Focus Features

Focus Features was founded in 2002 by James Schamus and David Linde and formed from the divisional merger of USA Films, Universal Focus and Good Machine, as well as several assets of the Vivendi-affiliated film studio StudioCanal. USA Films was created by Barry Diller in 1999, when he purchased Interscope Communications, certain assets of the film division of Propaganda Films, October Films and Gramercy Pictures from Seagram and merged the three labels together; USA Films was led by Scott Greenstein. Universal Focus was the specialty film arm of Universal Pictures that was created in 1999 as Universal Classics, which was led by Paul Hardart and Claudia Gray, to replace the October Films label in order to get a group of titles to be distributed by USA Films, focused on the marketing of niche-based acquisitions by Universal Pictures International, Working Title, WT2 Productions, Revolution Films and DNA Films, and eventually rebranded into Universal Focus by 2000.

In March 2004, Focus Features revived Rogue Pictures as a genre label, which was once used by October Films in the late 1990s. Rogue Pictures would be led by the same team who led the standard Focus management. The first film released under this label was Seed of Chucky.

2010s

In August 2011, Focus Features launched Focus World, a label focusing on the video on demand (VOD) market with initial plans to distribute eight to 15 films per year, with one film being released per month. The first titles released under this label were Russian film Black Lightning and Brazilian film Adrift.

On October 2, 2013, James Schamus was fired from his position as CEO of Focus, with the New York offices being shut down in the process. He was succeeded by Peter Schlessel, whose company FilmDistrict would be merged into Focus and folded into the trade name High Top Releasing. This became effective in January 2014, and several titles developed under FilmDistrict would be released by Focus. Under Schlessel, the company began to acquire films with a wider commercial appeal, much like his previous company.

In May 2015, Gramercy Pictures was revived by Focus as a genre label, that was on action, sci-fi, and horror films.

In February 2016, Focus merged with Universal Pictures International Productions (UPIP) as part of a new strategy to "align the acquisition and production of specialty films in the global market". Following this, along with several disappointing box office returns, Schlessel was let go from the company and replaced with UPIP Managing Director Peter Kujawski. This shift would lead to several Oscar-winning movies, such as The Theory of Everything (2014), The Danish Girl (2015), Darkest Hour (2017), and Phantom Thread (2017), as well as auteur-driven films like Tom Ford's Noctural Animals (2016) and Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled (2017).

In 2018, with the release of Morgan Neville's Mister Rogers bio, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, and Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, Focus grossed about $150 million domestically, leading the studio specialty labels. With its international business, which included foreign distribution on films like Manchester by the Sea (2016) and Lady Bird (2017), it grossed almost $500 million worldwide.

2020s

In March 2022, Focus Features celebrated its 20th anniversary by unveiling a new logo, a tribute reel featuring some of its most celebrated movies—Lost in Translation (2003), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Milk (2008), The Kids Are All Right (2010), Phantom Thread (2017), and Promising Young Woman (2020)—and a "swag bag" with a collection of 20 Focus films for talent, filmmakers, and industry insiders.