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James Harvey Nicholson (September 14, 1916 – December 10, 1972) was an American film producer. He is best known as the co-founder, with Samuel Z. Arkoff, of American International Pictures.
James H. Nicholson was a longtime theater owner and exhibitor and worked as a promo man for Realart Pictures prior to 1954, when he founded American Releasing Corp., Two years later, he decided he wanted to expand globally and, with lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff, formed American International Pictures.
- Producer, Additional Crew, Writer
- September 14, 1916
- James H. Nicholson
- December 10, 1972
James H. Nicholson was a longtime theater owner and exhibitor and worked as a promo man for Realart Pictures prior to 1954, when he founded American Releasing Corp., Two years later, he decided he wanted to expand globally and, with lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff, formed American International Pictures.
- September 14, 1916
- December 10, 1972
- Day The World Ended
- I Was A Teenage Werewolf
- The Pit and The Pendulum
- Reptilicus
- Black Sabbath
- Wild in The Streets
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes
- The Amityville Horror (1979) and The End of AIP
Day the World Ended is a terrific start to our list because it combines three elements integral to AIP’s early years: Roger Corman, Paul Blaisdell, and a monster. Corman, a young independent filmmaker, had produced a race car movie called The Fast and The Furious in 1954 – the title of which he eventually licensed to Universal in 2001 for their fam...
As the ‘50s wore on, AIP went from strength to strength releasing horror and exploitation double bills to great success. The culmination of their teen awareness and monster savvy arrived in one of AIP’s very best: I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Michael Landon plays Tony, a troubled young man who explodes into violent rage at the slightest provocation. H...
Following the black-and-white monster cycle of the 1950s, Roger Corman would once again influence AIP’s next steps. Arkoff and Nicholson had approached the producer about doing another pair of black-and-white horrors for $100,000, but Corman instead asked if he could make one film for double the cost in widescreen and colour. This initiated an eigh...
Reptilicusis a marvellous giant monster film. A drilling team digs up the remains of a reptilian tail, which eventually regenerates into a complete giant monster: Reptilicus. The beast makes its way through the Danish countryside before ravaging Copenhagen. The film is an example of how AIP had branched out, looking to overseas productions to impor...
From the late ‘50s onwards, AIP also turned to Italy to import expensive-looking pictures for inexpensive costs with significant profits. As with Reptilicus, AIP didn’t keep itself to just importing, and several Italian co-productions appeared in the early 1960s. In 1961, AIP had imported Mario Bava’s sensational black-and-white horror Black Sunday...
Wild in the Streets perhaps demonstrates AIP’s finger on the cultural pulse at its finest. The film asks the question every generation poses: what if young people were in charge? Wild in the Streetsfollows Max Frost, a millionaire 20-something rockstar whose public image sees him catapulted to the highest office in the land. As President, Frost and...
One of AIP’s most peculiar releases given its modus operandi was a 1970 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Though the film wasn’t a great success, director Robert Fuest had impressed Nicholson and Arkoff, paving the way for his involvement in arguably one of Vincent Price’s best horror films. The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a tour de force of gorgeous p...
It seems fitting that one of AIP’s last hurrahs – and one of its most successful films – was a horror picture. The Amityville Horror remains as effective as ever, a haunted house horror triumph. Starring Margot Kidder and James Brolin, The Amityville Horrortells the supposedly true story of the haunting of the Lutz family, whose new home seems poss...
May 20, 2020 · Indeed, exploitation was the modus operandi of James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff (AIP’s founders), but this knowledge has arguably snubbed their filmography of a deeper consideration.
- Christopher Stewardson
James H. Nicholson is known as an Executive Producer, Producer, Presenter, Story, Actor, and Co-Executive Producer. Some of his work includes The Pit and the Pendulum, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, House of Usher, The Legend of Hell House, The Raven, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Boxcar Bertha, and Tales of Terror.
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Dec 14, 2012 · Samuel Z. Arkoff, who in some ways invented modern Hollywood, died Sunday of natural causes in a Burbank hospital. The co-founder of American-International Pictures and the godfather of the beach party and teenage werewolf movies was 83. When Arkoff and partner James H. Nicholson founded AIP in 1954, the major Hollywood studios were little ...