MTV Entertainment Studios (formerly the MTV Production Development from 2003 until 2018 and MTV Studios without the "Entertainment" from 2018 until 2021, stylized as MTV Entertainment S T U D I O S) is an American film and television production and distribution company and is the film and television production arm of the MTV Entertainment Group, itself a subsidiary of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. It primarily produces content aimed at adolescent and adult audiences, including original productions for the namesake cable channel and its siblings, or theatrical films released through Paramount Pictures. MTV Entertainment Studios was formed in 2021 as a consolidation of the original MTV Productions founded in 1991, the former MTV Films group established in 1996, the MTV Production Development/MTV Studios group of 2003, and the relaunched MTV Studios of 2018.

History and Background

MTV Productions

MTV Productions was founded in 1991. It went into expansion two years later, with Doug Herzog serving as president, to produce content for theatrical releases, broadcast television and cable, syndication, and the international marketplace. MTV then signed a two-picture deal with Geffen Pictures. MTV Productions also tried for an entertainment strip called Real Time, to be distributed by Viacom Enterprises, and scheduled on air for the 1994–95 season, but never materialized. Joe's Apartment, based on a short aired on MTV, would be the only film to come out of the Geffen Film deal due to the 1994 acquisition of Paramount Pictures by MTV's parent company Viacom. It was later released on July 26, 1996, and grossed $4.6 million on a $13 million budget, making it a box office bomb. Since its acquisition by Viacom, Paramount Pictures began to distribute material from MTV and Nickelodeon. After The Arsenio Hall Show was cancelled, Paramount began distributing and producing MTV's The Jon Stewart Show for the syndication market. The Paramount Television Group and MTV Productions signed a deal to develop projects commissioned by MTV in 1994, and gave Paramount the right of first refusal on projects developed by MTV. In the 1997–98 television season, MTV Productions, in conjunction with Paramount Network Television, debuted the NBC comedy Jenny, the UPN (then-sister of MTV) comedy Hitz, and the WB drama Three. None of these lasted more than one season.

MTV Films

By 1995, David Gale was named head of MTV Films. MTV developed its first feature film in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. Based on MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-Head, the film grossed $63.1 million on a $12 million budget. On August 21, 1998, MTV Films released Dead Man on Campus, which starred Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It got negative reviews, and was a box office bomb, grossing $15.1 million on a $14 million budget. MTV Films' next feature project, 200 Cigarettes, released on February 26, 1999, and was also a box office bomb, grossing $6.8 million on a $6 million budget. In 2001, Zoolander was released under the "VH1 Films" label, and grossed $60.7 million on a $28 million budget. On August 21, 2006, Nickelodeon Movies, Comedy Central Films, and MTV Films became labels of the Paramount Motion Pictures Group. Less than eleven years later, Paramount Players was created in 2017 as a joint venture with MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, and BET Films.

Relaunch and consolidation

In 2018, a new production unit under the MTV Studios name was launched to produce revivals of MTV library shows. Over the next two years, MTV Studios would launch its "MTV Documentary Films" label for producing and acquiring documentary features, while MTV Films would be folded into MTV Studios in 2020. In 2021, MTV Studios became MTV Entertainment Studios, now encompassing content for, and based on, all brands within the MTV Entertainment Group.

Films

Theatrically released

Direct-to-video

Streaming

Upcoming films

Television

Television series

Television specials

Television movies

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards