FILM

Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures creates and distributes theatrical and non-theatrical filmed entertainment. A high quality and diverse product mix is delivered to the growing global marketplace through a variety of internally developed titles, co-productions, local acquisitions, specialty motion pictures, direct-to-video titles, specialty video, classic titles, and consumer products. These films and videos then provide content for television, and further drive the recreation business, consumer products, and other ancillary businesses.

Balancing growth and cost containment, Universal Pictures has implemented a clearly defined business strategy based on diversification, international expansion, maximization of distribution channels, and risk management. This strategy balances gross production spending against the total investment.

Universal has achieved both popular success and critical acclaim with its recent Academy Award winners Atonement, The Bourne Ultimatum, King Kong, Brokeback Mountain, Ray, A Beautiful Mind, The Pianist, and Lost in Translation. Classic, Academy Award-winning films from Universal include All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Schindler’s List (1993).

In order to create the best, most memorable films, Universal Pictures has forged key relationsihps with some of the world’s finest filmmakers and production companies, including Imagine Entertainment (Brian Grazer, Ron Howard), Tribeca Films (Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal), Playtone Company (Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman), Cha Cha Cha (Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu), Strike Entertainment (Marc Abraham), Wild West Picture Show (Vince Vaughn), Stuber Productions (Scott Stuber), Ludlum Entertainment, Hasbro, Dark Horse Comics, Timur Bekmambetov, Gore Verbinski, Judd Apatow, and Europe’s foremost film production company Working Title Films (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner). The studio also built a division devoted to creating family films called Illumination Entertainment which is run by billion-dollar producer Chris Meledandri (Ice Age, Horton Hears a Who?).

In 2008, Universal Pictures enjoyed the most successful year in the studio’s long history, with The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Mamma Mia!, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor all surpassing the $100 million mark in domestic ticket sales. The year’s releases also earned a number of accolades, including 11 Academy Award nominations. And in 2009, the studio released its third installment of Fast & Furious, which was the most profitable in the franchise, generating more than $350 million in worldwide box-office revenue.

Focus Features

Focus Features and Focus Features International (FFI) (www.filminfocus.com) together comprise a singular global company, dedicated to producing, acquiring, financing, selling, and distributing original and daring films from emerging and established filmmakers—films that challenge mainstream moviegoers to embrace and enjoy voices and visions from around the world. The company’s flexible and nuanced approach to distribution allows it to support a wide range of films, from those geared to a single local market to worldwide hits. The company operates as Focus Features domestically, and as Focus Features International overseas.

Domestically, the Focus Features slate includes Away We Go, directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes and starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph; Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, winner of the Prix du Jury at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival; Shane Acker’s animated fantasy epic 9, starring Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelly and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov; the unique nonfiction feature Babies, directed by Thomas Balmès; Greenberg, the new film from writer/director Noah Baumbach, starring Ben Stiller; Academy Award-winning writer/director Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere; Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man; and Taking Woodstock, the new film from Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee.

In addition to the Focus slate, the FFI slate includes AGORA, an historical epic from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar, starring Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz; Alexander Voitinskiy’s Black Lightning, produced by Timur Bekmambetov; Derek Yee’s Shinjuku Incident, starring Jackie Chan; Academy Award-winning filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces, starring Academy Award winner Penélope Cruz; and the untitled new film from writer/director Mike Leigh starring Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis, and Imelda Staunton.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Universal Studios Home Entertainment (USHE) markets and distributes NBC Universal’s contemporary and classic theatrical and television product, spanning properties from the company’s Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and NBC Universal Media Studios, as well as DVD Original titles from Universal Studios Home Entertainment Family Productions and select third-party productions, including entertainment from Mattel. The company is also leading the way in exploring innovative technologies and in developing and adapting dynamic new initiatives for the burgeoning home entertainment market, including the adoption of the next generation high-definition format, Blu-ray.

USHE’s vast 4,000-title catalog is among the largest and most celebrated in the industry, comprising a wide variety of titles and genres. Among its most-prized properties are the film franchises: The Bourne series, The Fast and The Furious, The Mummy, The Hulk, American Pie, Bring It On, Jurassic Park, Curious George, The Land Before Time, and the legendary monster movies.

Some of USHE’s latest high-profile offerings include Fast & Furious, Coraline, Role Models, Mamma Mia!, Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Incredible Hulk, American Gangster, Atonement, The Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up, The Kingdom, Eastern Promises, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, as well as the latest seasons of Emmy-winning series 30 Rock, The Office, House, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes.