09
In January 1978,
by yudaica2013 ·
In January 1978, three angry United Artists (UA, the distributor of the movie Transamerica) had lost their jobs.
These officers were President Arthur B. Krim, the chairman and chief executive officer Eric Pleskow and Robert S. Benjamin, chairman of the finance. Apparently not happy with the salaries and executive compensation als.
Transamerica’s president and United Artists began public insult, but all that ended when Transamerica broke his ties with United Artists after refusing to keep a very expensive car belonging to executives of UA.
The next Monday, 2 other executives UA (William Bernstein and Mike Medavoy) decided to leave the company.
One week after the resignation, 63 important Hollywood figures took out an ad warning about the trade saying that UA had made a fatal mistake to allow these five men leaving the company.
In March 1978 the 5 executives formed Orion Pictures, taking as its corporate symbol a constellation with five main stars. The company began with 100 million dollars in credits, the idea was to finance films made by independent producers and distributed by another studio, Warner Bros., Orion with maintaining full control over the distribution and advertisement.
The increased use of the new company was the expertise of its leaders who had won three Academy Awards for UA to be the best company for the past three years, a fact unprecedented. Dozens of UA employees joined their old bosses who were driving the new company Orion.
With a production team that was full-time within the film industry, Orion had secured a quick exit. In late March anuncionado if Orion had first contract signed by the company’s recent actor John Travolta to make two films, this was followed by contracts with the actress Barbra Streisand, actor James Caan, director Francis Ford Coppola and writer John Milius.
By mid-April the company signed a contract with the actor Jon Voight and, more importantly, according to finance and distribute films for the company EMI.
At the end of his first year, the company had put 15 films into production and had 12 additional directors, producers and actors, also built a much larger study than was at first.
In 1979 the company paid 1 million by the Sphinx, a book writer Robin Cook, buy and Wolf, the story of a group of supernatural wolves who come to New York City. In line with the reputation of its leaders to develop the rare films, more sophisticated and less commercial, the company buys the rights of Final Payments, the acclaimed first novel by Mary Gordon. In April of that same year the company lost one of its main founders, Robert S. Benjamin, light and saw his first movie.
In 1980, Woody Allen announced that his contract had ended with UA, and agreed to make three films with Orion.
In late 1981 the company was dissatisfied with their arrangement with Warner Bros. and decided to acquire the failed company Filmways, Inc, which was founded in 1952 and never had been successful. Orion Filmways acquired in 26 million dollars, and also agreed to acquire Warburg Pincus and Company and HBO, then a subsidiary of Time Inc. That purchase made him pay and cable television rights to future movies produced by the study in deal. A month after taking the company Filmways, Orion decided to lay off 80 employees and brings Filmways own 40, including 15 executives.
In June 1982 announcement that his name Filmways exchange for Orion Pictures Corporation and the company had been reorganized to a quasi-legitimate financial basis. Another result of the merger of Orion with Filmways was hit series Cagney and Lacey, which lasted 6 seasons on CBS, Orion also announced a new logo, addinganimation to your costelacion of five stars.
In 1984, Orion announced that it will produce 18 new movies of which only some would be to build on perhaps their most prestigious film was Amadeus, which won 8 Academy Awards. Orion produces the same year the movie The Terminator, which is expected to be just to pass the time, and ended up being a box office hit.
The following year, with the advent of cable television, Orion Extends his contract with the company HBO, and announced new films about to occur, but these alone will give you an annual income of 10 million dollars.
Orion was financially unstable due to the low income of their films, and after an altercation with dangerous Pincus and Company, its leaders began an urgent search for benevolent investors, this situation was relieved when Warburg Pincus sold 15 of its shares to Viacom.
