Hollywood and the United Kingdom are connected via the American industry's use of British source material, an exchange of talent, and Hollywood's financial investment in British facilities and productions. The American studios have had their own bases in the UK in the past, such as MGM-British, and Warner Bros. owned shares in the now long disestablished British distributor Warner-Pathé, once part of the Associated British Pictures Corporation. The U.K. has had major production studios in the United States such as Trilith Studios.
For a period, three of the best known American superheroes were portrayed by Britons: Christian Bale as Batman, Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, and Henry Cavill as Superman. Some actors, such as Sam Wanamaker permanently settled in Britain while others, such as Kevin Spacey, spent many years in the country.
Many other actors from the United Kingdom have achieved international fame and critical success, including;
The American studios have had their own production facilities and subsidiaries in the UK. Warner Bros. acquired Teddington Studios to produce 'quota quickies' around 1931. American production companies were required to invest in British product for their own films to be shown in the UK. Paramount-British Productions were formed in 1931 having leased facilities from Herbert Wilcox the previous year, and would continue (later using Pinewood) until the war. The earliest films made by Alexander Korda in Britain, before the foundation of London Films, were also released through Paramount.[18] Other major American studios (Fox, Columbia and RKO) invested in British-made films through subsidiaries.
MGM-British was established just before the Second World War at Denham Studios, and produced four films there including Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). Revived after the war and based in Borehamwood, MGM-British was involved in producing filmns for over twenty years until the parent companies closure of the studio in 1970. For a time, after the war, Rank partly owned Universal-International, who distributed such films as Hamlet (1948) in the United States.
Warner Bros. once had shares in the Associated British Pictures Corporation, and eventually took a 50% share (with ABPC controlling the remainder) in domestic company Warner-Pathé Distributors from 1958. Warner withdrew its involvement in 1967. Meanwhile, Universal made 13 films in Britain during this period with limited box-office success and Paramount had a stake in such significant British films as Alfie (1966) and if.... (1968). After ABPC was sold to EMI in 1969, MGM formed a short-lived distribution partnership in 1970 with EMI which lasted until 1973. EMI formed a tripartite distribution arrangement with Warner and Columbia in 1978 under the name of Columbia-EMI-Warner. The Cannon Group, briefly took over EMI's share in 1986 (renamed as Columbia-Cannon-Warner) before the tripartite distribution arrangement was dissolved in 1988.
British film industry's identity and Hollywood
The British film industry has a complex attitude to Hollywood. It has been argued that the size of the domestic British cinema market makes it impossible for the British film industry to successfully produce Hollywood-style blockbusters over a sustained period without U.S. involvement.[19] American subsidiary Miramax took over Anthony Minghella's The English Patient (1996) when the production ran into difficulties during filming. Technically an American production, the film won 9 Oscars. Conversely, many films credited as American have been shot largely in the UK such as Prometheus, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Guardians of the Galaxy.[20]
"In film as in society at large, America’s influence has now reached levels and depths previously unimaginable," said critic Geoff Brown, referring to the Americanisation of British film culture in the 1990s. He cites as examples Hollywood coverage and the use of language in publications like Empire magazine, as well as dominance of big-budget American films in multiplexes,[21] but he also notes that this is an industrial matter: The Full Monty was entirely financed and distributed by one of the US majors, Twentieth Century Fox, […] The praise went to Britain, but all the film’s profits went to America."[22]
Conversely, BBC critic Mark Kermode believes that "the movie industries of Britain and America are inextricably intertwined", citing numerous examples of how Hollywood provides work to British production staff and studios, whilst Britain enables Hollywood to base their prestigious productions at UK studios.[23] He refers to British director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and Inception as British rather than as American films, and yet "when a movie which looks quintessentially ‘British’, such as The King's Speech, achieves equivalent success, everyone suddenly starts writing articles about the state of our national cinema as if it somehow exists in isolation."[24] He agrees, nevertheless, that ‘the real problem’ is distribution rather than funding: "only a scant few secure the width of distribution that allows an extensive audience."[25]
