Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios or Universal for short), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major American movie studios. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are based in New York City.

Universal Pictures is the second longest-lived Hollywood studio; Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures is the oldest by a month. The founder of Universal was Carl Laemmle, a German Jewish immigrant from Laupheim who settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he managed a clothing store. On a 1905 buying trip to Chicago, Illinois, he was struck by the popularity of nickelodeons.

One story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the take for the day. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, he gave up dry goods to buy the first of several nickelodeons. For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for any Trust-produced film they showed.

On the basis of Edison's patent on the electric motor used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition, and attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution. It was believed that the productions were meant to be used for another company but they turned it down.

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