 | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | 2002; 23 years ago |
| Founder | |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people |
|
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Parent | Universal Pictures |
| Divisions | Focus World |
| Website | focusfeatures |
Focus Features LLC is an American independentfilm production anddistribution company, owned byComcast as a unit ofUniversal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's divisionNBCUniversal. Founded in 2002, Focus Features distributesindependent andforeign films in the United States and internationally.
In November 2018,The Hollywood Reporter named Focus Features "Distributor of the Year" for its success behind the year's breakout documentary filmWon't You Be My Neighbor? andSpike Lee'sBlacKkKlansman.[2] The studio's most successful film to date isDownton Abbey, which garnered $194.3 million at the worldwide box office.[3]
Focus Features' films have yielded numerous awards nominations. Its 175Academy Award nominations include 19 forBest Picture, with 35 Oscar wins across various categories.[4] However, as of 2025, Focus Features ranks asthe distributor with the most Best Picture nominations without a win.[a][5][6]
Focus Features was formed in 2002 by James Schamus[7] and David Linde[7] and formed from the divisional merger of USA Films, Universal Focus andGood Machine, as well as several assets of theVivendi-affiliated film studioStudioCanal.[8] USA Films was created byBarry Diller in 1999 when he purchasedInterscope Communications, certain assets of the film division ofPropaganda Films,October Films andGramercy Pictures fromSeagram and merged the three labels together;[9][10][1][11] USA Films was led byScott Greenstein.[12] Universal Focus was the specialty film arm ofUniversal Pictures that was created in 1999 as Universal Classics, which was led by Paul Hardart and Claudia Gray, to replace theOctober Films label in order to get a group of titles to be distributed by USA Films, focused on the marketing of niche-based acquisitions byUniversal Pictures International,Working Title, WT2 Productions,Revolution Films andDNA Films, and eventually rebranded into Universal Focus by 2000.[13][14]
In March 2004, Focus Features revivedRogue Pictures as a genre label, which was once used byOctober Films in the late 1990s. Rogue Pictures would be led by the same team who led the standard Focus management.[15]
On October 2, 2013, James Schamus was fired from his position as CEO of Focus, with the New York offices being shut down in the process. He was succeeded by Peter Schlessel, whose companyFilmDistrict would be merged into Focus and folded into the trade name High Top Releasing. This became effective in January 2014, and several titles developed under FilmDistrict would be released under Focus.[16] Under Schlessel, the company began to acquire films with a wider commercial appeal, much like his previous company.[17][18] In May 2015,Gramercy Pictures was revived by Focus as a genre label, that was on action, sci-fi, and horror films.[19]
In February 2016, Focus merged withUniversal Pictures International Productions as part of a new strategy to "align the acquisition and production of specialty films in the global market".[20][21][22] Following this, along with several disappointing box office returns, Schlessel was let go from the company and replaced withPeter Kujawski.[23]
In April 2017, Vine Alternative Investments re-acquired the pre-2008Rogue film library from Focus Features.[24]
In August 2011, Focus Features launched Focus World, a label focusing on thevideo on demand market with initial plans to distribute 15 films per year, with one film being released per month.[25]
As a distributor, Focus' most successful release in North America to date is the 2019 filmDownton Abbey, which earned $84.5 million during its first weekend at the box office and surpassingBrokeback Mountain, which earned $83 million at the North American box office.[26] However, this is not counting the domestic total ofTraffic, which earned $124.1 million under the USA Films banner. The animated filmCoraline 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.[27] ItsDVD and movie rights revenues are boosted bycult classics includingWet Hot American Summer.
| Rank | Title | Year | Worldwide Gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downton Abbey | 2019 | $194,694,725 |
| 2 | Coraline | 2009 | $185,860,104 |
| 3 | Nosferatu | 2024 | $180,774,059 |
| 4 | Brokeback Mountain | 2005 | $178,064,141 |
| 5 | Burn After Reading | 2008 | $163,728,902 |
| 6 | Darkest Hour | 2017 | $150,847,274 |
| 7 | Atonement | 2007 | $129,266,061 |
| 8 | The Theory of Everything | 2014 | $123,726,688 |
| 9 | Pride & Prejudice | 2005 | $121,616,555 |
| 10 | The Pianist | 2002 | $120,072,577 |
| 11 | Lost In Translation | 2003 | $118,688,756 |
| 12 | Insidious Chapter 3 | 2015 | $112,983,889 |
| 13 | The Boxtrolls | 2014 | $108,255,770 |
| 14 | Paranorman | 2012 | $107,139,399 |
| 15 | Conclave | 2024 | $112,062,067 |
| 16 | Atomic Blonde | 2017 | $100,014,025 |
| 17 | BlacKkKlansman | 2018 | $93,413,709 |
| 18 | Downton Abbey: A New Era | 2022 | $92,651,384 |
| 19 | The Constant Gardener | 2005 | $82,468,097 |
| 20 | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | 2011 | $81,515,369 |
| 21 | The Other Boleyn Girl | 2008 | $78,201,830 |
| 22 | Kubo And The Two Strings | 2016 | $76,249,438 |
| 23 | Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind | 2004 | $73,393,419 |
| 24 | The Northman | 2022 | $69,633,110 |
| 25 | Anna Karenina | 2012 | $68,929,150 |
With well over 120 nominations and 24 Oscars® over the years, Focus has had a seat at the awards table nearly every year—and we'll be there this year as well.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)