History of Paramount

Pictures
By: Adriano Pucci

The Beginning Of A
Legacy
Paramount Pictures was
founded by Adolph
Zukor as Famous Players
Film Company in 1912.

Since its beginning in

Adolph
Zukor

1912, Paramount
Pictures has grown to be
the longest operating
and only major studio
that still remains in
Hollywood to this day.

The Beginning Of A
Legacy (contd)
Soon after its birth, Famous
Players Film Company merged
with the Jesse L Lasky Feature
Play Company to form Paramount
Pictures in 1916.

As they merged, they acquired

Paramount to aid in the
distribution of their films.

Paramount began to gain

notoriety and traction as they
began to feature massively
popular movie stars such as Mary
Pickford and Rudolph Valentino.
Rudolph
Valentino

The Beginning Of A
Legacy (contd)
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Paramount began to
increase its footprint in the film world by welcoming various
other stars to their company, such as Claudette Colbert and
Gary Cooper.

The films featuring these stars continued to be drastically

successful, but Paramounts chain of movie theatres began to
decline in sales due to a rapid incorporation of sound into film.

This, along with other factors, caused Paramount Pictures to

declare bankruptcy in 1933.

But, this didnt last long, as the success of of films such as The
Lady Eve (1941) and Sunset Boulevard (1950) started to bring
Paramount out of bankruptcy.

The Beginning Of A
Legacy (contd)
In the mid-1960s, Paramount merged with
Joseph E. Levine, Inc. to form Paramount
Communications Inc.

Some films created by Paramount during this

period include Love Story (1970) and The
Godfather (1972).