American International Pictures

For the unrelated film production company set up by Samuel Z. Arkoff, see Arkoff International Pictures.

American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979.

American International Pictures

Current logo used since 2020
Formerly	American Releasing Corporation (1954–56)
Type	Label
Industry	Film
Founded	April 2, 1954; 69 years ago (1954-04-02) (original) October 7, 2020; 2 years ago (2020-10-07) (relaunch)
Founders	James H. Nicholson Samuel Z. Arkoff
Defunct	1980; 43 years ago (1980) (original)
Fate	Acquired by, and folded into Filmways
Successor	Filmways Pictures (original)
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Eric Hohl (president)
Products	Motion pictures
Owner	MGM Holdings, Inc. (Amazon)
Parent	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (2020–present; relaunch)

It was formed on April 2, 1954, as American Releasing Corporation (ARC) by former Realart Pictures Inc. sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff^[1] and their first release was the 1953 UK documentary film Operation Malaya. It was dedicated to releasing low-budget films packaged as double features, primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

The company eventually became a part of Orion Pictures, which in turn, became a division of MGM. On October 7, 2020, four decades after the original closure, MGM revived AIP as a label for acquired films for digital and theatrical releases, with MGM overseeing across streaming platforms and United Artists Releasing handling theatrical distribution in North America until 2023.

AIP personnel

Nicholson and Arkoff served as executive producers while Roger Corman and Alex Gordon were the principal film producers and, sometimes, directors. Writer Charles B. Griffith wrote many of the early films, along with Arkoff's brother-in-law, Lou Rusoff, who later produced many of the films he had written. Other writers included Ray Russell, Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Floyd Crosby, A.S.C. famous for his camera work on a number of exotic documentaries and the Oscar winner, High Noon, was chief cinematographer. His innovative use of surreal color and odd lenses and angles gave AIP films a signature look. The early rubber monster suits and miniatures of Paul Blaisdell were used in AIP's science fiction films. The company also hired Les Baxter^[2] and Ronald Stein to compose many of its film scores.

In the 1950s, the company had a number of actors under contract, including John Ashley, Fay Spain and Steve Terrell.

Emphasis on teenagers

When many of ARC/AIP's first releases failed to earn a profit, Arkoff quizzed film exhibitors who told him of the value of the teenage market as adults were watching television.^[3][4] AIP stopped making Westerns with Arkoff explaining: "To compete with television westerns you have to have color, big stars and $2,000,000".^[5]: 126

AIP was the first company to use focus groups,^[6] polling American teenagers about what they would like to see and using their responses to determine titles, stars, and story content. AIP would question their exhibitors (who often provided 20% of AIP's financing^[5]: 35) what they thought of the success of a title, then would have a writer create a script for it.^[5]: 156 A sequence of tasks in a typical production involved creating a great title, getting an artist such as Albert Kallis who supervised all AIP artwork from 1955 to 1973^[7] to create a dynamic, eye-catching poster, then raising the cash, and finally writing and casting the film.

The ARKOFF formula

Samuel Z. Arkoff related his tried-and-true "ARKOFF formula" for producing a successful low-budget movie years later, during a 1980s talk show appearance. His ideas for a movie included:

• Action (exciting, entertaining drama)
• Revolution (novel or controversial themes and ideas)
• Killing (a modicum of violence)
• Oratory (notable dialogue and speeches)
• Fantasy (acted-out fantasies common to the audience)
• Fornication (sex appeal for young adults)

Later, the AIP publicity department devised a strategy called "the Peter Pan Syndrome":

a) a younger child will watch anything an older child will watch;
b) an older child will not watch anything a younger child will watch;
c) a girl will watch anything a boy will watch;
d) a boy will not watch anything a girl will watch;
therefore:
to catch your greatest audience you zero in on the 19-year-old male.^[8]

History

 

Roger Corman's The Raven (1963)

American Releasing Corporation

AIP began as the American Releasing Corporation, a new distribution company formed in 1954 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff.

Roger Corman

They were interested in distributing a car chase movie produced by Roger Corman for his Palo Alto Productions, The Fast and the Furious (1955). Corman had received offers from other companies for the film, but ARC offered to advance money to enable Corman to make two other films. Corman agreed, The Fast and the Furious performed well at the box office and the company was launched.

Corman's next two films for the company were a Western, Five Guns West (1955), which Corman directed, and a science fiction film, The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955). The title from the latter had come from Nicholson.

ARC also distributed the Western Outlaw Treasure (1955) starring Johnny Carpenter.

Alex Gordon

ARC got Corman to direct another Western and science fiction double bill Apache Woman (1955) and Day the World Ended (1955). Both scripts were written by Arkoff's brother-in-law Lou Rusoff, who would become the company's leading writer in its early days. Apache Woman was produced by Alex Gordon, an associate of Arkoff's, Day was produced by Corman. Both were made by Golden State Productions, ARC's production arm.^[9][10]

Normally, B movies were made for the second part of a bill and received a flat rate. As television was encroaching on the B movie market, Nicholson and Arkoff felt it would be more profitable to make two low budget films and distribute them together on a double feature. Nicholson came up with a title for a film to support Day the World Ended, The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955), but lacked the money to make both films. They split the costs with Dan and Jack Milner, film editors who wanted to get into production. The resulting double bill was very successful at the box office.^[9]

Gordon also produced The Oklahoma Woman (1955), a Western by Corman, made through Sunset Productions. It was put on a double feature with Female Jungle (1955), a film noir.

Other films released under the ARC banner include a British documentary Operation Malaya (1955) and Corman's Gunslinger (1956).

American International in the 1950s

Arkoff and Nicholson had always wanted to name their company "American International Pictures", but the name was unavailable. When the name became available, they changed over.

There were three main production arms at AIP in the late 1950s: Roger Corman, Alex Gordon and Lou Rusoff, and Herman Cohen. Arkoff and Nicholson would buy films from other filmmakers as well, and import films from outside America.

Roger Corman

Corman continued to be an important member of AIP (though he also worked for Allied Artists and his own Filmgroup company during this period). He had a big hit for the company with the science fiction film It Conquered the World (1956) from a script by Rusoff that was rewritten by Charles B. Griffith.

His films included Rock All Night (1956); Naked Paradise (1957), in which Arkoff had a small role; The Undead; Sorority Girl; The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957); Machine Gun Kelly with Charles Bronson; and Teenage Caveman (1958), with Robert Vaughn.

AIP also distributed films Corman helped finance, such as Night of the Blood Beast, She Gods of Shark Reef and The Brain Eaters (all released in 1958).

Alex Gordon and Lou Rusoff

The other key producer for AIP was Alex Gordon who mostly made films though his Golden State Productions outfit, usually written by Lou Rusoff. He made Girls in Prison (1956), with director Edward L. Cahn who would become one of AIP's most prolific directors. AIP released it on a double bill with Hot Rod Girl (1956).

Cahn also directed the following for Gordon: The She-Creature (released as a double feature with It Conquered the World); Flesh and the Spur, the last Western made by AIP; Shake, Rattle & Rock!, a rock musical with Mike Connors; Runaway Daughters (1956); Voodoo Woman; Dragstrip Girl (1957), with John Ashley; Motorcycle Gang (1957), again with Ashley; Jet Attack and Submarine Seahawk (1958). Most of these were written by Rusoff and directed by Edward L. Cahn.

Gordon left AIP and Rusoff alone produced Hot Rod Gang (1958) and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959).

Herman Cohen

 

Drive-in advertisement for the double feature, I Was a Teenage Werewolf and Invasion of the Saucer Men. AIP double features were popular on the drive-in circuit.^[11]

Another key producer for AIP was Herman Cohen, who had a huge hit with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) starring Michael Landon). He followed it with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, Blood of Dracula (both also in 1957 as a double feature), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Headless Ghost and Horrors of the Black Museum (both in 1959).

Other producers

Other key collaborators who worked for AIP in the late 1950s included:

• Norman T. Herman: Hot Rod Girl (1956)
• Robert Gurney: Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957; released as a double feature with I Was a Teenage Werewolf), Reform School Girl (1957) and Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)
• Bert I. Gordon: The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Attack of the Puppet People (1958), War of the Colossal Beast (1958; the sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man) and Earth vs. the Spider (1958)
• Burt Topper: Hell Squad (1958), Tank Commandos (1959) and Diary of a High School Bride (1959)
• Edward Bernds: High School Hellcats (1958).
• Stanley Shpetne: The Bonnie Parker Story (1958) and Paratroop Command (1959).
• Stanley Kallis: Operation Dames (1959) and Roadracers (1959).

Pickups

AIP would flesh out their distribution schedule by buying films made by outside producers. These included The Astounding She-Monster, the documentary Naked Africa, The Screaming Skull (1957), The Cool and the Crazy, Daddy-O, Dragstrip Riot and Tank Battalion (1958).

Anglo-Amalgamated

AIP developed a mutual relationship with Britain's Anglo-Amalgamated who would distribute AIP's product in the UK In return, AIP would distribute their films in the U.S., such as The Tommy Steele Story (1957) and Cat Girl (1957).

AIP also imported The White Huntress (1954, England), Pulgarcito (1958, Mexico) and The Sky Calls (1959, Russia).

Late 1950s crisis

AIP became a victim of its own success when other companies started copying its double feature strategy. Costs were rising and were not compensated by increased box office grosses. AIP shut down most of their production arms and focused on distributing films from Italy, while they decided what to do next.

In October 1959 AIP announced it had secured finance from Colonial Bank (who had financed three of their films to date) for ten films over the next 12 months. The remaining 14 to 20 projects planned were paid by Pathe Laboratories. The ten films were Diary of a High School Bride, Drag Race, The Haunted House of Usher, End of the World, World Without Women, Bombs Away, Blood Hill,Take Me To Your Leader, She and Eve and the Dragon. Not all of these would be made.^[12]

AIP's 1960s output

The company moved into rented office space at the former Chaplin Studios.

Imports

In the late 1950s, AIP kept their company afloat by importing films from Italy. These included Sheba and the Gladiator (1959), Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) and Black Sunday (1960); the latter film proved to be one of the company's early successes.

There was also Atomic Agent (1959, France), The Angry Red Planet (1959, Denmark), Tiger of Bengal (1959) and The Indian Tomb (1960) from Fritz Lang in Germany, edited together as Journey to the Lost City, Portrait of a Sinner (1959, West Germany), The Professionals (1960, Great Britain), and Escape to Paradise (1960, the Philippines).

They also bought Why Must I Die? and The Jailbreakers (1960).

The Corman-Poe cycle

In the early 1960s, AIP gained some kudos by combining Roger Corman, Vincent Price and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe into a series of horror films, with scripts by Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Ray Russell, R. Wright Campbell and Robert Towne.

The original idea, usually credited^[who?] to Corman and Lou Rusoff, was to take Poe's story "The Fall of the House of Usher", which had both a high name-recognition value and the merit of being in the public domain, and thus royalty-free, and expand it into a feature film. Corman convinced the studio to give him a larger budget than the typical AIP film so he could film the movie in widescreen and color, and use it to create lavish sets as well.^[13]

The success of House of Usher led AIP to finance further films based on Poe's stories. The sets and special effects were often reused in subsequent movies (for example, the burning roof of the Usher mansion reappears in most of the other films as stock footage), making the series quite cost-effective. All the films in the series were directed by Roger Corman, and they all starred Price except The Premature Burial, which featured Ray Milland in the lead. It was originally produced for another studio, but AIP acquired the rights to it.^[13]

As the series progressed, Corman made attempts to change the formula. Later films added more humor to the stories, especially The Raven, which takes Poe's poem as an inspiration and develops it into an all-out farce starring Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre; Karloff had starred in a 1935 film with the same title. Corman also adapted H. P. Lovecraft's short novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in an attempt to get away from Poe, but AIP changed the title to that of an obscure Poe poem, The Haunted Palace, and marketed it as yet another movie in the series. The last two films in the series, The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia, were filmed in England with an unusually long schedule for Corman and AIP.

Although Corman and Rusoff are generally credited with coming up with the idea for the Poe series, in an interview on the Anchor Bay DVD of Mario Bava's Black Sabbath, Mark Damon claims that he first suggested the idea to Corman. Damon also says that Corman let him direct The Pit and the Pendulum uncredited. Corman's commentary for Pit mentions nothing of this and all existing production stills of the film show Corman directing.

List of Corman-Poe films

During the early 1960s, AIP produced a series of horror films inspired by the Poe cycle. Of eight films, seven feature stories that are actually based on the works of Poe.

1. House of Usher (1960) – based on the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher"
2. The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) – based on the title of the short story of the same name
3. The Premature Burial (1962) – based on the short story of the same name
4. Tales of Terror (1962) – based on the short stories "Morella", "The Black Cat", "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"
5. The Raven (1963) – based on the poem of the same name
6. The Haunted Palace (1963) – plot based on H. P. Lovecraft's novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, using the title from Poe's 1839 poem
7. The Masque of the Red Death (1964) – based on the short story of the same name with another Poe short story, "Hop-Frog", used as a subplot
8. The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) – based on the short story "Ligeia"

Seven of the films, with the exception of The Premature Burial, featured Vincent Price as the star. Occasionally, Corman's 1963 film The Terror (produced immediately after The Raven) is recognized as being part of the Corman-Poe cycle, although the film's story and title are not based on any literary work of Poe.

In 1962, Arkoff said AIP was in a position similar to Columbia Pictures just before they made Submarine and Dirigible:

Before that they were on poverty row. Our better position will enable us to obtain more important writers, perhaps more important producers as well. We're a privately owned company at the moment but perhaps within two or three years we will become a public company.^[14]

Beach Party era

Beginning with 1963's Beach Party, AIP created a new genre of beach party films featuring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. The original idea and the first script were Rusoff's. The highly successful and often imitated series ended in 1966 with the seventh film, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. Many actors from the beach films also appeared in AIP's spy-spoofs, such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and car racing films like Fireball 500 (1966) and Thunder Alley. During this time, AIP also produced or distributed most of Corman's horror films, such as X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

In 1966, the studio released The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda, based loosely on the real-life exploits of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. This film ushered in AIP's most successful year and kicked off a subgenre of motorcycle gang films that lasted almost 10 years and included Devil's Angels, The Glory Stompers with Dennis Hopper, and The Born Losers—the film that introduced the Billy Jack character.

In 1968, AIP launched a $22 million film programme.^[15] The psychedelic and hippie scenes of the late '60s were also exploited with films like The Trip, also with Fonda, Riot on Sunset Strip, Wild in the Streets, Maryjane, Gas-s-s-s and Psych-Out with Jack Nicholson. These "social protest" films were also highly successful. Horror movies also enjoyed a revival of popularity in the late 60s.^[16]

International American International

In the UK, AIP struck up a film making partnership with Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy's Anglo-Amalgamated. Anglo eventually released over 140 AIP-made or owned movies in the UK, mainly on double bills. The arrangement also saw Anglo Amalgamated’s British-made films distributed in the US by AIP. AIP’s co-productions with Anglo included Cat Girl, Circus of Horrors and The Masque of the Red Death. AIP also had co-production arrangements with Tigon, Hammer and Amicus. Amongt the movies made under these arrangements were Witchfinder General, The Vampire Lovers and Scream and Scream Again. AIP maintained an production offic in London until 1973 before it was closed down. Nevertheless, the company remained active in making and financing British films, including Hennessy and The People that Time Forgot. They were also, briefly, involved n the setting up of two Hammer projects- Vampirella and To the Devil a Daughter (AIP distributed the latter on its initial US run.)

On a trip to Italy, Arkoff met Fulvio Lucisano, an Italian screenwriter and producer who eventually headed Italian International Film,^{[citation needed]} which co-produced 25 films in Italy for AIP.^[17] Due to importing completed productions from other foreign countries being cheaper and simpler than producing their own in-house studio films in America, AIP had released many giallo, peplum, Eurospy and Macaroni Combat war films featuring many American stars and Italian stars such as the comedy team of Franco and Ciccio. However, AIP released only two Spaghetti Westerns (Massacre Time and God Forgives... I Don't!), perhaps recalling their failure with Westerns in the 1950s. Many of these films were edited, rewritten with different (dubbed English) dialogue, usually by Arkoff's nephew Ted Rusoff, and sometimes re-scored by Les Baxter.

AIP, through Henry G. Saperstein, is known for being the major U.S. distributor for Toho's Godzilla and Daiei's Gamera (kaiju) films of the '60s and '70s. AIP also distributed other Japanese science fiction films like Frankenstein Conquers the World, Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, The X from Outer Space and the South Korean production Yongary, Monster from the Deep, as well as two Japanese animated features from Toei Animation, Alakazam the Great and Jack and the Witch.

AIP also released a pair of Japanese spy thrillers re-dubbed as a comedy co-written by Woody Allen called What's Up Tiger Lily?.^[18]

The studio also released edited and English-dubbed versions of several Eastern Bloc science fiction films that had the dialogue rewritten for the American market and in some cases had additional scenes filmed with American and British actors. These include the Soviet film Planeta Bur (Planet of Storms) which was released by AIP in two different English-dubbed versions, as Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women and the highly regarded 1963 Czech science fiction film Ikarie XB-1, which was re-titled Voyage to the End of the Universe.

A few years later, AIP backed a British Poe film directed by Gordon Hessler: The Oblong Box (1969) based on the short story of the same name.

AIP-TV

American International Television

Type	Division
Industry	Television production Television syndication
Founded	1964
Defunct	1980
Fate	Acquired by Filmways and became Filmways Television
Successor	Filmways Television Library: MGM Television
Products	Television shows

In 1964, AIP became one of the last film studios to start its own television production company, American International Productions Television (a.k.a. American-International Television or AIP-TV).^[19] AIP-TV at first released many of their 1950s films to American television stations, then filmed unsuccessful television pilots for Beach Party and Sergeant Deadhead. The company then made several color sci-fi/horror television films by Larry Buchanan that were remakes of black-and-white AIP films, and sold packages of many English-dubbed European, Japanese and Mexican films (the last type were produced by K. Gordon Murray) and foreign-made live-action and animated TV series (including Prince Planet). The best known animated series AIP-TV distributed was Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt.

In order to allay the fears of cinema owners who feared current releases would soon end up being shown on television, AIP issued a statement retroactive to 1963 that the company would not release any of their films to television until five years after cinema release, unless the film had not made back its original negative costs.^[20] AIP-TV also filmed specials for promotion of AIP films, such as The Wild Weird World of Dr. Goldfoot (1965, ABC) and An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe (1972, syndication), both with Vincent Price.

In 1978, AIP-TV distributed the pop music series Twiggy's Jukebox. For several years around this time, AIP-TV also distributed several British TV series, including The Avengers, to U.S. stations.

AIP Records

AIP started their own record label, American International Records, in 1959^[21] to release music used in their films. There were a number of soundtrack albums as well.^[22]

AIP Records was once distributed by MGM Records,^[23] the record label owned by AIP's successor-in-interest MGM.

Later years

In 1969, AIP went public to raise extra capital, issuing 300,000 shares.^[24][25]

In 1970, they entered into an agreement with Commonwealth United Entertainment to issue their films.^[26] In 1971 they released 31 films, their greatest number to date, and were seen as one of the most stable companies in Hollywood.^[27] Despite their exploitation roots, they did not concentrate on R- or X-rated filmmaking during this period.^[28]

Resignation of Nicholson

In 1972, James H. Nicholson resigned from AIP to set up his own production company working out of 20th Century Fox, called Academy Pictures Corporation; its only two releases were The Legend of Hell House and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.^[29][30] AIP bought out over 100,000 of Nicholson's shares.^[31] He died shortly thereafter of a cancerous brain tumor.^[32]

Arkoff alone

Arkoff continued on at AIP as president until the end of the decade. Heads of production during the 1970s included Larry Gordon^[33] and Jere Henshaw.

By the early 1970s, AIP felt the horror movie cycle was in decline and so switched to other genres, such as kung fu and gangsters.^[34] Notably, they produced some of that decade's blaxploitation films, like Blacula and Foxy Brown. In a throwback to the old "studio days", the company is credited with making Pam Grier a household name, as the majority of her early '70s films were made under contract to American International.

In the mid- to late 1970s, AIP began to produce more mainstream films, such as Bunny O'Hare, Cooley High, The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday, The Amityville Horror, Love at First Bite, Meteor, Force 10 from Navarone, Shout at the Devil, The Island of Dr. Moreau and C.H.O.M.P.S.^[35] The increased spending on these projects, though they did make some money, contributed to the company's downfall. In the meantime, the studio imported and released its final foreign film, an Australian film, Mad Max, dubbed into American English.

James Nicholson's first wife Sylvia was still a major shareholder of the company. She sued AIP for mismanagement, but this was resolved in 1978 when AIP bought out her shares.^[36]

Merger with Filmways

By the late 1970s, filmmaking costs continued to rise, AIP's tactic of moving into bigger budgeted quality pictures was not paying off at the box office, and Arkoff began to think of merging the company. "We've been the Woolworths of the movie business but Woolworths is being out priced", said Arkoff.^[37] Talks began with Filmways, Incorporated. Negotiations stalled for a while,^[38] but resumed a number of months later.^[39] In 1979, AIP was sold to Filmways for $30 million and became a subsidiary production unit thereof, renamed Filmways Pictures in 1980.^[40][41]

Arkoff was unhappy with the direction of the company and resigned to set up his own production company, receiving a pay out worth $1.4 million.^[42][43]

AIP-TV was absorbed as the wholly owned program syndication arm of Filmways Television. Filmways was later bought by Orion Pictures Company in 1982 and Filmways was later renamed Orion Pictures Corporation, but retained the distribution arm. This allowed Orion to establish its own distribution, after utilizing Warner Bros. for distribution. Warner Bros. still has distribution rights to Orion films which were originally distributed by this company. Today, a majority of the AIP library is owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's subsidiary Orion Pictures Corporation. The American International name is still a registered trademark owned by MGM's Orion Pictures unit.^[44][45]

Relaunch

On October 7, 2020, it was announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer relaunched AIP as a label for films that the studio will acquire for digital and limited theatrical releases. A founder of Open Road Films, Eric Hohl, was accepted as an executive of the studio, after he was reinstated by MGM in 2017. MGM will oversee AIP's new films across all streaming platforms and the theatrical releases of them will be handled by its joint distribution venture United Artists Releasing. The first film from the relaunched AIP was Breaking News in Yuba County, directed by Tate Taylor and starring Allison Janney, which was released on February 12, 2021.^[46]

On May 17, 2021, technology company Amazon entered negotiations to acquire MGM and even made a bid for about $9 billion. The negotiations are made with Anchorage Capital Kevin Ulrich.^[47][48] On May 26, 2021, it was officially announced that MGM will be acquired by Amazon for $8.45 billion, subject to regulatory approvals and other routine closing conditions; with the studio continuing to operate as a label under the new parent company, which includes AIP and its titles.^{[citation needed]} The merger was finalized on March 17, 2022.^[49]

Legacy

In 2005, less than four years after the death of Arkoff, filmmaker and Troublemaker Studios co-founder Robert Rodriguez founded a horror genre film and television company called Rodriguez International Pictures, which is a homage to the company.

Film library

1950s

Release date	Title	Genre	Director
as American Releasing Corporation
1955	Operation Malaya	Documentary	David MacDonald
February 15, 1955	The Fast and the Furious	Crime	John Ireland
April 15, 1955	Five Guns West	Western	Roger Corman
May 15, 1955	Outlaw Treasure	Western	Oliver Drake
June 15, 1955	The Beast with a Million Eyes	Sci-fi	David Kramarsky Lou Place Uncredited: Roger Corman
September 15, 1955	Apache Woman	Western	Roger Corman
December 1955	Day the World Ended	Sci-fi	Roger Corman
	The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues	Sci-fi	Dan Milner
June 15, 1956	The Oklahoma Woman	Western	Roger Corman
	Female Jungle	Crime	Bruno VeSota
June 1956	Gunslinger	Western	Roger Corman
as American International Pictures
July 15, 1956	It Conquered the World	Sci-fi	Roger Corman
	The She-Creature	Horror	Edward L. Cahn
July 1956	Girls in Prison	Crime	Edward L. Cahn
	Hot Rod Girl	Action	Lew Landers
July 15, 1956	Runaway Daughters	Crime	Edward L. Cahn
	Shake, Rattle & Rock!	Musical	Edward L. Cahn
January 1957	Naked Paradise	Crime	Roger Corman
	Flesh and the Spur	Western	Edward L. Cahn
March 1, 1957	Voodoo Woman	Horror	Edward L. Cahn
	The Undead	Horror	Roger Corman
April 24, 1957	Dragstrip Girl	Action	Edward L. Cahn
	Rock All Night	Crime	Roger Corman
June 19, 1957	I Was a Teenage Werewolf	Horror	Gene Fowler Jr.
	Invasion of the Saucer Men	Sci-fi	Edward L. Cahn
August 1957	Naked Africa	Documentary	Ray Phoenix
	The White Huntress	Adventure	George P. Breakston
August 1957	Reform School Girl	Crime	Edward Bernds
	Rock Around the World	Musical	Gerard Bryant
October 22, 1957	Motorcycle Gang	Outlaw biker	Edward L. Cahn
	Sorority Girl	Drama	Roger Corman
October 25, 1957	The Amazing Colossal Man	Sci-fi	Bert I. Gordon
	Cat Girl	Horror	Alfred Shaughnessy
November 23, 1957	I Was a Teenage Frankenstein	Horror	Herbert L. Strock
	Blood of Dracula	Horror	Herbert L. Strock
December 1957	The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent	Adventure	Roger Corman
	The Astounding She-Monster	Sci-fi horror	Ronald V. Ashcroft
January 1958	The Screaming Skull	Horror	Alex Nicol
	Terror from the Year 5000	Sci-fi	Robert J. Gurney Jr.
February 1958	Jet Attack	War	Edward L. Cahn
	Suicide Battalion	War	Edward L. Cahn
March 1958	The Cool and the Crazy	Drama	William Witney
	Dragstrip Riot	Drama	David Bradley
May 28, 1958	The Bonnie Parker Story	Crime	William Witney
	Machine-Gun Kelly	Action	Roger Corman
June 1958	High School Hellcats	Crime	Edward Bernds
	Hot Rod Gang	Drama	Lew Landers
July 1, 1958	How to Make a Monster	Horror	Herbert L. Strock
	Teenage Caveman	Sci-fi	Roger Corman
July 30, 1958	War of the Colossal Beast	Sci-fi	Bert I. Gordon
	Attack of the Puppet People	Sci-fi	Bert I. Gordon
July 1958	Hell Squad	War	Burt Topper
	Tank Battalion	War	Sherman A. Rose
August 1958	Night of the Blood Beast	Sci-fi horror	Bernard L. Kowalski
	She Gods of Shark Reef	Adventure	Roger Corman
September 1958	The Brain Eaters	Sci-fi horror	Bruno VeSota
	Earth vs. the Spider	Sci-fi	Bert I. Gordon
December 1958	Submarine Seahawk	War	Spencer Gordon Bennet
	Paratroop Command	War	William Witney
March 1959	Roadracers	Action	Arthur Swerdloff
	Daddy-O	Crime	Lou Place
March 1959	Tank Commandos	War	Burt Topper
	Operation Dames	War	Louis Clyde Stoumen
April 29, 1959	The Headless Ghost	Horror	Peter Graham Scott
	Horrors of the Black Museum	Horror	Arthur Crabtree
July 1959	Diary of a High School Bride	Romance	Burt Topper
	Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow	Horror	William J. Hole Jr.
September 23, 1959	Sheba and the Gladiator	Sword-and-sandal	Guido Brignone
	Goliath and the Barbarians	Sword-and-sandal	Carlo Campogalliani
October 21, 1959	A Bucket of Blood	Horror	Roger Corman
	Attack of the Giant Leeches	Sci-fi horror	Bernard L. Kowalski

1960s

Release date	Title	Genre	Director
June 22, 1960	House of Usher	Horror	Roger Corman
June 1960	The Jailbreakers	Crime	Alexander Grasshoff
	Why Must I Die?	Crime	Roy Del Ruth
July 1960	The Amazing Transparent Man	Sci-fi	Edgar G. Ulmer
	Beyond the Time Barrier	Sci-fi	Edgar G. Ulmer
August 31, 1960	Circus of Horrors	Horror	Sidney Hayers
	The Angry Red Planet	Sci-fi	Sidney W. Pink
October 1960	Journey to the Lost City	combined film of The Indian Tomb and The Tiger of Eschnapur	Fritz Lang
November 1960	Goliath and the Dragon	Sword-and-sandal	Vittorio Cottafavi
February 15, 1961	Black Sunday	Horror	Mario Bava
March 22, 1961	The Hand	Crime	Henry Cass
	Beware of Children	Comedy	Gerald Thomas
May 3, 1961	Konga	Horror	John Lemont
	Master of the World	Sci-fi	William Witney
July 14, 1961	Alakazam the Great	Anime	Taiji Yabushita Daisaku Shirakawa
August 12, 1961	The Pit and the Pendulum	Horror	Roger Corman
October 1961	Jekyll's Inferno	Horror	Terence Fisher
December 6, 1961	Portrait of a Sinner	Drama	Robert Siodmak
December 12, 1961	The Continental Twist	Musical	William J. Hole
December 13, 1961	Assignment Outer Space	Sci-fi	Antonio Margheriti
	The Phantom Planet	Sci-fi	William Marshall
December 28, 1961	Flight of the Lost Balloon	Sci-fi adventure	Nathan Juran
January 1962	Guns of the Black Witch	Adventure	Domenico Paolella
	Lost Battalion	War	Eddie Romero
1962	Battle Beyond the Sun	Sci-fi	Mikhail Karyukov Aleksandr Kozyr
	Night Tide	Horror	Curtis Harrington
June 6, 1963	A House of Sand	Drama	Robert Darwin
1963	Duel of Fire	Adventure	Umberto Lenzi
March 7, 1962	The Premature Burial	Horror	Roger Corman
March 10, 1962	Journey to the Seventh Planet	Sci-fi	Sidney W. Pink
April 25, 1962	Burn, Witch, Burn	Horror	Sidney Hayers
August 10, 1962	The Brain That Wouldn't Die	Sci-fi	Joseph Green
	Invasion of the Star Creatures	Sci-fi comedy	Bruno VeSota
June 1962	The Prisoner of the Iron Mask	Adventure	Francesco De Feo
July 4, 1962	Tales of Terror	Horror	Roger Corman
	Panic in Year Zero!	Nuclear war thriller	Ray Milland
August 1962	Marco Polo	Adventure	Piero Pierotti
September 1962	White Slave Ship	Adventure	Silvio Amadio
November 18, 1962	A Story of David	Biblical	Bob McNaught
December 1962	Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World	Sword-and-sandal	Riccardo Freda
December 1962	Warriors Five!	War	Leopoldo Savona
January 20, 1963	Reptilicus	Sci-fi horror	Sidney W. Pink
January 25, 1963	The Raven	Horror	Roger Corman
March 3, 1963	California	Western	Hamil Petroff
March 26, 1963	Operation Bikini	War	Anthony Carras
April 24, 1963	Free, White and 21	Drama	Larry Buchanan
May 1, 1963	The Mind Benders	Spy	Basil Dearden
June 12, 1963	Erik the Conqueror	Adventure	Mario Bava
June 17, 1963	The Terror	Horror	Roger Corman
August 7, 1963	Beach Party	Beach party	William Asher
August 28, 1963	The Haunted Palace	Horror	Roger Corman
September 18, 1963	X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes	Horror	Roger Corman
September 25, 1963	Dementia 13	Horror	Francis Coppola
December 18, 1963	Samson and the Slave Queen	Sword-and-sandal	Umberto Lenzi
December 25, 1963	Goliath and the Sins of Babylon	Sword-and-sandal	Michele Lupo
1964	Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon	Sword-and-sandal	Domenico Paolella
January 22, 1964	The Comedy of Terrors	Comedy horror	Jacques Tourneur
January 22, 1964	Pyro... The Thing Without a Face	Horror	Julio Coll
March 12, 1964	Summer Holiday	Beach party	Peter Yates
March 25, 1964	Muscle Beach Party	Beach party	William Asher
March 1964	Under Age	Drama	Larry Buchanan
April 1, 1964	Commando	War	Frank Wisbar
	Torpedo Bay	War	Charles Frend Bruno Vailati
April 1964	Unearthly Stranger	Sci-fi	John Krish
May 6, 1964	Black Sabbath	Giallo	Mario Bava
	The Last Man on Earth	Horror	Ubaldo Ragona Sidney Salkow
May 20, 1964	The Evil Eye	Giallo	Mario Bava
June 24, 1964	The Masque of the Red Death	Horror	Roger Corman
June 1964	Some People	Musical	Clive Donner
July 2, 1964	Swingers' Paradise	Musical	Sidney J. Furie
July 22, 1964	Bikini Beach	Beach party	William Asher
September 17, 1964	Godzilla vs. the Thing	Sci-fi	Ishirō Honda
September 1964	Diary of a Bachelor	Comedy	Sandy Howard
October 29, 1964	The Time Travelers	Sci-fi	Ib Melchior
November 11, 1964	Pajama Party	Beach party	Don Weis
November 25, 1964	Navajo Run	Western	Johnny Seven
November 25, 1964	Voyage to the End of the Universe	Sci-fi	Jindřich Polák
December 29, 1964	T.A.M.I. Show	Concert documentary	Steve Binder
1965	The Eye Creatures	Sci-fi	Larry Buchanan
January 20, 1965	The Tomb of Ligeia	Horror	Roger Corman
January 27, 1965	Operation Snafu	War comedy	Cyril Frankel
March 3, 1965	The Lost World of Sinbad	Adventure	Senkichi Taniguchi
March 11, 1965	Atragon	J-Horror	Ishirō Honda
March 1965	Rome Against Rome	Sword-and-sandal	Giuseppe Vari
April 14, 1965	Beach Blanket Bingo	Beach party	William Asher
April 20, 1965	The Pawnbroker	Drama	Sidney Lumet
April 28, 1965	The Fool Killer	Adventure drama	Servando González
April 1965	Taboos of the World	Shockumentary	Romolo Marcellini
May 19, 1965	Go Go Mania	Musical	Frederic Goode
May 26, 1965	War-Gods of the Deep	Horror	Jacques Tourneur
June 30, 1965	Ski Party	Beach party	Alan Rafkin
July 8, 1966	Frankenstein Conquers the World	Sci-fi	Ishirō Honda
July 14, 1965	How to Stuff a Wild Bikini	Beach party	William Asher
August 1, 1965	Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet	Sci-fi	Curtis Harrington
August 18, 1965	Sergeant Deadhead	Comedy	Norman Taurog
October 27, 1965	Die, Monster, Die!	Horror	Daniel Haller
	Planet of the Vampires	Sci-fi	Mario Bava
November 6, 1965	Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine	Comedy	Norman Taurog
November 30, 1965	King & Country	Drama	Joseph Losey
1966	Zontar, the Thing from Venus	Sci-fi	Larry Buchanan
1966	Curse of the Swamp Creature	Sci-fi	Larry Buchanan
January 12, 1966	Secret Agent Fireball	Eurospy	Luciano Martino
	Spy in Your Eye	Eurospy	Vittorio Sala
January 1966	Conquered City	War	Joseph Anthony
March 1966	Queen of Blood	Sci-fi	Curtis Harrington
March 2, 1966	Blood Bath	Horror	Jack Hill
April 12, 1966	The Girl-Getters	Drama	Michael Winner
April 13, 1966	The Dirty Game	Eurospy anthology	Christian-Jaque Werner Klingler Carlo Lizzani Terence Young
April 1966	Man from Cocody	Action	Christian-Jaque
April 1966	What's Up, Tiger Lily?	Spy comedy film	Woody Allen Senkichi Taniguchi
April 1966	The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini	Beach party	Don Weis
May 1966	The Great Spy Chase	Eurospy	Georges Lautner
June 7, 1966	Fireball 500	Car racing film	William Asher
July 1966	Tarzan and the Valley of Gold	Adventure	Robert Day
July 20, 1966	The Wild Angels	Outlaw biker	Roger Corman
November 9, 1966	Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs	Eurospy comedy	Mario Bava
November 1966	Door to Door Maniac	Crime	Bill Karn
December 28, 1966	Trunk to Cairo	Spy	Menahem Golan
1967	Mars Needs Women	Sci-fi	Larry Buchanan
1967	In the Year 2889	Sci-fi	Larry Buchanan
1967	Creature of Destruction	Sci-fi	Larry Buchanan
January 18, 1967	War Italian Style	War comedy	Luigi Scattini
March 18, 1967	Riot on Sunset Strip	Drama	Arthur Dreifuss
March 22, 1967	Thunder Alley	Car racing film	Richard Rush
April 1967	Devil's Angels	Outlaw biker film	Daniel Haller
May 17, 1967	The Million Eyes of Sumuru	Action	Lindsay Shonteff
June 1967	Love Is a Woman	Mystery	Frederic Goode
August 23, 1967	The Trip	Drama	Roger Corman
November 1967	The House of 1,000 Dolls	Crime	Jeremy Summers
November 22, 1967	The Glory Stompers	Outlaw biker	Anthony M. Lanza
1968	Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women	Sci-fi	Peter Bogdanovich
January 18, 1968	The Born Losers	Outlaw biker	T. C. Frank
January 24, 1968	Maryjane	Drama	Maury Dexter
January 24, 1968	The Wild Racers	Racing car film	Daniel Haller
March 28, 1968	The Road Hustlers	Action	Larry E. Jackson
May 1968	The Mini-Skirt Mob	Outlaw biker	Maury Dexter
May 1968	The Savage Seven	Outlaw biker	Richard Rush
May 15, 1968	Witchfinder General	Horror	Michael Reeves
May 29, 1968	Wild in the Streets	Comedy-drama	Barry Shear
September 22, 1968	Psych-Out	Drama	Richard Rush
October 1968	The Young Animals	Drama	Maury Dexter
November 1968	Killers Three	Crime	Bruce Kessler
December 20, 1968	Three in the Attic	Comedy-drama	Richard Wilson
1969	'It's Alive!'	Horror	Larry Buchanan
March 18, 1969	The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots	Anime	Kimio Yabuki
April 16, 1969	Hell's Belles	Outlaw biker	Maury Dexter
May 1969	God Forgives... I Don't!	Spaghetti Western	Giuseppe Colizzi
May 14, 1969	The Devil's 8	Moonshine Action	Burt Topper
May 23, 1969	Destroy All Monsters	Sci-fi	Ishirō Honda
June 11, 1969	The Oblong Box	Horror	Gordon Hessler
July 23, 1969	Spirits of the Dead	Anthology horror	Roger Vadim Louis Malle Federico Fellini
August 19, 1969	Angel, Angel, Down We Go	Crime	Robert Thom
August 27, 1969	De Sade	Drama	Cy Endfield Uncredited: Roger Corman Gordon Hessler
September 8, 1969	The Honeymoon Killers	Crime	Leonard Kastle
September 10, 1969	Hell's Angels '69	Outlaw biker	Lee Madden Conny Van Dyke

1970s

Release date	Title	Genre	Director
1970	Strawberries Need Rain	Fantasy	Larry Buchanan
1970	Pacific Vibrations	Documentary	John Severson
January 1970	The Savage Wild	Documentary	Gordon Eastman
January 1970	Scream and Scream Again	Sci-fi thriller	Gordon Hessler
January 14, 1970	The Dunwich Horror	Horror	Daniel Haller
March 24, 1970	Bloody Mama	Drama	Roger Corman
April 15, 1970	The Haunted House of Horror	Slasher	Michael Armstrong
May 8, 1970	Lola	Romantic comedy-drama	Richard Donner
June 1970	A Bullet for Pretty Boy	Action	Larry Buchanan
June 10, 1970	Count Yorga, Vampire	Horror	Bob Kelljan
July 29, 1970	Cry of the Banshee	Horror	Gordon Hessler
September 2, 1970	Angel Unchained	Outlaw biker	Lee Madden
September 9, 1970	Venus in Furs	Erotic thriller	Jesús Franco
October 22, 1970	The Vampire Lovers	Horror	Roy Ward Baker
February 17, 1971	Gas-s-s-s	Sci-fi comedy-drama	Roger Corman
February 18, 1971	Wuthering Heights	Romance	Robert Fuest
March 17, 1971	Blood and Lace	Horror	Philip S. Gilbert
April 22, 1971	The Hard Ride	Outlaw biker	Burt Topper
April 28, 1971	The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant	Sci-fi horror	Anthony Lanza
May 18, 1971	The Abominable Dr. Phibes	Comedy horror	Robert Fuest
August 20, 1971	Swedish Fly Girls	Drama	Jack O'Connell
September 29, 1971	Chrome and Hot Leather	Outlaw biker	Lee Frost
October 6, 1971	Murders in the Rue Morgue	Horror	Gordon Hessler
October 13, 1971	A Lizard in a Woman's Skin	Giallo	Lucio Fulci
October 18, 1971	Bunny O'Hare	Comedy	Gerd Oswald
October 27, 1971	Some of My Best Friends Are...	Drama	Mervyn Nelson
October 1971	1000 Convicts and a Woman	Drama	Ray Austin
December 22, 1971	Kidnapped	Adventure	Delbert Mann
January 19, 1972	Together	Mockumentary	Sean S. Cunningham
February 2, 1972	The Return of Count Yorga	Horror	Bob Kelljan
February 1972	Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster	Kaiju	Yoshimitsu Banno
March 10, 1972	Frogs	Horror	George McCowan
March 15, 1972	Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?	Horror	Curtis Harrington
April 1972	Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde	Sci-fi horror	Roy Ward Baker
May 17, 1972	Blood from the Mummy's Tomb	Horror	Seth Holt
May 1972	Pickup on 101	Drama	John Florea
	Wild in the Sky	Action comedy	William T. Naud
	The Bloody Judge	Horror	Jesús Franco
June 14, 1972	Boxcar Bertha	Crime	Martin Scorsese
July 19, 1972	The Thing with Two Heads	Sci-fi	Lee Frost
July 21, 1972	F.T.A.	Documentary	Francine Parker
July 1972	Dr. Phibes Rises Again	Horror	Robert Fuest
August 16, 1972	Slaughter	Blaxploitation	Jack Starrett
August 25, 1972	Blacula	Blaxploitation	William Crain
August 1972	Deathmaster	Horror	Ray Danton
	The Sandpit Generals	Drama	Hall Bartlett
September 1972	Tam-Lin	Horror	Roddy McDowall
October 10, 1972	Baron Blood	Horror	Mario Bava
November 1972	The Dirt Gang	Action drama	Jerry Jameson
November 10, 1972	Unholy Rollers	Action comedy	Vernon Zimmerman
November 22, 1972	Prison Girls	Crime	Thomas De Simone
January 19, 1973	Black Mama White Mama	Women in prison	Eddie Romero
January 1973	Manson	Documentary	Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick
February 7, 1973	Black Caesar	Blaxploitation	Larry Cohen
March 27, 1973	Sisters	Horror	Brian De Palma
April 1973	Cannibal Girls	Comedy horror	Ivan Reitman
May 4, 1973	Deep Thrust	Action	Huang Feng
June 13, 1973	Coffy	Blaxploitation	Jack Hill
June 27, 1973	Scream, Blacula, Scream	Blaxploitation	Bob Kelljan
June 1973	Little Cigars	Crime comedy	Chris Christenberry
July 20, 1973	Dillinger	Crime	John Milius
August 8, 1973	Heavy Traffic	Animated comedy-drama	Ralph Bakshi
August 31, 1973	Slaughter's Big Rip-Off	Blaxploitation	Gordon Douglas
September 1973	Death Line	Horror	Gary Sherman
October 31, 1973	The Italian Connection	Action	Fernando di Leo
October 1973	The Screaming Tiger	Action	Lung Chien
November 21, 1973	Battle of the Amazons	Sword-and-sandal	Alfonso Brescia
December 1973	Hell Up in Harlem	Blaxploitation	Larry Cohen
January 30, 1974	The Bat People	Horror	Jerry Jameson
February 13, 1974	Bamboo Gods and Iron Men	Blaxploitation comedy	Cesar Gallardo
February 1974	Secret Life of a Schoolgirl Wife	Comedy-drama	Leon Capetanos
March 6, 1974	Deranged	Horror	Alan Ormsby
March 20, 1974	Sugar Hill	Blaxploitation horror	Paul Maslansky
April 5, 1974	Foxy Brown	Blaxploitation	Jack Hill
May 15, 1974	Truck Stop Women	Action	Mark L. Lester
May 24, 1974	Madhouse	Horror	Jim Clark
June 5, 1974	Thriller: A Cruel Picture	Rape and revenge	Alex Fridolinski
	Dirty O'Neil	Crime thriller	Leon Capetanos Lewis Teague
June 26, 1974	The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat	Animated comedy	Robert Taylor
	Truck Turner	Blaxploitation	Jonathan Kaplan
July 17, 1974	Golden Needles	Action	Robert Clouse
July 1974	Savage Sisters	Women in prison	Eddie Romero
August 8, 1974	Macon County Line	Action	Richard Compton
August 18, 1974	Act of Vengeance	Horror	Bob Kelljan
October 1974	Hangup	Action	Henry Hathaway
November 22, 1974	Sunday in the Country	Crime thriller	John Trent
December 25, 1974	Abby	Blaxploitation horror	William Girdler
1975	Vampira	Comedy horror	Clive Donner
February 1975	Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women	Superhero comedy	Alfonso Brescia
March 26, 1975	Sheba, Baby	Blaxploitation	William Girdler
March 1975	House of Whipcord	Horror	Pete Walker
	War Goddess	Adventure	Terence Young
	The Wild Party	Comedy-drama	James Ivory
April 25, 1975	The Reincarnation of Peter Proud	Mystery horror	J. Lee Thompson
May 21, 1975	Cornbread, Earl and Me	Drama	Joseph Manduke
	The Wild McCullochs	Drama	Max Baer Jr.
May 1975	What Have You Done to Solange?	Giallo	Massimo Dallamano
June 11, 1975	Murph the Surf	Biographical crime comedy	Marvin J. Chomsky
June 25, 1975	Cooley High	Comedy-drama	Michael Schultz
July 2, 1975	Bucktown	Blaxploitation	Arthur Marks
July 31, 1975	Hennessy	Thriller	Don Sharp
August 13, 1975	The Land That Time Forgot	Adventure fantasy	Kevin Connor
September 3, 1975	Return to Macon County	Drama	Richard Compton
September 28, 1975	Walking Tall Part 2	Crime	Earl Bellamy
December 17, 1975	Sixpack Annie	Action comedy	Graydon F. David
December 25, 1975	Friday Foster	Blaxploitation	Arthur Marks
January 14, 1976	Killer Force	Thriller	Val Guest
March 1976	Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw	Crime drama	Mark L. Lester
	One Summer Love	Romantic drama	Gilbert Cates
April 21, 1976	Crime and Passion	Crime	Ivan Passer
May 1976	Annie	Drama	Massimo Dallamano
June 18, 1976	The Food of the Gods	Sci-fi thriller	Bert I. Gordon
June 23, 1976	The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday	Comedy	Don Taylor
	I Don't Want to Be Born	Horror	Peter Sasdy
July 9, 1976	A Small Town in Texas	Crime	Jack Starrett
July 30, 1976	Squirm	Horror	Jeff Lieberman
July 1976	At the Earth's Core	Sci-fi fantasy	Kevin Connor
	Special Delivery	Crime comedy	Paul Wendkos
August 13, 1976	Futureworld	Sci-fi thriller	Richard T. Heffron
August 25, 1976	J.D.'s Revenge	Blaxploitation	Arthur Marks
September 17, 1976	Street People	Action	Maurizio Lucidi
October 7, 1976	A Matter of Time	Musical	Vincente Minnelli
October 8, 1976	Scorchy	Crime	Howard Avedis
November 24, 1976	Shout at the Devil	War	Peter R. Hunt
December 24, 1976	The Monkey Hustle	Blaxploitation	Arthur Marks
	The Town That Dreaded Sundown	Horror	Charles B. Pierce
December 1976	Escape from Angola	Adventure	Leslie H. Martinson
January 23, 1977	The Day That Shook the World	Historical drama	Veljko Bulajić
February 2, 1977	Chatterbox	Sex comedy	Tom DeSimone
February 11, 1977	Strange Shadows in an Empty Room	Crime	Alberto De Martino
March 4, 1977	Death Weekend	Horror	William Fruet
April 1, 1977	Breaker! Breaker!	Action	Don Hulette
June 15, 1977	Tentacles	Horror	Ovidio G. Assonitis
June 29, 1977	Empire of the Ants	Sci-fi horror	Bert I. Gordon
July 6, 1977	The People That Time Forgot	Adventure fantasy	Kevin Connor
July 13, 1977	The Island of Dr. Moreau	Sci-fi fantasy horror	Don Taylor
August 10, 1977	The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane	Mystery thriller	Nicolas Gessner
August 17, 1977	Joyride	Adventure crime comedy	Joseph Ruben
August 31, 1977	Walking Tall: Final Chapter	Crime	Jack Starrett
October 14, 1977	Rolling Thunder	Neo-noir	John Flynn
December 28, 1977	Grayeagle	Western adventure	Charles B. Pierce
December 1977	The Incredible Melting Man	Sci-fi horror	William Sachs
	The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	Biographical drama	Larry Cohen
February 1978	Record City	Comedy	Dennis Steinmetz
March 1978	Last Cannibal World	Horror	Ruggero Deodato
April 19, 1978	Holocaust 2000	Horror	Alberto De Martino
May 13, 1978	Jennifer	Horror	Brice Mack
May 24, 1978	Youngblood	Action	Noel Nosseck
May 26, 1978	Here Come the Tigers	Sports comedy	Sean S. Cunningham
	High-Ballin'	Action comedy	Peter Carter
May 1978	Our Winning Season	Drama	Joseph Ruben
June 6, 1978	Cracking Up	Comedy	Rowby Goren Chuck Staley
June 22, 1978	Matilda	Comedy	Daniel Mann
June 1978	Who Can Kill a Child?	Spanish horror	Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
July 14, 1978	Mean Dog Blues	Drama	Mel Stuart
October 5, 1978	The Norsemen	Adventure	Charles B. Pierce
December 8, 1978	Force 10 from Navarone	War	Guy Hamilton
April 18, 1979	The Evictors	Crime horror	Charles B. Pierce
April 27, 1979	Love at First Bite	Comedy horror	Stan Dragoti
June 1, 1979	Sunnyside	Action	Timothy Galfas
July 27, 1979	The Amityville Horror	Horror	Stuart Rosenberg
September 14, 1979	California Dreaming	Comedy-drama	John D. Hancock
September 1979	Seven	Action crime	Andy Sidaris
October 5, 1979	Something Short of Paradise	Romantic comedy	David Helpern
October 19, 1979	Meteor	Disaster	Ronald Neame
November 1979	Jaguar Lives!	Action	Ernest Pintoff
December 21, 1979	C.H.O.M.P.S.	Sci-fi comedy	Don Chaffey

1980s

Release date	Title	Genre	Director	Notes
February 15, 1980	Mad Max	Action	George Miller	Australian sci-fi dystopian film dubbed in American English
March 14, 1980	Defiance	Action	John Flynn
March 14, 1980	The Visitor	Sci-fi horror	Michael J. Paradise	Initially planned for AIP release, but sold off to independent distributor The International Picture Show
March 28, 1980	Nothing Personal	Romantic comedy	George Bloomfield
May 1, 1980	Gorp	Sex comedy	Joseph Ruben
July 11, 1980	How to Beat the High Cost of Living	Crime comedy	Robert Scheerer	Last AIP film until its resurrection on October 7, 2020, by MGM

2020s

Release date	Title	Genre	Director	Notes
February 12, 2021	Breaking News in Yuba County	Comedy-crime-drama	Tate Taylor	First film following relaunch
July 20, 2021	How it Ends	Comedy-drama	Daryl Wein Zoe Lister-Jones
August 24, 2021	Summer Days, Summer Nights	Comedy-drama	Edward Burns
September 9, 2022	About Fate	Romantic comedy	Maryus Vaysberg

Unproduced films

The following films were announced for production by AIP, but never made:

• an adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's She (1958, dir. Roger Corman)^[50]
• Even and the Dragon (1958, dir. Stanley Shpetner)^[51]
• Take Me to Your Leader (1958) – a part-animated feature^[52]
• Aladdin and the Giant (1959) – produced by Herman Cohen^[53]
• In the Year 2889 (1959) – from the novel by Jules Verne^[54]
• The Talking Dog (1959) – a comedy^[54]
• When the Sleeper Wakes from the novel by H. G. Wells (1960–62)^[55] – Vincent Price was announced as a star in 1965^[56]
• a color remake of Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1961)^[57]
• Genghis Khan (1960s, dir. Jacques Tourneur) – a Roadshow production with a $4.5 million budget^[58]
• The Great Deluge – story of Noah's Ark^[59]
• War of the Planets (1962) – a $2 million sci-fi epic starring Vincent Price and Boris Karloff based on a script by Harlan Ellison^[60]
• Off on a Comet (1962) – a filming of Jules Verne's novel advertised in comic books^[61]
• Stratofin (1962) based on Jules Verne's Master of the World^[62]
• It's Alive (1963) with Peter Lorre, Harvey Lembeck and Elsa Lanchester^[63]
• Something in the Walls (1963)^[64]
• The Magnificent Leonardi (1963) – with Ray Milland^[64]
• Sins of Babylon (1963)^[64]
• Rumble (1963) with Avalon and Funicello from a book by Harlan Ellison about New York gangs^[63]
• The Graveside Story (1964) – with Price, Karloff, Lorre and Elsa Lanchester^[65]
• The Gold Bug (1964) with Price, Lorre and Lanchester^[65]
• The Chase (circa 1965) – a silent comedy starring Buster Keaton^[66]
• Malibu Madness (1965)^[56]
• The Haunted Palace (1965)^[56]
• Seven Footprints to Satan (1965)^[56]
• The Jet Set or Jet Set Party (1964, dir. William Asher) – with Avalon and Funicello^[67]
• Malibu Madness (1965)^[68]
• Robin Hood Jones (1966, dir. William Asher) – a musical about Robin Hood starring Price, Avalon, Funicello and Susan Hart^[69]
• Cruise Party (1966) – with Avalon and Dwayne Hickman^[69][70]
• The Girl in the Glass Bikini (1966, dir. William Asher) – a sci-fi/comedy with Avalon, Funicello and Aron Kincaid^[71]
• The Girl in the Glass Castle (1966) – a musical comedy with a $1 million budget^[72]
• The Hatfields and the McCoys (1966) – a musical with Avalon and Funicello^[73]
• It (1967) – based on Richard Matheson's story "Being"^[72]
• The Golem (1967)^[72]

Financial earnings

• 1970 – $22.7 million^[74]
• 1971 – $21.4 million^[75]
• 1972 – $24 million
• 1973 – $24.5 million^[76] – profit $744,000^[77]
• 1974 – $32.5 million – profit of $931,400^[34]
• 1975 – $48.2 million^[78]
• 1978 – $51.2 million – profit $1.8 million^[79]

Notes

1. Johnson, John Cheap Tricks and Class Acts, 1996, McFarland, p.265
2. "Artist Interviews » Les Baxter". www.artistinterviews.eu. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
3. Scheuer, Philip K. (September 17, 1958). "Shocker Pioneers Tell How to Make Monsters: Want to Make a Monster? Experts Tell How It's Done". Los Angeles Times. p. E1.
4. Samuel Z Arkoff Biography, Fancast, archived from the original on July 23, 2011.
5. Doherty, Thomas (1988), Teenagers and Teenpics, Unwin-Hyman.
6. Booker, M. Keith (2011). Historical dictionary of American cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-8108-7192-2.
7. , Learn about movie posters, archived from the original on March 21, 2008.
8. Bean, Robin and Austen, David U.S.A. Confidential p. 215 Films and Filming November 1968 quoted in p. 157 Doherty, Thomas Teenagers and Teenpics Unwin-Hyman 1988
9. Scheuer, Philip K. (September 21, 1958). "Shocker Pioneers Tell How to Make Monsters: Want to Make a Monster? Experts Tell How It's Done". Los Angeles Times. p. E1.
10. Gordon, Alex (May 1983). "The Pit and the Pen". Fangoria. No. 27. pp. 34–37.
11. "Creator/American International Pictures". TV Tropes. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
12. "Colonial of NY Coin Source For Amer. Int'l Fix". Variety. March 25, 1959. p. 24.
13. Corman, Roger and Jerome, Jim (1998). "How I Made Over a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime". DaCapo Press.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
14. Alpert, Don (July 15, 1962). "Who Needs High Salaried Stars? Horrors! Film Makers Find Audiences Prefer Action". Los Angeles Times. p. A8.
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16. VINCENT CANBY (March 2, 1969). "Bye, Bye, Beach Bunnies: Bye, Bye, Beach Bunnies". The New York Times. p. D1.
17. p. 96 + p. 214 Arkoff, Sam and Trubo, Richard Flying Through Hollywood by the Seat of My Pants 1990 Carol Publishing
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32. "J.H. Nicholson, Film Maker, Dies of Cancer". Los Angeles Times. December 11, 1972. p. 26.
33. Taylor, Clarke (October 8, 1978). "LARRY GORDON ROLLS HIS DICE". Los Angeles Times. p. n35.
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38. "American International Pictures, Filmways Inc. Terminates Merger Plan". The Wall Street Journal. December 11, 1978. p. 20.
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50. "Smith p. 97".
51. "Smith p. 98".
52. "Smith p. 99".
53. "Smith p. 114".
54. Smith p. 118
55. "Smith p 159".
56. Smith p. 249
57. "Smith p. 161".
58. "Smith p. 188, 230".
59. "Smith p. 188".
60. "Smith p. 192".
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62. pp.219-220 Palmer, Randy Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist McFarland, January 1, 1997
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64. Smith p. 208
65. Scheuer, Philip K. (January 2, 1964). "AIP Millions for Poe, Beach Parties: 'Flowers' Oscar Hopeful; Burton Buys, May Direct". Los Angeles Times. p. C11.
66. "Hollywood To Make A Big Silent Film". The Times. London. March 3, 1965. p. 15 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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76. Getze, John (February 20, 1974). "Horror or Horrid Films, AIP Quickies Score at Box Office: FILMS". Los Angeles Times. p. d10.(Turn on hit highlighting for speaking browsers)
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78. "American International Will Be 'Happy' if Net Matches Fiscal 1975's". The Wall Street Journal. October 27, 1975. p. 18.
79. Bry, Barbara (January 5, 1979). "AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL EPIC: CHINESE BOOK U.S. FILM 'FUTUREWORLD'". Los Angeles Times. p. d16.

References

• Mark Thomas McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Story of American International Pictures (McFarland & Company, 1995) ISBN 0-7864-0137-0.
• Gary A. Smith, American International Pictures: The Golden Years, Bear Manor Media 2013
• Hamilton, John, ‘’Witches, B*tches and Banshees: The British Films of American International. Little Shoppe of Horrors (2022), ISBN 979-8416552794

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to American International Pictures.

• American International Pictures archive curated by AIP historian Kliph Nesteroff