Cinema Center Films

CBS chairman William S. Paley and Frank Stanton founded the network's first film division, Cinema Center Films, in 1967, with Gordon T. Stulberg as its first chief.{{cite news|last=Oliver|first=Myrna|title=Gordon T. Stulberg; Studio Executive, Lawyer, Negotiator|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-18-me-38185-story.html|access-date=27 July 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 18, 2000}}

In February 1967 CBS had bought for $9.5 million the studios of Republic Pictures (which would be renamed CBS Studio Center). The following month they announced Stulberg's appointment, stating they intended to make ten films a year at a cost of $3.5 million each on average. Paley and Stulberg met with Gulf & Western chairman Charles Bluhdorn, who had just acquired Paramount Pictures, in a search for a distributor, but Bluhdorn's over-chumminess turned off Paley. Stulberg reported to John A. Schneider, CBS network president.{{cite book|last1=Bedell Smith|first1=Sally|title=In All His Glory: The Life and Times of William S. Paley and the Birth of Modern Broadcasting|date=February 29, 2012|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=9780307786715|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4IgALTXtH4C&dq=Cinema+Center+Films+Jack+Lemmon+-wiki4&pg=PT382|chapter=5: The King}}

The studio's first notable talent signing was with Doris Day{{cite news|title=Martin, Betty (May 9, 1967). Film Pact for Doris Day. |work=Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, Calif) (1923-Current File) Page D17.}} which resulted in their first movie With Six You Get Eggroll. Initially, CCF was generally termed by the film community as a maker only of "fluffy films" that seemed designed for rebroadcast on CBS.

Their second signing was with Bob Banner Associates, who were to make a series of projects that did not come to fruition.{{Cite news|author=Martin, Betty|title=Multi-Film Agreement Signed|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 22, 1967|page=d9}} National General Pictures agreed to distribute their films in August 1967, agreeing to provide $60 million for 22 movies.{{Cite news|title=National General, CBS Sign Deal for Film Distribution|work=Los Angeles Times|date=Aug 22, 1967|page=c8}}

They signed a four-picture deal in October 1967 with Jalem Productions, Jack Lemmon's company, worth $21 million – Jalem was to produce four films, two in which Lemmon was to appear.{{Cite news|title=CBS, Jalem Sign $21 Million Pact|date=Oct 2, 1967|work=Los Angeles Times|page=d24}} The deal gave way to The April Fools (1969) and The War Between Men and Women (1972).{{Cite web |date=1967-11-03 |title=The Cleveland Press from Cleveland, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1161545395/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}

Other people who signed deals with the company included producer William Graf,{{cite news|title=Cinema Center, Graf Announce Film Plans|work=Los Angeles Times|date=Dec 10, 1968|page=31}} and actor Steve McQueen via his company Solar Productions.{{Cite news|title=Film Star of Year Turns to Creative Extension: McQueen's Creative Film Kick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=Sep 21, 1969|page=u1}} Robert Culp's company also signed.{{Cite news|title=Cinema by, but Not Necessarily for, Television|author=Warga, Wayne|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 28, 1968|page=c14}}

Ogilvy Mather was hired in July 1969 to provide advertising for the division.{{cite news|title=Ogilvy & Mather Gets Film Task|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/21/archives/ogilvy-mather-gets-film-task.html|access-date=27 July 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 21, 1969}} To counter-act the film community's perception of being a "fluffy films" producer, Stulberg recommended making The Boys in the Band to Paley. Little Big Man was CCF's biggest hit at the box office despite a cost overrun. CCF also financed a Broadway production, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, a Don Petersen drama that opened in February 1970.{{cite news|last=Zolotow|first=Sam|title=C. B. S. Subsidiary to Help Stage Petersen's Drama on Broadway|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/09/07/archives/c-b-s-subsidiary-to-help-stage-petersens-drama-on-broadway.html|access-date=27 July 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 7, 1968|page=23}} Paley moved responsibility at CBS for CCF from Schneider to Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records, which was then owned by CBS.

Twenty-six films were produced under Stulberg until he left to work at 20th Century Fox in 1971. CBS closed the unit in 1972;{{cite news|last=Gould|first=Jack|title=C.B.S. is Dropping Its Theater Films; Paley Takes Action as Part of a Production Review|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/10/archives/cbs-is-dropping-its-theater-films-paley-takes-action-as-part-of-a.html |access-date=July 27, 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 10, 1972|page=47}} its last film was the Peanuts animated musical Snoopy Come Home. The studio never reported a profit in any year of its operation, losing money on 20 out of 27 films for a total loss of $30 million.

Distribution of Cinema Center's films were transferred from National General Pictures to Warner Bros. in a November 1973 deal that also included those of First Artists Productions.Orders of Magnitude I: Majors, Mini-majors, "Instant Majors", and Independents. Page 308.

CBS licensed 28 CCF films to Viacom in 1979 for $30 million.{{cite book|last1=Slide|first1=Anthony|title=The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry|date=June 11, 1998|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/newhistoricaldic00slid/page/221 221]|url=https://archive.org/details/newhistoricaldic00slid|url-access=registration|quote=CBS sold Cinema Center Films to Viacom -wiki.|access-date=October 5, 2017|language=en|chapter=V|isbn=9780810866362}} Another look at Cinema Center Films found that it was profitable. Since its closure, its films had been generating income via network and pay TV ancillary markets,{{cite news|last1=Curran|first1=Trisha|title=CBS Wants to Star In the Movies--As One of the Major Film Producers | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/28/business/cbs-wants-to-star-in-the-movies-as-one-of-the-major-film-producers.html|access-date=October 5, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 28, 1981}} thus CBS attempted another return to the theatrical film production business in 1982, with a unit known as CBS Theatrical Films, as well as with Tri-Star Pictures, the joint venture between CBS, HBO and Columbia Pictures. CBS closed down CBS Theatrical Films and dropped out of Tri-Star in 1985.{{efn|Tri-Star is now currently a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment.}}{{cite news |last1=Brennan |first1=Jude |title=CBS Films' Presidency: And Then There Was One |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/judebrennan/2014/07/23/cbs-films-presidency-and-then-there-was-one/#66e6ae6d572f |access-date=August 16, 2018 |work=Forbes |date=July 23, 2014 |language=en}}

CBS would later fall under common ownership with Paramount Pictures after being bought by Viacom (Paramount's parent since 1994 and originally the syndication arm of CBS) in 2000. CBS and Viacom split again in 2006, with CBS becoming a unit of CBS Corporation, but both are still majority-owned by National Amusements. CBS eventually launched a new film unit independent of Viacom and Paramount in March 2007, called CBS Films (which Lionsgate took over CBS Films' U.S. distribution and global sales functions in 2015).{{cite news|last=Eller|first=Claudia|title=CBS names head of movie division|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-26-fi-cbs26-story.html|access-date=27 July 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 26, 2007}} On December 4, 2019, CBS Films was folded into the main CBS Entertainment Group after releasing Jexi, at the same time CBS also announced that it will re-merge with Viacom to form ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), reuniting CBS with Paramount.

{{main|List of films produced by CBS}}

• Indiewood
• New Hollywood

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• Orders of Magnitude I. Page 331–332. Cook, David A. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=HVygqYMVP2wC&dq=ABC+Circle+Films&pg=PP1 Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970–1979]. University of California Press.

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Category:Defunct film and television production companies of the United States

Category:Entertainment companies based in California

Category:CBS

Category:Companies based in Los Angeles

Category:Entertainment companies established in 1967

Category:Mass media companies established in 1967

Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1972

Category:1967 establishments in California

Category:1972 disestablishments in California

Category:Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles