| Type | Subsidiary of Starz Media |
|---|---|
| Industry | Home video, television syndication, motion pictures |
| Founded | 1985 as Video Treasures |
| Headquarters | Troy, Michigan |
| Products | Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3DHD, Blu-ray 4DHD |
| Website | http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com |
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media.[1] Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series, television specials and short films to consumers worldwide. In 2004, Anchor Bay agreed to have their movies distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[2]
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Anchor Bay Entertainment can date its origins back to two separate home video distributors: Video Treasures, formed in 1985,[3] and Starmaker Entertainment, founded sometime in the late 1980s. Both companies sold budget items - reissues of previously released home video programming - at discount prices. Video Treasures started with public domain titles, and later made licensing deals with Heron Communications (including Media Home Entertainment and Hi-Tops Video), Britt Allcroft (the Thomas the Tank Engine series), Trans World Entertainment, Regal Video, Virgin Vision, Hal Roach Studios, Jerry Lewis, and Orion Pictures, among others. Starmaker's major distributions were films from the then-recently out-of-business New World Pictures and programs previously licensed to their video division. Viacom programs and Saturday Night Live compilations were other notable Starmaker releases. Both companies competed with each other for years, until they were sold to Handleman Company, and formed a new corporate umbrella: Anchor Bay Entertainment, in May 1995.[4] Both the Video Treasures and Starmaker labels were phased out a few years later.
Anchor Bay remained part of Handleman until 2003, when it was acquired by IDT Entertainment.[5]
On February 4, 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against two former employees of Anchor Bay Entertainment, a former subsidiary of Handleman Company. The SEC's complaint, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges that the two employees caused the company to enter into two million dollar sham transactions. Both transactions involved the purported sale of slow moving or obsolete inventory to business partners coupled with secret buy-back provisions. The inventory included worthless video boxes and sleeves and DVDs for films. Handleman subsequently restated its financial statements to correct these accounting errors.
Liberty Media, the owner of the Starz cable network, purchased IDT Entertainment from IDT Corp. in 2006 and renamed it Starz Media,[1]
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. Many of the company's past cult titles have gone out of print, although some have been reissued by Blue Underground.
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 A. Romero's Living Dead series. Anchor Bay Entertainment has distribution rights for the middle two films in the Romero tetralogy: Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.
Like the Evil Dead trilogy, the "Living Dead" series has seen many editions 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.
The company has been screen-testing Rob Zombie's El Superbeasto for a 2009 release.[6]
Anchor Bay has also released most of Dario Argento's films including:
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The following series were formerly distributed by Anchor Bay. As of 2010, they have been discontinued and are now out of print:
In addition to feature films, Anchor Bay Entertainment distributes special interest titles, including children's video series, like Bobby's World. Until 2008 they distributed Thomas & Friends videos. Thomas has reached platinum-selling status and in 2004 ranks consistently on the VideoScan ranking top 50 chart of children's weekly video sales. Rights to the Thomas DVD's now belong to Lionsgate. The company also has a top market share for fitness videos such as the "Crunch" and "For Dummies" series.
As a full-fledged production company, they handle television syndication of Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers (which they also hold the video rights to), and have recently entered in-house production and distribution of theatrical films.
Anchor Bay Entertainment received a Special Achievement Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in June 2002. 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".[7]
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