StudioCanal
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| Type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Filmmaking distribution |
| Founded | 1988 (as CANAL+ Production) |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Parent | Vivendi SA |
| Website | www.studiocanal.com |
StudioCanal (a.k.a. Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image) is a French-based production (as StudioCanal S.A.) and distribution (as StudioCanal Images S.A.) company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. The company is part of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi SA.
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[edit] Background
The company was founded in 1988 by Pierre Lescure as a spin-off of the Canal+ pay-TV network. The original function was to focus on French and European productions, but later made strategic deals with American production companies. StudioCanal's most notable productions from its early years include Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, Basic Instinct, Cliffhanger, Under Siege, Free Willy, and the original Stargate movie. In these days, it was known as Le Studio Canal+
Other films the company financed include U-571, Bully, and Bridget Jones's Diary. StudioCanal also funded the last third of David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive.[1] StudioCanal also financed French-language films, such as Brotherhood of the Wolf (which became the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades) and Intimate Strangers (which is being remade by Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures[2]).
[edit] Film library
StudioCanal acquired film libraries from studios that either went defunct or had merged with it over the years. As a result, the company's library is the third-largest in the world.
StudioCanal's library includes the film libraries of:
- Carolco Pictures (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, etc.),
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (King Kong Lives, Tai-Pan, 3 Days of the Condor, Evil Dead II, international rights to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, etc.),
- Embassy Pictures (The Graduate, This Is Spinal Tap, The Producers, The Emerald Forest, The Sure Thing, etc.),
- the Alexander Salkind pictures not owned by Warner Bros. (including The Trial and Santa Claus: The Movie),
- British Lion Films (The Wicker Man, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Don't Look Now, The Third Man, etc.),
- the films of Anglo-Amalgamated (Peeping Tom, most of the Carry On series, etc.),
- the Ealing Studios library (The Ladykillers, The Cruel Sea, etc.),
- the EMI Films library (Highlander, Death on the Nile, The Go-Between, etc.; also including the ABPC back catalogue, but not including US rights to certain co-productions—said rights to such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind [whose worldwide rights are with Sony Pictures] and The Deer Hunter are owned by other major studios, usually the original releasing studio),
- and the Lumiere Pictures and Television output (including The Avengers).
[edit] Distribution
StudioCanal acquired UK-based distributor Optimum Releasing in 2006.[3] In 2008 StudioCanal acquired German distributor Kinowelt who distributed their films up to that point. Both companies have since been renamed to StudioCanal.
Outside France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, StudioCanal does not have a formal distribution unit per se, relying on other studios and video companies to handle their product, in the United States for example, Criterion, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, MGM and Universal Pictures, distribute StudioCanal's back catalogue on Video and DVD.
StudioCanal also handles home entertainment distribution of 550 titles from the Miramax Films library internationally (Lions Gate handles US distribution and Alliance Films handles Canadian distribution) since February 2011.[4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ Mulholland Drive at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ [1]
- ^ Variety
- ^ http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9LALCDG3.htm
- ^ "Lionsgate, Studiocanal and Miramax Enter Into Home Entertainment Distribution Agreements". Yahoo! Finance. February 11, 2011. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lionsgate-Studiocanal-and-prnews-2517243937.html?x=0.
