UIP
 |
|
| 50 / 50 joint venture | |
| Industry | Film |
| Predecessor |
Cinema International Corporation CIC Video |
| Founded | London (1970 as Cinema International Corporation) |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Owner |
Viacom (National Amusements) NBCUniversal (Comcast) |
| Parent |
Paramount Pictures Universal Studios |
| Website | UIP.com |
United International Pictures is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures (owned by Viacom) and Universal Studios (owned by NBCUniversal/Comcast) which distributes some of their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists films when MGM was part of the venture. In 2001, as MGM left UIP, they made a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox's overseas arm.
The company formerly distributed DreamWorks releases internationally as well.
Paramount's early history with MCA dates back to the 1950s, when part of its talent pool worked for Paramount Pictures, notably Alfred Hitchcock. In 1957, MCA purchased the pre-1950 Paramount sound feature film library. In 1962, MCA purchased Universal Studios. In 1966, Gulf+Western purchased Paramount.
In a cost-cutting move, in 1970, as a result of American anti-trust laws, and due to declining movie-going audiences, both Paramount and Universal, agreed to merge their international operations into a new company: Cinema International Corporation, registered in England and Wales. It even operated in Canada and the Caribbean until the late 70s, when those territories were considered part of the "domestic" North American market.
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Wikipedia