American International Pictures

American International Pictures Type Film company Status Active (relaunch) Founder(s) James H. Nicholson, Samuel Z. Arkoff Founded April 2, 1954 Defunct 1980 (original company) Head- quarters Los Angeles, California, United States Also known as American Releasing Corporation (1954-1956) Parent company Filmways (1979-1980) MGM (2020-present) Divisions American International Television Succeeded by Filmways Pictures (original company)

American International Pictures (AIP) is a film production label of MGM. In its first incarnation as an American film distributor, it was founded in 1954 as American Releasing Corporation (ARC) by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. AIP released low-budget American films and imported films from the 1950s to the 1970s, including many tokusatsu films made by Toho and Daiei. AIP formed its own television production and distribution company, American International Television (AITV), in 1964, which released five of the eight films in the Showa Gamera series and several other kaiju and tokusatsu films to American television. The company was acquired by Filmways, Inc. in 1979 and renamed Filmways Pictures in 1980. Filmways would go on to syndicate Gamera Super Monster in the U.S. in 1982, the same year it was purchased by Orion Pictures. Most of AIP's library is now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which purchased Orion in 1997. In 2020, AIP was relaunched by MGM as a label for limited and digital releases of new independent films.

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)
• Dagora, the Space Monster (TV 1965)
• Majin, the Monster of Terror (TV 1967)
• Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (TV 1967)
• War of the Monsters (TV 1967)
• Return of the Giant Monsters (TV 1968)
• Warning from Space (TV 1968)
• The X from Outer Space (TV 1968)
• Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot (TV 1969)
• Attack of the Monsters (TV 1970)
• Destroy All Planets (TV 1970)
• Gamera vs. Monster X (TV 1970)
• Magic Serpent (TV 1970)
• Return of Giant Majin (TV 1970)
• Voyage Into Space (TV 1970)
• Yongary, Monster from the Deep (TV 1970)

Filmways Pictures

• Gamera Super Monster (TV 1982)

Gallery

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  American International Pictures logo in Godzilla vs. The Thing
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  American International Pictures logo in Frankenstein Conquers the World
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  American International Pictures logo in Destroy All Monsters
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  American International Pictures logo in Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster
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  American International Pictures logo with Filmways byline
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  American International Televison logo (ca. 1964)
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  American International Televison logo (ca. 1966)
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  American International Televison logo (ca. 1967)
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  American International Televison logo (ca. 1969)
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  Filmways Pictures logo (1.33:1)
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  Filmways Pictures logo

Trivia

• AIP's version of Mothra vs. Godzilla was released on DVD by Simitar Entertainment and Classic Media, and a poor quality reconstruction of its version of Frankenstein vs. Baragon was released to DVD by Media Blasters. Media Blasters released Destroy All Monsters with AIP's Titan Productions dub as an alternate audio track on both DVD and Blu-ray in 2011, only for the release to be pulled from circulation shortly afterward due to a dispute with Toho over special features that were included. AIP's version of Godzilla vs. Hedorah was only ever released on LaserDisc and VHS by Orion Pictures.
• 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 VHS, 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 of all five of AITV's Gamera releases.

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]

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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