History Creator / MetroGoldwynMayer

* ''Film/RedSonja'' (1985)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionhearts'' (1998)

The studio's VanityPlate, Leo the roaring lion, has been widely spoofed and has several variations of its own. On April 16, 2024, MGM celebrated its 100th anniversary.

The studio's VanityPlate, Leo the roaring lion, has been widely spoofed and has several variations of its own. On April 16, 2014, MGM celebrated its 90th anniversary.

* ''Series/{{Willow|2022}}'' (2022-present)

After Thalberg's death, however, things started to change. Producers started taking charge of their own films, eventually leading to power struggles with Mayer over money and content. Mayer was a trenchant conservative, supporting UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode and disliking more cerebral, literary content; Thalberg was the opposite. Thalberg generally managed to win out, however, due to his connections with Nicholas Schenck, president of Loews, Inc. Not only were his films released more often than Mayer's preferred films, but he was at one point actually paid more than Mayer.

The success MGM had during the Depression and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII came to a halt soon after the war ended, as audiences' tastes changed. Television was taking off, and like most studios at the time, MGM was slow to acknowledge it. On top of that, the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem had started, and without Loews to help tide them over when a movie flopped, MGM's finances got rockier and rockier, although their newly launched [[Creator/MGMRecords record division]] was doing well. Before Loews spun off MGM, their management had insisted that the studio hire a "new Thalberg" to stem the tide of cost overruns; [[HistoryRepeats just like with Thalberg]], their choice, Dore Schary, ended up going head-to-head with Mayer on just about everything, particularly choices in which films to make (Schary wanted to make DarkerAndEdgier movies with more serious plots, whereas Mayer was content with sticking to films in TheMusical and family genres, something that would have also put them in direct competition with Creator/{{Disney}} within the decade). Eventually, Mayer got fed up and left [[note]]whether he was fired or quit depends on who you ask[[/note]] in 1951.

MGM spent most of the 1960s trying to ReTool itself for the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era. It made fewer pictures per year, and the ones it did make had to be huge hits because the company's future ended up depending on a hit. Huge, lavish productions were back in vogue, with MGM betting that big movies would be better suited to draw people away from their TV sets and into theaters. When it worked, it worked well (such as with the 1959 version of ''[[Film/BenHur1959 Ben-Hur]]''), but flops were bound to happen (the 1962 remake of ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' was one of the biggest), and each one just added to MGM's already huge debts. Many of their once-reliable stable of actors had been let out of their contracts, due to the money problems. The studios themselves were in declining shape. However, MGM struck gold when it produced and released (under the Premier Productions label) the critically acclaimed, taboo smashing box office hit, ''Film/{{Blowup}}'', in 1966, in direct defiance of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode, thus driving the final nail into that CensorshipBureau. Also, the TV division had a solid hit in ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE''.

** ''Film/ItRunsInTheFamily'' (1994)

In 2006, MGM was bought by a consortium of investors led by [[Creator/{{Sony}} Sony Corporation of America]], with [=Comcast=] as a minor stakeholder as well. The studio was then hit with hard times yet again, which temporarily halted [[Film/JamesBond a certain secret agent from going on his 23rd mission]] and [[Film/TheHobbit a certain little person's chance to go on The Greatest Adventure]]. In 2010, MGM declared bankruptcy in a deal in which the studio was turned over to its creditors, with Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum (the co-founders of [[Creator/SpyglassMediaGroup Spyglass Entertainment]]) assuming the positions of co-presidents. Because MGM is now primarily a production company, its recent productions had gone to various entities for distribution (except in regions such as the Nordics, Israel and Central Europe), with Creator/LionsGate releasing ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', Creator/FilmDistrict taking on ''Film/{{Red Dawn|2012}}'', Warner Bros. acquiring most rights to ''Film/TheHobbit'', ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', the 23rd Film/JamesBond movie, staying with Sony, and Creator/{{Paramount}} with ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes''. However, in 2017, MGM announced a distribution joint venture with Creator/AnnapurnaPictures which enabled the company to distribute films under its own name using Annapurna's US distribution operation, which was subsequently re-named United Artists Releasing in 2019, in time for UA's 100th anniversary. The first film released under this arrangement was 2018's ''Film/{{Death Wish|2018}}'' remake, and ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' (2021), the 25th James Bond film, was released domestically this way (Creator/{{Universal}} taking international rights). The company had some of its recent releases distributed on home video through Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox Home Entertainment. Up until the aforementioned acquisition by Disney, Fox additionally handled catalog releases. Following that, Universal has taken over for newer releases and WB was licensed select catalog titles.

* ''Film/{{Teachers}}'' (1984)

After Turner's brief involvement, MGM/UA began operating under new management and subsequently became profitable thanks to box-office hits such as ''Baby Boom'', ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'', ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'', ''Film/ChildsPlay'', ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' and ''Film/RainMan'', the last of them a Best Picture Oscar winner. However, when Kerkorian decided to sell the company again, the studio head left. MGM ended up being sold to Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, who had just bought Creator/TheCannonGroup at the time and renamed it Pathe Communications, in anticipation of buying the French movie studio and cinema chain of the same name; said sale didn't happen after the French government looked into Paretti's background and determined he was [[CorruptCorporateExecutive too shady to buy it]]-- {{Foreshadowing}} for [[TyrantTakesTheHelm his disastrous reign over the renamed MGM-Pathe]]. Under his leadership, production of films halted, actors, crew members and creditors were not being paid, and Paretti was [[StealingFromTheTill spending MGM's money for his own uses]]. Not only that, but he had borrowed money for the deal under false pretenses, and after not being able to make the payments on the leveraged-buyout deal he'd used to buy MGM, his bank [[note]]Crédit Lyonnais of France, who probably should have known better; their previous misadventures in Hollywood in TheEighties led to a graveyard of flops, and this ended up being the final straw that led to their near-bankruptcy. They ended up getting bailed out by the French government and, indirectly, Creator/PolyGramFilmedEntertainment; see below.[[/note]] foreclosed on him and took control of MGM (the entire sordid affair can be read about [[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/07/08/214344/index.htm here]]). Parretti ended up being convicted of securities fraud, and MGM ended up back with Kerkorian in 1997. Shortly after that and continuing into 1999, MGM assumed control of several other film companies and libraries, including Creator/OrionPictures (which they have since revived as a sub-label), The Samuel Goldwyn Company (though Goldwyn himself soon formed another company), and Creator/PolyGramFilmedEntertainment's pre-1996 library, which also included films from, ironically, much of the libraries of other companies entangled in the Credit Lyonnais/Parretti saga, like Hemdale, Nelson and Creator/CastleRockEntertainment. Meanwhile, its television arm claimed international rights to Creator/{{NBC}}'s library.

* ''Film/BootCamp'' (2008)

* ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' (1935)

Finally, a UsefulNotes/LasVegas investor named Kirk Kerkorian bought MGM in 1969, beginning a cost-cutting drive that saw MGM lose what little prestige it had left. Kerkorian, who wasn't all that interested in Hollywood at the time, mainly saw MGM as a brand he could re-use for his casinos and hotels; he started selling the studio off in pieces to make quick cash. MGM's props department was opened up and sold at auction, and its backlots were sold to housing developers. MGM filmed fewer and fewer movies at their Culver City lot, as directors in that era started moving to location shooting and cheaper rental studios. In 1973, MGM sold their music publishing division to Creator/UnitedArtists (the UA transaction also included North American distribution rights to MGM titles), foreshadowing the merger that would end up happening in 1981 (as Transamerica fled Hollywood following the ''Film/HeavensGate'' debacle), at the time resulting in the biggest combination between major movie studios until Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox in 2019. By 1976, the damage was done; infamously, Kerkorian's legal counsel released a statement that year claiming that "MGM is a hotel company, and a relatively insignificant producer of motion pictures."

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'' (1989; US distribution. MGM also produced a TV series during the 90s).

* ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' (2019)

By the mid-1980s, MGM/UA was producing and distributing well-known movies again (such as ''Film/{{Fame}}'', ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'', ''Film/{{Diner}}'', ''Film/{{Red Dawn|1984}}'', ''Film/WarGames'' and the ''Film/JamesBond'' films), but was still racked with debt from years of poor performance (as well as UA's losses from backing ''Film/HeavensGate''). Kerkorian put the studio up for sale, and UsefulNotes/TedTurner ended up winning the bidding in 1985. However, the massive amount of debt was off-putting, and Turner decided he wanted out only a few weeks later. Turner ended up selling the MGM trademark back to Kerkorian, and the studios went to Creator/{{Lorimar}}; the studio lot eventually ended up with Creator/{{Sony}} after Creator/WarnerBros bought Lorimar (Creator/ColumbiaPictures had been renting half of Warners' lot from them since the early 1970s, and the Lorimar deal meant Warners could finally kick them out).

Finally, a UsefulNotes/LasVegas investor named Kirk Kerkorian bought MGM in 1969, beginning a cost-cutting drive that saw MGM lose what little prestige it had left. Kerkorian, who wasn't all that interested in Hollywood at the time, mainly saw MGM as a brand he could re-use for his casinos and hotels; he started selling the studio off in pieces to make quick cash. MGM's props department was opened up and sold at auction, and its backlots were sold to housing developers. MGM filmed fewer and fewer movies at their Culver City lot, as directors in that era started moving to location shooting and cheaper rental studios. In 1973, MGM sold its distribution division to Creator/UnitedArtists, foreshadowing the merger that would end up happening in 1981 (as Transamerica fled Hollywood following the ''Film/HeavensGate'' debacle), at the time resulting in the biggest combination between major movie studios until Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox in 2019. By 1976, the damage was done; infamously, Kerkorian's legal counsel released a statement that year claiming that "MGM is a hotel company, and a relatively insignificant producer of motion pictures."

*** [[Film/ThePrincessBride Nelson]] [[Film/BillAndTed Entertainment]] (including video rights to the Embassy Pictures catalog, which is otherwise owned by Creator/StudioCanal)

** ''Film/TarzanTheApeMan'' (1932)

* ''[[Film/ADayAtTheRaces1937 A Day at the Races]'' (1937)