be the original and the other roars were just alternative. This just hasn't been updated on AVID, though.

The one movie that I remembered seeing this logo for is The Wizard of Oz. I remembered seeing it at the beginning of the movie.

do the mgm logo variants and the mgm television logo history

When did Amazon take over MGM?

Happy Anniversary MGM! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

MGM 100 years of entertainment 1924-2024.

Thought I'd never hear both Jackie & Tanner with the modern MGM roar track, but I did! Man, does it sound so off!

Will there be an MGM Logo Variations video?

Leo is my favorite star of the studio metro goldwyn mayor

I think i will countinued TCF logo history. If i have Time Machine for Doraemon, i will take some tape in Metro & Mayer films in 1966 in case Vault Fire.

There were four different variants of the MGM logo from 1928 to 1953 and four different lions were used for a period of 25 years.

Happy 100th Years to MGM!

Good job. Keep it up 😄

MGM

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios is one of my favorite movie studios of all time!

I love this video!