| Industry | Home video company |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by Lionsgate |
| Successor | Lionsgate |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Products | Kids/family distribution arm |
| Parent | Independent (1980-1986) International Video Entertainment (1986-1990) Live Entertainment (1990-2000) Artisan Entertainment (1998-2003) Lions Gate Entertainment (2003-2005) |
Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California.[1]
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It released children's and family-oriented programming, most notably popular 1980s television cartoons, including The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, ThunderCats, Pound Puppies, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series,Shirley Temple films such as 'Curly Top ,Dimples' Gumby, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Care Bears, and Bucky O'Hare,Disney movies like 'Lady and the Tramp'or The Aristocats ,and other non-animated shows like Baby Einstein. It also had a one off theatrical release division, FHE Pictures, established in 2002; its first and only release was Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. FHE was one of the two distributors for most of the seasonal Rankin/Bass television specials aired on CBS, the other distributor being Vestron Video, a now-defunct company. The company has also released several VHSs of British kids' cartoons in the US since the 1980s (i.e., Roobarb, Wil Cwac Cwac), as well as some Japanese anime, such as Robotech and The Adventures of Ultraman, plus the Australian "Dot" films. Their output wasn't always family friendly, though; in the early '80s, several titles were released under the "World of Horror" label directly by FHE, including Journey into the Beyond and The Child (which was later rebranded as a Monterey Home Video release).[2] Since 1982, they also released Filmation's TV shows such as Lassie's Rescue Rangers, The Lone Ranger, Shazam!, Blackstar, and The Adventures of Zorro, plus the only Filmation movie released at the time, Journey Back to Oz. Early FHE releases was distributed by MGM/UA Home Video, including the very first release of few episodes of Gumby. In the late 1980s, FHE's releases were distributed by MCA (most notably in Canada). Canadian releases were distributed by two companies in the early 1980s, which were International Home Entertainment Canada (IHEC) and Vidéo Screencraft, Inc.
In 1982, the company introduced USA Home Video as a non-family division of the company. In 1986, the company changed its name to International Video Entertainment, and then to Live Entertainment, with "Family Home Entertainment" as an imprint of IVE/Live. They would later go on to become Artisan Entertainment, which has since been acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment. In 2005, FHE was folded into Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
Today, the bulk of the FHE releases are now on DVD including the Care Bears Family and Clifford the Big Red Dog.