MGM-British Studios Meanwhile, Amalgamated Studios Ltd constructed a large studio on the north side of Elstree Way between 1935 and 1937. A January 1937 deal for eight films to be made for the American studio Columbia Pictures soon collapsed. The company was unable to meet the cost of building work, and sold the facility to the Rank Organisation, which was not interested in using the studios itself, but wanted to stop John Maxwell's rival British International Pictures (BIP) from being able to compete more effectively with its own new Pinewood Studios. During the war, the studios were leased from Rank by the
Fleischer Studios by popularity polls. And with the availability of full spectrum color, the Fleischer Studios produced three two-reel "Popeye" featurettes, "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" (1936), "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba and His Forty Thieves" (1937), and "Popeye the Sailor Meets Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp" (1939). This series of longer-format cartoons were an indication of the emergence of the animated feature film, which was finally established by the success of Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937). The Fleischer Studios had reached its zenith by 1936, with four series and 52 annual releases. Due to the phenomenal