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.[1] The company primarily released low-budget films as double features from the 1950s through the 1970s, including many of Roger Corman's films. AIP formed its own television production and distribution company, American International Television (AITV), in 1964,[2] which released five of the eight films in the Showa Gamera series and many other kaiju films to American television. The company went defunct in 1979 and was acquired by Filmways, who syndicated Gamera: Super Monster in the U.S. in 1980 before being purchased by Orion Pictures that same year.[3] Most of AIP's library is now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which purchased Orion in 1997.[4]
Selected releases
American International Pictures
- Reptilicus (1963)
- Atragon (1964)
- Godzilla vs. the Thing (1964)
- Frankenstein Conquers the World (1966)
- Destroy All Monsters (1969)
- Yog, Monster from Space (1971)
- Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (1972)
American International Television
- Attack of the Mushroom People (TV 1965)[5]
- Dagora, the Space Monster (TV 1965)[5]
- Majin, the Monster of Terror (TV 1967)[5]
- Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (TV 1967)[5]
- War of the Monsters (TV 1967)[5]
- Return of the Giant Monsters (TV 1968)[5]
- Warning from Space (TV 1968)[note 1]
- The X from Outer Space (TV 1968)[5]
- Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot (TV 1969)[8]
- Attack of the Monsters (TV 1970)[5]
- Destroy All Planets (TV 1970)[5]
- Gamera vs. Monster X (TV 1970)[5]
- Magic Serpent (TV 1970)[5]
- Return of Giant Majin (TV 1970)[5]
- Voyage Into Space (TV 1970)[5]
- Yongary, Monster from the Deep (TV 1970)[5]
Filmways Pictures
- Gamera: Super Monster (TV 1980)
Trivia
- AIP's version of Mothra vs. Godzilla and a reconstruction of its version of 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 since been replaced on home video by Toho-commissioned international English dubs and the original Japanese versions; however, Media Blasters did release Destroy All Monsters with the AIP version included to both DVD and Blu-ray in 2011, only for both of these releases to be pulled from circulation shortly afterward due to a dispute with Toho over other special features that were included.
- For many years, the five Showa Gamera films released by AITV were believed to be in the public domain by numerous companies. Some, such as Sinister Cinema and Something Weird Video, were the first to bring these versions to home video, followed by DVD releases from Alpha Video, Retromedia, and others in the early 2000s. Neptune Media was the first company to officially release the soundtrack from AITV's Attack of the Monsters on home video. Shout! Factory's Gamera DVDs, released from 2010 to 2011, included the AITV soundtracks for Return of the Giant Monsters, Destroy All Planets, Attack of the Monsters, and Gamera vs. Monster X, but omitted War of the Monsters. Arrow Video's Gamera: The Complete Collection subsequently included remastered audio and video from MGM's library of all five of AITV's Gamera releases.
Notes
- ↑ Warning from Space was initially Americanized and released to television in the United States by Four Star International in 1964. It was subsequently re-released by American International Television beginning in 1968.[6][7]
References
This is a list of references for American International Pictures. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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Bibliography
- Craig, Rob (2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 9781476666310.
- Heffernan, Kevin (2004). Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953–1968. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822332152.
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