Harmony Originals, the movie and TV division of music rights firm Harmony, has acquired RKO, the legendary film studio behind such classics as Citizen Kane, It’s A Fantastic Life, and the unique 1933 King Kong.
Harmony acquired the studio from Ted Hartley, an actor and funding banker who served as RKO’s Chairman and CEO since he and actress Dina Merrill purchased the studio in 1989.
The acquisition comes with the by-product rights to greater than 5,000 titles, together with remake, sequel, story, stage rights and copyrights from RKO’s movie library, together with never-produced screenplays.
RKO will now function as an imprint beneath Harmony Originals, with Harmony EVP Sophia Dilley and present RKO President Mary Beth O’Connor named Co-Presidents on the new RKO. Dilley will proceed in her place heading up Harmony Originals.
“RKO is a treasure trove of filmed storytelling that has had a everlasting and profound impression on international common tradition,” Harmony CEO Bob Valentine mentioned.
“As we proceed to broaden our catalog and content material capabilities, RKO is smart as a strategic step in widening Harmony’s foothold in movie, tv, and theatrical rights, offering our Originals and Theatricals divisions with an awfully deep assortment of titles to develop and reimagine.”
“RKO is a treasure trove of filmed storytelling that has had a everlasting and profound impression on international common tradition.”
Bob Valentine, Harmony
Mary Beth O’Connor added: “Harmony has embraced RKO and its proud legacy as an emblem of daring, imaginative storytelling. We’re thrilled to be launching anew with Harmony’s highly effective platform and deep artistic imaginative and prescient, anchored by the guts and spirit of our shared targets for RKO’s subsequent chapter.”
Hartley, who turned 100 years outdated final 12 months, will stay as lead producer and Chief Storyteller on a slate of lively RKO initiatives, and can maintain the title of Chairman Emeritus.
“Harmony’s dedication to championing legacy is unmatched,” he mentioned.
“We’re assured that RKO has discovered its subsequent large step into its future at Harmony. They’ve dedicated to persevering with and enhancing the wealthy historical past of the enduring studio. I’m proud to construct this with them and look ahead to what this energy group will carry to our trade.”
RKO at present has seven initiatives in lively growth, together with the Olivier Award-winning stage musical High Hat, primarily based on RKO’s 1935 traditional movie starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and that includes music by Irving Berlin.
Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films have been a mainstay of RKO throughout its heyday, together with films similar to Flying All the way down to Rio, The Homosexual Divorcee, and Swing Time.
The studio is credited with giving traditional film stars like Katherine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum their first large hits, and Cary Grant was a daily for years within the studio’s films.
Fashioned in 1928 by way of a merger guided by Radio Company of America (RCA), RKO’s heyday ran by way of to the Forties. However, after a collection of possession modifications – which included a interval through which it was owned by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes – the corporate exited movie manufacturing within the Nineteen Fifties.
It noticed a revival beneath new possession within the Nineteen Eighties, producing or co-producing such notable movies as Cat Individuals, The Finest Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Hamburger Hill.
“It’s a uncommon alternative to honor the previous whereas shaping the long run.”
Sophia Dilley, Harmony, RKO
Following its acquisition by Hartley and Merrill in 1989, the studio produced quite a lot of remakes of movies from its heyday. Its most notable movie from this period could also be Mighty Joe Younger, a remake of a 1949 RKO film that was itself impressed by King Kong.
Harmony’s acquisition of RKO “marks an exciting new chapter for each firms,” Sophia Dilley mentioned.
“The mixed catalogs provide a unprecedented basis for reimagining beloved classics and launching completely new franchises throughout movie, TV and theater. It’s a uncommon alternative to honor the previous whereas shaping the long run.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
