Seven Arts Productions was a production company which made films for release by other studios. It was founded in 1957 by Eliot Hyman, Ray Stark, and Norman Katz.
History
Seven Arts' first film was The Gun Runners, released by United Artists.
Among its productions were The Misfits (1961) for United Artists, Gigot (1962) for Twentieth Century-Fox, Lolita (1962) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) for Warner Bros., and Is Paris Burning? (1966) for Paramount Pictures.
Over time it expanded its role, becoming equity investors with other studios and partnering with British horror film company Hammer Film Productions on many projects. It also retained ancillary rights on new productions surrendered on earlier films, including Seven Days in May (1964) and Promise Her Anything (1965) for release by Paramount.
Seven Arts also distributed feature films and TV programs for television. Warner Bros. licensed the TV rights to its post-1949 library to Seven Arts in 1960. Seven Arts made similar deals with 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures. Seven Arts also acquired theatrical reissue rights to some Fox films as well.
In 1967, Seven Arts Productions acquired the controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures from Jack L. Warner for $32 million. The companies were merged as Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. It was rebranded as Warner Bros. Inc. after Kinney National Company bought the company in 1969.
Other uses
Neither the later Seven Arts Pictures nor the defunct releasing company "Seven Arts", an early 1990s joint venture between Carolco Pictures and New Line Cinema (the latter which subsequently merged into Warner Bros.), is related to the original Seven Arts Productions.
Select filmography
The Gun Runners (1958); with United Artists
Thunder in the Sun (1959); with Paramount Pictures
Ten Seconds to Hell (1959); with United Artists
The Misfits (1961); with United Artists
By Love Possessed (1961); with United Artists
West Side Story (1961); with United Artists
The Count of Monte Cristo (1961) The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1961); with Warner Bros. Gigot (1962); with Twentieth Century Fox Lolita (1962); with MGM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962); with Warner Bros. Two for the Seesaw (1962); with United Artists The Main Attraction (1962); with MGM The Wild Affair (1963); with Bryanston Films & British Lion Films Sunday in New York (1963); with MGM Rampage (1963); with Warner Bros. Tamahine (1963); with MGM The Night of the Iguana (1964); with MGM Of Human Bondage (1964); with MGM Never Put It in Writing (1964); with Allied Artists Pictures Seven Days in May (1964); with Joel Productions, John Frankenheimer Productions and Paramount Pictures A Global Affair (1964); with MGM Promise Her Anything (1965); with Paramount Pictures The Nanny (1965); with Hammer Films The Hill (1965); with MGM Is Paris Burning? (1966); with Paramount Pictures The Defector (1966) Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966); with Hammer Films One Million Years B.C. (1966); with Hammer Films The Frozen Dead (1966) The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966); with Twentieth Century Fox This Property Is Condemned (1966); with Paramount Pictures Assault on a Queen (1966); with Paramount Pictures Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966); with Hammer Films The Reptile (1966); with Hammer Films The Plague of the Zombies (1966); with Hammer Films You're a Big Boy Now (1966) Drop Dead Darling (1966); with Paramount Pictures Once Before I Die (1966) Slave Girls (1967); with Hammer Films Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1967); with Paramount Pictures The Viking Queen (1967); with Hammer Films The Dirty Dozen (1967); with MGM The Shuttered Room (1967) It! (1967) A Challenge for Robin Hood (1967); with Hammer Films The Anniversary (1968); with Hammer Films The Vengeance of She (1968); with Hammer Films The Lost Continent (1968); with Hammer Films The Devil Rides Out (1968); with Hammer Films
Theatre credits
The World of Suzie Wong (1958–60) Everybody Loves Opal (1961) Funny Girl (1964–67) Any Wednesday (1964–66) The Owl and the Pussycat (1964–65)