Producers Sales Organization
Producers Sales Organization was an independent production/distribution company founded in 1977.[1]
Inititated by Mark Damon, an actor-turned-producer,[1] PSO (its otherwise known moniker) largely handled foreign sales of independent films. Among the most notable films PSO released include The Final Countdown, Dead and Buried, Prizzi's Honor,[2] The Day After,[3] Silkwood,[4] Never Say Never Again,[4] The Outsiders,[4] Cujo,[4] The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension,[5] Once Upon a Time in America,[4] and 9½ Weeks.[6]
In its final years of existence, PSO briefly became a full-fledged production company, financing films such as The Neverending Story (with Warner Bros. Pictures), Das Boot (with Columbia Pictures), Fire and Ice (with 20th Century-Fox), Flight of the Navigator (with Disney) and Short Circuit and 8 Million Ways to Die (with Tri-Star Pictures).
Despite releasing many successful films, PSO ended up running into financial problems and was forced into bankruptcy in 1986, effectively ending the company.[7] The assets of PSO were sold to Vestron Pictures, its home video output partner.
A year after PSO ended, Damon founded a new company, with Peter Guber and Jon Peters, called Vision International.[1]
PSO is known today as Lions Gate Entertainment, which handles some ancillary rights to the former PSO library. One notable exception is the international rights to Once Upon a Time in America, which reverted to the American distributor, Warner Bros. (via The Ladd Company).
