American International Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP) was an American film distributor that distributed several Toho films to American theaters. The company was founded in 1954 as American Releasing Corporation (ARC) by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. The company primarily released low-budget films as double features from the 1950's through the 1970's, including several of producer Roger Corman's features in the 50's. AIP formed its own television production company, American International Productions Television (AIP-TV), in 1964, which released most of the entries in the Showa Gamera series as well as The X from Outer Space to American television. The company went defunct in 1981 and was acquired by Filmways, which was itself later purchased by Orion Pictures. Most of AIP's library is now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which purchased Orion in 1997.
Selected filmography
- Reptilicus (1963)
- Warning from Space (TV 1963)
- Atragon (1964)
- Godzilla vs. the Thing (1964)
- Attack of the Mushroom People (TV 1965)
- Dagora, the Space Monster (TV 1965)
- Frankenstein Conquers the World (1966)
- War of the Monsters (TV 1967)
- Return of the Giant Monsters (TV 1967)
- Majin, Monster of Terror (TV 1967)
- The Return of Giant Majin (TV 1967)
- Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (TV 1968)
- The X from Outer Space (TV 1968)
- Destroy All Monsters (1969)
- Yongary, Monster from the Deep (TV 1969)
- Destroy All Planets (TV 1969)
- Attack of the Monsters (TV 1969)
- Gamera vs. Monster X (TV 1970)
- Magic Serpent (TV 1970)
- Yog, Monster from Space (1971)
- Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1972)
Trivia
- AIP's versions of Mothra vs. Godzilla and Frankenstein vs. Baragon were released to DVD by Simitar Entertainment and Classic Media and Media Blasters, respectively. The company's versions of Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Hedorah have long been replaced on home video by Toho-commissioned international English dubs and the original Japanese versions. However, Media Blasters released Destroy All Monsters with the AIP version included to DVD and Blu-ray in 2011, only for these releases to be pulled from circulation due to a dispute over other bonus features with Toho.
- The AIP-TV versions of the Showa Gamera films remained unreleased on home video until the early 2000's, when companies like Alpha Video brought them to DVD, mistakenly assuming them to be in the public domain. Shout! Factory's DVDs included all but War of the Monsters, and Arrow Video's Gamera: The Complete Collection will include them all.
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