.svg) | |
| Formerly | List
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Home entertainment |
| Predecessors | List
|
| Founded | 1980; 45 years ago (1980), inLos Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide, especially the UK |
| Products | Home video |
| Parent | Universal Pictures |
| Divisions | Universal 1440 Entertainment Universal Playback |
| Subsidiaries | Studio Distribution Services (joint venture withWarner Bros. Home Entertainment) |
| Website | uphe |
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC[1][2] (UPHE) is thehome video distribution division ofUniversal Pictures, an American film studio owned byNBCUniversal, the entertainment unit ofComcast.
UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the Universal Pictures film library, theFocus Features film library, most of the 1929–1949Paramount film library held byEMKA, Ltd., and shows from theNBCUniversal Syndication Studios library (NBC,E!,Syfy,USA Network, andOxygen). The division also had distribution deals withUnited Artists Releasing,The Film Arcade,Aviron Pictures,STX Entertainment (save for films fromEuropaCorp Films USA, which Lionsgate holds the video rights to[3]),Mattel Creations (for the long-runningBarbie direct-to-video film series),[4] 101 Studios, Sovereign Films,Open Road Films,Briarcliff Entertainment,Pinnacle Peak Pictures,Picturehouse,Blumhouse Tilt,Neon andBleecker Street (until 2021),Funimation (in the United States and Canada; until 2018, after whichSony Pictures Home Entertainment took over) andEntertainment One (in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany and the United States; until 2024, after whichLionsgate Home Entertainment took over).[5]
Since 2021, their releases are currently distributed in North America byStudio Distribution Services, a joint venture between UPHE andWarner Bros. Home Entertainment, with select titles distributed by Allied Vaughn through itsManufacture on demand (MOD) solutions.
The company was founded in 1980 as MCA Videocassette, Inc. with Gene Giaquinto as president of the division. It released 24 films onBetamax andVHS in May 1980, includingJaws,Animal House andThe Deer Hunter as well as classic films such asDracula,Animal Crackers, andScarface.[6]Jaws 2 and1941 were also released that year. Before 1980Castle Films (known as Universal 8 after 1977) had served as Universal's home film distribution unit. In late 1983, both theLaserdisc sister label MCA Videodisc and the MCA Videocassette label were consolidated into a single entity, MCA Home Video, alternating with the MCA Videocassette, Inc. name until December 1983.
In the mid-1980s, MCA Home Video began to license catalog titles to smaller, independent video firms with a focus on sell-through product. The first was in 1986 withKartes Video Communications.[7] The deal was followed with a similar agreement withGoodTimes Home Video in 1987.[8]
Also in 1986, the company made agreements withMotown Productions[9] and with children's book publisherPrice Stern Sloan.[10] Both deals were intended to expand MCA's non-theatrical product.
1987 was a busy year for MCA Home Video; the company underwent an executive shuffle, signed an exclusive three-year deal withInternational Video Entertainment for video distribution, and began offering new content fromRingling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.[11][12]
In 1990, with the 75th anniversary of Universal Studios, it became MCA/Universal Home Video and used that name alternating with the MCA Home Video name from 1990 until 1997. On December 9, 1996, the company was renamed as Universal Studios Home Video when MCA was reincorporated as Universal Studios, which would then later be merged intoVivendi Universal Entertainment in 2000.[2]
Universal's first titles on DVD, in 1997, were licensed toImage Entertainment for distribution. These early, bare-bones editions quickly fell out-of-print when Universal started making their own DVDs.[citation needed]
In 2004, due to the merger of Universal Studios andNBC to formNBC Universal, Universal started releasing DVDs of shows from the newly establishedNBC Universal Television Distribution. Before 2004, NBC shows were distributed on DVD byLions Gate Home Entertainment andA&E Home Video under the label NBC Home Entertainment (formerly NBC Home Video underTrimark until it was bought by Lions Gate). NBC's home entertainment on-screen logo was simply theNBC Enterprises syndication logo.
In 2005 (by which point the Universal Studios Home Entertainment name was in use), the group was restructured; Universal 1440 Entertainment was formed as an internal production arm, while the London-based Universal Pictures Visual Programming (formerlyPolyGram Visual Programming) unit was folded into Universal Pictures International;Universal Cartoon Studios was absorbed into the Family Productions unit.[13][14] The year after, UPHE acquired distribution rights to theBarbie film series after negotiations between Mattel and their previous domestic distributor,Lionsgate Home Entertainment, fell apart (Universal had already been distributing these films internationally).[15][16][17]
Universal was also the worldwide video distributor forDreamWorks titles using theDreamWorks Home Entertainment moniker until 2006, when DreamWorks was sold toParamount Pictures' parent company,Viacom, and as a result,Paramount Home Entertainment took over distribution. After Viacom spun off DreamWorks in 2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment planned to resume distributing DreamWorks' movies, but this deal fell through. Until Lionsgate formed theirhome video division, Universal distributed their releases with the exception ofDogma, which was distributed byColumbia-TriStar Home Video. In 2007, it was signed on as home video distributor of releases bySummit Entertainment (ironically, Summit was later bought by Lionsgate).[18]
In addition to DVDs, Universal was a major supporter of theHD DVD format untilToshiba discontinued the format. Since July 22, 2008, UPHE releasedBlu-rays and it was the last major Hollywood movie studio to do so. The first three Blu-ray releases to come out in the U.S. wereThe Mummy, its sequelThe Mummy Returns andThe Scorpion King. Since August 9, 2016, UPHE has releasedUltra HD Blu-rays.
In 2015,Funimation (now known asCrunchyroll, LLC), formed a multi-year home video distribution deal with UPHE.[19] Two years later,Sony Pictures Television acquired a 95% stake in Funimation, which resulted inSony Pictures Home Entertainment taking over distribution after the UPHE deal expired.[20]
Starting on June 5, 2018, because NBCUniversal acquiredDreamWorks Animation in 2016, Universal began re-releasing all of DWA's film library on home video after their deal with20th Century Fox Home Entertainment ended.
Outside North America, before 1999, Universal releases were distributed byCIC Video, the home video division ofUnited International Pictures. When Universal nearly pulled out of UIP in 1999 following their then-parentSeagram's purchase ofPolyGram, they would pull out of CIC and renamed PolyGram's home video unit (PolyGram Video) as Universal Pictures Video, later Universal Pictures International Entertainment.[21]
On February 28, 1999, Universal signed a multi-year distribution deal withColumbia TriStar Home Video to allow the latter to distribute Universal's DVD releases outside North America.[22]
At the start of 2015,Paramount Home Entertainment signed a distribution agreement with Universal, whereby the latter will distribute the former's titles overseas, particularly in the territories where Paramount holds an office. The deal began on July 1, 2015.[23]
Along with the announcement of the Universal/Warner Bros. NA physical home media joint-venture, Universal announced that they would begin distributing Warner Bros. titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan in the third quarter of 2020 through home video, while Warner Bros. announced that they would begin distributing Universal titles in the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the first quarter of 2021 through home video.[24]
In theNetherlands, UPHE used to distribute mostDVDs of films released theatrically byIndependent Films and TV shows and films fromStudio 100 until 2006, although this is now limited to catalog releases, as more recent films are now released through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and later on,Belga Home Video.
InSouth Africa, UPHE distributes films on DVD and VHS throughCIC Video in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999, the company was moved toSter-Kinekor Home Entertainment until 2007 after CIC Video was dissolved in the same year. In 2008, it was moved later toNu Metro Home Entertainment on DVDs until 2013, when Next Entertainment took over until 2019.
UPHE also formerly distributedStudioCanal titles on home media inFrance (until 2024 when distribution moved to ESC Distribution), most of theRepublic Pictures library in theUK and most of theCarolco Pictures library in Australia, Latin America, and several European countries (along with otherStudioCanal properties) until StudioCanal's global distribution deal with Universal expired in January 2022.[25] In the 1980s until the late 1990s, they also distributed tapes released byCineplex Odeon in Canada.
In theUK, UPHE previously distributed its films on video internationally throughCIC Video (a division ofCinema International Corporation, laterUnited International Pictures) alongsideParamount Pictures. In Japan, releases from both Universal and Paramount appeared on CIC-Victor Video, Ltd. (a joint venture between CIC Video andJVC) for VHS and onPioneer LDC, Inc. for Laserdisc.
In June 2002, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment formed a joint-venture with Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd. called UCA (Universal Columbia Alliance), under which Universal would distribute back catalogue Columbia Tristar titles through retail.[26]
UPHE's international operations are a carryover from the PolyGram Video days,[27] but UPHE operates a joint venture inAustralia,New Zealand andScandinavia withSony Pictures Home Entertainment called Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The venture distributes UPHE and SPHE titles on home media in those countries and also licensedanime series and films from the anime library ofNBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, theJapanese division of UPHE's sister company, Universal Pictures International Entertainment, formerly known as Pioneer LDC from 1981 to 2003, Geneon Entertainment from 2003 to 2009 and Geneon Universal Entertainment from 2009 to very late 2013, the year they switched to their current name. The name of the joint venture is Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia. Before that, though,NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan had a marketing and distribution division inNorth America called Geneon USA, which, like UPHE, also distributed home video. At the time, NBCUEJ was known as Geneon Entertainment. Geneon USA shut down in late 2007, and Universal has licensed all of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan's catalog to other companies rather than directly distributing them themselves. Starting on March 26, 2022, NBCUEJ (through UPHE) distributes and licenses anime series and films.
From 2017 to 2018,Funimation began directly distributing a select number of its titles in Australia and New Zealand through Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia. In September 2018, Funimation transferred distribution toMadman Entertainment, with Madman handling distribution and classification within the region.[28][29]
On October 3, 2014, Universal established global headquarters for its home video division in Los Angeles.[2]
The Universal deal expired upon the announcement of the Universal/Warner Bros. physical media joint-venture, and as a result, Paramount signed a new UK home entertainment distribution deal withStudioCanal UK andLionsgate UK's Elevation Sales on July 14, 2020, that began in November that year.[30]
In 2020,SF Studios had signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles across the Nordic region.[31]
In early 2023 and late 2024, Plaion Pictures and Spirit Entertainment signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles respectively in Italy and the United Kingdom, which caused Universal's deal with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to expire in those countries. Since early 2024, ESC Distribution now handles Universal's titles on home media in France.
 | |
| Formerly | Universal Studios Family Productions (2005–2012) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Direct-to-video |
| Predecessor | MCA Family Entertainment (1990–1996) |
| Founded | 2005; 20 years ago (2005) inLos Angeles, California |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | United States Worldwide |
Key people | Patti Jackson (SVP, Live action production)[32] |
| Parent | Universal Pictures Home Entertainment |
| Divisions | Universal Animation Studios |
Universal 1440 Entertainment is the direct-to-video entertainment label of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment created in 2005. The entity is a successor to MCA Family Entertainment (formerly Universal Family Entertainment).
It was originally known as Universal Studios Family Productions, andUniversal Cartoon Studios (now Universal Animation Studios) is a subsidiary of the company.[14]
Universal Playback is a division of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and specializing in DVD and Blu-ray releases of TV shows, either it be produced or distributed byUniversal Pictures. It offers a variety of titles across different TV genres, including TV shows, documentaries, and special interest content.
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