Among its most successful and well known films were The Deep (1977), Midnight Express (1978), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Flashdance (1983), Batman (1989), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Trainspotting (1996), Dead Man Walking (1995), The Big Lebowski (1998), Fargo (1996), The Usual Suspects (1995), The Game (1997), Candyman (1992) and Notting Hill (1999).

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, PolyGram continued to invest in a diversified film unit with the purchases of individual production companies.

The music company PolyGram (owned by Dutch-based Philips and Germany's Siemens) bought out its share of Casablanca Record & FilmWorks in 1977.

Guber would form a partnership with Barbra Streisand's hairdresser Jon Peters, who co-produced his client's A Star Is Born remake.

Guber and Peters left PolyGram Pictures in 1982, taking their plans for a new Batman movie with them, along with a few other projects.

The duo eventually found a home at Warner Bros. A part of their exit proceedings, PolyGram would still own 7.5% of profits from some of its projects, including the 1989 Batman film.

[11] During the late 1980s and early 1990s, PolyGram continued to invest in a diversified film unit with the purchases of individual production companies.

In July 1998, PolyGram was in talks to sell their stake in Abbey Home Entertainment back to Ian and Anne Miles, letting AHE trade independently again.

On December 7, 1997, PolyGram and Warner Bros. reached a deal to co-finance films produced by Castle Rock Entertainment.

[22] At the time, Philips was seen as a bloated conglomerate riddled with problems; Boonstra initially denied that PolyGram would be sold.

[24] At the same time, PolyGram had been suffering from their own internal issues, chiefly a series of loss-making films and a lack of major pop music hits.

After being dissatisfied with offers to buy the studio (including a joint venture between Canal+ and Artisan Entertainment), Seagram opted to sell off individual assets and folded whatever remained into Universal.

[30][31][32] Some of PFE's North American distribution assets, including PolyGram Video's US & Canada operations were sold to USA Networks.

Gramercy primarily distributed PolyGram films in the United States, and it doubled as a specialty label for Universal.