Citizendia

Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation
TypeCorporation
FoundedJanuary 1978
FounderWarner Bros. Pictures
Arthur B. A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business An entrepreneur is a person who has possession over a company enterprise, or Venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Krim
Eric Pleskow
Robert S. Benjamin
Dissolved1998 into MGM
HeadquartersTBA
IndustryMotion pictures
OwnerWarner Bros. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over Property, which may be an object, land/real estate, Intellectual property (1978-1982)
independent (1982-1988)
Metromedia (1988-1997)
MGM (1998-present)
ParentMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
DivisionsOrion Classics
Orion Home Video
Orion Television
Motion Picture Corporation of America (1996-1997)
The Samuel Goldwyn Co. (1996-1997)

Orion Pictures Corporation was an American movie production company, formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Pictures and three former top-level executives of United Artists (UA). Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar A holding company is a company that owns part all or a majority of other companies' outstanding Stock. A division of a business entity is a portion of that business that operates under a different name Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom that acquired independent and foreign films Orion Pictures Corporation was an American company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998 The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an Independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and This article is about the film studio Previously it was affiliated with a cinema chain bearing its name now owned by Regal Entertainment Group. A small motion picture producer with a large reputation, Orion gained fame for its alliances with such artists as Woody Allen and for its high quality films.

Although the company scored a number of Oscar-winning pictures, it ultimately released too many box office bombs and was forced into bankruptcy in the early 1990s.

Contents

History

Orion got its start in January 1978, when three disgruntled officers of UA - a motion picture distributor owned by the conglomerate Transamerica - quit their jobs. Arthur B. Krim, chairman; Eric Pleskow, president and chief executive officer; and Robert S. Benjamin, chairman of the finance committee, had become frustrated with the degree of control their corporate parent exerted over the operation of UA, particularly with regard to salaries and other forms of executive compensation.

Transamerica's chairman and UA's Krim began to publicly insult each other, and the final break came when Transamerica refused to provide an expensive car for one of United Artists' Hollywood executives. After twice suggesting that Transamerica loosen its grip on the company, the three abandoned ship on Friday, January 13, 1978. The following Monday two more UA executives--William Bernstein, senior vice president for business affairs, and Mike Medavoy, senior vice president for production--joined the defectors. One week after the resignations, 63 important Hollywood figures took out an ad in a trade paper warning UA that it had made a fatal mistake in letting the five men leave.

In March 1978 the five executives formed Orion Pictures, taking as their corporate symbol a constellation with five main stars. The company--holding a $100 million line of credit--set out to finance films that would be made by independent producers and distributed by another studio, Warner Brothers, with Orion maintaining full control over distribution and advertising. The new company's greatest asset was the expertise of its leaders, who had won three Academy Awards for best picture in the last three years while at UA--an unprecedented feat. Dozens of former UA employees joined their old bosses at Orion, a testament to the high esteem in which the company's management was held.

With a management team made up entirely of longtime movie industry insiders, Orion was off to a lightning-fast start. In late March 1978 Orion announced that it had signed its first contract, an agreement with actor John Travolta's newly formed production company to film two movies. Contracts with actress/director Barbra Streisand, actor James Caan, director Francis Ford Coppola, and writer John Milius quickly followed. Barbra Streisand (ˈstraɪsænd "STRY-sand" born April 24 1942 is an American Singer, Film and Theatre Actress James Edmund Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an American Academy Award - Emmy - and Golden Globe -nominated American Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five-time Academy Award -winning American Film director, John Frederick Milius (born April 11, 1944) is an American Screenwriter, director, and producer of Motion pictures In mid-April the company announced a two-picture deal with actor Jon Voight and, more importantly, arranged to finance and distribute films for British entertainment giant EMI. Jonathan Vincent Voight (born December 29 1938 is an Academy Award -winning American film Actor. By the end of its first year, the company had put 15 films into production and had an additional 12 directors, producers, and actors set to sign on, making Orion a major Hollywood studio from its very inception.

Orion also began snatching up novels before publication at hefty prices in order to develop them as motion pictures. In 1979 the company paid $1 million for Sphinx, a book by Coma author Robin Cook, and purchased Wolfen, the story of a group of supernatural wolves advancing on New York City. In line with its leaders' reputation for developing quirky, more sophisticated, and less commercial movies, the company also bought the rights to Final Payments, an acclaimed first novel by Mary Gordon.

In April 1979, the same year it lost one of its original founders, Robert Benjamin, Orion's first film opened in theaters. By April 1980 Orion's first set of movie releases had yielded one hit--10, starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek--and a host of also-rans, including The Great Santini, based on a Pat Conroy novel about a Southern family, A Little Romance, and Promises in the Dark. Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE (19 April 1935 &ndash 27 March 2002 was an English Actor, Comedian and Musician. Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins on November 20 1956 Long Beach California, U The Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a highly successful Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings Pat Conroy (born October 26, 1945 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a New York Times bestselling author who has A Little Romance is a 1979 Romantic comedy film starring Laurence Olivier and Diane Lane in her film debut With the studio failing to make the splash that had been anticipated, Orion and left-behind UA executives fell to trading slams in the press. UA got a shot in the arm at the end of 1980, when Woody Allen announced upon the expiration of his contract that he would be leaving UA; he planned to make three movies with his longtime collaborators at Orion.

By the end of 1981, Orion had grown unhappy with its film distribution arrangement with Warner Communications and began looking to expand its distribution capabilities by acquiring the assets of a failing Hollywood studio called Filmways, Inc. Founded in 1952, Filmways had never quite made it into the big leagues of filmmaking and had lost nearly $20 million during the nine months ending in November 1981. In February 1982 Orion announced that it would take control of the company. Orion's partners in the $26 million deal to purchase Filmways were E. M. Warburg Pincus & Company, a New York investment house, and Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), a subsidiary of Time, Inc. , that acquired pay and cable television rights to future movies produced by the studio in the deal.

Orion's interest in Filmways stemmed from the company's library of 500 films (which largely was inherited from American International Pictures, which Filmways had bought a few years before) as well as its distribution operation and its library of well-remembered TV shows from the late 1960s such as Green Acres, Mister Ed and The Addams Family (two other Filmways productions, The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction were owned by CBS). American International Pictures was a Film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Green Acres is an American Television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City Mister Ed is an American television Situation comedy that first aired in syndication on January 5, 1961 to July 2, The Addams Family are a group of fictional characters created by American Cartoonist Charles Addams. The Beverly Hillbillies is an American Television series about a Hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills California after finding Petticoat Junction is an American Situation comedy produced by Filmways, which originally aired on the CBS network from 1963 Once in power, the new management of Filmways moved to divest the company of its holdings outside the entertainment industry. Accordingly, its unprofitable publishing arm, Grosset & Dunlap, was sold, and Broadcast Electronics, a subsidiary that manufactured radio equipment, was spun off at the end of 1982 under the leadership of the unit's president.

A month after the takeover, Filmways' new owners announced their intentions to make the studio a major player in Hollywood within the next two years. As a first step in this process, Orion dismissed more than 80 Filmways employees from their jobs and brought in 40 of their own people, including 15 executives. In June 1982 Filmways announced that its name would become Orion Pictures Corporation and that the company had been 'quasi-reorganized' to put it on a sound financial footing. With films slated to be released through the end of 1983, Filmways was now able to proceed with a full schedule of operations. Another result of the Filmways merger was that Orion entered television production, Orion's biggest TV hit was Cagney and Lacey - which lasted 6 seasons on CBS. Cagney & Lacey is an American television series that first aired on the CBS Television network for seven seasons from March 25 1982 to CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. Orion also introduced a new logo, featuring an animated depiction of the constellation Orion

In 1983, Orion Pictures introduced art-house division Orion Classics, luring away Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom, who had previously run United Artists Classics. In common usage a constellation is a group of celestial bodies that are connected together in some arrangement typically stars to form a visible figure or picture Orion (ɒˈraɪən a Constellation often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation one of the largest and perhaps the best-known and most conspicuous Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom that acquired independent and foreign films

In mid-1984 the newly revamped Orion became involved in a legal battle over control of the film Cotton Club; Orion had invested $15 million in return for distribution rights. In a late June judgement, the studio suffered a partial defeat: the court confirmed the Cotton Club producer's license to negotiate television rights for the film. After an additional Orion investment of $10 million for prints of the movie and for advertising, the studio suffered a loss of $3 million on the project.

By July 1984 Orion had yet to generate a big hit since taking over Filmways and announced intentions to invest $100 million in order to release 12 to 16 movies a year. Of the first 18 movies the company had released as Orion Pictures Corporation, ten had been profitable, five had broken even, and three had notched losses of less than $2 million. 'We've had some singles and doubles,' but haven't 'had any home runs,' chairman Arthur Krim admitted at the company's 1984 annual meeting, according to the Wall Street Journal. In September of that year, however, Orion distributed what was, and probably remains, its most prestigious film, Amadeus, which went on to win huge critical acclaim and eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham). Amadeus is a 1984 drama directed by Miloš Forman. Based on Peter Shaffer 's stage play Amadeus, the film "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to artists working Best Actor is the name of an award It is presented by various film organizations Film festivals and people's awards Fahrid Murray Al-Ahmad Abraham ( Arabic: ﻱﻴﺵ ﺞﺜﺙ ﻙﻘﭪ ﭐﭖﺏ (born October 24 1939) is an Academy Award -winning American However, it distributed the film only in theatres; when it arrived on cable the following year, the Orion logo had been removed, and has not been put back since.

In early 1985 Orion's investor HBO extended its contract with the studio to purchase rights to its films for cable television broadcast; the deal was valued at $50 to $75 million. Included in the agreement were such Orion products as Three Amigos, starring Steve Martin, and a Dino De Laurentiis epic, Tai-Pan. ¡Three Amigos! is a 1986 comedy western Film, produced by George Folsey Jr Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an Emmy Award -winning American Actor, Comedian, Writer, Agostino De Laurentiis, usually credited as Dino De Laurentiis (born August 8 1919) is an Academy Award -winning Italian Tai-Pan is a 1986 Film directed by Daryl Duke, loosely based on the 1966 James Clavell 's novel Tai-Pan The company released 11 movies altogether in 1985, only one of which earned more than $10 million in United States ticket sales. Despite the high expectations that had greeted Orion's founding, the company had not produced a major hit since the release of 10 nearly six years before. The studio's efforts to do so were hampered by an unwieldy distribution system inherited from Filmways as well as its less-than-successful advertising campaigns.

The financially unstable Orion ventured into perilous waters when E. M. Warburg Pincus & Company, one of the studio's original investors, became impatient with the low rate of return on its 20 percent stake in the enterprise. Worried that control of the company would fall into unfriendly hands, Orion's leaders began an urgent search for benevolent investors. In January 1986 Warburg Pincus sold 15 percent of the studio's stock to Viacom International, a cable and broadcasting company. Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests This was a relief to Orion's leaders, since, unlike proposed arrangements with other buyers, the deal with Viacom allowed Orion's managers to retain their positions. At this time, Orion also borrowed heavily to create a wholly owned subsidiary, Orion Home Entertainment Corporation, to distribute the studio's movies as videos.

Orion gained a second set of new investors five months later, when Metromedia, a television and communications concern, purchased a 6. Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was a media company that owned radio and Television stations in the United States from 1956 5 percent share in the studio. Metromedia was owned by John W. Kluge, a billionaire reputed to be the richest man in America, and an old friend of Orion Chairman Arthur B. Krim. Arthur B Krim ( April 4, 1910 &ndash September 21, 1994) was an entertainment lawyer the former finance chairman for the United States At the time of the Metromedia purchase, Orion announced that its quarterly income had fallen by more than a third. During the summer of 1986, however, the studio's luck began to change, as Back to School, an aggressively advertised film starring comedian Rodney Dangerfield, fared well at the box office. For the movie see Back to School. Back to school, in Clothing Retail, is a product season and is characterized by a display of items appropriate Rodney Dangerfield ( November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004) born Jacob Cohen, was an American Comedian The movie would go on to become one of the year's biggest money-earners, taking in $90 million.

In December 1986 Metromedia owner Kluge and his partner Stuart Sabotnick spent $20. 4 million to increase their stake to 9. 3 percent, and eventually to 12. 6 percent. Orion got a fourth major shareholder one month later, when National Amusements, Inc. , a Massachusetts-based chain of movie theaters, purchased 6. 42 percent of the company's stock. These moves fueled speculation that the company might be the target of takeover attempts.

Overall, despite the success of Back to School, Orion's revenues for fiscal year 1986 dropped dramatically from those of the previous year. The company reported a loss of $32 million, after releasing such expensive flops as Bounty, starring Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh. Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, AO (born January 3 1956 Fletcher Christian ( September 25, 1764 &ndash October 3, 1793) was a Master's Mate on board the ''Bounty'' during Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937 is a Welsh Film, stage and Television Actor. Vice-Admiral William Bligh FRS RN (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817 was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator By March 1987, however, the situation had improved, and the company was able to bask in the glow of a string of critically acclaimed hits, including Platoon, which would go on to win an Academy Award for best picture, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, and the basketball epic Hoosiers. Platoon is a 1986 Vietnam War film written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 Comedy film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family told mostly during a year that begins and ends with This page is about the movie "Hoosiers" Hoosiers is also the nickname of Indiana University athletic teams see Indiana Hoosiers. With a total of 18 Academy Award nominations, Orion's revenues soared to a level substantially higher than that of any other studio, and the studio had the second-highest revenues from ticket sales at the start of the year. Though by the end of 1987 Orion had slipped to fourth overall in box office receipts, the company had won seven Oscars and scored box office hits with Platoon, Robocop, and No Way Out. RoboCop is a 1987 Cyberpunk film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film features Peter Weller, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood No Way Out is a 1987 thriller film about a US Naval Officer wrongfully accused of Murder.

In light of these positive results, Metromedia's John W. Kluge raised his stake in Orion even further in 1987, to nearly 20 percent of the company's stock. Soon Kluge was engaged in a full-scale bidding war with Orion's other major stockholder, Sumner M. Redstone of National Amusement Corporation. National Amusement had purchased all of Orion investor Viacom International, bringing its share of Orion to 21 percent, and then added an additional 5 percent of the company's stock to its holdings for a total of 26 percent. Shortly thereafter, Kluge raised his stake to 31 percent. In February 1988 Redstone filed for permission to increase his share to 36 percent, and Kluge responded by proposing to raise his stake to 57 percent. Outsiders wondered at the wisdom of such a duel. Orion's stock price was driven to perhaps unjustified heights, given the studio's high rate of long-term debt, which had reached 64 percent of capitalization.

Finally, Kluge triumphed on May 20, 1988, when he bought out Redstone's share in Orion for $78 million. Holding nearly 67 percent of Orion, Kluge became the owner of what was, in effect, a private company. Given that Orion's assets did not seem to merit the price paid for its stock, and that control of the company would have remained in friendly hands even without the buyout of Redstone, Wall Street observers were puzzled by the $78 million expenditure by Kluge. 'This amount is probably so small to Kluge it doesn't matter,' one analyst suggested to the Wall Street Journal. 'He probably burns that up in a weekend. '

Orion had reason to hope that this was the case, as the studio released a series of box office bombs in 1989. Orion's offerings that year included Erik the Viking, Heart of Dixie, and The Package. The company came in last in market share among major Hollywood studios, after the 17 films it released notched less than five percent of domestic box office revenues, pulling in just $60 million. Among its most expensive flops were Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis and Winona Ryder as his teenage bride; She-Devil, a domestic horror comedy featuring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Arnold; and Valmont, a remake of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, an eighteenth-century novel and twentieth-century play that already had been released as a movie in a different version, Dangerous Liaisons, just a few months earlier. Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American Actor. Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American Rock and roll and Country music Singer, Songwriter Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29 1971 better known under her professional name Winona Ryder, is an American actress She-Devil is a 1989 film starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr. Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an award-winning American Actress who has worked in Theatre, Roseanne Cherrie Barr, aka Roseanne Barr, aka Roseanne Arnold, aka Roseanne Thomas, aka Roseanne (born November 3 1952 is an Emmy Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Coming off this awful year, Orion announced a distribution agreement with Columbia Pictures Entertainment in February 1990, in which the much larger studio would release Orion's movies overseas. Columbia paid the studio $175 million as an advance against future earnings from all the films the company produced in the next six years, its next 50 videocassette releases, and some Orion television properties. Orion had previously relied on a patchwork quilt of distribution deals to get its movies into theaters in lucrative overseas markets, and the arrangement with Columbia allowed it to streamline and consolidate its distribution operations.

A week after the Columbia deal was closed, rumors began circulating that Metromedia would sell its share of Orion. Adding to this uncertainty, 1990 soon developed into another bad year for the studio. After releasing such disasters as Hot Spot, State of Grace, and Eve of Destruction, Orion racked up losses of $15. 6 million on revenues of $134. 9 million. In addition, creative accounting, which had allowed the company to postpone acknowledgement of its losses, began catching up with Orion.

The studio was in dire financial straits when it got a big break in December 1990 with the release of Kevin Costner's Western epic Dances with Wolves. Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American Actor, producer and Academy Award -winning director Dances with Wolves is a 1990 Epic film which tells the story of a United States Lieutenant who travels to the American Frontier to find a military post The film became a hit, generating well over $100 million at the box office. Orion followed this up in early 1991 with the release of the Silence of the Lambs, a thriller starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins that also did very well in ticket sales. The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 suspense film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19 1962 is a two-time Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe -award winning American

Despite these two bright spots, the bulk of Orion's offerings fared poorly at the box office, and Kluge, who had kept the studio afloat through periodic injections of cash, announced that his stake in the company was up for sale. With little to offer, Orion began actively seeking a willing investor.

In March 1991 Dances with Wolves won seven Academy Awards. That brief moment of glory for Orion was only slightly marred by the fact that the Academy Award ceremony's host had joked, according to the Wall Street Journal, that 'Awakenings is a film about people coming out of a coma; Reversal of Fortune is about someone going into a coma, and Dances with Wolves was made by a studio in a coma. Awakenings is a 1990 Drama film based on Oliver Sacks ' memoir of the same name. '

Indeed, signs of financial life at Orion were growing faint. Two high-profile hits were not enough to redeem several years of money-losing projects. In addition, the company had spent large sums in an attempt to begin producing shows for television, raising its long-term debt to $509 million and accepting the attendant heavy interest payments. The television unit never turned a profit, and it was closed in early 1991;it was sold to ABC and became ABC Productions, although Orion continued to retain ownership of all its television output. The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. Strapped for cash, Orion began selling off promising film projects, such as The Addams Family, at fire-sale prices in an attempt to stay in business(The Addams Family movie was sold to Paramount for U. The Addams Family is a 1991 Black comedy Film based on the characters from the cartoon of the same name, created by cartoonist S. distribution, while Orion got non-U. S. rights to the film).

In April 1991 Kluge, who still owned the bulk of the company, removed Orion's two top executives, including his friend Arthur B. Krim, and appointed younger executives from within the company to try to turn the studio around. One month later Orion reported a loss of $48 million on its last year of operations ceased interest payments on its debts, and entered negotiations with its unhappy bondholders. As Orion disclosed that legal but questionable accounting practices had hidden the full extent of its losses for much of its time in business, the company was stung by a series of lawsuits from angry shareholders.

By November 1991 Orion's losses had continued to mount, and its debt had reached $690 million. Although the company was trying desperately to reach an agreement with its creditors that would allow it to release films it had finished producing, talks broke down early in the next month. On December 11, 1991, Orion filed for bankruptcy and protection from its creditors in federal court. Planning to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, it continued to operate as 'debtor in possession' of its business, according to the legal papers.

Later in December 1991, New Line Cinema, a company that had grown successful with its Nightmare on Elm Street series and the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, put forward a plan to take over Orion. New Line Cinema, founded in 1967 is one of the major American Film studios Though it initially began as an independent film studio it became a A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American Horror film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the 1990 Live-action film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise In February 1992 Orion reported that it had worked out a deal with New Line Cinema, but talks foundered on the issue of price and were finally called off in April.

Studio employees with a taste for irony could have enjoyed the sweep of all five major Academy Awards by Silence of the Lambs, an Orion film, in March 1992, when the doomed negotiations were still in progress. By the time of Orion's posthumous triumph at the Oscars, however, most of its top executives, as well as the actors and producers with whom it had done business, had left the company. In their absence, Orion struggled to come up with a way to renew itself by releasing movies it had already produced. Hollywood observers held scant hope that Orion could be resurrected in anything resembling its previous form. At the time of the collapse of the New Line Cinema deal, one executive told the New York Times, 'the only other plans I'm aware of . . . are tantamount to liquidation. ' At the end of the summer of 1992, it was uncertain whether Orion would ultimately survive its crisis.

The financial troubles led president and CEO William Bernstein to leave Orion for Paramount Pictures (which coincidentally was later sold to Orion's former part-owner Viacom) that same year. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California.

Several projects in production at the time, such as Blue Sky, Car 54, Where Are You? and Clifford, had their releases delayed by three years (from 1991 to 1994) because of the company's filing for bankruptcy. Blue Sky is a 1994 film which tells the story of an Army officer whose outspokenness and his wife's mental difficulties have made him a Pariah to the Clifford is a 1994 Comedy film starring Martin Short, Charles Grodin, and Mary Steenburgen.

The company's financial troubles also prompted Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom to leave Orion Classics, taking the rights to the highly anticipated Merchant Ivory Productions adaptation of Howards End with them; at the invite of former Orion president Mike Medavoy, who was now relocated at Tri-Star Pictures, the three set up Sony Pictures Classics, with Howards End as the company's first release. Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom that acquired independent and foreign films Merchant Ivory Productions (1961-) is a film company founded by director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. Morris Mike Medavoy (born January 21, 1941) is an American film producer and executive co-founder of Orion Pictures (1978 former chairman TriStar Pictures Inc (spelled Tri-Star until 1991 is a film subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Sony Pictures Classics is one of two specialty film divisions of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the other being Screen Gems (which produces more genre-specific fare

Orion was eventually able to exit bankruptcy in 1996, but few of the films released during the four years under bankruptcy protection were successful either critically or commercially. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the Bankruptcy laws of the United States

In the years ahead, Orion produced very few films, and primarily released films from other producers, including LIVE Entertainment. LIVE Entertainment was a Los Angeles -based Home video distribution company originally founded as Family Home Entertainment in 1981 and were previously Orion Classics, minus its founders, continued to acquire popular art-house films such as Boxing Helena before Metromedia fused the subsidiary with The Samuel Goldwyn Company (SGC, which itself is succeeded by United Artists) in 1996. Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom that acquired independent and foreign films An Art film (also called an “art cinema” “art movie” or in the U Boxing Helena is the 1993 debut feature film by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch. The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an Independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr This article is about the film studio Previously it was affiliated with a cinema chain bearing its name now owned by Regal Entertainment Group.

In 1997, Metromedia sold Orion (as well as SGC and Motion Picture Corporation of America) to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with the deal finalized in late 1998. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Orion still operates today as an in-name-only subsidiary of MGM.

Notable films

During the 1980s, Orion's output included Woody Allen films, Hollywood blockbusters such as the first Terminator film and the RoboCop films, comedy movies such as Throw Momma from the Train, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Something Wild and Academy Award winners such as Amadeus, Platoon, Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1 1935 is an American Film director, Writer, Actor, Comedian, and The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction / Action film directed and co-written by James Cameron. RoboCop is a 1987 Cyberpunk film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film features Peter Weller, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Comedy film is a genre of Film in which the main emphasis is on humor. Throw Momma from the Train is a comedy film released in 1987. Something Wild is a 1986 comedy / Action film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. Amadeus is a 1984 drama directed by Miloš Forman. Based on Peter Shaffer 's stage play Amadeus, the film Platoon is a 1986 Vietnam War film written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger Dances with Wolves is a 1990 Epic film which tells the story of a United States Lieutenant who travels to the American Frontier to find a military post The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 suspense film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins,

Orion's library today

Orion and MGM

Almost all of Orion's releases from 1982 onward, as well as most of the AIP and Filmways backlogs and all the television output originally produced and distributed by Orion Television, now bear the MGM name. However, in most cases, the 1980s Orion logo is retained or added on, in the case of the Filmways and AIP libraries.

Orion releases produced by the Hemdale Film Corporation are included in MGM's library as well, although MGM did not acquire these films (which included The Terminator, Hoosiers, and Platoon) until it bought the Epic Productions library that owned the Hemdale library - this has since been incorporated into the Orion library. Hemdale Film Corporation (sometimes called Hemdale Releasing Corporation or Hemdale Pictures Corporation) known as Hemdale Communications after The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction / Action film directed and co-written by James Cameron. This page is about the movie "Hoosiers" Hoosiers is also the nickname of Indiana University athletic teams see Indiana Hoosiers. Platoon is a 1986 Vietnam War film written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger

MGM does not own all of Orion's releases, however, as stated below.

Exceptions

External links

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