Carolco Pictures: Difference between revisions

Carolco Pictures, Inc. was originally formed in 1976 by Mario F. Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna as "Anabasis Investments" to make a major independent competitor to the Hollywood studios producing A-movie products. In 1984, Anabasis Investments was reincorporated as "Carolco International, N.V." In 1987, Carolco acquired International Video Entertainment ("IVE" or "I'VE", then later known as "LIVE Entertainment") but later was forced to sell its shares in 1993 to a group of investors led by Pioneer Electronic Corporation after Carolco restructured. On August 28, 1987, Carolco acquired syndication company Orbis Communications for $15.4 million (Orbis would be merged into Carolco's TV unit in 1991). In addition to its own library, Carolco had the television rights to those of The Vista Organization (which it would eventually acquire towards the end of its life), Hemdale Film Corporation, Island Alive, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (except the Embassy library), and Pacific International Enterprises, as well as several HBO movies, among possible others. In 1995, Carolco went bankrupt because of overspending on their films and the disastrous release of ''Cutthroat Island'' (not to mention being hurt by them giving up distribution rights to Cliffhanger, so they could properly fund the film. Despite being successful at the box-office, Carolco saw little profit.), and the company closed soon after. In 1989, Vajna sold his share of Carolco and formed "Cinergi Pictures Entertainment". In 1998, Cinergi shut down. Kassar and Vajna also reinstated their partnership and founded C2 Pictures, which shut down in 2008. On January 21, 2015, it was announced that an independent production company, Brick Top Productions, purchased the Carolco trademarks and operated under the Carolco name, with Mario Kassar as the company's chief development executive. Today, the ancillary rights to a majority of Carolco's library including the Carolco name and logo are held by the French production company StudioCanal, and because of this, the new Carolco had to change its name to Recall Studios. TV syndication rights belong to: Paramount Pictures through Trifecta Entertainment & Media on Paramount's behalf, due to a previous TV distribution deal with Worldvision Enterprises, and Lionsgate Home Entertainment continues to hold the domestic home video rights (via a new output deal with StudioCanal), while the international home video rights are held by a different company for each country. Exceptions include Cliffhanger, which is distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, ''Last of the Dogmen'' is distributed by NBCUniversal, by the way of Focus Features gaining the rights to the Savoy Pictures library, and ''Showgirls'', which Carolco sold off to Chargeurs during pre-production, and is distributed in North America by MGM. Carolco did not use a logo until 1985. With select exceptions, theatrical distribution for Carolco films was managed by TriStar Pictures, starting with ''Rambo: First Blood Part II'' in 1985 and ending with ''Wagons East!'' in 1994. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would take the distribution reigns afterwards and released ''Stargate'', ''Showgirls'' and ''Cutthroat Island''.