EUE/Screen Gems

EUE/Screen Gems Ltd. is a film and television studio company that owns and operates facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia and New York City. The company collaborates with other studios and producers for the development, production, marketing and distribution of entertainment for feature film, television, and digital content.

History

In 1965 Columbia Pictures acquired a fifty percent intent in the New York-based commercial production company EUE (Elliot, Unger and Elliot); Mike Elliot and brother Steve Elliot directed while William Unger handled the business end. The commercial company was incorporated into Screen Gems (the television production division of Columbia Pictures) and renamed EUE/Screen Gems.

In 1982, Columbia Pictures was sold to Coca-Cola. At that time EUE/Screen Gems and the New York production facility were sold to longtime Columbia Pictures Executive, George Cooney.

In 1984, producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased a studio facility in Wilmington. It operated under the name DEG (De Laurentiis Entertainment Group), until 1990 when it was purchased by Carolco Pictures.

In 1996, EUE/Screen Gems would acquire the Wilmington Studios from Carolco (which entered bankruptcy proceedings) and renamed it EUE/Screen Gems Studios. In May 2009 EUE/Screen Gems Studios opened a 10th "Dream Stage" in Wilmington. The studio is a 37,500-square-foot (3,480 m²) columnless structure with a 50x50x6 foot 90,000 gallon special effects water tank.

In 2010 EUE/Screen Gems signed a 50-year lease with the City of Atlanta, Georgia to use the historic Lakewood Fairgrounds as a film and TV production studio.^[1] In addition to refurbishing and using the historic structures already on the property, the company has built a 37,500-square-foot (3,480 m²) sound stage. A number of television series, films and commercials have already been filmed, or are currently filmed, at the new studio.

Notes

• The CW Television Network show One Tree Hill and The WB's Dawson's Creek and over 300 films, commercials and television projects have been shot at the Wilmington studios. Other productions produced in Wilmington include CBS's Under the Dome, HBO's Eastbound and Down, and the Fox Network's Sleepy Hollow; plus 2013 box office #1 films Iron Man 3 and The Conjuring, and We're the Millers.
• Rachael Ray (TV series) is produced for Harpo Productions and distributed by CBS Television Distribution at the New York facility which has also hosted hundreds of productions since 1965.
• Brandon Lee was killed at the Wilmington studios following a firearms malfunction during filming for the box office #1 The Crow (1994 film).

References