Jump to content

MTV Entertainment Studios

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from MTV Films)

Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios
Formerly
Company typeSubsidiary
Industry
  • Motion pictures
  • Television production
Predecessor
Founded1991; 34 years ago (1991)
DefunctAugust 7, 2025; 3 months ago (2025-08-07)
FateMerged with Skydance Television and consolidated into Paramount Television Studios
SuccessorsParamount Television Studios
CBS Studios (TV library)
Paramount Pictures (film library)
Headquarters
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
,
U.S.
OwnerParamount Skydance
ParentMTV Entertainment Group
Divisions

Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios (also known as MTV Entertainment Studios and formerly MTV Production Development from 2003 until 2018 and MTV Studios from 2018 until 2021) was an American film and television production and distribution company and was the film and television production arm of the MTV Entertainment Group, itself a subsidiary of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance. It primarily produces content aimed at adolescent and adult audiences, including original productions for the namesake cable channel and its siblings, or theatrical films released through Paramount Pictures.

MTV Entertainment Studios was formed in 2021[citation needed] as a consolidation of the original MTV Productions founded in 1991, the former MTV Films group established in 1996, the MTV Production Development/MTV Studios group of 2003, and the relaunched MTV Studios of 2018.[1]

In 2023, MTV Entertainment Studios merged with fellow Paramount subsidiary Showtime's production businesses internally to become Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and in 2025 was consolidated into a revived Paramount Television Studios.[2]

History

[edit]

MTV Productions

[edit]

MTV Productions was founded in 1991. It went into expansion two years later, with Doug Herzog serving as president, to produce content for theatrical releases, broadcast television and cable, syndication, and the international marketplace.[3] MTV then signed a two-picture deal with Geffen Pictures.[4] MTV Productions also tried for an entertainment strip called Real Time, to be distributed by Viacom Enterprises, and scheduled on air for the 1994–95 season, but never materialized.[5]

Joe's Apartment, based on a short aired on MTV, would be the only film to come out of the Geffen Film deal due to the 1994 acquisition of Paramount Pictures by MTV's parent company Viacom. It was later released on July 26, 1996, and grossed $4.6 million on a $13 million budget, making it a box office bomb.[6] Since its acquisition by Viacom, Paramount Pictures began to distribute material from MTV and Nickelodeon.[7] After The Arsenio Hall Show was cancelled, Paramount began distributing and producing MTV's The Jon Stewart Show for the syndication market.[8]

The Paramount Television Group and MTV Productions signed a deal to develop projects commissioned by MTV in 1994, and gave Paramount the right of first refusal on projects developed by MTV.[9]

In the 1997–98 television season, MTV Productions, in conjunction with Paramount Network Television, debuted the NBC comedy Jenny, the UPN (then-sister of MTV) comedy Hitz, and the WB drama Three. None of these lasted more than one season.[10]

MTV Films

[edit]
Logo from 2010 to 2013
Final logo as MTV Films

By 1995, David Gale was named head of MTV Films.[11]

MTV developed its first feature film in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. Based on MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-Head, the film grossed $63.1 million on a $12 million budget.[12]

On August 21, 1998, MTV Films released Dead Man on Campus, which starred Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It got negative reviews, and was a box office bomb, grossing $15.1 million on a $14 million budget.[13] MTV Films' next feature project, 200 Cigarettes, released on February 26, 1999, and was also a box office bomb, grossing $6.8 million on a $6 million budget.[14]

In 2001, Zoolander was released under the VH1 Films label, and grossed $60.7 million on a $28 million budget.[15]

On August 21, 2006, Nickelodeon Movies, Comedy Central Films, and MTV Films became labels of the Paramount Motion Pictures Group. Less than eleven years later, Paramount Players was created in 2017 as a division of Paramount's Motion Pictures Group and it consists of MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, and BET Films.[citation needed]

Relaunch and consolidation

[edit]

In June 2018, MTV announced it had rebranded its production & development division MTV Production Development and had it relaunched as a newly production unit dedicated to produce programming for other networks & streaming services alongside producing revivals from the MTV programming library under the name MTV Studios, the newly rebranded production division would develop & produce revivals or re-imaginings of classic series from MTV's programming library, such as its animated series Daria and Aeon Flux alongside its unscripted television series The Real World and Made.[1] Over the next two years, MTV Studios would launch its "MTV Documentary Films" label for producing and acquiring documentary features [citation needed], while MTV Films would be folded into MTV Studios in 2020.[citation needed]

MTV Entertainment Studios

[edit]
Final logo used since 2021 to 2025

In 2021, MTV Studios became MTV Entertainment Studios, now encompassing content for, and based on, all brands within the MTV Entertainment Group.[citation needed]

In March 2022, MTV Entertainment Studios established an overall TV partnership with Emmy-winning producer, director & executive producer of the studios' production Mayor of Kingstown Antoine Fuqua and his production banner Hill District Media to produce scripted & unscripted television content with MTV Entertainment Studios alongside its production partner 101 Studios would serve as co-producers for the partnership with Fuqua for its scripted & unscripted content.[16]

In February 2023 when MTV Entertainment Studios' parent Paramount Global interrogated Showtime's streaming platforms into its streaming service Paramount+ (which MTV Entertainment Studios had released its content into the service), MTV Entertainment Studios announced it had merged with Showtime's production operations and its unit Showtime Studios alongside its leadership team into forming a combined entity renaming the production subsidiary to Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios with Nina L. Diaz continued leading the merged production entitly Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios as its President of Content and CCO & would serve as Head of Scripted at the merged production unit under the Showtime Studios name whilst Keith Cox continued serving as president of Scripted at the merged production unit Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios.[17][18]

On August 7, 2025, as part of Paramount Global's merger with Skydance Media, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios merged with Skydance Television to form Paramount Television Studios; the new company continued to use the MTV Entertainment Studios and Showtime Networks labels for the time being.

Filmography

[edit]
Main article: List of MTV Entertainment Studios productions

Awards and nominations

[edit]

Academy Awards

[edit]
Year Category Film Winner/nominee(s) Result
2000 Best Adapted Screenplay Election[19] Alexander Payne
Jim Taylor 		Nominated
2004 Best Documentary Feature Tupac: Resurrection[20] Lauren Lazin
Karolyn Ali 		Nominated
2006 Murderball[21] Henry Alex Rubin
Dana Adam Shapiro 		Nominated
Best Original Song Hustle & Flow[22] Jordan Houston
Cedric Coleman
Paul Beauregard
("It's Hard out Here for a Pimp") 		Won
Best Actor Terrence Howard Nominated
2014 Best Makeup and Hairstyling Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa[23] Stephen Prouty Nominated
2020 Best Documentary Short Subject St. Louis Superman[24] Smriti Mundhra
Sami Khan 		Nominated
2022 Best Documentary Feature Ascension[25] Jessica Kingdon
Kira Simon-Kennedy
Nathan Truesdell 		Nominated
2024 Best Documentary Feature The Eternal Memory[26] Maite Alberdi
Juan de Dios Larraín
Pablo Larraín
Rocío Jadue 		Nominated
2024 Best Documentary Short Film The ABCs of Book Banning[27] Sheila Nevins
Trish Adlesic
Nazenet Habtezghi 		Nominated
2025 Best Documentary Feature Black Box Diaries[28] Shiori Itō
Eric Nyari
Hanna Aqvilin 		Nominated
2025 Best Documentary Short Film I Am Ready, Warden[29] Smriti Mundhra
Maya Gnyp 		Nominated

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "MTV Launches MTV Studios with 'Daria', 'Made', 'Real World' & 'Aeon Flux' Revivals". June 21, 2018. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  2. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 4, 2025). "Revived Paramount TV Studios To Be Led By Matt Thunell; Will Absorb Taylor Sheridan Home MTVE, Showtime & Skydance TV; Keith Cox Staying On". Deadline Hollywood.
  3. ^ "MTV launches production unit" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 10, 1993. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  4. ^ Marx, Andy (July 7, 1993). "Geffen and MTV pair on 'Apartment'". Variety. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  5. ^ "Viacom's 'Real Time' tackles access" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 16, 1993. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  6. ^ Leydon, Joe (July 29, 1996). "Joe's Apartment". Variety. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  7. ^ "Viacom takes over Paramount". Variety. Reuters. March 14, 1994. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  8. ^ "Paramount folds Arsenio Hall Show" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 25, 1994. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  9. ^ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 14, 1994. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  10. ^ Richmond, Ray (June 6, 1997). "Webs want their MTVP: Unit scores 1st time out". Variety. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  11. ^ Gardner, Chris; McNary, Dave (June 27, 2006). "MTV rewires its exec deck". Variety. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  12. ^ Leydon, Joe (December 22, 1996). "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America". Variety. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  13. ^ Leydon, Joe (August 21, 1998). "Dead Man on Campus". Variety. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  14. ^ Torres, Vanessa (February 15, 1999). "'Cigarettes' preem has crowd smokin'". Variety. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  15. ^ Fleming, Ann Donahue, Michael; Donahue, Ann; Fleming, Michael (May 25, 2000). "Stiller dealing to direct, star in Zoolander". Variety. Retrieved October 11, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (March 22, 2022). "Antoine Fuqua Inks Paramount Overall TV Deal". The Hollywood Reporter.
  17. ^ Maas, Jennifer (February 13, 2023). "Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios Teams Merge, New Leadership Revealed as Four More Execs Exit". Variety.
  18. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (February 13, 2023). "MTV Studios Team Given Showtime Oversight". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  19. ^ "John Irving Wins Adapted Screenplay: 2000 Oscars – YouTube". YouTube. Oscars. July 10, 2013. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  20. ^ "Born into Brothels Wins Documentary Feature: 2005 Oscars". Youtube. Oscars. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  21. ^ "Documentary Winners: 2006 Oscars". YouTube. Oscars. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  22. ^ ""Lose Yourself" winning Best Original Song Oscar®". YouTube. September 28, 2011. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  23. ^ ""Dallas Buyers Club" winning the Oscar® for Makeup and Hairstyling". YouTube. Oscars. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  24. ^ "The 92nd Academy Awards | 2020". Oscars.org. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  25. ^ "The 94th Academy Awards | 2022". www.oscars.org. March 19, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  26. ^ "96th Oscars® Nominations Announced". January 23, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  27. ^ "96th Oscars® Nominations Announced". January 23, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  28. ^ "97th Oscars® Nominees Determined (Documentary Feature)". February 11, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
  29. ^ "97th Oscars® Nominees Determined (Documentary Short Film)". February 11, 2025. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MTV_Entertainment_Studios&oldid=1325042400"