United Artists

United Artists Corporation (UA) is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

The current United Artists was formed in November 2006 under a partnership between producer/actor Tom Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., an MGM company. Paula Wagner departed the studio on August 14, 2008 to produce films independently. Her output as head of UA was two films, both starring Cruise, the flop Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie, which despite mixed reviews was successful at the box office. Wagner's departure led to speculation that an overhaul at United Artists was imminent.. Cruise owns a small stake in the studio, a subsidiary of MGM Studios.
UA became the first motion picture studio granted a WGA waiver in January 2008 during the Writers' Strike.

MGM is owned by MGM Holdings, Inc., which was formed by a consortium including Sony, Comcast, TPG Capital, L.P. and Providence Equity Partners.

Since then, United Artists has merely served as a co-producer with MGM for two releases: the 2009 remake of Fame and Hot Tub Time Machine. Throughout the past year, continued debt and credit issues for MGM Holdings, Inc., United Artists' parent company has left UA's future in doubt.