Focus Features

Focus Features
Subsidiary of Universal Pictures/NBCUniversal
Industry Film
Founded 1992 (Gramercy Pictures)
1999 (USA Films)
2002 (Focus Features)
Headquarters Universal City, California, United States
Products Motion pictures
Brands film distributor
Owners Universal Studios
Parent NBCUniversal
(Comcast)
Divisions Focus World
Subsidiaries Gramercy Pictures (Label)
Website focusfeatures.com

Focus Features (formerly USA Films, Universal Focus, Good Machine, October Films, Gramercy Pictures and FilmDistrict) is the art house films division of NBCUniversal, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for independent and foreign films.

History

Focus Features was formed from the 2002 divisional merger of USA Films, Universal Focus and Good Machine. USA Films was created by Barry Diller in 1999 when he purchased October Films and Gramercy Pictures from Seagram and merged the two units together.[1][2]

Focus' most successful release in North America to date is Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned $83 million at the North American box office. However, this is not counting the domestic total of Traffic (2000), which earned $124.1 million under the USA Films banner. Focus' most successful international release is Burn After Reading (2008), which earned $163.7 million in worldwide gross revenue.[3][4][5] The animated film Coraline (which Focus did not produce, but did distribute) was also highly profitable for the company. Although suffering its share of unsuccessful releases, Focus has been consistently profitable, and its international sales arm (unusual among studio specialty film divisions) allows it to receive the foreign as well as domestic revenues from its releases.[6] Its DVD and movie rights revenues are boosted by cult classics including Wet Hot American Summer.

In May 2015, Gramercy was revived by Focus as a genre label, that was on action, sci-fi, and horror films.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Diller gets back into movies". The Telegraph-Herald. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Universal Adds Division for Specialty Films". Los Angeles Times. September 28, 1999. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Focus Features All Time Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ "USA Films All Time Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Burn After Reading (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ Claudia Eller, "Positive cash flow through hits and misses makes Focus Features an attractive asset", Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Focus Revives Gramercy Pictures Label For Genre Films". Deadline Hollywood (Deadline.com). May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2015.

External links

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