[2] Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935[3] to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California.

In exchange for merging, the principals were promised independence in their productions under the Republic aegis, and higher budgets with which to improve the quality of the films.

Freed of partners, Yates presided over what was now his film studio and acquiring senior production and management staff who served him as employees, not experienced peers with independent ideas and agendas.

During this period, the studio produced Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe; unsuccessful as a theater release, the 12-part serial was later sold to NBC for television distribution.

A tearful Yates informed shareholders at the 1958 annual meeting that feature film production was ending; the distribution offices were shut down the following year.

[10][11] On July 1, 1958, Victor M. Carter, a Los Angeles businessman and turnaround specialist,[12] acquired controlling interest in the company for nearly $6 million, becoming its president.

In February 1967, Republic's studio was purchased outright by CBS[15] and, having more than quadrupled the stock price for shareholders, Carter sold his controlling interest.

The studio also stopped licensing expensive comic-strip and radio properties, and instead created generic cops-and-robbers stories and science-fiction adventures.

Many of its Western film leads — among them John Wayne, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bill Elliott, Allan "Rocky" Lane, and Rex Allen — became recognizable stars at Republic.

However, by the mid-1940s, Yates was producing better-quality pictures, mounting big-budget fare such as The Quiet Man (1952), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Johnny Guitar (1954), and The Maverick Queen (1956).

Another distinguishing aspect of Republic Pictures was Yates' avoidance of any controversial subject matter (exploitation films being a staple of B movies), in contrast to the other "Poverty Row" studios that often dodged the Production Code.

[20] From the mid-1940s, Republic films often featured Vera Hruba Ralston, a former ice skater from Czechoslovakia who had won the heart of Yates, marrying him in 1952.

Yates billed her as "the most beautiful woman in films", but her charms were lost on the moviegoing public while her noticeable Czech accent limited her range, and soon exhibitors complained that Republic was producing too many Ralston pictures.

By the mid-to-late-1940s, the American film industry faced an existential threat, the result of years of wartime stress on costs and the postwar exchange and trade restrictions enacted by the nations of Continental Europe (practically closing off the market to smaller studios such as Republic), the Paramount Case (even though Republic never owned more than a handful of theaters), and the rise of television.

In 1947, Yates stopped the production of short subjects, reduced the amount of serials, and organized Republic's feature output into four types of films: "Jubilee", usually a Western shot in seven days for about $50,000; "Anniversary", filmed in 14–15 days for $175,000-$200,000; "Deluxe", major productions made with a budget of around $500,000; and "Premiere", which were usually made by top-rank directors who most often did not work for Republic, such as John Ford, Fritz Lang and Frank Borzage, and which could have budgets of $1,000,000 or more.

During the late 1940s and 1950s, Yates utilized a low-cost, two-color process called Trucolor (similar to Cinecolor, favoring blues and oranges) in many Republic films, including Johnny Guitar, The Last Command (1955), and Magic Fire (1956).

[24] A television production unit was set up under the Republic name and offered, among other things, off-network repeats of the CBS series Beauty and the Beast and game show Press Your Luck in syndication.

[25] In January 1993, Blockbuster Entertainment announced they would purchase a 35% stake in Republic,[26][27] On March 24, 2023, Paramount Global announced it would revive the Republic Pictures brand, with the intention of it serving as the company's acquisitions label, releasing titles acquired by Paramount Global Content Distribution, similar to the distribution model of, amongst other companies, Stage 6 Films or American International Pictures.