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(Japan) gave us Godzilla Minus One , a production that won an Oscar for Visual Effects on a shockingly small $15 million budget. Toho has been producing kaiju and samurai epics for nearly a century, and its recent output proves that Japanese studio craftsmanship rivals anything in the West.

(formerly ViacomCBS) carries the legacy of the original studio system. Its production arm, Paramount Pictures, has gifted us The Godfather , Titanic , and more recently, Top Gun: Maverick —a sequel that grossed nearly $1.5 billion and reignited the public's love for practical effects and aerial cinematography. Paramount’s television productions, including Yellowstone , have become a cultural phenomenon, spawning multiple prequels and a dedicated fanbase that has redefined the modern Western. The Modern Titans: Disney and the Art of the Franchise No discussion of popular entertainment studios is complete without analyzing The Walt Disney Studios . In the last 15 years, Disney has transformed from an animation and theme park company into arguably the most powerful content monopoly in history. Its strategy is simple but devastatingly effective: acquire beloved intellectual property (IP) and produce it at scale.