Anchor Bay Entertainment

.Fact|date=July 2008

History

Anchor Bay Entertainment can date its origins back to 1985, when Video Treasures was founded as a publisher and distributor of home video programming. [http://marvista.net/about_us.html#04 Executive Biography of George Port] from the MarVista Entertainment website] Video Treasures, later renamed Anchor Bay Entertainment [The original company's name, Anchor Bay, got its name from the school system in Casco Township, near New Baltimore, Michigan.Fact|date=November 2007] was sold to Handleman Company in 1989. The company became known as "Anchor Bay Entertainment" in 1996.

Anchor Bay remained part of Handleman until 2003, when it was acquired by IDT Entertainment. [ [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1307581/IDT-Entertainment-Completes-Acquisition-of.html IDT Entertainment Completes Acquisition of Anchor Bay Entertainment Group] from Business Wire via ECNext]

Liberty Media, the owner of the Starz cable network, purchased IDT Entertainment from IDT Corp. in 2006 and renamed it Starz Media,

In May 2007, Anchor Bay became known as "Starz Home Entertainment". SHE announced on June 19, 2007 that they will be releasing high definition versions of their films exclusively in the Blu-ray format.

In 2008, Starz Media re-instated the "Anchor Bay Entertainment" brand and all future releases will bear this name.

Licensed content

Anchor Bay Entertainment currently licenses the home video rights to
* "Three's Company", ' & ' (via Universal) television series;
* most of the libraries of Embassy Pictures, Rankin-Bass, EMI Films, HBO Films, and Alexander Salkind (via StudioCanal);
* Moustapha Akkad's Trancas International Pictures (production company behind the "Halloween" movie series);
* George Harrison's Handmade Films ("Time Bandits", "Mona Lisa", etc.);
* New World Pictures ("Children of the Corn", "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Heathers", "Sledge Hammer!", etc.);
* Stephen J. Cannell Productions ("The Commish", "The Greatest American Hero", "Hunter", "Renegade", "Silk Stalkings" & "21 Jump Street");
* Carsey-Werner Productions ("Grounded for Life", "Roseanne" & "3rd Rock from the Sun");
* Davis-Panzer Productions ("The Osterman Weekend", the "" television series);
* Fox Studios ("Doogie Howser, M.D.", "Titus" & Profit")
* Some of the 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures libraries;
* .

At one pointSpecify|date=November 2007, Starz held the video rights to some of Walt Disney Pictures' live-action features such as "The Black Hole", "Big Red","The Cat From Outer Space", and "The Devil and Max Devlin". They also had planned on producing a director's cut of the 1981 suspense film "The Watcher in the Woods", but canceled the release.

Children's home video

In addition to feature films, Anchor Bay Entertainment distributes popular children's video series, including "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" and "Bobby's World". "Thomas" has reached platinum-selling status and in 2004 ranks consistently on the VideoScan ranking top 50 chart of children's weekly video sales. The company also has a top market share for fitness videos such as the "Crunch" and "For Dummies" series.

Horror films

Anchor Bay Entertainment is also noted for the release of the "Evil Dead" film trilogy on DVD, in numerous editions. "Army of Darkness" for example, had been released in both a regular and limited edition set that featured the director's cut of the film. Since then, the director's cut has been re-released on two separate occasions in addition to a two-disc "Boomstick Edition" of the film as well. Until Anchor Bay released "The Evil Dead" on VHS and DVD it was previously unavailable on video from a major label.

Also among their more profitable releases has been George Romero's Living Dead series. Anchor Bay Entertainment has distribution rights for the middle two films in the Romero tetrology: Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.

Like the Evil Dead trilogy, the Living Dead series has seen of the films on DVD. Dawn of the Dead has itself seen several releases on DVD, the most extra feature-laden being the "Ultimate Edition" in late 2004.

An Evil Dead 3-Disc Ultimate Edition DVD was released in December 2007.

Anchor Bay has also released most of Dario Argento's films including:
*The Cat o' Nine Tails
*Deep Red
*Suspiria
*Inferno
*Tenebre
*Phenomena
*Opera
*Trauma
*The Card Player

Award

Anchor Bay Entertainment received a Special Achievement Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in June 2002. [http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_of_Science_Fiction_Fantasy_And_Horror_Films_USA/2002#Special_Award 2002 Special Award] from the Internet Movie Database] Anchor Bay was recognized as one of the "pioneers in DVD releases and home video entertainment" and "successful in releasing dramas, comedies, foreign films, children's programming, and most prominently genre films." Cited as highlights of Anchor Bay's releases were "the films of Hammer Studios, the works of Werner Herzog, Paul Verhoeven, Wim Wenders, John Woo, Monte Hellman and Sam Raimi".

References

External links

* [http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/ Official U.S. website]
* [http://www.anchorbay.co.uk/ Official U.K. website]
* List of Anchor Bay Entertainment films from Internet Movie Database:
** [http://imdb.com/company/co0209315/ Films from Anchor Bay Entertainment (Australia)]
** [http://imdb.com/company/co0113373/ Films from Anchor Bay Entertainment (U.K.)]
** [http://imdb.com/company/co0067793/ Films from Anchor Bay Entertainment (U.S.)]