The Decline of MGM...What Happened?
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2 жыл бұрынMGM is a classic film studio that has repeatedly fallen tough times. This video attempts to explain the reasons behind the struggle.
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@BelievingRebel 2 жыл бұрын
MGM was known as having “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven.” Louis B. Mayer was an absolute tyrant, and not above holding petty grudges. Had Irving Thalberg lived, Mayer may not have had the chance to get so drunk with power. I agree that the weird buyouts had a lot to do with MGM’s decline, but it was also the changing taste of movie-goers. MGM was well known for splashy, pretty musicals, which were well received by those trying to forget the Depression and WWII. Postwar America began to prefer edgier films like The Best Years of Our Lives. Mayer was stubborn about musicals. His refusal to change led to his being nudged out of a job. If you’ve never read a biography of Mayer, do so. It’s interesting reading. Trivia: the story goes that young Elizabeth Taylor got mad at Mayer for speaking harshly to her mother and told him he and his studio could go to hell. Whether or not it was true, I don’t know, but the story appears in more than one of Taylor’s biographies. PS: I think the disastrous fire at the MGM Grand should have merited a mention.
@waltertomaszewski1083 2 жыл бұрын
I know that refusing to keep up with the shifting tastes of audiences can sink any studio, but I’m not sure how much of that came into play with MGM. The post-war drama *The Best Years of Our Lives* came out in 1946. Mayer left in 1951. One of the best musicals MGM ever made was ‘Singing In The Rain’, which came out 2 years after Mayer had left. Musicals such as *Seven Brides For Seven Brothers* (1954), *Kismet* (1955), *Gigi* (1958), *The Unsinkable Molly Brown* (1964) and others kept flowing from MGM with very little let-up. All the ones I’ve mentioned here are today highly regarded as being artistically and culturally important. The studio kept making musicals all the way up to 1994.
@itsblitz4437 2 жыл бұрын
Then probably the movie industry would be looking very different.
@poweroffriendship2.0 2 жыл бұрын
Not gonna lie, that lion really used to scare the heck out of me as a kid. The fact that the founders of MGM brought a real lion in front of the camera and risked their lives for the MGM logo shows that they have balls.
@seatspud 2 жыл бұрын
The lion was probably mildly sedated. Or drunk. (See the opening to Strange Brew)
@ChromeColossus 2 жыл бұрын
@@seatspud Pretty sure a drunk lion would still be catastrophically dangerous.
@kaitlyn__L 2 жыл бұрын
@@seatspud there were IIRC 4 or 5 lions over the years, in varying degrees of sedation or just kept at a distance with the camera zoomed in.
@bsbncandey 2 жыл бұрын
Same here! 😆
@yoshihirogamer 2 жыл бұрын
Me , Same here
@BrokebackBob 2 жыл бұрын
Fortunately for all of us, Ted Turner purchased the entire MGM catalog and there was nothing left for MGM. MGM was then sold back as you said but Ted kept the films and the rights to show them. Then he turned around and created an insanely popular network for people who love classic films, Turner Classic Movies, or TCM for short. If you love classic films TCM is the absolute only place where you can really see them. Ted also bought Warner Brothers entire classic library of films and got the rights to those. TCM also has an exclusive contract with Sony pictures, who had purchased Columbia, to show all of Columbia's catalog. Along the way he also made a deal to show all of Paramount's catalog and that's what makes TCM so special. Thank you Ted Turner and his lovely wife Jane Fonda who encouraged Ted along the way.
@ricahrdb 2 жыл бұрын
It is such a shame that MGM lost the ownership of almost all of their classics. 🙁
@fallout560 2 жыл бұрын
it's ok, it's in the safe hands of Warner Bros now /s
@SubXero1000 2 жыл бұрын
@@fallout560 *Warner Bros. Discovery
@stephenholloway6893 2 жыл бұрын
@@SubXero1000WarnerMedia until the Discovery merger gets approved so far it hasn't.
@hotwax9376 2 жыл бұрын
Not really. MGM didn't really take care of them properly, but Warner Bros. has. They've tried to do restorations that are as close to the original film as possible in many cases, even to the point of keeping the MGM titles instead of plastering over it with the WB logo. They're in much better hands today than they would ever have been if they'd stayed with MGM.
@SubXero1000 2 жыл бұрын
@@stephenholloway6893 nah bro, it’s already priced in
@SuperNicktendo 2 жыл бұрын
We went to the MGM Grand the first year, the whole hotel was Wizard of Oz themed. Had a yellow brick road throughout the lobby which ended at an emerald city mockup. That's about the extent to which I remember MGM since by the 80s they hadn't really been substantial in the movie scene outside of Bond
@LAST_STAND_FAN 2 жыл бұрын
@@sohotimhot752 do u lik cal of doty balck opz
@nozoto 2 жыл бұрын
Being a retro movie watcher, I enjoy some of their old catalogue, but the most recent productions I remember vividly out of them is the Stargate franchise. That, and the spin-off series of Poltergeist I continue to be an unconditional fan of, even though most people long forgot about it.
@splitsee2526 2 жыл бұрын
@@sohotimhot752 imagine spamming comments like this, there are MINORS on youtube, the fact you are advertising this to little children is disgusting. GET OFF OF KZfaq NOW.
@EyeonthePrize247 2 жыл бұрын
@@nozoto Wait, Spin Off SERIES?! 💀🤣
@nozoto 2 жыл бұрын
@@EyeonthePrize247 Yes, Poltergeist: the Legacy, which aired from 1996 to 1999. I also forgot to mention Outer Limits as part of the body of productions of MGM Television, both P:TL and OL were produced by Richard Barton Lewis.
@lodgedude 2 жыл бұрын
I think there should be a Paramount Pictures "Bigger than you know" video. They own a lot more things than people know.
@Toonrick12 2 жыл бұрын
I think that's more of a video with CBS and/or Viacom.
@lodgedude 2 жыл бұрын
@@Toonrick12 I guess so
@stephenholloway6893 2 жыл бұрын
Or their previous owner Gulf+Western since they owned Paramount before Viacom bought the studio.(though it was renamed Paramount Communications in between the two eras)
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
@@Toonrick12 I would love to see a two-parter of "Bigger Than You Know" from CBS and Viacom respectively, because I feel like CBS has been on a larger scope over the years, not just with radio broadcasting and tv only
@andygraning2190 2 жыл бұрын
@@Merdicano and CBS doesn't own it's radio network anymore. The medium that started it all. CBS is also credited with being the grandfather of broadcast journalism. Now Viacom/CBS also owns a lot more overseas than we know. Great idea!
@Elemtree 2 жыл бұрын
Ah MGM, the company with the world record for physically and mentally breaking their breakout stars in the early cinema of the 30s.
@staringcorgi6475 2 жыл бұрын
They valued money over the conditions of its peoplel
@humzachudhary2056 2 жыл бұрын
How exactly?
@jonplaud 2 жыл бұрын
@@staringcorgi6475 like most companies after a few years
@i8balls 2 жыл бұрын
No one really cares
@MagicalBread 2 жыл бұрын
@@i8balls Then why did you comment?
@martinstent5339 2 жыл бұрын
Cinema was THE art form of the 20th century. And MGM was one of the most important contributors to that art form. They have tremendous cultural relevance that's worth more than money. The name will live forever. They can be bought, sold, go bankrupt, but MGM cannot die.
@Embargoman 2 жыл бұрын
True I bet they could be bought out or merged by a Japanese studio and let MGM themselves release a bunch of Godzilla movies.
@jonathanallen3497 2 жыл бұрын
I agree.
@CoolModderJaydonX 7 ай бұрын
@@EmbargomanWell, too late for that now. They're owned by Amazon.
@oscartango2348 2 жыл бұрын
I'm not sure "declining" is the correct term for MGM. It's strange they still exist at all. After Kerkorian purchased them, they really ceased being a studio. I know you had to condense this story for a video, but you could literally do ten hours on all the shady deals made with MGM properties since the 80s and still not fully cover it. I loved the tidbit about the guy changing his name from Goldfish to Goldwyn.
@donaldpaluga 2 жыл бұрын
Not to mention what is Hollywood Studios in WDW started out as Disney/MGM Studios
@fromthehaven94 2 жыл бұрын
@@donaldpaluga I think that was an attraction at the Disney World theme park. MGM the company has no other association with Disney with actual movie production.
@ACoolKidsProduction 2 жыл бұрын
I think it was MGM that one of my media class textbooks said was "a studio that failed to change with the times. It's really now just a logo used by United Artists."
@stanfordite1 10 ай бұрын
When the media giants get trust busted and the studios are given back to the families of those great movie moguls like Louis B. Mayer, the Studio System will rise again and every trace of Crazy Kirk will be undone.
@LaurenceDay-d2p 2 ай бұрын
Metro-Goldfish-Mayer would not sound very attractive. I'm surprised Goldwyn allowed them to continue using his name after he left. Must have been some legal technicality.
@loworochi 2 жыл бұрын
Fun fact: the Lion roar is actually a Tiger. Lions don’t sound nearly as intimidating as the latter which is why they pair the two.
@mostmost1 2 жыл бұрын
Yes lions do sound intimidating! A lions roar will shake your bones with fear.
@d.w.w.sweetz3008 2 жыл бұрын
Lions roar can be heard miles away, never heard of a tiger doing that. Also heard this rumor and knew it was bullshit. I have no idea but guessing they used multiple lions maybe a tiger to but mgm combined the voices together for a louder roar
@joan1609 2 жыл бұрын
Lions just roar at a lower pitch than tigers. MGM probably thought the higher pitch played better on speakers at the time. Lions don't sound less intimidating at all and can be heard further away than tigers.
@devinq4605 2 жыл бұрын
They can be heard farther away though. Case in point: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q6yTjct5xN2qkqc.html
@vacuumblink2300 2 жыл бұрын
Stop breading bullshit
@jeffharrisTXB 2 жыл бұрын
Great video. Honestly, I think the Turner purchase of the MGM library was a very important one in the history of Turner Broadcasting. Not only did Ted gain the most valuable library of films, but he utilized the library to build up his networks, including creating TNT, Cartoon Network, and TCM as showcases for those properties. The AAP library that was a part of MGM/UA had tons of films from various studios, most notably the pre-1949 Warner Bros library, including films like Casablanca and the Looney Tunes shorts that defined the franchise. When Turner merged with Time Warner, the combined company regained a large chunk of their film history and had complete ownership in every Looney Tunes short for the first time in nearly 50 years. WarnerMedia, to this day, has the largest film and television library on the planet (only Sony rivals them in library content). But that's a story told in another video.
@karthikhegde9752 2 жыл бұрын
Waiting for your Video 😇
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
How does Sony rival WarnerMedia's content library?
@icecreamhero2375 2 жыл бұрын
@@Merdicano Sony owns Funimation and they dub a ton of anime.
@TheSakpra 2 жыл бұрын
@@Merdicano Sony led a consortium that bought out MGM in 2006 and gained exlusive rights to a lot of MGM properties including James Bond's production and distribution rights (until 2016). They own Columbia Pictures, TriStar, Screen Gems, Stage 6 (biggest indie label in Hollywood behind Focus Features). On the TV side, they own Shark Tank, Jeopardy, Millionaire, Pyramid, a ton of gameshows, they've been buying up and investing heavily in a ton TV studios lately. Just last month they bought the studio behind Dr. Who and themselves have a deal to supply Warner's HBO Max with TV shows like Last of Us (highest budget show in Canadian history). Sony is untouched (by a long shot) in the anime industry with Crunchyroll (streaming), Funimation (dubbing) and Aniplex (largest anime producer). I think in terms of library content, I agree especially on the TV side where WarnerBros tends to heavily rely on partners like Sony for production. Warner's role in TV I think is more distributive in comparison. That's why they're merging with Discovery this year. It is because they realise that they cannot keep up the slate of TV content on HBO Max when compared to rivals like Netflix (whom Sony has an exlusivity deal on films and are producing a ton of TV shows for like Dr Who, Cobra Kai, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). I think the purchase of Discovery might flip this position especially since they'll have access to the largest producer of TV content by output (Discovery).
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
@@TheSakpra Thanks for the response! I feel a little silly having asked because I knew about some of these beforehand 🤦🏻, but thank you for your response. And yes, Sony is GIGANTIC in many of those fronts, not just with videogames and electronics, but the several media atmospheres that you mention. They now control about 85% of the anime industry, along with the music industry through labels like Columbia Records, Epic Records, RCA Records, & Sony Classical though Sony Music Entertainment. Though TV, they also own Norman Lear tv library and the Live in Front of Studio Audience tv specials, and have elevated their net worth through licensing of shows like Seinfeld, The Nanny, Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeannie. Along with the Netflix output distribution deal, they did a second deal with Disney+ which will effectuate after their time on Netflix. Also, several of Amazon Prime shows are made by Sony like Alex Rider and The Boys. It's safe to say that Sony is a major entity that holds on their own
@Niggalodeon323 2 жыл бұрын
Why would you change your name to the name of a company you’re no longer a part of? This Goldfish dude was the first clout chaser 😂😅
@bonecanoe86 2 жыл бұрын
I mean, if my name was GOLDFISH I'd probably change it too. Unless I could turn it into a pickup line. "The name's Goldfish cause I'm a snacc"
@andlabs 2 жыл бұрын
Goldwyn may have given up on MGM, but he absolutely did NOT fall out of the movie industry - he immediately started a second studio, also named after himself, which would produce films of varying success until 1959. His name still adorns modern studios from time to time.
@garylockhart7112 2 жыл бұрын
@@bonecanoe86 I lol'd at this!
@skixian 2 жыл бұрын
what u doin here bro
@Niggalodeon323 2 жыл бұрын
@@bonecanoe86 LMFAOOOOOO!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
@ingvarhallstrom2306 2 жыл бұрын
If it's one thing I've learned, when the owners take out huge loans on the company to pay themselves, that's the end of that company.
@rdoino2210 2 жыл бұрын
I don’t even get how this is legal? Putting the company in massive debt to give a stockholder dividend? Seems so shady.
@ixedtea5302 2 жыл бұрын
Fr
@michaelc657 2 жыл бұрын
There's gonna be a lot of people in these comments who don't realize that MGM Resorts in Las Vegas (formerly MGM Grand and also known as MGM-Mirage from 2004-2010) is a different corporate organization than MGM the studio. They split in 1979, and before the split casinos were ~70% of MGM's income. That was likely to sell the movies off, given in 1975 Time-Life had just announced plans to uplink HBO to satellites and expand it from a regional service on the east coast, and reached all 50 states by 1978.
@JakeLovesSteak 2 жыл бұрын
There are probably also a lot of people in the comments that don't realize that the MGM Grand that exists today on the Las Vegas Strip isn't the original MGM Grand that was built in the '70s. Even Company Man seemed to conflate them in the video.
@sonotswifty 2 жыл бұрын
He kinda does explain the first bit about them splitting off the resorts part of MGM
@yourwifewasinmedms5137 2 жыл бұрын
Damn well this comment and the replies literally answered my questions. I absolutely didn’t know any of this. I read the video title and all I could think about is he’s going to explain why my stay at MGM grand hotel wasn’t what I expected it to be. Now I know that’s not the case I don’t even care about this video.
@lvscouter7705 2 жыл бұрын
The original MGM Hotel & Casino is now Bally's ( owned by Caesars) and the current one was built in the early 1990's with a theme park as part of the property.
@mostmost1 2 жыл бұрын
This information is interesting
@TheNinjaDC 2 жыл бұрын
I guess TLDR is every upswing ended with them selling their valuable assets, until nothing was left. From theaters, hotels, film archive, United pictures, etc. It’s honestly rare for a company to be strip mined so frequently, yet still exist. Honestly, that is impressive.
@kaitlyn__L 2 жыл бұрын
Right? Most only survive one or two asset-strip sell-offs.
@lorddrayvon1426 Жыл бұрын
Saying they still exist is a stretch really. They’ve been bulldozed and fully absorbed now to the point of being MGM in brand only. Kinda like how LJN was still a publishing label of Acclaim until 1999 even though the actual LJN studio already been shut down in 1993.
@tremorsfan 2 жыл бұрын
One of the costumes that didn't get sold at that auction was the Cowardly Lion costume. It was eventually found by an employee, either in a garbage bag or actually in a dumpster.
@dwood78part23 2 жыл бұрын
True. The modern day MGM is a shadow of it's former self. & the thought of Amazon buying them creeps me out.
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
Hmm yeah, its unfortunate how largely they fallen over the years. Although, I have a feeling that Amazon might do good things for them, and considering that they've came out of their bankruptcy period and the success of No Time To Die, we will definitely see a slow resurgence of MGM as a solo company. Maybe not as the titan it once was, but reigniting in some form
@bartsullivan4866 2 жыл бұрын
@@Merdicano No Time to Die was ok maybe average but it was by no means a massive blockbuster. COVID played a huge roll in taking away profits. But if it goes all girl power WOKE it will hurt any future Bond entries. I liked the Daniel Craig era. I thought it was a step up from Brosnan who is a good actor but not a great Bond. Kind of wanted Dalton to get 1 or 2 more films before it went to Brosnan.
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
@@bartsullivan4866 I doubt that they will, hopefully the Broccoli-Wilson brothers will stick to their guns and not please them in any form. Also, you call 700 million in revenue an average number? That's still a success in one way or another
@BennyLlama39 2 жыл бұрын
CM: "What happened to MGM?" Me: The same thing that always happens-- greed, incompetence, and shady business deals that make the Mafia seem like a legitimate operation. 😒
@Crabernacker 2 жыл бұрын
I would trust the mafia before a corporation
@rmfinance1781 2 жыл бұрын
I actually own shares of MGM. I bought them not too long after the crash in 2020 for $19 a share. Today, even with our current market correction, is still up 100%. Once this pandemic is over, if it'll ever be over, the stock should increase even more.
@hotwax9376 2 жыл бұрын
MGM has fallen so far since the Golden Age that I didn't even know they still existed in anything but name. You can really tell after the court order to sell Loews that the budgets and quality of their films declined, especially if you compare it to their output from the 1930s and 40s. So yeah, I'd agree on that being the beginning of their downhill spiral.
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
True that, although they're starting to come together and reigniting again these last two years since 2019 and 2021, they're about to release a variety of movies on their own domestically only. Also counting the success of No Time To Die
@stephenholloway6893 2 жыл бұрын
It's surprising in a way that they got back in the animation business by distribution after they closed the animation studio for the Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones era of shorts. Plus buying Chuck's studio a short time after they began releasing the Jones Tom and Jerry era of shorts.
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
@@stephenholloway6893 And unfortunately, not within the best results in quality on their return to animation, have you seen the recent Addams Family animated movies? Yikes 😬
@stephenholloway6893 2 жыл бұрын
@@Merdicano Yeah though that was years after they closed Chuck's studio. Plus they were mostly the distributor of those films. They made 1 more attempt in the animation studio in 1993 but it closed in 2000.
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
@@stephenholloway6893 Was that attempt the one when All Dogs Go To Heaven got released? Yeah, it's unfortunate how that studio closed, because what Chuck Jones did for animation at MGM as well as Friz Freleng with The Pink Panther it's iconic
@1anastudent 2 жыл бұрын
It's a good breakdown. The company stopped prioritizing movies in the 50s. After that business ghouls bought the company to break it apart. In the end even Amazon just wanted pieces
@Attmay 2 жыл бұрын
That they have managed to hang on this long in any form is a miracle in and of itself. There but for the grace of God and Roy E. Disney went Walt Disney Productions.
@mosessupposes2571 2 жыл бұрын
I’m surprised that any of those studios are doing well. What was once considered a glamorous industry to be admired has been revealed as sleazy and often criminal.
@SwitchedtoLinux 2 жыл бұрын
I lived in Reno when I was little and I frequently saw that lion! It was kept in the MGM basement near a restaurant I would go to with my mother.
@craignedoff991 2 жыл бұрын
Leo the lion 🦁
@humzachudhary2056 2 жыл бұрын
Sucks that he was just kept in a basement, the lion was probably bored af
@Markimark151 2 жыл бұрын
The original MGM studio was the golden age of Hollywood is when the film industry cared about their audiences! The original MGM went defunct in the 1980s, the MGM shell company went bankrupt by Sony and Ted Turner. And Amazon is just buying the MGM shell company for the James Bond 007 franchise!
@Attmay 2 жыл бұрын
Anything to keep *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* out of the clutches of The Mouse.
@Markimark151 2 жыл бұрын
@@Attmay I’m so glad that Disney doesn’t own MGM, but I wish Amazon wasn’t buying the studio, because I want them to be independent.
@Glittersword 2 жыл бұрын
Don't you mean went bankrupt and was bought up by....?
@Markimark151 2 жыл бұрын
@@Glittersword they were bankrupt long after Ted Turner sold them off and Sony helped reorganize MGM to help them fund Daniel Craig-era 007 movies, MGM later turned a profit with Sony’s distribution.
@shackdaddy7106 2 жыл бұрын
MGM only cared about their audiences to the point where they could make money. Just like any other business.
@TheRealDrJoey 2 жыл бұрын
Some damn good research here, CM. I worked in the theater biz for 25 years, and I'd never heard that Sam Goldwyn had changed his name to that. Also, I have to agree about "Heaven's Gate" being somewhat scapegoated over UA's collapse. The thing is, in the pre release promotions for the movie, in the trades and elsewhere, Cimino bragged about the ridiculous expense they went to for "verisimilitude" and when the movie somewhat tank the bean-counters lay all the blame on that one picture, when in reality every major studio generally had comparable failures--that's showbiz, as they say. Those at the top, who totally looked at the picture business as a BUSINESS, really resented an "artist" messing up their bottom line.
@companyman114 2 жыл бұрын
Completely agree.
@williamsnyder5616 9 ай бұрын
Before ''Heaven's Gate,'' Cimino had a huge success with ''The Deer Hunter'' and he vowed to get carte blanche from the next studio to give him the Golden Egg.
@tmoonjumpr 2 жыл бұрын
One part I thought you were about to mention, and maybe you did, my mind wanders these days, was the soul-destruction part of destroying the lots. Universal saw the potential and made a theme park. It was akin in my mind to destroying opulent Penn Station in NYC in the 60s, to replace it with a cheap claustrophobic hole. If you ever watch That’s Entertainment! - which celebrates MGM with some of its greatest stars still alive but graying - you can sense the mourning of this move that crushes at the very soul of the company. Great stuff as always, sir
@Embargoman 2 жыл бұрын
Disney was first with a theme park, plus Disney formed Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Studios.
@ArtamStudio 2 жыл бұрын
@@Embargoman interesting you mention Disneyland. Initially it was going to be built either within or adjacent to their Burbank studios but as Walt's plans grew they realized the available space in Burbank wouldn't be enough to meet his needs...hence the Anaheim orange grove purchase.
@Embargoman 2 жыл бұрын
@@ArtamStudio Well, Disney started Touchstone Pictures they made Roger Rabbit and Splash and yet their are other Touchstone property that is what it is another company that make live action movies under Touchstone and they also formed Hollywood Pictures. Yet not to mention Disney World’s involvement with MGM Studios, but then Disney broke the deal with MGM and it became Disney Hollywood Studios.
@urbanurchin5930 2 жыл бұрын
@@Embargoman ......and yet THERE are other .........good comment ruined by your illiteracy........
@Raskolnikov70 2 жыл бұрын
Everything gets filmed in Canada now. Were they even using the lots?
@Foxonian 2 жыл бұрын
Today, MGM is known more for its hotel & casinos than it is for making films.
@revinhatol Жыл бұрын
#SadButTrue
@paulheap1982 10 ай бұрын
Cause they're actually two separate entities now.
@LeonardoHeredia-hz7wx Ай бұрын
If it weren’t for James Bond and the Addams Family no one in Hollywood would know who they are
@thatsmeatman7023 2 жыл бұрын
That lion is iconic, the roar in the theatre felt deafening at first. Akin to the THX tune, maybe a video about them soon
@BugsyFoga 2 жыл бұрын
“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in lullaby”
@trabertgraneau3323 2 жыл бұрын
The irony is that 20th Century Fox is going through a similar situation with Disney buying the studio
@AnotherPointOfView944 2 жыл бұрын
I hate Disney, from top to bottom.
@Merdicano 2 жыл бұрын
Actually, it already went through the situation and its now closed in a coffin, say hello to 20th Century Studios
@captainjakemerica4579 2 жыл бұрын
@@AnotherPointOfView944 all companies have shady history cool it with the Disney hate only no studio is clean
@josh1200 2 жыл бұрын
@@captainjakemerica4579 Disney is the major company buying and destroying many cherished and beloved franchises, It's very hard not to hate them.
@captainjakemerica4579 2 жыл бұрын
@@josh1200 they aren't destroying shit Star Wars is debatable and Marvel has only risen
@dk60ish 2 жыл бұрын
1939 is considered to be THE best year for Hollywood movies from all major studios!
@hotwax9376 2 жыл бұрын
Except by WatchMojo, which says it's 1994. That was one of the best years to be sure, but still not as good as 1939.
@mat2000100 2 жыл бұрын
“Cries in WW2”-Europe
@bigbawlzlebowski8886 2 жыл бұрын
Of course, it took 60 bucks to make a movie. You'd have to really suck to fail.
@SlapstickGenius23 2 жыл бұрын
1999 was also one of the best years for Hollywood too!
@jamesknapp64 2 жыл бұрын
@@hotwax9376 both are great years to pick one over the other is like flipping a coin for preference
@samuelmeasa9283 2 жыл бұрын
MGM shows and movies where my childhood. TBS and TNT both aired them during the 80's after Turner bought the broadcast rights. They aired so many marathon weekend it makes me wish I had recorded them on VHS at the time.
@eksortso 2 жыл бұрын
My childhood too, very much so! I remember the lion before every Tom and Jerry cartoon, before all those Tex Avery shorts, and I watched the heck out of all those cartoons.
@madisonatteberry9720 2 жыл бұрын
I remember when Disney's 'Hollywood studio's' was 'M.G.M. studio's' but all these 'back and forth' sales were one giant cluster, I can't think of anything to say on all the hands and.....'liabilities' like the missing archives, it's like the saying, 'to the victor goes the spoils' had taken on a physical form, that was the passing of hands for M.G.M.
@falconflyer317 2 жыл бұрын
I always have a soft spot for MGM as the creators (and owners) of Stargate, even though their bankruptcy killed the final films and shows. It sounds like we're going to get a reboot on Amazon so that's good. I'm surprised stock purchases by debt that benefit majority shareholders are legal.
@ohla300 2 жыл бұрын
Right!!!! I was like, wait isn't that fraud!? 😅
@kaitlyn__L 2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, not sharing profit, just taking a huge loan for the sole purpose of enriching shareholders.. I guess that’s because the shareholders voted on it though. Bleh.
@sor3999 2 жыл бұрын
I guess that would be on the creditors issuing the loan? As the lender there's a good chance you won't see your money back as the money isn't going towards business expansion.
@FIREBRAND38 2 жыл бұрын
Dude, you glossed over the sale of the fabled MGM Backlot for real estate. Also, a large portyion of their woes was the strategy starting in the late 1950's to try and make it through the year with one annual big budget spectacular. It worked with Ben-Hur but starting failing year after year following that.
@JahNuhThunDeeTheOneAndOnly 2 жыл бұрын
MGM in tough times? I thought I would never see the day…
@briankelly1240 2 жыл бұрын
Very well done research and storytelling! I grew up watching turner classic movies, so helped explained seeing MGM a lot there!
@zombiedodge1426 2 жыл бұрын
I remember an Entertainment Weekly article in the late nineties about how well each movie studio was doing, and the consensus was that MGM was barely a studio at all. They put out James Bond movies and occasionally lucked into a non-007 hit (Legally Blonde was an MGM movie) but most of their films came across like projects other studios had turned down.
@williamsnyder5616 9 ай бұрын
Actually, the James Bond films originated out of United Artits when UA was at the height of it's power in the 1960s. I liked films like ''Doctor Zhivago,'' ''Victor/ Victoria'' and ''Legally Blonde,'' but hits like that we're few and far between for MGM.
@theobuniel9643 2 ай бұрын
Don't forget Ice Cube's Barbershop. That was the other major modern hit that MGM had that wasn't 007. They finally had a "black" franchise.
@ziadhesham2401 2 жыл бұрын
Fun fact William Hanna and Joseph Barbara worked in MGM to create tom and jerry
@thecrow7549 Жыл бұрын
I thought that was well known
@brockpifer9929 Жыл бұрын
Yeah in their animation department. Also great works that came out of MGM’s animation department include the works of Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Tex Avery
@theobuniel9643 2 ай бұрын
And with Ted Turner's acquisition of the pre-1986 MGM library, Hanna-Barbera (which was also bought by Turner) were able to get the Tom & Jerry IP back, and now it's the second most important franchise of the studio, next to Scooby-Doo.
@nudnikjeff 2 жыл бұрын
As you mentioned, you focused on the business aspect, but after Irving Thalberg died MGM was never the same. The creative drive became one of greed and its demise was predictable and inevitable. Also, television had more of an impact than just an impasse. This year (2022) is the anniversary of Judy Garland's birth.
@TimmyTickle 2 жыл бұрын
Technically, every year is an anniversary of someone's birth...
@avasemaan6995 Жыл бұрын
@@TimmyTickle They mean the 100 year anniversary, which is counted as a milestone.
@DoveLady 2 жыл бұрын
i never knew they had so many movies in their catalog! ive seen quite a few of them, but never knew it was so vast. i remember, as a kid, going to disney world and visiting MGM studios seeing all the memorabilia....a simpler, happier time. great video as always, mike! 😀
@williamsnyder5616 9 ай бұрын
In the Golden Age of Hollywood, all the studios were churning out 50, sometimes 60 movies a year.
@kurtl4761 2 жыл бұрын
United Artists primarily existed to release non-studio financed films, and were not film producers like Samuel Goldwyn and M-G-M. They did have a rentable studio lot, which was later acquired by Samuel Goldwyn. All the movie studios did have to separate from their theater chains, but Loew's theaters still showed MGM movies almost exclusively.
@williamsnyder5616 9 ай бұрын
UA was created in 1919 as a chance for independent producers, directors and stars to make films without interference. Sam Goldwyn released his films through UA until he left in 1941 to hook up with RKO.
@TheHarryshelton Жыл бұрын
MGM was slow to transition to TV production. The antitrust dissolution of their successful business model and the advent of television ended the Golden Era of Hollywood for MGM and all the major studios, but opened the gates to independent production companies.
@thetrainhopper8992 2 жыл бұрын
I would also imagine that Amazon would do something with the Stargate Series. Its about the most recent thing that made MGM money and still has a large following that Amazon would have control over. James Bond was something they distributed, but never got ownership rights over. The writers don't want to do a TV show, but MGM does for Bond at least.
@Mattfromthepast 2 жыл бұрын
PBS was one of the few stations that would come in for my family on our old B&W back when I was growing up in the late 80s and early 90s and they played a ton of MGM movies, to this day when I think of classic cinema I think of MGM and I think it is sad they have spent my whole life being bought and sold the way they have. Most of my physical media collection is MGM films. Great video about my favorite film studio.
@darreljones8645 2 жыл бұрын
I heard a joke about a Japanese businessman who sent his son to attend college in the USA. However, the boy wasn't interested in learning, and ditched school entirely, using his father's money to watch movies. One day, his father wanted to see what he's learned, so he asked him to say four words in English. The young man responded with the only three words he'd learned: "Metro. Goldwyn. Mayer." "So," the father asked, "what's the fourth word?" The son responded, "Roooooar!"
@video409 2 жыл бұрын
🤦♀️
@lostinYourReality 2 жыл бұрын
😑😑😑
@aaryt 2 жыл бұрын
The lamest joke I've ever heard
@Ypog_UA 2 жыл бұрын
Classic!
@qddawn 2 жыл бұрын
This was so trash 🗑 😂
@BeantownMrs 2 жыл бұрын
Fun Fact: the lion roar isn't actually a lion's roar, that's a tiger's roar.
@DocSpengler 2 жыл бұрын
Delete this
@mattwolf7698 2 жыл бұрын
Same thing with the roars in The Lion King
@zachatck64 Жыл бұрын
@@DocSpengler What's wrong with you
@DJunclepaul2nd Жыл бұрын
Aww... Sure sounds like a lion. Can you back up your claim?
@thetayz72 Жыл бұрын
Hazardous knowledge
@BushFan647 2 жыл бұрын
honestly turner deserves a video of its own if you havent done it before, its a really interesting story
@corwin32 2 жыл бұрын
Company Man: ‘In a leveraged buyout…’ Me after watch CM for a while: “Uh-oh”
@28ebdh3udnav 2 жыл бұрын
How long are we going to wait til the fan requested video comes out?? "KZfaq - Why They're Hated"
@companyman114 2 жыл бұрын
I have no plans to make that specific video but there are plenty of other highly requested videos on the way.
@blueline3099 2 жыл бұрын
@@companyman114 why not?
@sugreev2001 2 жыл бұрын
Even though I’m in my 30’s, I have an attachment to MGM because of my love of classic movies. The companies mismanagement post-60’s epic era was just awful.
@danieldowney7621 2 жыл бұрын
You always come through with these great videos, thank you!
@jaaronwhitten5996 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for making this video, I've always wanted to know why MGM's classic library is owned by Warner Bros. and its a shame to see such what was once grand motion picture empire fall from grace, I do hope things get better for company and regain their old archives from Warner.
@berjaboy Жыл бұрын
MGM was at it's zenith in the early to mid 40s, and went downhill from there. By the late 50s, everyone in that industry already knew MGM's golden age was finished. Kirk Kerkorian was basically a corporate raider, and picked at the bones of what was left of this once mighty studio. However keep in mind, that many other studios from that time are still with us today and quite powerful in their own right. Fox and Disney (both the same company now) Warner's, Universal, Paramount, and Columbia, which is now Sony. Obviously MGM did something, many things, wrong.
@mirandalovett6063 2 жыл бұрын
I actually like that you stick to business stuff! I typically don't care much about business (art history person) but I find this channel fascinating because I do wonder why certain companies seem to struggle or disappear. Keep up the good content!
@smartfkr 2 жыл бұрын
Your commentary is legendary! All jokes and sarcasm aside! Keep working hard! And if anything or anyone tries to get in your way let us know!!!
@comicbookshopofdoom8160 2 жыл бұрын
MGM, thru Credit Lyonnais, assembled the 2nd biggest library of modern movies. They own the libraries to the Cannon Group,Orion Pictures, Island Pictures, Moviestore Entertainment, Empire Pictures,Trans World Entertainment, AIP, Filmways, Hemdale, MCEG, Manson International, 21th Century Film Corp, Atlantic Entertainment Group, Motion Picture Corp of America, United Artists, and several small production companies. Amazon just wants the library and the name to exploit .
@theobuniel9643 2 ай бұрын
Problem is, most of what's in that library are B-movies and genre films that not a lot of people watched.
@thomosburn8740 2 жыл бұрын
The MGM film library ended up in Warner's hands when Time-Warner bought out Turner Broadcasting System in July 1996. The deal was worth $7.5b They wanted CNN more than anything else . . . but also got the three channels TNT, TCM, TBS (since renamed Peachtree TV) and took the MGM movie library in the transaction.
@jrussellcase 2 жыл бұрын
This was good, and I learned stuff I didn't know. One I'd like to see a video on is "Bally". They've now got the cable sports channels, but they've delved into video games, fitness centers, and God knows what else. I'd like to see a breakdown of where they've been, and how they got where they are.
@Dragonborn-dc4uj 2 жыл бұрын
My dad worked for the company back in 86 when it was bought (temporarily by Ted Turner). He bought it and then after a few months he sold it back to them, however, he did keep a good amount of content MGM had at the time. Boss was pretty insane to buy a company of that caliber, and I wasn’t surprised he had to sell it back to them.
@gluttonousmaximus9048 2 жыл бұрын
One business move that arguably disassembled the MGM empire might be the sale of their distribution arm to United Artists in the early 70s. So in a sense, their movie business basically relied on studio facilities and everything else was just money flow (Production went to outside studios and independent units as well).
@justbuggin67 2 жыл бұрын
You wanted feedback and here it is. These are perfect videos. Here’s why. You give us a 30,000 foot view of the companies without getting off track an in the weeds. Do some like the weeds? Yes. However, most don’t. Personally, I like the 11 minute here are the major highlights and facts. You are, in essence, the cliff notes of the history of a company. No BS, no personal feelings, just facts and interesting notes. That’s why you have so many subscribers now. Thank you for staying consistent since the beginning.
@mat2000100 2 жыл бұрын
You should do “Decline of” videos on RKO (another Hollywood studio) and Dunlop (which also got broken up like MGM did)
@kendrapratt2098 2 жыл бұрын
I guess Selfish wasn’t an option for combining the names😆 Some of my favorite movies are MGM. I love musicals and I think they made the best
@hotwax9376 2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, it's pretty much universally agreed that they had the best musicals of the Golden Age, and I'd say Warner Bros. was second after that.
@LorraineMcFly 2 жыл бұрын
@@hotwax9376 I mean, WB had Bubsy Berkeley. Hard to top if you ask me.
@hotwax9376 2 жыл бұрын
@@LorraineMcFly Well, he did some musicals for MGM as well. The one that comes to my mind is Small Town Girl with Ann Miller.
@LorraineMcFly 2 жыл бұрын
@@hotwax9376 Yeah. But the majority of his most memorable work was done at WB.
@hotwax9376 2 жыл бұрын
@@LorraineMcFly Which is one reason why I say they were always the bridesmaid but never the bride when it came to musicals in the Golden Age. Warners also distributed 42nd Street and the Gold Diggers series.
@TVandManga 2 жыл бұрын
Wow, normally it's leveraged buyouts that are the kiss of death, but MGM was a zombie company even before that! Really interesting video!
@keenanpather 2 жыл бұрын
Everyone knows MGM was a nightmare to work with but true art has a lot behind it, and perhaps everything is worth it... Just for the art out put by MGM
@Musicradio77Network 2 жыл бұрын
Yes! It’s still is a scary logo along with the Viacom “V of Doom”, Screen Gems “S From Hell” and the Paramount Television “Closet Killer” and “Blue Mountain” among the top 5 lists of scary logos. MGM is my #1 pick of the most scary logo ever made, because the lion is nightmare fuel.
@NancerOne 2 жыл бұрын
@@Musicradio77Network go away
@williamsnyder5616 9 ай бұрын
@@Musicradio77Network Really? Leo the Lion never scared me when I was a kid.
@sk857117 2 жыл бұрын
I feel that I get so much nostalgia from your videos that your voice now immediately gives me a nostalgia no matter what.
@jayward8237 2 жыл бұрын
Watching your videos is like taking an amazing college course. I have learned so much.
@tasibsharar7357 2 жыл бұрын
Mgms lion is the most iconic studio opening ever
@Musicradio77Network 2 жыл бұрын
IRYO, the lions of MGM are still giving me nightmares and it frightens people.
@chrisbullock1569 2 жыл бұрын
Well done for this labyrinth of a story. I think there were a couple significant things underemphasized. First, United Artists was nearly bankrupted from “Heaven’s Gate,” probably the last great debacle of 70s excess. Second, the MGM casino fire disaster was huge in the early 80s, a one two punch that set them away from a strong movie brand.
@freeversejams 6 ай бұрын
Great presentation. Super clear and interesting. You filtered an extremely complex story down to something understandable and relatable. Thank you!
@jediknightjairinaiki560 2 жыл бұрын
What a fustercluck of business deals. Not being "business minded" it's hard to wrap my head around all that.
@mstengel777 2 жыл бұрын
This was an interesting production. Thank you. I was wondering why you didn't go further with the public side of MGM / casino operations, as they own most of vegas strip now. I believe it's a separate company, but MGM Resorts International
@TristanSamuel 2 жыл бұрын
I wasn't expecting that a co-founder of one of the most famous film companies was named "Goldfish."
@nataliejarosz9360 2 жыл бұрын
For a long time, I was confused by how Warenr Bros got the rights to Wizard of Oz. I wonder how MGM got the rights to the early 90s Addams Family movies.
@Starkardur 2 жыл бұрын
Warned Bros made smaller films than MGM at the time, Universal was a B-movie studio. Interesting how things turn out
@MrDan708 2 жыл бұрын
From the business side, it seems like loading up the company with debt was the new owners' main aim. Not sure I'll ever understand that. On the artistic side, they did release Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey nearly a decade before 20th Century Fox's Star Wars. If a lot of today's film fans haven't seen MGM's trademark musicals, the many sci-fi/fantasy fans have at least been indirectly affected by that one film.
@AceBackspace 2 жыл бұрын
I actually did an internship at one of the companies Samuel Goldwyn started after. Samuel Goldwyn Films still puts out a lot of good stuff and is actually run by Goldwyn's grandson I believe.
@SlapstickGenius23 2 жыл бұрын
Tony Goldwyn?
@khsmediacorner0524 2 жыл бұрын
Samuel Goldwyn Films I know released Mimimata, starring Johnny Depp. That movie was supposed to be released by a MGM division but due to them woke people, the studio sold it to SGF instead.
@CarlCrisp 2 жыл бұрын
Mike, I’ve been here with you for so long because you make videos right. I don’t need every quarterly report or small setback throughout the company’s life. I’ve seen 1 mil people agree with me since I found this channel.
@companyman114 2 жыл бұрын
Quarterly reports? What are you referring to Steve?
@christophercox6452 2 жыл бұрын
*When it comes to the world of investing,most people don't know where to start.fortunately,great investors of the past and present can provide us with guidance*
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@feliciaputri123 2 жыл бұрын
Get him on Wats app 👇
@feliciaputri123 2 жыл бұрын
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@RiteanDan 2 жыл бұрын
I loved collecting those MGM Midnite Movie double features on DVD.
@shackdaddy7106 2 жыл бұрын
The greatest thing Ted Turner ever did in his career was buy the MGM film archives. He sold off a lot of what he bought but he kept the important stuff. The stuff that really mattered.If it weren’t for him, you may not ever be able to see these movies now. He basically preserved movie history.
@richardmcleod1930 Жыл бұрын
MGM is known as the "Queen of the Studios" "Where there are more Stars than in the Heavens" will remain in the minds of those who remember her best. Thanks for Louis B. Mayer for giving us the greatest studio during the Golden Age of Hollywood. A studio that will remain with such a status, regardless of the trials and tribulations that have resulted since the end of the Contract and the end of Censorship in the movies. In many ways, the old system created the greatest movies that have been known in the Heavens. Such will never happen again. No more Garbo's, Pickford's, Gilbert's or Valentino's on the horizon. Only the "Hollywood trash" we know today, especially with what has recently happened at the Oscar Awards Ceremony. No more Passing Parades as they have all passed.
@rodrigovalerio9548 2 жыл бұрын
Really cool video and great explanation!
@taptiotrevizo9415 2 жыл бұрын
I will always remember the lion
@clearspira 2 жыл бұрын
I would like to suggest a video on Tristar. That is a fascinating collapse.
@theobuniel9643 2 ай бұрын
They were on a roll until 1998, when the failure of Roland Emmerich's Godzilla really held them back. Tristar was never the same after that.
@SakuraR17 2 жыл бұрын
I can always count on your videos to increase my knowledge, thank you 😊
@emenefer 2 жыл бұрын
Babe wake up, new Company Man vid
@hockeyfan124 2 жыл бұрын
MGM also is behind my favorite and longest running movie series the James bond films
@stephenholloway6893 2 жыл бұрын
Sort of, United Artists started the James Bond films but after MGM bought UA they took over the Bond films. Similar with the Pink Panther films.
@williamhild1793 2 жыл бұрын
When I was a little kid back in the 1960s-1970s, I was scared of Leo The Lion roaring before the films.
@72polara 2 жыл бұрын
I remember as a kid going to the mall in the basement of the MGM hotel and casino in Reno. There is where they kept a male lion that you could pay to get your picture taken with. The old cat was completely harmless, doped up on sedatives. I was just a little kid, but I knew it was not right.
@Trentacus 2 жыл бұрын
When I was a little kid (early 90s), I was glad to have fun at their MGM park when living in Vegas. The water rapids, and pirate show were the best.
@TXnine7nine 2 жыл бұрын
2:00 I’d change my name too if my last name was Goldfish 😅
@lyingpieceofcake555 2 жыл бұрын
I'd keep it and say my great grandfather invented gold fish crackers
@jonjamesminer 2 жыл бұрын
When you said "I would attribute a lot of their early success to taking advantage of...' I thought you were gonna say 'young girls and working them to an early grave'. RIP Judy.
@jevinday 2 жыл бұрын
more film company videos would be awesome! Warner, disney, paramount. some record companies would be cool too! Motown, Columbia, capitol, even def jam would be cool. great video!
@Shannon_Vlogs 2 жыл бұрын
I always enjoy your breakdowns! Interesting to know a little history about the hotel!
@nicolehall694 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for pointing out that Gone With the Wind is STILL the highest grossing film of all time, 83 years after its release. No one working today comes even remotely close to the level of fame or power Clark Gable had at his peak fame during the "Wind" days. GWTW is a film about the South. Gable's character was Southern yet he refused to use a Southern accent in the film. He didn't like the way he sounded using one so he just decided he wasn't doing it. He was so famous and had so much power the studio said "Oh, okay! You can be from the South but not use an accent!" Can you imagine?! Also, he was allowed to use the word "damn" in the film which was a direct violation of the Hayes Code, the organization which was in charge film censorship during that era. MGM paid a fine of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in 1939 for the right to use the word "damn" in the film. One hundred thousand dollars in 1939..... The only reason the Hayes Code board allowed it, and I do mean the ONLY reason, was because Gable is the one who would be saying it.
@williamsnyder5616 9 ай бұрын
Yes, Gable was THE King of Hollywood in the 1930s, and yet, in that decade, Gable won his only Best Actor Oscar on loanout to Columbia Pictures, a studio L.B. Mayer looked down upon.
@balpreetsingh6834 2 жыл бұрын
I remember MGM through Tom and Jerry
@pbh81 2 жыл бұрын
Must be the most bizarre story on this channel. Somehow mgm get into more debt and becomes valuable without any well known brands, rights or assets.
@ram010992 2 жыл бұрын
All this craziness, but as a kid growing up in the 90s, I most associated MGM with the name of a theme park at Disney World (since then renamed Hollywood Studios).