Studio/Distributor "breakdowns"?
 

Considering that the collection of all of the studios/distributors actually boils down a handful of larger controlling studios, it gets kind of hard to keep track of which companies "belong" to which (and, more importantly, who is at fault for our favorite films not being released on DVD :D ). As such, I was wondering if there is anyplace where there is a good breakdown of how they are all grouped together?

If not, perhaps someone who has a better feel for it than I do, would be willing to put together a list, chart, etc. showing how they are split up? It might even be something that would be worth a sticky or an addition to the "Release Updates, Frequent Topics, Newcomer Help" sticky.

If that person was really ambitious, they could even provide contact information for each company (e.g., addresses and/or e-mail addresses, and or/phone numbers for general information, suggestions, problem reporting, complaints, etc.).

I would take this one myself, but I think that there a lot of other people on this forum who have a better feel for this and better resources to be able to pull it together.

Thanks to any willing soul! :up:

*BUMP*

Wow . . . no love yet . . . :(

Anybody?

DVD File needs to update the following post (I've written Peter Bracke with suggestions, to no avail), but it's the most comprehensive I've seen:

Master List of DVD Distributors (DVD File)

One of the major omissions from DVD File's list is that Universal owns Paramount's back catalogue of films released before 1948.


Also helpful (but not comprehensive), is this post from the British Film Institute (bfi)


The best list of DVD Studio & Distributor contact information comes from The Cinema Laser (once again, I don't know how up-to-date it is):

DVD & Laserdisc Company Addresses

What about Hitchcocks Psycho...That's 1960, where does that fit?
The movie opens with a black and white Paramount banner when shown on tv...I don't know about video...

The reason for this is explained by Hitchcock and Psycho authority Stephen Rebello here:

Okay, thanks to the information provided by FilmFanSea, I have created this following list (mind you, this is for R1 only, as far as I can tell). Please let me know if anyone knows of any mis-information here.


Legend
Distributor
- Film Company/Producer


20th Century Fox
- 20th Century Fox
- Lucasfilm Ltd.
- Lightstorm Entertainment.
- Discovery Channel (shared with Lion's Gate)

Ardustry Home Entertainment
- Ardustry Entertainment
- A-Pix

Ariztical Entertainment
- Ariztical Entertainment
- Culture Q Connection.
- CQT Releasing

Buena Vista Home Entertainment
- Miramax Films
- Dimension Films
- Hollywood Pictures
- Touchstone Pictures
- Walt Disney Pictures.
- Pixar

Central Park Media

- Central Park Media
- Anime 18
- U.S. Manga Corp.
- Software Sculptors
- Asia Pulp Cinema
- Right Stuff

Columbia Tri-Star Pictures
- Columbia Tri-Star Pictures
- Mandalay Entertainment
- Sony Pictures
- Sony Pictures Classics
- Tri-Star Pictures
- Phoenix Pictures

Geneon
- Geneon
- Bandai

HIT Entertainment
- Lyrick Studios
- Lyons Group

Home Vision Entertainment
- Home Vision Entertainment
- Criterion Collection

Lions Gate
- Lions Gate
- Artisan
- Republic Pictures
- Vestron Pictures
- Carolco
- Hallmark Hall Of Fame
- Avalanche Video
- Discovery Channel (shared with 20th Century Fox)
- Studio Home Entertainment

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- MGM (titles from 1986 and later - Warner Bros. handles ones made prior)
- United Artists
- Eon Productions
- Orion Pictures (some titles distributed by other companies for a few more years)
- Cannon
- Polygram Entertainment (titles prior to 1996)

Navarre Pictures
- Brentwood Home Video (via BCI Eclipse)
- Storyville Films

New Concorde
- New Concorde
- New Horizons

Paramount Pictures
- Paramount (titles from 1948 and later- Universal handles ones made prior)
- Lucasfilm (mostly, although some are handled by other distributors)

Red Distribution
- Eagle Vision
- Eagle Rock
- Silverline
- Ground Zero Entertainment

Sony Music
- Sony Music
- World Wrestling Entertainment (World Wrestling Federation)

Trimark
- Trimark
- King's Road

Universal Pictures
- Universal Pictures
- Amblin Entertainment
- Gramercy Pictures
- Alphaville Pictures
- October Films (some licenses held by other companies)
- Paramount (prior to 1948)
- Dreamworks
- Polygram Entertainment (titles from 1996 and later - MGM handles ones made prior)
- USA Films
- FocusFilm Entertainment
- Trinity Home Entertainment (self-distributed before 02/2004)

Ventura Distribution
- Classic Pictures
- Win Media
- Big Vision
- Mantra
- Nike (through UrbanWorks)
- BET (through UrbanWorks)
- Fox Television (through StudioWorks)
- Stephen J. Cannell productions (through StudioWorks)
- Lolafilms (through Studio Latino)
- Venevision International (through Studio Latino)
- VAS Entertainment
- Showtime
- TokyoPop
- EI Independent
- Razor & Tie
- Viz Entertainment
- All Day Entertainment
- Tempe Video
- Mondo Macabro

Warner Bros.
- Warner Bros.
- Castle Rock Entertainment (some shared with Polygram)
- New Regency Pictures
- Icon Entertainment
- Warner Music Group
- MGM (titles prior to 1986)
- RKO
- Turner Entertainment
- BBC (distribution only)
- New Line Cinema
- Fine Line Features
- Wea/Elektra Entertainment
- Comedy Central
- HBO Home Video (distribution only)
- PBS (distribution only)

WEA Corporation
- Warner Music Group
- Ryko Disc
- Blue Underground
- Projekt
- Megavision
- Acony
- Palm Pictures
- Fantoma
- Troma
- Rhino Records (select titles only)

Wellspring
- Wellspring
- WinStar
- Fox Lorber

One-To-One Distribution
- United Home (distributed by VCI Home Video)
- Brighton Entertainment (distributed by Bayside Distribution)
- Captiol Records (distributred by EMI Records)
- Video Music, Inc. (distributed by Music Video Distributors)
- Digital Versatile Disc (distributed by Nutech Digital)

Self-Distribution
- Sony Wonder
- Full Moon Pictures
- Magic Lantern
- Simitar
- Trimark
- DaViD Entertainment
- Koch Vision (also distribute for a number of very small companies)
- BFS Video (as BFS Entertainment/Multimedia)
- Cloud Ten Pictures
- DEJ (as Dej Productions - used to be handled by Ventura)
- DVD International
- Pro-Active Entertainment
- New Video
- Sub Rosa Studios
- Multimedia 2000
- WGBH
- Nostalgia Ventures
- Xenon Entertainment Group
- Mountain Apple
- Funimation
- Media Blasters
- BMG Video
- Sisu Home Entertainment
- Kino International
- Jef Films
- Madacy

No Set Distributor
- Anchor Bay Entertainment
- CIBY 2000
- Elite Entertainment
- Lucasfilm (although many distributed by Paramount)
- Orion Pictures (will be solely MGM in a few years)
- Vanguard Cinema


Still Need To Be Placed(any help appreciated)
Were Polygram's . . .
    - AVCO Embassy Pictures
    - Castle Rock Entertainment (shared with Warner Bros.)
    - Manga Entertainment (select titles only)
    - Gramercy Films
    - Nelson Entertainment
- A&E
- Acorn Media
- ADV Films
- Alliance Atlantis
- American Home Treasures
- Arista
- Artemis Records
- Big Idea
- BMI
- Camerado
- Created by David Lynch
- Docurama
- East Side Digital
- First Look Pictures
- Goldhil Home Media
- Good Times Home Video
- Hen's Tooth
- Image Entertainment
- IndieDVD
- Inecom
- Inspirational Films
- J&N Media
- Jive Records
- Lightyear Entertainment
- Melee Entertainment
- Milestone Films
- Mill Reef
- Monarch Home Video
- Monarex
- Moonshine Music
- Movies That Don't Suck
- MPI
- Music Video Distributors
- New Concorde
- New Yorker Films
- Pathfinder
- Q Video
- Rise Above Entertainment
- Rounder Records
- Scholastic Video
- Seville Pictures
- Shout! Factory
- Slingshot Entertainment
- Something Weird Video
- Sterling
- Synapse-Films
- Synergy Distribution
- TLA Releasing
- Treble V Music
- VCI Home Video
- Volcano Music
- Westlake Entertainment
- Whirlwind Media
- Windham Hill
- York Entertainment


For contact information see DVD & Laserdisc Company Addresses from The Cinema Laser.

I would edit these:

Warner
MGM--all titles made before 1986
RKO
Turner Entertainment*
BBC (distribution only)


MGM
MGM--all titles from 1986 and later
(remove Turner Entertainment)


Buena Vista
Pixar (for the time being)


Wellspring (these are 3 names for the smae company, but they confuse a lot of people)
Wellspring
WinStar
Fox Lorber


I would remove DreamWorks SKG, Touchstone Pictures and 20th Century Fox from under Paramount, since they don't own or distribute these studios' products.

* AOL Time/Warner bought out Ted Turner, so Warner's distributes the Turner Entertainment product

Thanks for the updates . . . I updated my list.I made this change, but was wondering where Dreamworks and Touchstone should be moved to (20th Century Fox was obvious . . . not sure how it got in the wrong spot to begin with :) ).

Thanks again for the help. :up:

Dreamworks's discs are all distributed by Universal.

Criterion's contact info on that web site link is wrong - they moved quite a while ago (new address is in any Criterion insert, which I'm too lazy to go into the other room to look up right now. ;) ).

Good idea to keep a comprehensive list somewhere, preferably on a web site rather than a forum where it could get lost in the shuffle.

Updated . . . thanks, jough! :up:Ideally, I would think that, if it were hosted on a website, it could be done with a little mini-page (preferably a pop-up or something based of of a database, datafile, etc.) that is linked to each studio and distributor. The mini-page could have a little profile for each company.Hmmmmm . . . but where could we find such a website to host this information . . . :hscratch:



;)

I have links to over 200 studios/distributors at

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/DVD_Studios.php

Thank you for the answer to the question. Always had wondered about that...

MGM owns everything pre-1995 for Polygram Entertainment, Universal owns everything post-1995.

As far as I can tell, that's just a list of studio web sites, not a list of which studio owns and distributes which titles. So it's not really what we're discussing here.

Thanks the the link, though.

Um, maybe this is useless, but what about Lion's Gate? I only ask this because original Cube DVD release has Trimark everywhere, but the signature series is obviously Lion's Gate. Although maybe adding indy studios would flood the list with too much clutter...

And if I remember correctly, Lions Gate bought out Artisan recently.

Is there any kind of NewLine-Warner connection? When Warner was doing that "buy two 2-disc SE DVDs, get one free" deal, a couple of the choices were New Line releases. In fact, the free DVD I just received was Magnolia.

Warner Brothers is the distributor for New Line.

Correct, but many of the links end up pointing to the "umbrella" distributor (if the actual studio doesn't have a site), so it is a source for this discussion.... plus there is usually a "contact" link at the websites (which I recall as being requested in the original post).

Trimark became Lions Gate. Live Entertainment became Artisan. Lions Gate now owns Artisan, too.

DJ

Not only are they the distributor, but they own New Line lock, stock, and flounder.

New Line was supposed to be their "cult" or "cutting edge" micro studio. Now New Line has some of the biggest hits in the world on their roster.

So New Line spun off "Fine Line Features" for their independent films.

And Universal's independent arm is called "Focus Features."

It's all confusing, mostly because there are only five studios and they own all of the other little ones.

Yuck . . . do you have any idea how those studios below Polygram are split out between the two?

Interesting - thanks for the info.

Guess that list posted earlier needs to be edited once more.

Okay . . . New Line's stuff has been moved to Warner Bros.

I'm still not sure what to do with Polygrams stuff though . . . :hscratch:

Polygram's discs are being distributed by Universal.

But the point is kinda moot since Polygram is no longer a company of their own, and most of their previous discs are being released with only Universal's name on them.