| Industry | Home video company Motion pictures |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by Lionsgate |
| Successor | Lions Gate Home Entertainment |
| Founded | 1981 (as Family Home Entertainment) 1986 (as International Video Entertainment) 1990 (as Live Entertainment) 1998 (as Artisan Entertainment) |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Headquarters | 2700 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica, CA |
| Subsidiaries | Family Home Entertainment |
| Website | artisanentertainment.com |
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and distribution agreements. Its headquarters and private screening room were located in Santa Monica, California. It also had an office in TriBeCa, Lower Manhattan, New York City.[1]
The company owned the home video rights to the film libraries of Republic Pictures, and Carolco Pictures. They also owned Family Home Entertainment (FHE), and its motion picture subdivision, FHE Pictures for a first-feature film Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.
Artisan's releases included Requiem for a Dream, Pi, Grizzly Falls, Killing Zoe, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, The Blair Witch Project, Novocaine, and Startup.com.
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Artisan, unlike most movie studios, had its roots in the home video industry.
Artisan Entertainment was founded in 1981 by Noel C. Bloom as Family Home Entertainment, Inc.. In 1983, FHE began operating its new subsidiary USA Home Video, when tapes were usually packaged in large boxes and included non-family films such as Supergirl, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and many B-movies, including those that begin and end with B-actress Sybil Danning talking about the film that is being shown under the Adventure Video label.
In 1986, Family Home Entertainment, Inc. became known as International Video Entertainment (IVE), with the IVE name used for non-family releases, and the FHE name used as a subsidiary of IVE for family releases.[2] In the late 1980s, the company branched into film distribution for television.
In 1987, IVE was acquired by Carolco Pictures.[2] The unrated release of Angel Heart was the first Carolco film released by IVE on video. The first two Carolco films (First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II) were released under the Thorn/EMI/HBO Video name, but were rereleased in 1990 and 1988, respectively, under IVE.
In 1988, IVE and FHE consolidated into Live Entertainment. Live formed new ventures outside the home video business, including an ownership of retail music and video chains across the East Coast.[2]
In 1990, IVE became Live Home Video. Carolco formed its own home video division under partnership with Live. The company also formed Avid Home Entertainment, which reissued older IVE product, as well as ITC Entertainment's back catalogue, on videocassette at discount prices.
In 1990, Live Entertainment decided to branch into film production. The company spent more than a million dollars to finance the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, which marked the directorial debut of Quentin Tarantino.[3] Other films included Paul Schrader's Light Sleeper.[2]
In 1991, the company took over Vestron after its downfall; Vestron had been known best for Dirty Dancing, which had been the second highest-grossing independent film of all time. Also, for several years starting in 1993, Live Entertainment distributed anime released by Pioneer Entertainment, including Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and the first Tenchi Muyo! movie, Tenchi Muyo! in Love.
In 1995, when Carolco ceased to exist as a company, StudioCanal got full rights to their film library and thus Live (under a new deal with the French-based production company) continued to distribute Carolco's films for video.
Other ex-video distributors that had been owned by and absorbed into Live Entertainment included Tenth Avenue Video (And Platinum Productions), and Magnum Entertainment.
In April 1998, the company became Artisan Entertainment, and began to expand to include the Hallmark Entertainment and Hallmark Hall of Fame movies on VHS and DVD and Discovery Communications releases.
In May 2003, Artisan and Microsoft jointly announced the first release of a high definition DVD, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Extreme Edition). The release was a promotion for the Windows Media version 9 format; it could only be played on a personal computer with Windows XP. Artisan had released the movie in 2002 on D-VHS.
In the summer 2003, Marvel Enterprises placed an offer for Artisan.[4]
After Lionsgate agreed to acquire Artisan in 2003, video releases through Artisan have now been rereleased under the Lionsgate banner.
As LIVE Entertainment
As Artisan Entertainment