Universal Pictures est une société de production cinématographique américaine appartenant à Comcast. Au sein de sa filiale NBCUniversal, elle fait partie d'Universal Studios. Créée en 1912 par Carl Laemmle, c'est le plus ancien studio de cinéma américain encore en activité et le quatrième plus ancien au monde, après Gaumont, Pathé et Nordisk Films. C'est un des six plus gros studios de cinéma, il fait partie des majors du cinéma.
Son siège social se situe à Universal City, au nord de Hollywood, en Californie. Trois des films d'Universal Studios — Les Dents de la mer (1975), E.T. (1982), et Jurassic Park (1993) — furent des records au box-office, chacun d'entre eux devenant le plus gros film jamais produit au moment de sa sortie et étant réalisé par Steven Spielberg. Le film Jurassic World (2015) est aujourd'hui le plus gros succès des studios Universal dans le monde.
In Upstate New York, a waste management firm loads barrels of toxic waste onto trucks, intending to illegally dispose of them. They are shown heading into a tunnel under the Hudson River between Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, New Jersey along with several other commuters, including struggling playwright Maddy Thompson (Amy Brenneman), some young offenders, a vacationing family, an elderly couple, and a mountain climber named Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen). Meanwhile, a gang of diamond thieves in a stolen car try to escape the NYPD by racing into the tunnel. The gang force their way through the north tube traffic, spilling the diamonds all over the floor of the car. While a female thief tries to retrieve them, she pushes the gas pedal to the floor, causing the driver to lose control, smashing though a security booth and into one of the trucks, killing them instantly. The waste barrels explode, causing the other trucks to explode and setting off a chain reaction. The tunnel entrances cave in, and a devastating fireball sweeps through the tunnel, incinerating thousands of cars and people.
Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is an aspiring ice hockey player who possesses a powerful and dangerous slapshot that his late father (Louis O'Donoghue) taught him as a child (Donnie MacMillan). However, Happy also possesses an over aggressive streak and lack of skating talent that consistently preclude him from joining a hockey team. His girlfriend Terry (Nancy McClure), a schoolteacher, leaves him because of his hockey obsession.
For the plot of the film-within-the-film, see This Island Earth
The film opens with mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester, working from an underground laboratory, explaining the premise of the film (and associated TV series). Mike Nelson and the robots Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo, along with Gypsy, are aboard the Satellite of Love high in Earth's orbit, when Dr. Forrester forces them to watch the film This Island Earth to break their wills; as per the television show, Mike, Crow, and Tom make fun of the movie as it airs.
Vincent (Phil Fondacaro) and his associates explore a forest, until they find a cave containing a coffin with the skeleton of Lilith, mother of all vampires. Vincent takes a box out of his pocket, which contains the four sections of her heart. He puts it in her body, and she rapidly begins reanimating. Revived, she rips the hearts out of the associates and goes after Vincent, who produces the key artifact seen in Demon Knight. Vincent then explains that the artifact from "Demon Knight" and the blood within it allows him to have full control over her. Vincent then turns to Lilith and asks her if he allows her to eat the last associate would she then behave. She replies "Anything for you, lover".
Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko is in charge of the motor pool at Fort Baxter, a small United States Army base that develops new military technology. Exploiting this position, he directs a number of scams, ranging from gambling to renting out military vehicles. His commanding officer, Colonel John Hall, overlooks Bilko's money-making schemes, as he is more concerned with problems in the hovertank that the base is designing.
Some years have passed since the events of the first film. Val has moved away and married Rhonda, while Earl has squandered his fortune on a failing ostrich ranch. He is approached by Carlos Ortega, who informs him that graboids are killing his workers at his oil field in Sonora, Mexico. Earl initially refuses his assistance, but Ortega's taxi driver, Grady Hoover, convinces Earl to change his mind and joins Earl in the hunt, with the oil company paying Grady full fees for his services, as well. Upon arrival in Sonora, Earl meets geologist Kate Reilly, and her assistant Julio, who are scientifically investigating the graboids.
In 1990, architect Frank Bannister loses his wife Debra in a car accident. He gives up his profession, letting his unfinished "dream house" sit incomplete for years. Following the accident, Frank gains the power to see ghosts and befriends three: 1970s gangster Cyrus, 1950s nerd Stuart, and the Judge, a gunslinger from the Old West. The ghosts haunt houses in the area to generate work for Frank's ghostbusting business; Frank then "exorcises" the houses for a fee. Most locals see him as a con man.
An English knight, Bowen (Dennis Quaid), mentors a Saxon prince, Einon (Lee Oakes), in the Old Code, the ideals of chivalry in the hope that he will become a better king than his tyrannical father. When the king is killed while suppressing a peasant rebellion, Einon rushes to claim his crown and is accidentally mortally wounded by the peasant girl Kara (Sandra Kovacicova). Einon's mother, Queen Aislinn (Julie Christie), has him taken before a dragon whom she implores to save his life. The dragon replaces Einon's damaged heart with half of its own on the promise that Einon will rule with justice and virtue. However, Einon soon becomes more tyrannical than his father was, enslaving the former rebels and forcing them to rebuild a Roman castle. Bowen believes that the dragon's heart has twisted Einon, and swears vengeance on all dragons.
A piglet named Babe is left orphaned after his mother is slaughtered, and is chosen for a "guess the weight" contest at a county fair. The winning farmer, Arthur Hoggett, brings him home and allows him to stay with a Border Collie named Fly, her mate, Rex, and their puppies in the barn.
On July 20, 1969, astronaut Jim Lovell hosts a party, where guests watch on television as Neil Armstrong takes his first steps on the Moon during Apollo 11. After the party, Lovell, who had orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, tells his wife Marilyn that he intends to walk on the Moon's surface.
United States Marine Corps Major Benson Winifred Payne (Damon Wayans), a hardened Marine, returns from a successful drug raid in South America, only to find out that he has again been denied his long-hoped-for promotion to the grade of Lieutenant Colonel. Instead, Payne receives an honorable discharge on the grounds that "the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield", and that his killing skills are no longer required by the U.S Marine Corps.
One morning, while painting the landscape on a hill in San Francisco, California, a young woman named Emu O'Hara witnesses the murder of a Japanese Yakuza member. She notices that while the assassin stands emotionless in front of her, his eyes begin to shed tears. The assassin introduces himself to Emu as "Yo".
In 1973, Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is a sports handicapper and Mafia associate who is sent to Las Vegas to run the Teamsters Union-funded Tangiers Casino on behalf of the Chicago Outfit. He hires old friend Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) as his manager. In between, Ace and his friend, mob enforcer and caporegime Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro (Joe Pesci), narrate how the mob bosses control the Teamsters Union, which gives out money for casinos that they own, such as The Tangiers, and how they also drive off rival crews and get rid of cheaters. Ace becomes the Tangiers' de facto boss by taking advantage of lax gaming laws allowing him to work at the casino while his gaming license is still pending. He doubles the casino's profits, which are skimmed by the Mob before the records are reported to income tax agencies. The bosses are impressed with Ace's work and send Nicky to protect Ace and the whole business, along with Nicky's brother Dominick, Nicky's friend and subordinate Frank Marino (Frank Vincent), and the rest of Nicky's soldiers in his crew. Nicky, however, becomes more of a liability than an asset; his criminal activities- which he makes nearly no effort to conceal- and his violent and vicious temper quickly gets him banned by the gaming board from every casino, and his name is placed in the Black Book. In retaliation, Nicky gathers his own crew, opens a jewelry store and restaurant, begins running unsanctioned shakedowns and burglaries, and soon after is considered the mob boss of Vegas.
A vindictive woman, Carrigan Crittenden, is upset upon the reading of her late father's will that she was given creepy Whipstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine instead of his fortune, but she changes her tune when she learns that there is a hidden treasure within the property. She and her assistant Dibs go to the house attempting to investigate, but discover that it is haunted by a friendly ghost named Casper and his obnoxious prankster uncles, the Ghostly Trio (Fatso, Stretch and Stinkie), who immediately frighten them off the property. Carrigan tries multiple methods to rid the house of ghosts, but fails time and time again. Meanwhile, Casper sees a report of a paranormal therapist, James Harvey, and is immediately smitten with his teenaged daughter Kat. He quickly inhabits the television in Carrigan's hotel room in order to convince her to have the Harveys come to the manor to investigate the haunting.
On a film set, The Crypt Keeper directs an installment of the television show despite his disapproval of the lead actor's talent. Upon becoming aware of the viewer, he proffers his latest project, which he hopes will get him into Hollywood: Demon Knight.