.jpg) Logo in 1945 | |
| Industry | Film studio |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Producers Distributing Corporation |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Defunct | 1947 |
| Fate | Folded |
| Successor | Eagle-Lion Films (1950) United Artists (1955) |
| Headquarters | Poverty Row |
Key people | Sigmund Neufeld Sam Newfield George R. Batcheller, Jr. Leon Fromkess |
| Owner | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM Holdings) (Amazon) |
| Parent | United Artists Corporation (MGM Holdings) (Amazon) |
Producers Releasing Corporation (generally known as PRC) was the smallest and least prestigious of the 11 Hollywood film companies of the 1940s.[1] It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoestring film producers based their operations. However, PRC was more substantial than the usual independent companies that made only a few low-budget movies and then disappeared. PRC was an actual Hollywood studio – albeit the smallest – with its own production facilities and distribution network, and it even accepted imports from the UK. PRC lasted from 1939 to 1947, churning out low-budget B movies for the lower half of a double bill or the upper half of a neighborhood theater showing second-run films. The studio was originally located at 1440 N. Gower St. (on the lot that eventually became part of Columbia Pictures) from 1936 to 1943. PRC then occupied the former Grand National Pictures physical plant at 7324 Santa Monica Blvd.,[2] from 1943 to 1947. This address is now an apartment complex.[citation needed]
PRC produced 179 feature films[3] and almost never spent more than $100,000 on any of them; most of its films actually cost considerably less. Only the 1944 musical Minstrel Man had enhanced production values; it showed such excellent progress during filming that its planned $80,000 budget was nearly tripled.[4]