For 100 years, MGM has quietly been a powerhouse of cinema. Once a member of the ¨big six,” MGM has delivered many great films and series. On April 17th, 1924, the merger of Mayer Studios and Goldwyn Pictures occurred, and Metro-Goldwin-Meyer was born. In its first two years, the studio produced nearly a hundred films, including Ben Hur in 1925. Into the 1930s, MGM brought in a host of new pictures and stars and became one of the last studios to move into the “sound era” of film. In 1939, MGM released Gone With The Wind, which remains one of the most successful films to date.
During the 1940s and ‘50s, MGM found success with several musicals starring a variety of actors. In 1951, co-founder of MGM Louis B. Mayer resigned as manager of MGM, beginning a new era. Additionally, the birth of the television era led MGM to invest in expanding into the new market, and the first show it produced was The MGM Parade.
Following the smash success of the 1959 remake of Ben Hur, MGM tried to rely on big-budget epics but had limited success. Things seemed to get back on track in the late ‘60s with hits like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Where Eagles Dare in 1968. The ‘70s had the studio produce a few hit films like Westworld in 1973. In 1981, MGM acquired United Artists (UA), giving MGM lucrative access to the favorable James Bond and Rocky films, which saw additional films during the ‘80s.
The 1990s brought legal turmoil within MGM/UAs popular James Bond series. Eventually, the franchise returned with Goldeneye in 1995. In the latter half of the 90s, the company began investing in other studios and outsourced deals with various companies.
The turn of the new millennium brought further changes for MGM. In 2003, the company attempted to take over media giant Universal Studios, but it backfired, costing MGM millions. The company transferred much of its home media assets to Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox in 2006.
In November 2010, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but just over a month later, the company was able to exit bankruptcy. The rest of the 2010s saw MGM serve predominantly as a production company, with many of its films, like Zookeeper (2011) and Robocop (2014), distributed through Sony Pictures Releasing.
In 2021, mega-corporation Amazon acquired MGM in a $8.5 billion deal. Despite this, Amazon continues to run MGM´s theatrical department, and every year, new releases from MGM are still hitting theaters. Recently, Amazon produced MGM films like Creed III (2023) and The Boys in The Boat (2023).
While Amazon now owns MGM, MGM’s first 100 years were full of complex sales, mergers, and acquisitions. However, it also included many hit films and film series that continue to live with audiences today. I can only hope that more will follow in MGM’s next 100 years.
