Kevin Patrick Smith is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, characters who also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey. While not strictly sequential, the films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the "View Askewniverse", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded on August 29, 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a film and television series library through distribution deals as well as its own productions, known as Netflix Originals.
Clerks is a 1994 American black-and-white buddy comedy film written, produced and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson. It presents a day in the lives of store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) and their acquaintances. It is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob.
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than a theatrical release. This distribution strategy was prevalent before streaming platforms came to dominate the TV and movie distribution markets.
Mormon cinema usually refers to films with themes relevant to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The term has also been used to refer to films that do not necessarily reflect Mormon themes but have been made by Mormon filmmakers. Films within the realm of Mormon cinema may be distinguished from institutional films produced by the LDS Church, such as Legacy and Testaments, which are made for instructional or proselyting purposes and are non-commercial. Mormon cinema is produced mainly for the purposes of entertainment and potential financial success.
Nickelodeon Movies is the theatrical motion picture production division for the American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures, which releases both animated and live action films. The division was formed on February 25, 1995, and currently a part of the Paramount Players arm of Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Paramount Global and ultimately the holding company National Amusements. The company has so far produced 37 feature films in total, with many successful ones including The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Rango, Harriet the Spy, Good Burger, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Adventures of Tintin, Mad Hot Ballroom, The Rugrats Movie, Charlotte's Web, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Nacho Libre, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Their next film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, will be released on August 4, 2023.
Bowfinger is a 1999 American satirical buddy comedy film directed by Frank Oz. The film depicts a down-and-out filmmaker in Hollywood attempting to make a film on a small budget with a star who does not know that he is in the movie. It was written by Steve Martin, who also stars alongside Eddie Murphy in two roles, and Heather Graham as an ambitious would-be starlet.
David Andrew Roy White is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer and businessman. He is a co-founder of Pinnacle Peak Pictures, a distribution and production company specializing in Christian faith- and family-themed films. He is best known for his role as Reverend Dave in the God's Not Dead film series.
DVD-by-mail is a business model in which customers rent DVDs and similar discs containing films, television shows, video games and the like, ordering online for delivery to the customer by mail. Generally, all interaction between the renter and the rental company takes place through the company's website, using an e-commerce model. Typically, a customer chooses from a list of titles online and adds titles to a queue. As a customer's requested titles become available, the company sends them out. When the customer is finished with the disc, they mail it back to the company.
LoveFilm was a United Kingdom–based provider of DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany.
The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and scripts very similar to those of current blockbusters in order to lure customers. These titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press. Its titles are distributed by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, GT Media, and as of 2015, Cinedigm.
Cinema in Cambodia began in the 1950s, and many films were being screened in theaters throughout the country by the 1960s, which are regarded as the "golden age". After a near-disappearance during the Khmer Rouge regime, competition from video and television has meant that the Cambodian film industry is a small one.
Vertigo Films is a British television and film production company based in London, England. Vertigo Films has been responsible for the production and distribution of Bronson, StreetDance 3D, and Monsters. It now focuses solely on the production of television series, with subsidiary company Vertigo Releasing taking over film distribution.
Alexander Kendrick is an American Christian Pastor, film writer, producer, director and actor, best known for directing and starring in notable faith-based films, including Facing The Giants, War Room, Overcomer, Courageous, and Fireproof. He is one of only two film directors to have three different films receive an "A+" grade on CinemaScore.
Psychotronic Video was a film magazine founded by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City, covering what he dubbed "psychotronic movies", which he defined as "the ones traditionally ignored or ridiculed by mainstream critics at the time of their release: horror, exploitation, action, science fiction, and movies that used to play in drive-ins or inner city grindhouses." It was published through 2006. Most of the magazine's hundreds of reviews were written by Weldon himself. Other contributors provided career histories/interviews with cult filmmakers and actors such as Radley Metzger, Larry Cohen, Jack Hill, William Rotsler, David Carradine, Sid Haig, Karen Black, and Timothy Carey. Regular features included "Record Reviews" by Art Black, "Spare Parts" by Dale Ashmun, and "Never To Be Forgotten", an obituary column.
Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. In a different usage, "home video" refers to amateur video recordings, also known as home movies.
Kevin Downes is an American actor, writer, producer, director, and co-founder and Chief of Production and Distribution of Kingdom Story Company. Downes grew up in Visalia, five hours north of Los Angeles. Many of the Christian films he participated in were shot there.
Bobby Downes is an American film producer and the older brother of Kevin Downes.
The Christian film industry is an aspect of Christian media for films containing a Christian-themed message or moral. They are often interdenominational films, but can also be films targeting a specific denomination of Christianity.
Kingdom Story Company, is an American film and television studio in partnership with Lionsgate specializing in the production of Christian films. It was founded in 2018 by the Erwin Brothers, Kevin Downes, and Tony Young and has operations in Nashville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, California.
