Roger Corman may be known to most as the premiere producer of some of the finest exploitation movies ever made, but to those in the know he is also one of the most important and influential figures in the entertainment industry. Many of Hollywood’s finest talents on both sides of the camera owe their careers in some part to the go-for-broke tutelage they were given by working for Corman, including filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert Towne, Peter Bogdanovich, and Ron Howard, and actors like Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, and Robert Englund. Corman is a legend, and that is the undisputed truth.

This summer Corman is bringing a catalog of over 400 films he produced and/or directed to the vast cybernetic landscape of the Internet as he launches Corman’s Drive-In, a YouTube channel that will offer up his films for viewing for a fee still yet to be determined.

“I have always approached filmmaking with the desire to reach a broad audience, and YouTube is clearly where the viewers are now,” said Roger Corman. “In today’s ever-connected marketplace, I couldn’t think of a better platform on which to unveil “Corman’s Drive-In.”

The channel will be operated under Corman’s New Horizon Picture Corp. production company and will not only feature the entertaining popcorn classics that the producer made his reputation, but will also spotlight new movies currently in production. “This exciting launch on YouTube creates a myriad of opportunities for us, especially as we continue to develop and produce new titles to complement the existing film catalogue,” said Julie Corman, Roger’s wife and producing partner.

Some of the existing movies we can expect to see on Corman’s Drive-In are Death Race 2000 (remade in 2008 by Paul W.S. Anderson), the original Little Shop of Horrors, Joe Dante’s Piranha (remade in 3-D in 2010), Ron Howard’s directorial debut Grand Theft Auto (no relation to the mega-popular video game series), and early films starring Nicholson, William Shatner, and Tommy Lee Jones. Many of these fine films are currently available on DVD and Blu-ray, many made courtesy of Shout! Factory.