Chicago was produced by The Producer's Circle Co. and Storyline Entertainment, and distributed by Miramax

Chicago's jump (complete with jazz hands) from stage to screen was assisted by The Producer's Circle Company, which mostly produces theater, although it also produced, oddly, The Shining in 1980. (Alternate song lyric: "Who says that redrum's not an art?!") Co-producing was Storyline Entertainment, a studio that went on to produce the live television adaptation of Peter Pan starring Alison Williams and Christopher Walken.

Miramax is the little distributor that could. Founded in 1979 by two kings of Hollywood —Harvey and Bob Weinstein—Miramax was the little-big distribution company of the late '90s and early 2000s. It's not necessarily a small company but it's not a huge name either, like Universal Pictures or 20th Century Fox (although it was owned by Disney from 1993 to 2010). Miramax was the place for movies too big to be indie darlings, but maybe too niche to be blockbuster hits… although they definitely have their share of those.

Their most popular films include The Piano (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), and Shakespeare in Love (1998) As you can see, the Weinsteins know how to find the sweet spot between box office smash and Oscar bait, and Chicago is smack dab at the intersection of both.