Old House, New Wallpaper: Remnants of the Studio Era in Streaming

The Studio Era is widely heralded as the Golden Age of filmmaking. Often dated by historians as lasting from the back end of the Roaring '20s to the end of the 1950s, the Studio Era produced staple films such as Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, and It's a Wonderful Life. The Golden Age of filmmaking was also responsible for creating the first wave of "stars" among movies. From actors like Cary Grant to directors like Alfred Hitchcock, the Studio Era certainly churned out characters.

But the greatest characteristic of the Studio Era, as the name suggests, were the Studios. During this period, Hollywood was largely owned by 5-8 total studios. These were known as "The Big 5" and "The Little 3." These studios contracted actors to ensure that, with some exception, no other studios could film movies with them. Theaters were kept in chokeholds with prices controlled by these conglomerates until the end of the Studio Era with the US v. Paramount court case ruling that studios were engaging in monopoly. Studios remained but had significantly less power, creating space for new filmmakers to flourish in the Independent space.

While the 1950s marked the end of The Big 5, in the wake of streaming services a new group of studios have emerged to take their place. And yet, many of these "new" studios have emerged from the remaining pieces of studios from the past.

The Little 3's Place in Streaming

Columbia Pictures, Sony, and Netflix

During the Studio Era, Columbia Pictures stood among Universal and United Artists as one of the Little Three Studios. While the name may undersell their influence, Columbia was the first studio to make the transition to producing televised entertainment when at-home TV's began hitting the market.

In 1989, Columbia was bought out by Sony Entertainment. While Sony doesn't have a streaming service among the Big 6 streaming services, Bevin Fletcher wrote about a new deal struck between Netflix and Sony for 2026 in article for StreamTV Insider. Moving forward, Netflix will have exclusive streaming rights once movies have finished their theatrical release, including those produced by Columbia Pictures.

Universal Pictures & Peacock

Universal and Peacock are connected under the umbrella of Comcast. In 2004, Universal Pictures merged with NBC to form NBCUniversal. In 2011, the corporation began a merger with Comcast before being fully acquired in 2013. Then, Comcast formed Peacock in 2020, which quickly rose to sit amongst the Big 6 streaming services with titles like The Office, the Fast & Furious franchise, and primary streaming rights to DreamWorks films like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda.

United Artists

United Artists is a lesser known distribution company among The Little 3, but is responsible for titles like West Side Story, Some Like it Hot, 12 Angry Men, and many more film classics. An article for UMSL shows that MGM bought out United Artists in 1981 alongside the pre-1950s Warner film library. MGM was then bought out by Amazon in 2022, but we will get to that.

What Remains of the Studio Era's Big 5

Apple TV

It is worth noting first that Apple TV remains the only streaming platform among streaming's Big 6 that does not own one of the original Big 5 or Little 3 studios of the Studio Era.

MGM and Amazon Prime Video

MGM, otherwise known as Metro-Goldwin-Mayer, was widely considered the top dog among the Big 5. Having produced classics such as but certainly not limited to The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, MGM is easily one of the most memorable products of the studio era. As such, it seems only fitting that a corporation of Amazon's scale be the one to acquire it as Prime Video did in 2022.

20th Century Fox, Hulu, and Disney+

20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios, was acquired in 2019 by the Walt Disney Corporation. The $71 billion acquisition included properties like Avatar, X-Men, and The Simpsons.

This was a strong victory for Disney+, who began the process of acquiring Hulu shortly after. According to an article by Dade Hayes in Deadline, the acquisition of 20th Century included a 30% stake in Hulu that was originally a collaboration between NBCUniversal and Fox. This began the long process of Disney's Hulu acquisition, which is set to be completed with by the end of 2026.

RKO Radio Pictures to Concord Originals & Warner Bros.

RKO pictures has seen many owners since the Studio Era. The former-powerhouse entertainment picture studio passed through many hands before landing in the hands of Concord Originals in 2025.

Prior to this, many of RKO's titles were sold to Turner Pictures in 1987. Not even 3 years later, Turner underwent a merger with Warner Bros. in 1990 and became known as Time Warner Entertainment.

Warner Bros. and Paramount+

On Feb. 27th, it was announced that Paramount will officially be acquiring Warner Bros. Entertainment for $111 billion, beating out Netflix in the arduous bidding war. According to Danielle Kaye and Nardine Saad in their article for the BBC, this acquisition will include the WBD film & television studios, HBO Max, CNN, and many other IP currently under the umbrella of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Final Thoughts

Among the original Big 5 and Little 3 studios of Golden Age Hollywood, RKO is the only studio that is not currently among the Big 6 streaming platforms. Additionally, many RKO titles that were bought out by Warner Bros. will become property of Paramount once the acquisition of Warner Bros. is finalized. The technology that we use has changed drastically. Many faces have come and gone from the big screen. And yet, as far as we have come from the shiny Golden Age of film, many names from the Studio Era still remain as we venture further into the Streaming Era.