Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (informally as Universal Studios or also known simply as Universal), is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Universal Studios, Inc., which is owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast.
Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour, Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States and the fifth oldest in the world after Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus, and Nordisk Film, and is one of the "Big Five" film studios.
Universal's most commercially successful film franchises include Fast & Furious, Jurassic Park, and Despicable Me. Additionally, the studio's library includes many individual films such as Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, both of which became the highest-grossing films of all time during their initial releases. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and was one of the "Little Three" majors during Hollywood's golden age.
