According to Robert Evans, head of Paramount Pictures at the time, Coppola also did not initially want to direct the film because he feared it would glorify the Mafia and violence, and thus reflect poorly on his Sicilian and Italian heritage ; on the other hand, Evans specifically wanted an Italian-American to direct the film because his research had shown that previous films about the Mafia that were directed by non-Italians had fared dismally at the box office, and he wanted to, in his own words, " smell the spaghetti ".

Coppola chose Brando over Ernest Borgnine on the basis of Brando's screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership.

Paramount also had a monopoly over Detroit movie theaters through subsidiary company United Detroit Theaters as well.

This led to the Supreme Court decision United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ( 1948 ) holding that movie studios could not also own movie theater chains.

A number of films produced by independent companies and merely distributed by Paramount would also end up with other companies.

* Warner Bros. also owns the rights to several films originally distributed by Paramount that were produced by Lorimar Productions, which was purchased by Warner in 1989.

Some other Seven Arts projects released by Paramount in the mid-to-late 1960s also reverted to Warner while a few others, such as Assault on a Queen have been retained by Paramount.

* The De Laurentiis Entertainment Group library was initially distributed by Paramount in Canada, these films are also in the StudioCanal catalog, with MGM, Anchor Bay, and Fox each distributing some titles in North America ).

* Paramount also no longer owns North American rights to Meatballs.

* In 2004, Paramount bought all worldwide distribution rights to the original 1975 version of The Stepford Wives ( also released by Columbia ), in connection with the release of the remake.

Paramount also owns DVD rights to several films released by Miramax Films prior to that firm's acquisition by Disney in 1993, also a result of a deal.

* The Viacom merger also gave Paramount the TV rights to the pre-1984 New World Pictures library, under license from Roger Corman, the company's founder ;

* Paramount has also acquired ( through Trifecta Entertainment & Media ) the US TV and digital rights to most of the Carolco Pictures catalog, under license from StudioCanal, as a result of acquiring Spelling Entertainment Group, whose Worldvision Enterprises division had been distributing the Carolco library.

* Paramount has TV and digital rights to some films in the Nelson Entertainment catalog, also as a result of the Viacom merger, including the Bill & Ted films – all other rights, including Nelson's later films and the copyright to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, reside with MGM ( several other Nelson films are owned by Paramount for TV and digital distribution through the Spelling merger, as Worldvision at one point had rights to some Nelson films as well );

* Paramount also has TV / digital rights to Dead Man Walking, originally from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment ; MGM owns other ancillary rights.

** USA Networks ( also including what is now called Syfy ) – Paramount owned a stake starting in 1982, 50 % owner ( with Universal Studios ) from 1987 until 1997, when Paramount / Viacom sold their stake to Universal ( now part of NBCUniversal )

Little news was forthcoming for months as Berman and Brannon Braga developed the untitled series, known only as " Series V ", until February 2001, when Paramount signed Herman Zimmerman and John Eaves to production design Series V. Within a month, scenic designer Michael Okuda, another long-time Trek veteran, was also signed.

Viacom also aimed to relaunch UPN as Paramount Network, using a logo based on the famous Paramount Pictures mountain logo and the " P " triangle of the UPN logo, which already stood for Paramount, as the new network logo.

Paramount Pictures owns a copyright of the official dictionary and other canonical descriptions of the language.

As for distribution of the material Paramount itself still owns, it has been split in half, with Paramount themselves owning theatrical rights.

* Foreign rights to the 1975 Robert Altman film Nashville, are currently owned by ABC through Walt Disney Pictures but Paramount still owns North American rights ( both Paramount and ABC share copyrights ).

Corp. and later NTA and is back under Paramount distribution, on behalf of Republic Pictures ; EMKA / NBCUniversal owns the latter presently.

* Paramount owns the film libraries of many other companies that were absorbed into Republic ( see the Republic Pictures and Spelling Entertainment articles for more info ), again with DVD rights licensed to Lionsgate ;

As for the DreamWorks Animation library, Paramount owns distributions rights to the present library, and their current distribution deal to future DWA titles expires after 2012.

Rights to the film are currently held by Universal Studios, which owns the pre-1950 Paramount sound feature film library via EMKA, Ltd.

Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company ( which also owns ABC ), Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers.

Paramount still owns video rights to some of these films today, while TV distribution is now with Trifecta Entertainment & Media, while the Disney owned Miramax films are distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

As a result of MGM's purchase of this film, it is not owned by Universal Studios, which owns most pre-1950 Paramount sound features ( and who has produced a popular line of horror films ).

* Lionsgate also now owns US DVD rights to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now ( under license from Paramount Pictures, which owns US distribution rights on behalf of the film's rights holder, American Zoetrope, Coppola's company ).

Today, Paramount ( through Republic, which the studio's parent company, Viacom, acquired in 1999 ), in a twist of irony, now owns the original elements to its 1927 – September 1950 output they themselves originally released ( in addition to the April 1962 – 1967 non-Comic King shorts ( except Frog's Legs, starring Little Lulu, which Paramount still owns ) they have retained the rights to and the 1961 Noveltoon, Alvin's Solo Flight, also starring Little Lulu ).

Paramount now also owns the theatrical rights, while Lionsgate Entertainment ( Republic's video licensee and successor to Artisan Entertainment, previously LIVE Entertainment ) holds the home video rights, and Trifecta Entertainment & Media now holds most major TV rights on behalf of Republic / Paramount ( aside from other major and minor / low budget film, TV, and video companies that distribute the public domain cartoons )-- CBS Television Distribution ( as well as its predecessor companies Paramount Domestic Television and Worldvision Enterprises ) formally held such TV rights until 2009.

A majority of the DeMille motion picture library now resides with EMKA, Ltd. through the television division of NBC Universal, due to Paramount Pictures ' losing the rights to the DeMille films in 1958 to EMKA, so technically it is Universal Pictures that now oversees a vast part of DeMille's motion picture career as well as its related archival material.

Beginning in 1914, both Lasky and Famous Players released their films through a start-up company, Paramount Pictures Corporation, organized early that year by a Utah theatre owner, W. W. Hodkinson, who had bought and merged several smaller firms.

All through the teens and twenties, he built the Publix Theatres Corporation, a mighty chain of nearly 2, 000 screens, ran two production studios, and became an early investor in radio, taking a 50 % interest in the new Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928 ( selling it within a few years ; this would not be the last time Paramount and CBS crossed paths, as time proved ).

Also Paramount launched its own network, Paramount Television Network, in 1948 through its television unit, Television Productions, Inc.

Paramount's home entertainment unit continues to distribute the Paramount TV library through CBS DVD, as both Viacom and CBS Corporation are controlled by Michael Redstone's National Amusements.

This led to Paramount becoming the second movie studio to sign a deal with Apple Inc. to sell its films through the iTunes Store.

* Lionsgate now controls most rights to the 1987 Vietnam War film Hamburger Hill through an equity investment Vestron Video made with its production outfit RKO Pictures, though Paramount retains TV and Internet rights.

Paramount, through several transactions, acquired underlying TV and digital distribution rights to many films controlled by other companies for domestic theatrical and DVD distribution and / or other international rights.

The remaining live-action films through March 2006 remained under direct Paramount control.

The website IGN Filmforce, reported on rumors Paramount had actually decided to cancel Enterprise after its fourth season as early as midway through the second year, quoted an unidentified " executive involved with Enterprise " as saying this scenario was " very likely ".

As a result of Paramount's 2005 acquisition of DreamWorks, Paramount has gained North America distribution rights as well ( though still through the DreamWorks division ).

UPN was originally owned by Viacom / Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's series.

Most of UPN's programming through the years was produced by Paramount Television or a sister company ( Viacom Productions, Big Ticket Entertainment, Spelling Television, or CBS Productions ).

In 2007, Warner Bros. added the Peanuts / Charlie Brown library to its collection ( this includes all the television specials and series outside of the theatrical library, which continues to be owned by CBS and Paramount through Peanuts Worldwide, LCC, licensor and owner of the Peanuts material ).

* Denny Jaeger and Michel Rubini, the first to use the Synclavier to score a major motion picture ( The Hunger, with David Bowie, released through MGM in April, 1983 ) and to score the first network TV series ( The Powers of Matthew Starr, from Paramount Television, released September, 1982 ).

Frakes stated: " I started with the cattle call, then the casting director, the producer, then other directors, to Gene Roddenberry, and then through the Paramount execs, including the vice-president himself and the heads of television.