Manhattan Pictures

Manhattan Pictures Corporation was an American Mini-Major entertainment company, distributing (1968-2001) and producing (1983-2001) films to it's success. it is the largest mini-major film studio in the world until 9/11.

Manhattan was in in-name only under the name DreamWorks Libraries SKG since January 2002 and the entire library of these films Manhattan distributed are now owned by DreamWorks Pictures SKG while animated films are now owned by DreamWorks Animation SKG, although both DreamWorks studios are majorly reunited in 2022.

History
it was formed in 1968 by Liza Minnelli, Steven Spielberg and two Corman Brothers (Gene and Roger). two years later, Manhattan formed New World Pictures.

Manhattan did not have a logo until 1972, when the World Trade Center was built.

in October 1976, Manhattan decided to fold New World Pictures and on January 1, 1977, the New World was folded. the Corman Brothers left Manhattan to form another New World studio.

in 1978, Manhattan established its Home Video Arm. in 1979, Steven Spielberg left Manhattan due to Lawsuit from AMC Theatres about the World Trade Center logo.

in 1981, Liza Minnelli left Manhattan because Minnelli has lost her unborn baby at 5 months. without the founders, Manhattan will continue to distribute all films.

in 1982, Manhattan purchased Calvin Company and released all 500 titles Lippert produced on VHS and Laserdisc. after the success on the acquisition of Calvin, Manhattan purchased Cannon's pre-1982 library in May 1983.

in December 1983, Manhattan announced to distribute more animated films due to the Box Office Hit of The Last Unicorn, which became Manhattan's most successful film of 1982.

in 1984, Manhattan purchased the 300 films in the library of Flying A Productions and American distribution rights to the Shaw Brothers library.

in 1985, Manhattan decided to form their own record label called Manhattan Records after the success of all Manhattan's films' scores and songs.

after The Earth, among with other films, succeeded at the box office, Manhattan announced the sequels in 1986.

in 1990, Manhattan made a international (non USA and Canada) deal with United International Pictures to distribute Manhattan's films Internationally. in 1994, Manhattan formed a new american distribution arm called Manhattan Distribution following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

in 1998, Manhattan sold ITC to Polygram and HBO to Time Warner after the 1998 Bank of America robbery, but Manhattan retained all ITC film library and HBO continues to make a deal with Manhattan until December 31, 2000.

after the September 11 Attack in 2001, it was purchased by DreamWorks Pictures then it was renamed DreamWorks Pictures Corporation. in January 2002, DreamWorks started releasing all Manhattan's library on DVD.

in March 2002, Manhattan is folded into DreamWorks.

After Manhattan's Folding
in 2002, DreamWorks announced to replace Manhattan's logos with DreamWorks logos. after DreamWorks Animation SKG became independent 2004, Manhattan's animated films were owned by DreamWorks Animation, now a division of NBCUniversal (now DreamWorks-NBC) since 2016.

in 2005 when Viacom purchased DreamWorks, the entire library were sold to DreamWorks Media LLC.

the Shaw, Hammer, pre-1982 Cannon, Compass International, Calvin, Rysher, Flying A, Calvin and pre-2000 HBO films are now no longer owned by Manhattan since 2016 due to Comcast buying DreamWorks Animation. and also, the Quinn Martin library were sold to Liberty Media.

and as for the libraries of ITC Entertainment, they have reverted to ITV. the North American rights to the Shaw Brothers films are now in the hands of Thunderfilm Entertainment, and the rest of Manhattan's library are now owned by the newly formed Manhattan Inc, a new division of DreamWorks.

Logo
Manhattan Pictures was known to use the pre-9/11 World Trade Center (aka Twin Towers) logo for films. in 1986, the logo was changed, the Twin Towers turned grey, the sky turned all light and the Blue building (on toe bottom right) is added. in 1990, the logo was changed again, with the Clouds being added and the sky being more lighter and the Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center; on the Bottom left) is added.

Calvin/Libbert/Regal films has the Alternate logo, which features the Darker sky with more clouds and the towers were gold instead of silver.

after the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001, the logo disappeared. in 2002, the idea about constructing the Trump Twin Towers, but are cancelled for the reason. this logo is seen on Manhattan films released in 2002 only.

for most prints since 9/11, DreamWorks threw out the Manhattan logos in favor of black and white and color retro DreamWorks logo.

Library
unlike Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Disney Pictures/20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and StudioCanal, Manhattan's future parent company DreamWorks SKG has owned Manhattan's own films as well as it's entire Library.


 * Calvin Company
 * Boxoffice International Pictures
 * Associated Producers Incorporated
 * Regal Pictures
 * Lippert Pictures
 * Flying A Productions
 * John Ford films
 * Hammer Films (US rights only)
 * Eagle-Lion Films
 * King Brothers Productions
 * Cannon Pictures (pre-December 31, 1982 films only)
 * Compass International Pictures
 * Larry Darmour Productions
 * Shaw Brothers Studio (US Rights only)
 * pre-2000 HBO films
 * the ITC Entertainment library (except for the first two Muppet Movies, ITC Films distributed by Embassy Pictures and TriStar Pictures, and all pre-1980 films)
 * Rysher Entertainment
 * Worldvision Enterprises
 * The Sunn Classic Pictures and Titus Productions libraries
 * The Taft International Pictures and Taft Entertainment Television libraries, including the game show Blackout
 * Majority of the Quinn Martin library.
 * libraries formerly owned by former Viacom subsidiary Paramount Pictures
 * the pre-January 1, 1977 New World Pictures Library
 * pre-1960 United States Pictures library
 * Jensen Farley Pictures

International Film Distributor
Manhattan's intentional distribution arm Manhattan International was established in 1970 to distribute Manhattan's films Internationally. in 1992, it's international arm was closed when Manhattan made a international distribution deal with United International Pictures.

Films
List of Manhattan Pictures films

Note
Most of the Manhattan Pictures library were now owned by DreamWorks since 9/11. some rights, including The Muppet Movie, stays under copyright in but not owned by DreamWorks.

DreamWorks now distributes most of Manhattan library on home media (except for the ITC library, Although British/Japanese home entertainment rights were distributed by DreamWorks Home Entertainment) and television (although the TV rights to HBO's pre-2000 library remains with HBO).

Trivia

 * Manhattan Pictures is inspired by Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Studios (which Disney now owns), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Judy Garland Pictures (which Sony now owns), DreamWorks Pictures (Manhattan's subsequent parent), DreamWorks' current owner Universal Pictures.