Universal Pictures

Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly known as Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc., Universal Pictures is a film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California, owned by Comcast through the NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment division of NBCUniversal. The company produces and distributes feature films, television shows, and other entertainment content.

Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour and is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States; it is also the fifth-oldest film studio in the world after Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus, and Nordisk Film; and it is the oldest member of Hollywood's "Big Five" studios in terms The company's studios are situated in Universal City, California, while its corporate headquarters are in New York, New York. The studio was purchased by MCA in 1962, and the company was rebranded as NBCUniversal in 2004. Woody Woodpecker, a character developed by Walter Lantz and Ben Hardaway in 1940, serves as the company's mascot.

A member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), Universal Pictures was one of the "Big Three" studios in Hollywood during its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s.