Misplaced Pages

The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Company type	Subsidiary
Predecessor	Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Founded	June 16, 1978; 46 years ago (1978-06-16)
Founder	Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Defunct	March 15, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-03-15)
Fate	Merged with and folded into United Artists
Successor	Company: Samuel Goldwyn Films United Artists Library: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (through Orion Pictures)
Parent	Metromedia (1996–1997) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1997–1999)
Divisions	Samuel Goldwyn Television Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment Heritage Entertainment, Inc.

The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1978.

History

The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films from around the world to U.S. audiences; they soon added original productions to their roster as well, starting with The Golden Seal in 1983.

In succeeding years, the Goldwyn company was able to obtain (from Samuel Sr.'s estate) the rights to all films produced under the elder Goldwyn's supervision, including the original Bulldog Drummond (1929), Arrowsmith (1931), and Guys and Dolls (1955). The company also acquired some distribution rights to several films and television programs that were independently produced but released by other companies, including Sayonara, the Hal Roach–produced Laurel & Hardy–starring vehicle Babes in Toyland (1934), the Flipper TV series produced by MGM Television, the Academy Award–winning Tom Jones (1963), and the Rodgers and Hammerstein film productions of South Pacific (1958) and Oklahoma! (1955), as well as the CBS Television adaptation of Cinderella (1965).

Animated films include Swan Lake, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, The Care Bears Movie, The Chipmunk Adventure and Rock-a-Doodle. Among the television programs in the Goldwyn company's library are the television series American Gladiators, Gladiators, Gladiators, Gladiators: Train 2 Win, and Steve Krantz's miniseries Dadah Is Death.

In 1991, after a merger with Heritage Entertainment, Inc., the company went public as Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment. Heritage and Goldwyn attempted to merge during late 1990, but the plans fell apart while Heritage went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The merger also allowed Goldwyn to inherit the Landmark Theatres chain, which was a unit of Heritage.

That company and its library were acquired by Metromedia on July 2, 1996, for US$125 million. To coincide with the purchase, the Samuel Goldwyn Company was renamed Goldwyn Entertainment Company, and was reconstituted as a subsidiary of Metromedia's Orion Pictures unit. That year, Orion and Goldwyn became part of the Metromedia Entertainment Group (MEG). Goldwyn became the specialty films unit of MEG, though they would seek out films with crossover appeal. While Orion and Goldwyn would share the overhead costs, the production/acquisition operations would operate independently from each other.

In 1997, Metromedia sold its entertainment group to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for $573 million, making that company's film library the largest at the time. The Landmark Theatres group, which Metromedia did not sell to MGM, was taken over by Silver Cinemas, Inc. on April 27, 1998.

In September 1997, the company was renamed Goldwyn Films and operated as MGM's specialty films unit. A month later, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. sued MGM and Metromedia, claiming that he was abruptly let go of the company despite promises that he would continue to run it under different ownership. Another concern in the lawsuit was the use of the Goldwyn name, with the defendants being accused of "palming off specialized films produced or acquired by" the unit as though the plaintiff was still involved in its management. Goldwyn Films changed its name to G2 Films in January 1999 as part of the settlement.

In July 1999, G2 Films was renamed United Artists International. As well as all that, UA became an arthouse film producer/distributor. The younger Goldwyn has since gone on to found Samuel Goldwyn Films. This successor company has continued to release independent films such as What the Bleep Do We Know!? and the Academy Award–nominated The Squid and the Whale.

Since the new Goldwyn company was formed, MGM currently holds much of the original Goldwyn Company's holdings (including, with few exceptions, the non-Goldwyn-produced properties) that would end up with the library of Orion Pictures, now an MGM division. One Goldwyn-produced film, The Hurricane, which was a part of the original Goldwyn Company library, has had its ownership returned to its original distributor, United Artists (also an MGM division).

Filmography

1970s

1980s

1990s

Other names

• Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment
• Goldwyn Entertainment Company
• G2 Films
• Goldwyn Films

Successor

• Samuel Goldwyn Films
• United Artists Films, Inc. (1999–2006)

See also

• Samuel Goldwyn Television
• Samuel Goldwyn Studio
• Samuel Goldwyn Productions
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Samuel Goldwyn Films

References

1. "The Golden Seal (1983)". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
2. Glover, Karen (September 23, 1991). "Goldwyn, Heritage Entertainment merging (Samuel Goldwyn Co.)". Los Angeles Business Journal. 13 (38): 50.
3. Landler, Mark (January 5, 1997). "Rich, 82, and Starting Over". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2016-05-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. Andrew Hindes (1997-12-10). "Hegeman hops to Live". Variety. Archived from the original on 2022-04-27. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
6. "Metromedia to Sell Film Units to MGM for $573 Million". The New York Times. April 29, 1997. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
7. "Metromedia International Group Completes the Sale of Landmark Theatre to Silver Cinemas". Thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
8. Bates, James (30 October 1997). "Goldwyn Suing Metromedia, MGM Over Firing, Contract". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
9. Higgins, Bill (January 10, 1999). "G2 Films emerges as Goldwyn, MGM settle". Variety. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
10. "United Artists restructuring by MGM - Jun. 7, 1999". Money.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2015-02-05.

• Entertainment companies established in 1978
• Mass media companies established in 1978
• Mass media companies disestablished in 1999
• Film distributors of the United States
• Film production companies of the United States
• Defunct American film studios
• Cinema of Southern California
• Entertainment companies based in California
• Companies based in Los Angeles
• 1979 establishments in California
• 1999 disestablishments in California
• Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles
• Former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer subsidiaries
• Metromedia