 Logo used since 2022 | |
| Orion Pictures | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Film |
| Founded | 1978; 47 years ago (1978) (original; as Orion Pictures Corporation) 2013; 12 years ago (2013) (relaunch; under the Orion Pictures label) |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | 1999; 26 years ago (1999) (original) |
| Fate | Folded intoMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, currently active as a copyright holder for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (original) |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Alana Mayo (president)[1][2] |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Parent |
|
| Divisions | Orion Classics |
Orion Releasing, LLC (doing business asOrion Pictures) is an Americanfilm production anddistribution company owned by theAmazon MGM Studios subsidiary ofAmazon. In its current incarnation, Orion focuses primarily on producing, distributing, and acquiringindependent andspecialty films made by underrepresented filmmakers.
It was founded in 1978 asOrion Pictures Corporation, ajoint venture betweenWarner Bros. and three former senior executives atUnited Artists (UA). The company produced and released films from 1978 through 1999 and was also involved in television production and syndication in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was one of the largest mini-major studios during its early years, when it worked with prominent directors such asWoody Allen,James Cameron,Jonathan Demme, andOliver Stone.[3] Four films distributed by Orion wonAcademy Awards forBest Picture:Amadeus (1984),Platoon (1986),Dances with Wolves (1990), andThe Silence of the Lambs (1991).[4]
In 1997, Orion was acquired byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and was folded into MGM in 1999. MGM later revived the Orion name for television in 2013 and relaunched Orion Pictures a year later. In 2022, Amazon acquired Orion when it acquired MGM.
On February 6, 1978, three executives ofTransamerica (TA)-owned studioUnited Artists (UA)—Arthur B. Krim (chairman),Eric Pleskow (president and chief executive officer), andRobert Benjamin (chairman of the finance committee)—quit their jobs. Krim and Benjamin had headed UA since 1951 and subsequently turned around the then-flailing studio with a number of critical and commercial successes. Change had begun once Transamerica purchased UA in 1967 and, within a decade, a rift formed between Krim and Transamerica chairmanJohn R. Beckett concerning the studio's operations. Krim suggested spinning off UA into a separate company which was rejected by Beckett.[5]
The last straw came for Pleskow when he refused to collect and deliver the medical records of UA department heads to Transamerica's offices in San Francisco for the sake of confidentiality. The tensions only worsened whenFortune magazine reported an article on the clash between UA and TA in which Beckett had stated that, if the executives disliked the parent company's treatment of them, they should resign.[5] Krim, Benjamin and Pleskow quit UA on January 13, 1978, followed by the exits of senior vice presidents William Bernstein andMike Medavoy three days later. The week following the resignations, according to the websiteReference for Business, 63 important Hollywood figures took out an advertisement in a trade paper warning Transamerica that it had made a fatal mistake in letting the five men leave. The 'fatal mistake' came true following the box-office disaster ofHeaven's Gate[6] in 1980 which led to Transamerica selling UA toMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).[7]
That same year, the five men forged a deal withWarner Bros.[8] The executives formed Orion Pictures Company, named afterthe constellation which they claimed had five main stars (it actually has seven or eight). The new company intended only to finance projects, giving the filmmakers complete creative autonomy; this ideal had been successfully implemented at United Artists. Orion held a $100 million line of credit and its films would be distributed by theWarner Bros. studio. Orion, however, was contractually given free rein over distribution and advertising as well as the number and type of films the executives chose to invest in.[9]
In late March 1978, Orion signed its first contract, a two-picture deal withJohn Travolta's production company. Contracts with actress and directorBarbra Streisand; actorsJames Caan,Jane Fonda,Peter Sellers,Jon Voight, andBurt Reynolds; directorsFrancis Ford Coppola andBlake Edwards; writer/directorJohn Milius; singerPeter Frampton; and producerRay Stark soon materialized.[6][10] Orion also developed a co-financing and distribution deal withEMI Films.[6] In its first year, Orion had fifteen films in production and had a dozen more actors, directors and producers lining up to sign with them.[6]
Benjamin died in October 1979.[11] Orion's first film,A Little Romance,[12] was released in April that year. Later that year, Orion releasedBlake Edwards'10 which became a commercial success, the first for Edwards in over a decade (aside from installments ofThe Pink Panther franchise). Other films released by Orion over the next two years included a few successes such asCaddyshack (1980) andArthur (1981); critically praised but underperforming films such asThe Great Santini (1979), an adaptation of aPat Conroy novel, andSidney Lumet'sPrince of the City (1981); and pictures by young writer-directors such asPhilip Kaufman'sThe Wanderers (1979) andNicholas Meyer's debutTime After Time (1979); plusMonty Python's Life of Brian (1979) which Orion only distributed in the United States. Out of the 23 films Orion released between April 1979 and December 1981, only a third of them made a profit.[13] Orion executives were conflicted over financing big-budgeted films and passed onRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981) for that reason.[14]
By early 1982, Orion had severed its distribution ties with Warner Bros. As part of the deal, the rights to Orion's films made up to that point were sold to Warner Bros. Orion was now looking to have its own distribution network by acquiring another company with such capabilities. The four partners looked intoAllied Artists andEmbassy Pictures[15] before settling onFilmways.[16] Orion subsequently purchased Filmways and reorganized the flailing company. New employees were hired and all of Filmways' non-entertainment assets (Grosset & Dunlap andBroadcast Electronics) were sold off.[6][16]
Another result of the merger was that Orion entered television production. Orion's biggest television hit wasCagney & Lacey, which lasted seven seasons onCBS. In 1983, Orion Pictures introduced art-house divisionOrion Classics with executives who had previously runUnited Artists Classics.[16][17]
Out of the initial 18 films released by the firm under the name of Orion Pictures Corporation, ten made profits, five just managed to cover their costs, and three suffered losses under $2 million.[6] One such film,Francis Ford Coppola'sThe Cotton Club, was mired in legal troubles and Orion lost $3 million of its investment.[6] "We've had some singles and doubles [but haven't] had any home runs," lamented Krim.[6] In September 1984, Orion distributedAmadeus, which garnered many accolades, winning eightAcademy Awards, includingBest Picture.[6] That year, on April 3, 1984, Orion Pictures launched Orion Entertainment Group, that would consist of four groups, Orion Television, Orion Home Video, Orion Pay Television and Orion Television Syndication, and the new organization would produce and distribute product for television, home video, pay and syndicated markets, withJamie Kellner serving as president.[18] On October 26, 1984, the company released theJames Cameron-directedscience fiction filmThe Terminator which was well received by critics and audience and led to a franchise involving five further films. However, Orion distributed none of the follow-ups.
For Orion, 1985 was a dismal year. All but two films,Desperately Seeking Susan andCode of Silence, made less than $10 million at the United States box office, including an unsuccessful attempt at aJames Bond-type franchise,Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.[6] Orion's haphazard distribution channels and unsuccessful advertising campaigns made it impossible to achieve a hit. Another factor was that Orion was about to venture into the video business and stopped selling home-use rights to its films. Furthermore, the production of theRodney Dangerfield comedyBack to School was put on hold when a co-producer died, taking the film off of its Christmas 1985 release slate.[19]
In January 1986,Mario Kassar andAndrew Vajna, producers of theRambo films (the first film,First Blood, was distributed by Orion) attempted to buy $55 million worth of the studio's stock through the duo's company,Anabasis. Had they succeeded, Kassar and Vajna would have controlled the board and laid off every executive save for Krim.[19] Warburg Pincus subsequently limited its 20% stake in Orion to 5%; the remaining stock was acquired byViacom International.[6] Viacom hoped to use Orion's product for its pay-television channelShowtime.[20] Orion expanded into home video distribution with the formation of Orion Home Entertainment Corporation in 1985,[21] which began distributing videos under theOrion Home Video label in 1987 (before OHV's formation,HBO Video and their predecessors, as well as former Orion's partnerWarner Home Video,Vestron Video andEmbassy Home Entertainment, had been responsible for home media releases of Orion product).[6]
On May 22, 1986, a 6.5% stake in Orion was purchased byMetromedia, a television and communications company controlled by billionaire (and a friend of Krim's)John Kluge. Metromedia had just divested its television station group toRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation (which would form what is now theFox network). Kluge's investment in Orion came at the right time;Back to School was a success that earned $90 million at the box office.[6] By March 1987, the studio's fortunes had increased dramatically with a succession of critical and commercial hits, includingPlatoon (which ultimately won a Best Picture Oscar), Woody Allen'sHannah and Her Sisters, and the sports filmHoosiers. Orion's 1986 offerings drew 18 Academy Award nominations, more than any other studio.[6] In 1987, Orion achieved further success withRoboCop andNo Way Out.[6] By this time, Orion's television division had expanded into the lucrative syndicated game show market under the name Century Towers Productions, a reference to Orion's street address. It produced revivals of format inherited fromHeatter-Quigley Productions, owned since the late 1960s by Filmways; this includedThe New Hollywood Squares, which ran from 1986 to 1989, and a revival ofHigh Rollers that aired in the 1987–88 season. 1987 also saw the arrival of formerCBS/Fox Video executive Len White, who became president and CEO of Orion Home Video, with plans to release its first home video titles in the third or fourth quarter of that year; he reported to Larry Hilford, who joined the home video division two years earlier.[22]
In January 1987, Kluge faced competition with the arrival ofSumner Redstone, whose theater chain,National Amusements, purchased 6.42% of Orion's stock. National Amusements later acquired Viacom, increasing their Orion stake to 21%, then 26%. Soon Kluge started buying more Orion stock, touching off a battle with Redstone over control of the company.[23][24] Kluge won on May 20, 1988, when Metromedia took over about 67% of Orion.[6] One analyst toldThe Wall Street Journal: "This amount is probably so small to Kluge it doesn't matter. He probably burns that up in a weekend."[6]
In 1989, Orion suffered from a disastrous slate of films, placing dead last among larger Hollywood studios by box office revenue. Among its biggest flops that year wereGreat Balls of Fire!, a biography ofJerry Lee Lewis starringDennis Quaid andWinona Ryder;She-Devil, a dark comedy starringMeryl Streep andRoseanne Barr;Speed Zone, an action-comedy vehicle forSCTV alumniJohn Candy,Joe Flaherty, andEugene Levy; andMiloš Forman's adaptation ofLes Liaisons dangereuses,Valmont, which competed withDangerous Liaisons, also based on the same source material. Test screenings of the"Weird Al" Yankovic comedyUHF were so strong that Orion had high expectations for it, but it flopped at the box office (though it later developed a cult following on video).[6][25] Also that year, it signed a deal withNelson Entertainment to distribute titles on videocassette and theatrically.[26][27]
In February 1990, Orion signed a deal withColumbia Pictures Entertainment in which the much larger studio would pay Orion $175 million to distribute Orion's movies and television programs overseas. Orion had previously licensed its films to individual distributors territory by territory.[6] That same month, Mike Medavoy left Orion and became head ofTri-Star Pictures.[28]
The box-office returns for Orion's 1990 releases were just as dismal, with failures inThe Hot Spot andState of Grace. The only bright spot wasKevin Costner's western epicDances with Wolves, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture,[29] and grossed $400 million worldwide. A few months later, Orion garnered another winner withThe Silence of the Lambs, but these two films could not make up for years of losses. Only Kluge's continued infusions of cash were enough to keep the company afloat, but soon he had enough.
Kluge first attempted to sell Orion to businessman (and former20th Century Fox owner)Marvin Davis.Sony, which had recently purchasedColumbia Pictures, was also interested.[30] When those talks fell through, Kluge took drastic steps. First, Orion shut down production. Second, Kluge ordered the sale of several projects, such asThe Addams Family (which went toParamount, though the international rights to the film were retained by Orion), in order to accumulate much-needed cash. Finally, in the spring of 1991, Kluge's people took over the company, leading to the departure of Arthur Krim.[31] Orion's financial problems were so severe, that at the 63rd Annual Academy Awards in March 1991, hostBilly Crystal made reference to Orion's debt in his opening monologue, joking that "Reversal of Fortune [is] about a woman in a coma,Awakenings [is] about a man in a coma; andDances with Wolves [was] released by Orion, a studio in a coma."[32]
It was during this time thatABC stepped in to co-finance and assume production over many of Orion Television's shows it had in production, such asAmerican Detective andEqual Justice. After Orion had to shut the television division down, this resulted in projects likeThe Chuck Woolery Show, which was planned to be produced by Orion, instead having to find new production companies (such asGroup W Productions in the case of Woolery).[33] Gary Nardino, former employee of Orion Television Entertainment, moved on to producing forLorimar Television, taking some of Orion's projects with him, includingBill & Ted's Excellent Adventures onFox, andHearts are Wild, a co-production withSpelling Television, forCBS; talent deals Orion Television had at the time (withThomas Carter,Robert Townsend, Paul Stajonovich, Clifton Campbell andDeborah Joy Levine) were also taken by Nardino to Lorimar.[34] On November 25, 1991, Orion sold itsHollywood Squares format rights toKing World Productions after Orion closed down its television division.[35]
On December 11, 1991, Orion filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[6] That same month, Orion was in talks withNew Line Cinema, a successful independent film company, to acquire the bankrupt studio. By the following April, Orion and New Line Cinema cancelled their plans on the issue of price.Republic Pictures and the then-newSavoy Pictures also attempted to buy Orion, but no deal materialized.[36][37]
In February 1992, Bernstein, who was president and chief executive of Orion at that point, resigned from the studio, Bernstein would go on to become executive vice president at Paramount Pictures.[38][39]
At the Academy Awards ceremony, broadcast on March 30, 1992, Crystal made another reference to Orion, this time about its demise:
Take a great studio like Orion: a few years ago Orion releasedPlatoon, it wins Best Picture.Amadeus, Best Picture. Last year, they releasedDances with Wolves wins Best Picture. This yearThe Silence of the Lambs is nominated for Best Picture. And they can't afford to have another hit! But there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Orion was just purchased, and the bad news is it was bought by the House of Representatives.[40]
The Silence of the Lambs swept all five major Academy Awards; however, a majority of key executives, as well as the talent they had deals with, had left the studio. Hollywood observers had doubts that Orion would be resurrected to its former glory.[41]
In May 1992, it was reported that Pleskow was resigning from Orion on July 1 of that year.[42] stating in the New York Times: "There is little for me to do at this point".[43]
On November 5, 1992, Orion reemerged from bankruptcy. Its reorganization plan would allow for Orion to continue producing and releasing films, but financing for the features would be provided by outside sources, with the studio purchasing the distribution rights to them after their completion.[44][45]
Orion's bankruptcy also delayed the release of many films the studio had produced or acquired, among them:Love Field (1992),RoboCop 3 (1993),The Dark Half (1993),Blue Sky (1994),Car 54, Where Are You? (1994),Clifford (1994),The Favor (1994), andThere Goes My Baby (1994). Orion started releasing these films after their reorganization.Blue Sky won starJessica Lange an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1995.
In August 1994, Orion Home Video partnered withStreamline Pictures in distributing the latter's licensedanime video titles to general retailers, which animation historianFred Patten considered a major development in anime's growing popularity in Americanpop culture.[46]
In November 1995, Orion, two other companies controlled by Kluge, and film and television houseMCEG Sterling (producer of theLook Who's Talking series) were merged to form the Metromedia International Group.[47] Few of the films released during the four years afterbankruptcy protection were successful either critically or commercially.
In 1996, Metromedia acquired production companyMotion Picture Corporation of America, and installed its heads, Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler, as co-presidents of Orion. Both received a six picture put picture distribution deal as a part of their contracts.[48]
In the years ahead, Orion produced very few films, and primarily released films from other producers, includingLIVE Entertainment.Orion Classics, minus its founders (who had moved toSony Pictures Entertainment and foundedSony Pictures Classics), continued to acquire popularart-house films, such asBoxing Helena (1993), before Metromedia merged the subsidiary withSamuel Goldwyn Entertainment in 1996.
In July 1997, Metromedia shareholders approved the sale of Orion Pictures (as well as Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment andMotion Picture Corporation of America) toMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). This led to the withdrawal of 85 employees, including Krevoy and Stabler, while 111 other employees were to be laid off within nine months, leaving 25 of them to work at MGM. Orion Pictures also brought with it a two-thousand film library, ten completed movies and five direct-to-video features for future release[49] and the Krevoy and Stabler movie put picture distribution deal.[48] Krevoy and Stabler retained the right to the Motion Picture Corporation of America name and their three top movies. Metromedia retained Goldwyn Entertainment's Landmark Theatre Group.[49] The remaining Orion Pictures films released in 1998 and 1999 were originally shot in 1997 at the latest, withOne Man's Hero (1999) being the last film released by Orion Pictures for 15 years.[50][51]
MGM kept Orion Pictures intact as a corporation, mostly to avoid its home video distribution agreement withWarner Home Video and began distributing Orion Pictures films under the Orion Home Video label. MGM acquired the two thirds of the pre-1996PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library (which included theEpic film library) fromSeagram in 1999 for $250 million, increasing their library holdings to 4,000. The PolyGram libraries were purchased by its Orion Pictures subsidiary so as to avoid its 1990 home video distribution agreement with Warner Home Video.[52] In March 1999, MGM bought out its distribution contract with Warner Home Video for $225 million, effectively ending the distribution problem.[53]
In 2013, Orion returned to television production (after its original television unit was shut down during its bankruptcy period) with a new syndicatedcourt show,Paternity Court.[54]
The Orion Pictures name, also as Orion Releasing, was extended in fourth quarter 2014 for smaller multi-platform video on demand and limited theatrical distribution. Its name was first seen again on September 10, 2014, in front of the trailer forThe Town That Dreaded Sundown that was released in October. The label's first release was the Brazilian filmVestido pra Casar.[55]
In September 2015,Entertainment One Films relaunched theMomentum Pictures banner with an announced deal with Orion Pictures to co-acquire and co-distribute films in the United States and Canada, and selected foreign markets, such as theUnited Kingdom (Momentum's country of origin). The initial films under the deal wereThe Wannabe,Fort Tilden andBalls Out.[56] Other films released by Orion Pictures andMomentum Pictures includePocket Listing andDiablo.[57][58][59]
Starting in September 2016 withBurn Country, Orion Pictures andSamuel Goldwyn Films paired in acquiring several films.[60][61][62][63]
Orion Television launched a second court show in the fall of 2017,Couples Court With The Cutlers, which features married couple Keith and Dana Cutler presiding over romantic and domestic disputes.[64]
On September 6, 2017, MGM officially revitalized the Orion Pictures brand as a standalone, US theatrical marketing and distribution arm with the hiring of John Hegeman, who joined fromBlumhouse Tilt (distributor of Orion'sThe Town That Dreaded Sundown andThe Belko Experiment) and incidentally got his start at the original Orion in the 1980s. Hegeman would serve as president of the expanded label and report toJonathan Glickman, president of MGM's motion picture group. Under his leadership, the "new" Orion will produce, market and distribute four to six modestly budgeted films a year across genres and platforms, and both wide and limited releases for targeted audiences. Its first release, the young adult romance dramaEvery Day, was released on February 23, 2018.[4][65][66][67]
In May 2018, it was announced thatOrion Classics would be revived as a multiplatform distribution label, with 8 to 10 films being released per year.[68]
On February 5, 2019, MGM andAnnapurna Pictures expanded their US joint distribution venture Mirror, rebranding it asUnited Artists Releasing. Beginning in April 2019, Orion Pictures' upcoming titles would be distributed through the UAR banner and Orion's theatrical distribution staff will move to UAR.[69] The first Orion film to do so was the remake ofChild's Play,[70] which was released on June 21, 2019.
On August 20, 2020, it was announced that Orion would be relaunched again, with its focus shifting to films made by underrepresented filmmakers (including people of color, women, theLGBT community and people with disabilities) as part of the efforts to increase inclusivity in the film industry, both in front of and behind the camera, with the hiring of Alana Mayo as the president, replacing Hegeman by October.[1][2] The first film released with this new focus wasAnything's Possible (previously titledWhat If?), a coming-of-age drama directed byBilly Porter in hisdirectorial debut.[71] This effort continued in 2021 when they, along with Annapurna, acquired the US distribution rights toOn the Count of Three two weeks after it premiered at the2021 Sundance Film Festival.[72]
On May 17, 2021, online shopping companyAmazon entered negotiations to acquire MGM and even made a bid for about $9 billion, with the intention to own the studio's library, including Orion's films, to grow theAmazon Prime Video catalog. The negotiations were made withAnchorage Capital Kevin Ulrich.[73][74] On May 26, 2021, it was officially announced that MGM would be acquired by Amazon for $8.45 billion.[75] The merger was finalized on March 17, 2022.[76]
On March 4, 2023, Amazon shut down UAR's operations and folded them into MGM, resulting in MGM becoming Orion's new domestic distributor, withWarner Bros. Pictures becoming the studio's new international distributor.[77] In May 2023,Amazon Studios createdAmazon MGM Studios Distribution, an internationalfilm and television distribution unit for both MGM and Amazon projects, which will include new projects from Orion.[78] On September 17, 2023,American Fiction became the studio's first film to win thePeople's Choice Award at that year'sToronto International Film Festival.[79]
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Orion's output includedWoody Allen films, Hollywood blockbusters such as the firstTerminator and theRoboCop films, comedies such asThrow Momma from the Train,Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,Caddyshack,Something Wild,UHF, and theBill & Ted films, and Best Picture Academy Award winnersAmadeus,Platoon,Dances with Wolves, andThe Silence of the Lambs.[80]
Following is a list of the major Academy Awards (Picture, Director, two Screenplay and four Acting awards) for which Orion films were nominated.
| Film (Year) | Major Oscars | Nominee | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Santini (1979) | Best Actor | Robert Duvall | Nominee |
| Best Supporting Actor | Michael O'Keefe | Nominee | |
| A Little Romance (1979) | Best Adapted Screenplay | Allan Burns | Nominee |
| Arthur (1981) | Best Actor | Dudley Moore | Nominee |
| Best Supporting Actor | John Gielgud | Winner | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Steve Gordon | Nominee | |
| Prince of the City (1981) | Best Adapted Screenplay | Jay Presson Allen andSidney Lumet | Nominee |
| Amadeus (1984) | Best Picture | Winner | |
| Best Actor | F. Murray Abraham | Winner | |
| Tom Hulce | Nominee | ||
| Best Director | Miloš Forman | Winner | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Peter Shaffer | Winner | |
| Broadway Danny Rose (1984) | Best Director | Woody Allen | Nominee |
| Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen | Nominee | |
| The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) | Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen | Nominee |
| Platoon (1986) | Best Picture | Winner | |
| Best Director | Oliver Stone | Winner | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Oliver Stone | Nominee | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Tom Berenger | Nominee | |
| Willem Dafoe | Nominee | ||
| Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) | Best Picture | Nominee | |
| Best Director | Woody Allen | Nominee | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Michael Caine | Winner | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Dianne Wiest | Winner | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen | Winner | |
| Hoosiers (1986) | Best Supporting Actor | Dennis Hopper | Nominee |
| Radio Days (1987) | Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen | Nominee |
| Throw Momma from the Train (1987) | Best Supporting Actress | Anne Ramsey | Nominee |
| Bull Durham (1988) | Best Original Screenplay | Ron Shelton | Nominee |
| Mississippi Burning (1988) | Best Picture | Nominee | |
| Best Director | Alan Parker | Nominee | |
| Best Actor | Gene Hackman | Nominee | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Frances McDormand | Nominee | |
| Married to the Mob (1988) | Best Supporting Actor | Dean Stockwell | Nominee |
| The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) | Best Adapted Screenplay | Jean-Claude Carrière andPhilip Kaufman | Nominee |
| Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) | Best Director | Woody Allen | Nominee |
| Best Supporting Actor | Martin Landau | Nominee | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen | Nominee | |
| Alice (1990) | Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen | Nominee |
| Dances with Wolves (1990) | Best Picture | Winner | |
| Best Director | Kevin Costner | Winner | |
| Best Actor | Nominee | ||
| Best Supporting Actor | Graham Greene | Nominee | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Mary McDonnell | Nominee | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Michael Blake | Winner | |
| The Silence of the Lambs (1991) | Best Picture | Winner | |
| Best Director | Jonathan Demme | Winner | |
| Best Actor | Anthony Hopkins | Winner | |
| Best Actress | Jodie Foster | Winner | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Ted Tally | Winner | |
| Love Field (1992) | Best Actress | Michelle Pfeiffer | Nominee |
| Blue Sky (1994) | Best Actress | Jessica Lange | Winner |
| Ulee's Gold (1997) | Best Actor | Peter Fonda | Nominee |
| Women Talking (2022) | Best Picture | Nominee | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Sarah Polley | Winner | |
| American Fiction (2023) | Best Picture | Nominee | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Cord Jefferson | Winner | |
| Best Actor | Jeffrey Wright | Nominee | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Sterling K. Brown | Nominee | |
| Nickel Boys (2024) | Best Picture | Nominee | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | RaMell Ross andJoslyn Barnes | Nominee |
|
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Almost all of Orion's post-1982 releases, as well as most of the AIP and Filmways backlogs and all of the television output originally produced and distributed by Orion Television, now bear the MGM name. However, in most cases, the 1980s Orion logo has been retained or added, in the case of the Filmways and AIP libraries.
Most ancillary rights to Orion's back catalog from the 1978–1982 joint venture period remain with Warner Bros., including such films as10 (1979),Caddyshack (1980),Arthur (1981),Excalibur (1981), andPrince of the City (1981). Some post-1982 films originally released by Orion—Lionheart (1987),The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), andAmadeus (1984) (the latter two beingSaul Zaentz productions)—are currently distributed by Warner Bros. as well.HBO also owns video distribution rights toThree Amigos (1986), as they co-produced the film and owns pay-TV rights. However, MGM owns all other rights and the film's copyright.[citation needed]The Wanderers is owned by the film's producers; however, the copyright is held by MGM/Orion. Orion also retains a controlling interest inThe Cotton Club, although major rights are now withLionsgate, which owns the library of presenting studioZoetrope Corporation.
Woody Allen's filmsA Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) andZelig (1983) are the only Orion films from the original joint venture period now owned by MGM, as the rights for them remained with Allen, who sold them to MGM in 2000.[81] Orion releases produced by theHemdale Film Corporation andNelson Entertainment are included in MGM's library as well, and are incorporated into the Orion library. MGM did not acquire the Hemdale films (which includeThe Terminator,Hoosiers, andPlatoon) or the Nelson films (including theBill & Ted films) until MGM bought the pre-1996 library of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (the "Epic library"), which included both companies' libraries, although the television and digital rights to certain Nelson films are now held byParamount Television (the result of a pre-existing deal Nelson had with Viacom), with television syndication handled on behalf of Paramount Television byTrifecta Entertainment & Media.
Many of the film and television holdings ofThe Samuel Goldwyn Company have now also been incorporated into the Orion library (with ownership currently held by MGM), and the copyright on some of this material is held by Orion, exceptThe New Adventures of Flipper now carries the MGM Television Entertainment copyright.[citation needed]
MGM still holds distribution rights to the 1980s revival ofHollywood Squares andHigh Rollers the company produced, as well as the remnants of the Heatter-Quigley library that was not erased, including all remaining episodes of the originalSquares; they do not own the rights to the format, which is currently owned byCBS Television Distribution, successor-in-interest to King World, who purchased the format rights in 1991 and produced another syndicated revival from 1998 to 2004.
Orion distributed the firstRambo film,First Blood (1982).[82] That film, like the rest of theRambo franchise, is now owned byStudioCanal as a result of purchasing the library of its co-distributor,Carolco Pictures.[83]
{{cite news}}:|last= has generic name (help)MGM will move its theatrical distribution team from Orion Pictures,
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