The Filmgroup | |
Type: | Private |
Fate: | Dissolved |
Successor: | New World Pictures |
Location Country: | United States |
Products: | Motion pictures |
The Filmgroup was a production and distribution company founded by filmmakers Roger Corman and Gene Corman in 1959. Corman used it to make and distribute his own movies, as opposed to ones he was making for American International Pictures. (The reason is that AIP required films to be shot using union crews; working on his own, Corman could save money by going non-union.) The company ultimately folded, however, lessons from running the company helped Corman make a success later of New World Pictures. Filmgroup also produced early feature work of Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Charles B. Griffith, Curtis Harrington, Jack Hill, Monte Hellman, Robert Towne and Jack Nicholson.
Corman established his own company, Palo Alto Productions, in 1954, which was responsible for his first two movies. Filmgroup came out of a desire for Corman to move into distribution.
In February 1959 Filmgroup announced they would release ten films. Their first movies were High School Big Shot (1959) and T-Bird Gang (1959) produced by Stanley Bickman.[1] Corman would also buy films made by independent distributors, in addition to several films from the Soviet Union, which he would re-dub and have additional scenes shot and added to.[2]
Gene Corman left the company in 1963 to join 20th Century-Fox and Corman handed over distribution of his films to American International Pictures.[3] The company soon wound up.
Because Roger Corman often neglected to copyright his movies, most of these films are in the public domain.[4]
The following films were among those which Corman announced would be produced by Filmgroup but which were never made: