| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Home video |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Headquarters | Hollywood, California, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner(s) | Gulf+Western (1975–1989) Paramount Communications (1989-1994) Viacom (1994–present)[1] |
| Parent | Paramount Pictures |
| Website | paramount.com |
Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Video and Paramount Video) is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.
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PHE distributes most of the programming assets owned by Viacom parent National Amusements. This not only includes films by Paramount Pictures themselves, but also the back catalog of DreamWorks (including releases made prior to the Viacom acquisition, and those distributed by Paramount, among other acquisitions), shows from MTV Networks and BET Networks, and, through CBS Home Entertainment, most of the holdings of Viacom sister company CBS Corporation – this includes the libraries of CBS Television Studios, CBS Theatrical Films (and predecessor companies like Cinema Center Films), and Showtime Entertainment.
PHE also has agreements with DreamWorks Animation, PBS, and Hasbro for DVD/Blu-Ray distribution of various programs that the former aired, and several films and TV series based on franchises owned by the latter. By-products of the latter deal are the series of films based on the Transformers toy line, and the 2009 film based on the G.I. Joe toy line, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (which is set to have a sequel).
Films from Republic Pictures, Paramount's other subsidiary, are not distributed on video and DVD by PHE (with some exceptions), but are distributed on video and DVD by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, which was acquired from previous rights holder Artisan Entertainment (which merged with Lionsgate in 2003). This deal later expanded to include some of Paramount's own post-1949 films, typically lesser-known or lesser-performing titles. Also, as a result of this deal, Lionsgate has released in 2007 "triple features" of their own library of films on DVD using the package design originated by Paramount.
PHE have developed a well-known trademark by giving their Special Edition/Director's Cut editions different names rather than the usual "Special Edition," or "Director's Edition". Paramount Home Entertainment gives them different names such as Grease: The Rockin' Rydell Edition, Beavis & Butthead Do America: The Edition That Doesn't Suck and Airplane!: The "Don't Call Me Shirley" Edition.
Internationally, PHE holds the DVD rights to several shows on HBO. PHE also distributes in Germany the DVD releases of films distributed theatrically by Prokino Filmverleih.
As Paramount Home Video, the company once distributed several Miramax releases on video – the video rights to some of these films (such as Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth) are still owned by Paramount.[2]
In 2008, PHE launched a direct-to-video label, Paramount Famous Productions (with the "Famous" part of the name a throwback to the days when the company was called Famous Players).
It released Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures on DVD in the mid-2000s featuring A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave. This distributor released Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Very First Alvin Show on DVD September 8, 2009 featuring A Chipmunk Reunion and Rockin' Through the Decades.
In the UK, the Paramount Pictures film library were released by CIC Video alongside Universal Studios until 1999 when CIC Video folded into Paramount Home Entertainment.
Paramount brands the majority of its HD content under the label 'Paramount High Definition' which is seen both on the title box cover and as an in-movie opening. Films from Paramount subsidiaries such as Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films as well as from sister studio DreamWorks SKG use no special branding, Paramount Vantage (another subsidiary) releases only select titles under the Paramount High Definition banner such as Babel.
In October 2005, Paramount announced that it would be supporting the HD video format Blu-ray Disc in addition to rival format HD DVD, becoming the first studio to release on both formats.[3] Its first four HD DVD releases came in July 2006,[4] and it released four titles on Blu-ray two months later.[5] In August 2007, Paramount (along with DreamWorks SKG and DreamWorks Animation) announced their exclusive support for HD DVD.[6] However, when other studios eventually dropped HD DVD and players for the technology stopped being manufactured, Paramount switched to Blu-ray. In May 2008, it released 3 titles on Blu-ray and continues to release its high-definition discs in that format exclusively.[7] However, they are not a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association.
| Titles | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Roman Holiday | November 11, 2008 |
| Sabrina | November 11, 2008 |
| Sunset Boulevard | November 11, 2008 |
| Breakfast at Tiffany's | January 13, 2009 |
| Funny Face | January 13, 2009 |
| The Odd Couple | March 24, 2009 |
| To Catch a Thief | March 24, 2009 |
| El Dorado | May 19, 2009 |
| The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | May 19, 2009 |
| Chinatown | October 6, 2009 |
The Sapphire Series is a line of Blu-ray releases of some of the more prestigious titles in the Paramount library. These releases typically contain large amounts of bonus material.
As of 2011, the following titles have been released as part of the Sapphire Series:
| Titles | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Braveheart | September 1, 2009 | [8] (one of the only two titles on the list that are only owned by Paramount in Region 1) |
| Gladiator | September 1, 2009 | [9] (one of the only two titles on the list that are only owned by Paramount in Region 1) |
| Forrest Gump | November 3, 2009 | [10] |
| The Godfather | February 2, 2010 | |
| The Godfather Part II | February 2, 2010 | |
| Saving Private Ryan | May 4, 2010 | [11] (first Region 1 video release of the film that was distributed by Paramount, who always had the international rights; also only film on the list not to win the Academy Award for Best Picture) |
| American Beauty | September 21, 2010 | [12] (the only film on the list that Paramount acquired later on in all regions) |