Republic Pictures Home Video
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| Motion pictures | |
| Founded | 1935 (original) 1985 (relaunched) |
| Defunct | 1959 (original) 1996 (re-defunct) |
| Headquarters | Studio City, Los Angeles, California |
| Owner | National Amusements |
| Parent | Viacom |
Republic Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935-59, based in Los Angeles, California. It had studio facilities in Studio City and a movie ranch in Encino. It was best known for specializing in Westerns, serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action. Republic was also notable for developing the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. It was also responsible for the financing and distribution of several John Ford-directed films during the 1940s and early 1950s and one Shakespeare film, Macbeth (1948), directed by Orson Welles.
Created in 1935 by Herbert J. Yates, a longtime investor in film (having invested in 20th Century Pictures at its founding 1933) and music properties and founder and owner and head of the film processing laboratory Consolidated Film Industries, Republic was initially formed by Yates' acquisition of six smaller independent Poverty Row studios.
In the depths of the Great Depression, Yates' laboratory was no longer servicing the major studios, which had developed their own in-house laboratories for purposes of both economy and control, while the small, independent producers were going under in the face of Depression-born increased competition from the majors combined with the general impact of the depressed economy. In 1935 he thus decided to create a studio of his own to insure Consolidated's stability. Six surviving small companies (Monogram Pictures, Mascot Pictures, Liberty Pictures, Majestic Pictures, Chesterfield Pictures and Invincible Pictures) were all in debt to Yates' lab. He prevailed upon these studios to merge under his leadership or else face foreclosure on their outstanding lab bills. Yates' new company, Republic Pictures Corporation, was presented to their producer-owners as a collaborative enterprise focused on low-budget product.
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