In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as a venture premised on allowing actors to control their own financial and artistic interests rather than being dependent upon commercial studios.

[1] After numerous ownership and structural changes and revamps, United Artists was acquired by media conglomerate Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1981 for a reported $350 million ($1.2 billion today).

A local joint distribution venture between MGM and Annapurna Pictures launched on October 31, 2017[4] was rebranded as United Artists Releasing on February 5, 2019, in honor of its 100th anniversary.

They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over actor salaries and creative decisions, a process that evolved into the studio system.

Other independent producers distributed through United Artists in the 1930s including Walt Disney Productions, Alexander Korda, Hal Roach, David O. Selznick, and Walter Wanger.

In 1941, Pickford, Chaplin, Disney, Orson Welles, Goldwyn, Selznick, Alexander Korda, and Wanger—many of whom were members of United Artists—formed the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP).

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court Paramount Decision ordered the major Hollywood movie studios to sell their theater chains and to end certain anti-competitive practices.

[11] On February 15, 1951, lawyers-turned-producers Arthur B. Krim (of Eagle-Lion Films), Robert Benjamin and Matty Fox[13] approached Pickford and Chaplin with a wild idea: let them take over United Artists for ten years.

[13] Fox Film Corporation president Spyros Skouras extended United Artists a $3 million loan through Krim and Benjamin's efforts.

Among their first clients were Sam Spiegel and John Huston, whose Horizon Productions gave UA one major hit, The African Queen (1951) and a substantial success, Moulin Rouge (1952).

[13][11] Other clients followed, among them Stanley Kramer, Otto Preminger, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions, and actors newly freed from studio contracts and seeking to produce or direct their own films.

[17] In 1959, after failing to sell several pilots, United Artists offered its first ever television series, The Troubleshooters,[18] and later released its first sitcom, The Dennis O'Keefe Show.

UA prospered while winning 11 Academy Awards, including five for Best Picture,[11] adding relationships with the Mirisch brothers, Billy Wilder, Joseph E. Levine and others.

At the same time, it backed two expatriate North Americans in Britain, who had acquired screen rights to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.

Max Von Sydow, in the role of Jesus Christ, led an all-star cast which included Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Martin Landau, Dorothy McGuire, Sal Mineo, Ina Balin, Joanna Dunham, David McCallum, Nehemiah Persoff, Donald Pleasence, José Ferrer and Ed Wynn.

The Greatest Story Ever Told received five Academy Award nominations in 1965 and was also listed among the "Top 10 Films of the Year" by the National Board of Review.

New talent was encouraged, including Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Sylvester Stallone, Saul Zaentz, Miloš Forman, and Brian De Palma.

[26] Finally in 1978, following a dispute with Transamerica chief John R. Beckett[11] over administrative expenses,[citation needed] UA's top executives, including chairman Krim, president Eric Pleskow, Benjamin and other key officers walked out.

[11] The new leadership agreed to back Heaven's Gate, a project of director Michael Cimino, which vastly overran its budget and cost $44 million.

The label mostly released foreign and independent films such as Cutter's Way, Ticket to Heaven and The Grey Fox, and occasional first-run reissues from the UA library, such as director's cuts of Head Over Heels.

[44] In anticipation, during the split, SLM Production Group moved its distribution deal to United Artists, after having left MGM/UA temporarily for 20th Century Fox.

[45] On March 25, 1986, Turner finalized his acquisition of MGM/UA in a cash-stock deal for $1.5 billion and renamed it MGM Entertainment Co.[41][46][47][48][49][50] Kerkorian then repurchased most of United Artists' assets for roughly $480 million.

[51] United Artists announced plans to launch its new headquarters on Beverly Hills, which was set to take effect on November 1, 1985, shortly before the Turner deal was finalized.

[52] On April 23, 1986, United Artists and Hoyts, the Australian cinema chain and distribution company, signed a three-picture deal to co-produce films.

[53] Due to financial community concerns over his debt load, Ted Turner was forced to sell MGM's production and distribution assets to United Artists for $300 million on August 26, 1986.

Debts went unpaid, forcing the delay of several films, as Parretti looted the company, fired most of the financial staff and feuded with Alan Ladd Jr. over control.

Under his supervision, Calley revived the Pink Panther and James Bond franchises and highlighted UA's past by giving the widest release ever to a film with an NC-17 rating, Showgirls.

The movies UA had completed and planned for release—Capote, Art School Confidential, The Woods, and Romance and Cigarettes [citation needed]—were reassigned to Sony Pictures Classics.

Wagner was named CEO, and was allotted an annual slate of four films with varying budget ranges, while Cruise served as a producer for the revamped studio and the occasional star.

[72] In July 2024, it was reported that Scott Stuber was nearing a deal to revive the United Artists label under Amazon MGM Studios for the first time in over a decade.