Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures, founded on April 30, 1912, as the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States and the fifth oldest globally. German immigrant Carl Laemmle, who opened his first nickelodeon in Chicago in 1906, merged his Independent Moving Pictures Company with five other production companies to form the studio. In 1915, Laemmle opened Universal City in California's San Fernando Valley, the world's first self-contained community dedicated entirely to filmmaking, on a 230-acre property purchased for $165,000.

Over its century-plus history, Universal has produced and distributed an immense catalog of films across every genre, from classic monster movies of the 1930s to landmark blockbusters like Jaws and Jurassic Park. The studio is home to major franchises including Fast & Furious, Despicable Me, and Back to the Future. Beyond filmmaking, the Universal brand extends into theme parks in Hollywood, Orlando, Singapore, Japan, and a planned $9.83 billion park in the UK. The studio is a core asset of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Universal Pictures operates under the chairmanship of Donna Langley, who was named to that role in 2022. The studio also includes specialty label Focus Features and has a significant international presence with offices worldwide. In 2025, Universal joined Disney and Warner Bros. in a lawsuit against AI company MiniMax, alleging unauthorized use of intellectual property to develop its Hailuo AI service. [edit]