Focus Features

Focus Features LLC
Subsidiary
Industry Film
Founded 2002
Headquarters Universal City, California, United States
Key people
 Peter Kujawski (Chairman)
Products Motion pictures
Owner NBCUniversal
(Comcast)
Parent Universal Pictures International
(2016–present)
Divisions Focus World
Subsidiaries Gramercy Pictures
High Top Releasing
Website Official website

Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast through the Universal Studios division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the United States and internationally.

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

In February 2016, Focus merged with Universal Pictures International as part of a new strategy to "align the acquisition and production of specialty films in the global market".[8][9][10]

Focus World

In August 2011, Focus Features launched Focus World, a label focusing on the video on demand market with initial plans to distribute 15 films per year, with one film being released per month.[11]

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.
  8. ↑ "FOCUS FEATURES AND UNIVERSAL PICTURES INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS TO MERGE OPERATIONS UNDER FOCUS FEATURES BANNER". NBCUniversal. 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
  9. ↑ "Focus Features Shake-Up: Peter Schlessel Out". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
  10. ↑ "Focus Features Shake-Up: What's Behind Peter Schlessel's Abrupt Exit". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
  11. ↑ Team, Indiewire (August 23, 2011). "Focus Features Launches VOD Premiere Label Focus World". Indiewire.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
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