6: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Warner Bros., currently a subsidiary of Time Warner, is one of the largest major American film studios and entertainment companies. Multiple additional subsidiaries sit under the Warner Bros. umbrella including Warner Home Video, Warner Bro. Interactive Entertainment, New Line Cinema, and DC Entertainment. The company currently owns half of the CW Television Network as well.
Founder(s): Albert, Harry, Sam, and Jack L. Warner.
Location: Burbank, California, USA
5: Paramount Pictures (1912)
Commonly referred to as Paramount Studios, the company sits as the fifth oldest film studios in the world. Easily recognizable by it’s mountain-in-the-clouds logo surrounded by a ring of stars (originally 24, later reduced to 22), the Paramount logo design has undergone approximately 7 notable changes since the 1930s. Major film titles include Titanic (1997), Forrest Gump (1994), Iron Man (2008), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Ghost (1990).
Founder(s): W. W. Hodkinson, Adolph Zukor, and Jesse L. Lasky
Location: Hollywood California, USA
4: Universal Studios (1912)
Universal Studios has been going strong for over 100 years. Originally founded as Universal Film Factory by 8 individuals, Universal is now a subsidiary of Comcast’s NBCUniversal. The entertainment company is considered one of Hollywood’s “Big Six” film studios. As of today, Universal’s highest grossing film productions include Jurassic World (2015), which is currently the world’s third highest-grossing film of all time, E.T. the Extraterrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), Despicable Me 2 (2013), and Furious 7 (2015). Universal is also responsible for the classic film Jaws.
Founder(s): Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour.
Location: Universal City, California, USA
3: Nordisk Film (1906)
Nordisk may be the third oldest film studio in the world, trailing only behind Gaumont and Pathé, but it is the oldest company still active. The company currently produces and co-produces both national and international feature films in Denmark, Norway, and Swedem. Founded on November, 6, 1906, Nordisk Film is due to celebrate it’s 109th birthday is just a week.
Founder(s): Ole Olsen
Location: Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark
2: Pathé (1896)
Pathé is currently a collection of businesses including a film production company originally started by the Pathé brothers. Pathé held a spot as the world’s largest film equipment and production company in the early 1900s and today remains a major film production and distribution company. Pathé additionally owns a large number of cinemas across Europe and France as well as several television networks.
Founder(s): The Pathé Brothers (Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé)
Location: France
1: Gaumont Film Company (1895)
Last but not least, we have the Gaumont Film Company, the first and oldest film company in the world. The company produces, co-produces, and distributes films all over the world, often collaborating with other companies like Pathé. Most of Gaumont’s film catalogues containe French language cinema. The logo is the ox-eye daisy.
Founder(s): Léon Gaumont
Location: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France