Cinerama Releasing Corporation (CRC) was a motion picture company established in 1967 that originally released films produced by its
namesake parent company that was considered an "instant major".
[Page 10.]
History
In 1963, the owner of the Pacific Coast Theater chain, William R. Foreman, purchased Cinerama, Inc. In 1966, CRC was set up to be an independent distributor of widescreen motion pictures produced by Cinerama, various foreign films and
ABC Pictures, the film production unit of the
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...
.
[p. 332 Harpole, Charles ''History of the American Cinema'' ]University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
[Orders of Magnitude. Page 332-333.] CRC was only a distributor of films, without retaining copyright stake over each production. As an instant major by 1970, CRC reached a 10% market share. ABC Pictures ended operations in early 1973, thus CRC moved to primarily distributing non-financed films (acquisitions). By August 1974, CRC had released 125 acquired films at which time its productions and reissues were handled by
American International Pictures
American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...
. Cinerama, Inc., CRC's parent company, was liquidated in May 1978 with the Cinerama name ending up being owned by Pacific Coast Theater.
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Films released
See also
*Major film studios
Major film studios are filmmaking, production and film distributor, distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American ...
*National General Pictures
National General Corporation (NGC) was a theater chain holding company, film distributor, film distribution and film production, production company and was considered one of the "instant majors". It was in operation from 1951 to 1974.
Division ...
, another instant major
* Commonwealth United, a sometimes instant major
References
*Cook, David A. (2000)
Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979
University of California Press.
{{Authority control
Entertainment companies established in 1967
Mass media companies established in 1967
Companies disestablished in 1974
Cinerama
Film distributors of the United States
Film production companies of the United States
Defunct American film studios
Cinema of Southern California
Entertainment companies based in California
Companies based in Los Angeles
1967 establishments in California
1974 disestablishments in California
Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles