Bronson Avenue gate, 1926

Paramount Pictures, Inc., is one of Hollywood's oldest continuously operating film studios. Its history goes back to 1912, when studio executive Adolph Zukor imported the French feature film Queen Elizabeth, starring Sarah Bernhardt, and used it to launch his Famous Players Film Company. Famous Players merged with the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1916 to form Famous Players-Lasky, which acquired a controlling interest in Paramount Pictures Corporation, at the time a two-year old distribution entity. In 1933 the company declared bankruptcy, Lasky was ousted, and the company reorganized to emerge as Paramount Pictures, Inc., with Zukor serving as chairman of the board emeritus. Gulf+Western acquired the company in 1966, followed by Viacom, Inc. in 1994. The studio is located in Hollywood.