National General Pictures
| Industry | Motion pictures |
|---|---|
| Fate | liquidated |
| Predecessor | Fox Theatres |
| Successor | Mann Theatres |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Defunct | November 1973 |
Number of locations |
240 (1973 theaters) 6 distribution offices (1969) |
| Products | film distribution, film exhibition, television production and distribution |
Production output | theatrical films |
| Services |
film distribution film exhibition |
| Divisions |
National General Pictures National General Records Banner Productions |
National General Corporation (NGC) was a theater chain holding company, film distribution and production company and was considered one of the "instant majors". It was in operation from 1951 to 1973.
Divisions
Its division National General Pictures (NGP) was a production company which was active between 1967 and 1973. NGP produced nine motion pictures in-house. The company was a division of the National General Corporation (NGC) which started as the spun out Fox Theatre chain of movie houses, which were later sold to the Mann Theatres Corporation.
National General had its own record label, National General Records, that operated for at least three years and was distributed by Buddah Records.[1]
History
| year | Theaters |
|---|---|
| 1951 | 550 |
| 1957 | 275 |
| 1973 | 240 |
National General Corporation was the successor of 20th Century Fox theater division with 550 theaters when spun off in 1951 and reduced in half by court order six years later.[li 1]
National General entered distribution in 1966 under a three-year waiver from the consent decrees[li 2] with six distribution offices.[li 3] In 1967 the American CBS Television network decided to produce their own films for cinema release through their production unit Cinema Center Films, releasing films through the National General Corporation, a film distribution network. NGC had also entered theatrical film production in 1967 as National General Pictures (NGP) under Charles Boasberg. The American ABC television network had done the same thing with Cinerama forming another instant major partnership. In 1969 after a request for indefinite waiver, the consent decree waiver was extended for another three years. NGC gained another production partner in 1969 with the formation of First Artist Productions (FAP). When the company failed to acquire Warner Bros. in 1969 by reject from the Anti-Trust Division of the Justice Department, NGP was closed in 1970.[li 2] While by 1970, all the instant majors had each captured 10% of the market.[li 3] NGC was taken over by American Financial Corporation in 1972 following Cinema Center's closure, but continued distributing films until 1973. American Financial in November 1973 sold NGC/NGP's releasing contracts and film library to Warner Bros.[li 2] National General, now just containing 240 theaters, were sold in 1973 to Mann Theatres.[li 1]
Today, the in-house productions are in the hands of Warner Bros., while the Cinema Center Films productions are now with CBS, with Paramount Pictures handling theatrical distribution on CBS' behalf, and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS Home Entertainment handling home video rights. CBS Television Distribution handling theatrical distribution rights today.
Partial list of film titles
Titles in bold text were produced by Cinema Center Films, the former theatrical film production arm of CBS.
1960s
| Release Date | Title |
|---|---|
| September 6, 1967 | Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion |
| January 31, 1968 | Poor Cow |
| August 7, 1968 | With Six You Get Eggroll |
| August 21, 1968 | How Sweet It Is! |
| December 25, 1968 | The Stalking Moon |
| February 26, 1969 | Twisted Nerve |
| March 13, 1969 | Charro! |
| May 10, 1969 | A Fine Pair |
| May 28, 1969 | The April Fools |
| July 2, 1969 | Daddy's Gone A-Hunting |
| July 13, 1969 | Me, Natalie |
| September 17, 1969 | All Neat in Black Stockings |
| October 4, 1969 | Hail, Hero! |
| October 6, 1969 | The Royal Hunt of the Sun |
| October 22, 1969 | The Grasshopper |
| November 1969 | Day of Anger |
| December 4, 1969 | A Boy Named Charlie Brown |
| December 15, 1969 | A Dream of Kings |
| December 25, 1969 | The Reivers |
1970s
| Release Date | Title |
|---|---|
| March 17, 1970 | The Boys in the Band |
| April 29, 1970 | A Man Called Horse |
| June 12, 1970 | The Cheyenne Social Club |
| June 19, 1970 | El Condor |
| July 22, 1970 | Something for Everyone |
| July 1970 | Tarzan's Deadly Silence |
| August 14, 1970 | Darker than Amber |
| September 22, 1970 | Adam at Six A.M. |
| October 1, 1970 | The Baby Maker |
| October 7, 1970 | Monte Walsh |
| November 5, 1970 | Scrooge |
| November 23, 1970 | Homer |
| December 4, 1970 | Latitude Zero |
| December 18, 1970 | Rio Lobo |
| December 23, 1970 | Little Big Man |
| February 10, 1971 | Eyewitness |
| May 21, 1971 | The Cat o' Nine Tails |
| May 26, 1971 | Big Jake |
| June 1, 1971 | Blue Water, White Death |
| June 15, 1971 | Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? |
| June 23, 1971 | Le Mans |
| July 16, 1971 | The Light at the Edge of the World |
| July 18, 1971 | Figures in a Landscape |
| October 20, 1971 | The Todd Killings |
| October 1971 | The African Elephant |
| November 1971 | The Christian Licorice Store |
| November 1971 | Something Big |
| January 9, 1972 | Eagle in a Cage |
| February 1, 1972 | Pocket Money |
| March 1972 | The Little Ark |
| June 1, 1972 | The War Between Men and Women |
| June 9, 1972 | Red Sun |
| June 21, 1972 | The Revengers |
| June 22, 1972 | The Dead Are Alive |
| June 28, 1972 | Prime Cut |
| August 9, 1972 | Snoopy, Come Home |
| October 25, 1972 | The Deadly Trap |
| October 1972 | Lapin 360 |
| October 1972 | Treasure Island |
| December 8, 1972 | The Master Touch |
| December 13, 1972 | The Getaway |
| December 18, 1972 | The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean |
| December 21, 1972 | Up the Sandbox |
| 1973 | One Armed Boxer |
| March 4, 1973 | Baxter! |
| March 1973 | Fists of Fury |
| May 1, 1973 | The Chinese Connection |
| May 16, 1973 | Extreme Close-Up |
| May 23, 1973 | A Warm December |
| July 13, 1973 | Lady Ice |
| August 1, 1973 | Maurie |
| September 5, 1973 | Hapkido |
| September 24, 1973 | The Man Called Noon |
| September 24, 1973 | The New One-Armed Swordsman |
| October 7, 1973 | The Second Gun |
| October 24, 1973 | Massacre in Rome |
| November 7, 1973 | Executive Action |
| January 2, 1974 | Chinese Hercules |
| May 1974 | The Master Touch |
Television shows
- Tarzan (produced by Banner Productions, a division of the company)
- The Trouble with Tracy (co-produced with CTV Television Network)
- Storefront Lawyers
References
- ↑ Eyries, Patrice, David Edwards and Mike Callahan. (October 21, 2005). National General Album Discography. Discography Listings. Both Sides Now Publications. Accessed on January 3, 2014.
- Cook, David A. (2000). Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979. University of California Press.
- 1 2 Motion Picture Exhibition in 1970s America. Page 400.
- 1 2 3 Orders of Magnitude I. Page 331-332.
- 1 2 Orders of Magnitude I. Page 333.