RKO Pictures (also known as RKO Productions, Radio Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, and RKO Teleradio Pictures) is an American film production and distribution company. The original company produced films from 1929 through 1957, with releases extending until its dissolution in 1959. On October 23, 1928, RCA announced that it had acquired control of the Film Booking Offices of America studio and Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and was merging them under a holding company, Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corp. Its new production arm was incorporated as RKO Productions Inc. on January 25, 1929. While RKO Distributing Corp. was originally organized as a distinct business entity, by July 1930 the studio was transitioning into the new, unified RKO Radio Pictures Inc.[1] In December, RKO announced that it would be acquiring Pathé Exchange, including its studio and backlot in Culver City, film laboratories in New Jersey, distribution exchanges in the United States and Great Britain, and the Pathé News operation.[2] In 1931–32, RKO Pathé operated as a semiautonomous division of RKO Pictures.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Hollywood's Golden Age, RKO was one of the Big Five studios. Its lineup of acting talent during this period included Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Robert Mitchum. Among the studio's most notable films are Cimarron (winner of the 1931 Academy Award for Best Picture), King Kong (1933), Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946—the studio's only other Academy Award for Best Picture), and what some people consider the greatest film of all time, 1941's Citizen Kane.[3][4]
The studio declined after Howard Hughes acquired ownership in 1948,[5] and it was sold to the General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955. After several years of attempting to save the company, in January 1957, General Tire reached an agreement with Universal Pictures, where Universal would distribute the remaining RKO product, but the agreement effectively ended all film production at RKO.[6] In 1959, General Tire put all of its non-core operations in a holding company, RKO General,[7] which in 1978 reconstituted RKO Pictures Inc. as a production subsidiary,[8] although the new company did not release its first film until 1981.[9] General Tire sold RKO Pictures in 1989, at which point it began operating under new management as a small independent film company, RKO Pictures LLC.[10][11]
RKO Pictures was sold off to Concord's film and TV division in 2025 alongside the derivative rights to more than 5,000 titles.[12] It will continue to operate as its own imprint under Concord Originals.
All release dates are from the AFI Database, except as follows: those designated with an (*) are from imdb.com, and those designated with a (**) are from Theiapolis.com; other sources are noted with footnotes. The date listed is the earliest date, whether that be the premiere or the general release date. The order is according to release dates in the United States.
Note: All films released by the original incarnation of RKO are now owned by Warner Bros. through Turner Entertainment Co. unless otherwise noted.
1929
RKO's first year of production resulted in the release of 13 films, highlighted by Syncopation, The Vagabond Lover, and Rio Rita. Two previous films titled Come and Get It (February 3, 1929)[13] and The Drifter (February 8, 1929)[14] were listed by AFI as RKO productions, but the copyright claimant is RKO's precursor, F.B.O. Productions, Inc.
The 1930s
The first full decade for the fledgling film studio was a mixture of large successes and deep instability, as the studio went through numerous management changes. The studio produced many classic films, such as Gunga Din, Cimarron (the first Western film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and only one of two RKO films to win that award), King Kong, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Top Hat, The Three Musketeers, Bringing Up Baby and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. During this decade, the studio owned the contracts of such notable talents as Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Mary Astor, Joel McCrea and Joan Fontaine, as well as off-screen talent such as Irving Berlin and John Ford. A major accomplishment for the studio came when they signed an exclusive distribution deal with Walt Disney Productions.
1930
The studio released 29 films that year, although there were no major critical or financial hits.
1931
The 1940s
This decade saw a continuation of the revolving door policy regarding management and creative talent at the studio, although RKO made it out of receivership in 1940. The quality of the films also increased overall, the studio receiving its second Oscar for Best Film, for 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives, as well as producing what many consider the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane in 1941. Howard Hughes' takeover of the studio in 1948 would begin a downward spiral for RKO.
1940
RKO released 55 pictures during this year, of which they produced 39. The studio also premiered two others, Little Men and Fantasia, which did not go into wide release until 1941 and 1942 respectively. The studio lost the services of director George Stevens this year, and despite emerging from receivership, RKO would post an almost $1 million loss in 1940. Highlights of the year included Abe Lincoln in Illinois, My Favorite Wife, Irene, and Kitty Foyle (which won an Academy Award for Best Actress for Ginger Rogers). In addition, the studio continued its successful Saint series, and released two major successes from Walt Disney: Pinocchio and Fantasia.
1941
RKO's year most likely will always be remembered for its release of Citizen Kane, which many consider to be the greatest film of all time.
1950s
The decade would be the last for the original RKO Studio. The downward spiral which had begun upon Hughes' gaining control in 1948 continued. In addition, the studio suffered from a sequence of other difficulties, from which it was unable to overcome. These included a failed sale of the studio to several racketeers, the loss of RKO's chain of movie theaters (due to government regulation), and a multitude of lawsuits. The setbacks ultimately led, in 1955, to the studio's sale to General Teleradio, Inc., the entertainment subsidiary of General Tire and Rubber Company. Ironically, General Teleradio was basically a radio and television company, and it was competition with television which put the final nails in RKO's coffin. RKO ended production in 1958.
1950
Of the 30 films released by the studio during the year, approximately half were actually produced by the studio. In addition, not a single picture would generate profits greater than $100,000, the first time this happened in the history of RKO, and this resulted in the first net loss for the studio ($5.8M) in over a decade. Hope was raised when Hughes hired what many considered the top producer-writer team in Hollywood, Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna, who were contracted to produce 60 films over the next five years. The few highlights were all films which were not produced by RKO: The Outlaw (Jane Russell's debut — and a re-release of the film which had seen limited release as an independent Hughes' production in 1943 and 1946, so is not included in the below list), along with Walt Disney's productions of Cinderella and Treasure Island, the first project he made which was entirely live-action.
1951
1960s–1970s
RKO Pictures dissolved in 1958, and was reconstituted in 1978 by its parent corporation RKO General.
1980s: RKO Pictures Inc.
In 1978, RKO General created a subsidiary, RKO Pictures Inc. Three years later they began to produce a number of feature films and television projects.[8] In collaboration with Universal Studios, RKO put out half a dozen films during the first half of the decade, although none met with much success. from 1985 to 1987 the studio produced several more films on their own, some with more acclaim such as Plenty (1985), Half Moon Street (1986) and Hamburger Hill (1987), but production ended when RKO General underwent a massive reorganization following an attempted hostile takeover,[1083] and the production company was eventually sold to Wesray Capital Corporation in late 1987.[1084][1085]
1990s–current: RKO Pictures LLC
In 1989, Wesray sold the company to Pavilion Communications, which renamed the entity RKO Pictures LLC.[10][11] In its latest incarnation, the studio has been involved with several notable films, including Mighty Joe Young (1998), Shade (2003), Are We Done Yet? (2007), A Late Quartet (2012), and Barely Lethal (2015).
Bibliography
External links
References
- Catalogue of Copyright Entries Library of Congress Copyright Office/Government Printing Office, 1930^
- Cash and Participation for Pathe in RKO Deal The Film Daily, December 7, 1930, retrieved December 5, 2015^
- 'Citizen Kane' Fave Film of Movie Elite rogerebert.com, retrieved January 1, 2008^