What does MGM stand for?

MGM is one of the world's oldest film studios and its origins can be traced to the dawn of the movie business in Hollywood.

It's roaring lion brand is instantly recognisable as the first thing you see in literally hundreds of classic movies, so it's surprising that a key feature of this is causing some confusion. In that logo, and the short video which accompanies it, the full wording for "MGM" is spelt out prominently above the lion's head. Today, it reads "Metro Goldwyn Mayer", but some are saying they remember it as "Metro Goldwyn Meyer".

There's a possible connection here with another Mandela Effect - the Oscar Mayer/Meyer one, just based on the wording alone.

Loius B Mayer

MGM was formed when Marcus Loew, who owned Metro Pictures Corporation, bought Goldwyn Pictures and Loius B. Mayer Pictures in 1924 and combined the 3, keeping parts of each in the new MGM name. The rest is history, giving the world titles including Ben Hur, Laurel and Hardy, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind and later James Bond  to name but a few.

MGM dominated motion pictures in Hollywood, but was always criticised for being slow to adapt to changing trends. It was the last to convert to sound in the 1920's, and in the 1960's lost a great deal of money again due to it being slow to adapt to change.

Through a further series of ups and downs, including changing hands several times, the television era and right through to digital, MGM unfortunately filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Since then it's fortunes have improved somewhat, with a deal in April 2019 being struck with Smokehouse Pictures, owned by George Clooney and Grant Heslov. MGM also ventured out into a Las Vegas based hotel and casino business, but this has been spun off and the main film business is not associated with it any more.