Focus Features (formerly USA Films, Universal Focus, Good Machine, Gramercy Pictures and October Films) is the art house films division of NBCUniversal, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films.

 

Focus was formed from the 2002 divisional merger of USA Films, Universal Focus and Good Machine. USA Films was created by Barry Diller in 1999 by combining October Films, Rogue and Gramercy Pictures.

 

Vivendi sold the studio, among other entertainment assets, to GE in 2004 to form NBCUniversal.

 

Focus' most successful release in North America to date is Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned $83,043,761 at the North American box office. However, this is not counting the domestic total of Traffic (2000), which earned $124,107,477 under the USA Films banner. Focus' most successful international release is Burn After Reading (2008), which earned $161,128,228 in gross revenue.The animated film Coraline (which Focus did not produce, but did distribute) was also highly profitable for the company. Although suffering its share of unsuccessful releases, Focus has been consistently profitable, and its international sales arm (unusual among studio specialty film divisions) allows it to receive the foreign as well as domestic revenues from its releases.