![]() | |
Company type | Label |
---|---|
Industry | Film |
Founded | 1992 |
Founder | Bob Weinstein |
Fate | Inactive |
Successors | Library: Paramount Pictures (through Miramax) (pre–2005, with some exceptions) Lionsgate Spyglass Media Group (post–2005, with some exceptions) |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Bob Weinstein (chairman) Robert Katz (president) |
Products | Motion pictures |
Parent | Lantern Entertainment |
Divisions | Dimension Home Entertainment (post–2005 titles only) Dimension Extreme Dimension Television |
Dimension Films is an inactive American independent film and television production and distribution label founded in 1992, and currently owned by independent studio Lantern Entertainment. Formally one of the American "mini-majors" (i.e., small to medium independent television and motion picture production studios), Dimension produced and released independent films and genre titles; specifically horror and science fiction films.
Dimension was used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within the brother's own Miramax studio, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993. The Weinsteins took the Dimension label with them when they separated from Miramax on October 1, 2005, and paired it under their new company, The Weinstein Company (TWC). However, the firing of Harvey Weinstein following allegations of sexual harassment and rape against him, as well as financial troubles that followed, led to the company's decline. The studio eventually declared bankruptcy in February 2018, with Lantern acquiring a majority of its film library and assets, and was shut down on July 16, 2018. [1] [2]
All films released by Dimension Films before 2005 (as part of Miramax) are currently owned and distributed by Paramount Pictures through Paramount Global's acquisition of a 49% stake in Miramax that was closed on April 3, 2020. [3]
The studio was officially founded in 1992 under its parent company Miramax Films by Bob Weinstein as a label to distribute horror films and other films deemed "disreputable" for release under the Miramax title. [4] [5] Prior to 1992, the Weinsteins had released similar titles under a smaller operation called Millimeter Films. [6]
The first release under Dimension's label was the sequel film Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth , released theatrically in the United States in 1992, [4] followed by Stuart Gordon's sci-fi thriller Fortress , [7] and the sequel Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice , both released the same year. [8]
On June 30, 1993, The Walt Disney Studios purchased Miramax, who had been facing financial troubles between 1990 and 1992, prior to their acquisition and release of The Crying Game , which earned the company US$60 million. [9] The success of The Crying Game made Miramax attractive to Disney, who officially bought the company in 1993, resulting in Dimension Films becoming a Disney subsidiary. [10]
After the box-office failure of Mother's Boys (1994) starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Dimension distributed Miramax's The Crow (1994), which would garner Dimension its first major commercial success. [11] In 1995, Dimension acquired the rights to the Halloween film series, releasing the sixth installment Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers in September that year. [12] The release of From Dusk till Dawn (1996) would mark the beginning of a working relationship with director Robert Rodriguez as well as a lucrative franchise, with several sequels to follow. [13]
Dimension would gain greater exposure with its distribution of Wes Craven's Scream , released on December 20, 1996, [14] which became a major box office hit, grossing $173 million worldwide. [15] The company also produced and distributed its sequel, Scream 2 , released the following year, which grossed a comparable $172 million. [16] [17]
The company continued its trend of releasing horror and science fiction films, specifically films aimed at teenagers and young adult audiences, with the releases of Phantoms (1998) and the Halloween sequel Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), the latter of which garnered the company another commercial success. [18] The company released its second film with director Robert Rodriguez, the teen sci-fi film The Faculty , on Christmas Day 1998. [19] In 1999, Dimension distributed David Cronenberg's eXistenZ and Scream-writer Kevin Williamson's directorial debut Teaching Mrs. Tingle . [20]
Dimension's first post-millennium release was the direct-to-video From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter . Next was Scream 3 (2000), which was theatrically released like its predecessors. [21] In July 2000, the company released the slasher parody film Scary Movie , which grossed a record-breaking $278 million for the company and marked the beginning of another popular film series. [22] 2001 saw the release of the Robert Rodriguez-directed Spy Kids , which was the company's first major children's film. The film would spawn another popular franchise for the company. [22]
Beginning in 2000, Dimension began purchasing North American distribution rights to various international productions. Their 2001 release of The Others , a Spanish-produced supernatural thriller starring Nicole Kidman, was a surprise success for the company. [22] Other international productions purchased by Dimension included two additional horror films by Spanish director Jaume Balagueró: The Nameless (1999), and Darkness (2002). [23] Darkness received a North American theatrical release in December 2004 after being shelved for two years, and proved to be a financial success, [24] [25] while The Nameless was released direct-to-video in 2005. In January 2005, Dimension purchased the American distribution rights to the Australian horror film Wolf Creek , which was released in December that year. [26]
For much of the early 2000s, Dimension produced and distributed numerous sequels to films released under their branch, including several direct-to-video releases for films such as Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001), Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), and Dracula III: Legacy (2005). They also distributed several comedies, such as the Terry Zwigoff-directed Bad Santa (2003), [27] and David Zucker's My Boss's Daughter (2003).
In 2005, the Weinstein brothers purchased the rights to Dimension Films from Disney, and the company officially became a subsidiary of The Weinstein Company (TWC), established the same year. [28]
After their separation from Miramax, Dimension would co-produce several titles with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), including the horror remakes The Amityville Horror (2005), [29] Black Christmas (2006), [30] and Halloween (2007), [31] as well as the Stephen King-based thrillers 1408 and The Mist (both 2007). [32] In the spring of 2007, Dimension produced and distributed the joint-double feature film Grindhouse , directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The film was a major box office failure, grossing less than half of its $53 million budget. [33] [34]
In 2011, Scream 4 , the fourth installment in the Scream series, was released and proved to be another box office success in the franchise, earning nearly $100 million in box office receipts. [35] The company released the sci-fi horror films Apollo 18 (2011) and Dark Skies (2013). In 2013, Dimension acquired the rights to the independent slasher film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane , shot in 2006, and gave the film a limited release in the United States in October. [36]
Dimension partnered with MTV for the television series Scream , based on the film series. [37] On June 24, 2019, it was announced that Scream would be moving to VH1 ahead of the third season, which Dimension did not produce. [38] Dimension Films also has involvement with One Ball Pictures, who owns the "Funny Or Die" online series. They released their first episode, "A Lesson with John McEnroe", with Dimension Films. [39]
In 2015, Dimension Films lost the rights to the Halloween franchise. [40]
In 2018, TWC was purchased in a bankruptcy auction by Lantern Entertainment.
On December 20, 2019, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global) announced that they would acquire 49% of Miramax from beIN Media Group for at least $375 million, with Paramount Pictures gaining exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the Miramax library, including the pre-2005 Dimension films. ViacomCBS and Miramax will also co-produce new content based on titles from the Miramax library. The deal closed on April 3, 2020. [41]
The pre-2005 Dimension films were originally released to home video through Buena Vista Home Entertainment and marketed under the brand Dimension Home Video (under the Hollywood Pictures label in some places), while Miramax was owned by Disney. After Disney sold Miramax to Filmyard in 2010, they were distributed from 2011 to 2020 on home video through Lionsgate Home Entertainment, with Echo Bridge Home Entertainment briefly handling some as well. Through ViacomCBS' 49% stake in Miramax, Paramount Home Entertainment acquired the home video distribution rights to the pre-2005 Dimension titles. Notable exceptions are Mr 3000 and international rights to Scary Movie 4 .
As of 2015, the post-2005 Dimension Films titles (apart from The Amityville Horror, owned by Amazon MGM Studios through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, as of 2020) are currently released on DVD and Blu-ray by Lionsgate. Before, they were distributed by Genius Products and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Beginning in 2008, Dimension introduced the Dimension Extreme label, which released primarily international indie horror and teen film/adult comedy (i.e., "Extreme Movie") titles on DVD. [42]
Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. Today, it is owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global.
Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the major film studios, often known simply as the majors or the Big Five studios, are commonly regarded as the five diversified media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries collectively command approximately 80 to 85% of U.S. box office revenue. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary motion picture business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate.
StudioCanal S.A.S. is a French film production and distribution company. The company is a subsidiary of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi. As of May 2024 the company has 14 production companies in Europe and the US, and holds around 9,000 titles in its extensive film library.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian-American entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in Canada by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, and domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Troublemaker Studios is an American production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellán.
Spyglass Media Group, LLC is an independent film and television production and finance company founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998.
20th Century Home Entertainment is a home video brand label of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment that distributes films produced by 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and 20th Century Animation, and television series by 20th Television, Searchlight Television, 20th Television Animation, and FX Productions in home entertainment formats.
The Weinstein Company, LLC was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America as well as in the United States. However, the firing of Harvey Weinstein following allegations of sexual harassment and rape against him, as well as financial troubles that followed, led to the company's decline. The studio eventually declared bankruptcy in February 2018, with independent studio Lantern Entertainment acquiring a majority of its film library and assets. Co-founder and chief executive Bob Weinstein previously owned a small stake in the company.
Lionsgate Films is a Canadian-American film production and film distribution studio founded in Canada in 1962. It is now a division of Lionsgate Studios and headquartered in Santa Monica.
Scream is an American murder mystery and meta slasher franchise that includes six films, a television series, merchandise, and games. The first four films were directed by Wes Craven. The series was created by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the first two films and the fourth, and will return to direct the seventh film. Ehren Kruger wrote the third. The fifth and sixth installments were directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, with Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt serving as writers and Williamson returning as executive producer. Dimension Films produced the first four films. Spyglass Media Group took over the rights from the fifth film on with Paramount Pictures distributing. The film series has grossed over US$900 million at the global box office.
The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Anchor Bay Entertainment markets and releases "new release genre films, undiscovered treasures, cult classics, and remastered catalog releases".
Children of the Corn is an American film series that began with Children of the Corn, released in 1984 by New World Pictures. After the release of Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992) and the series' acquisition by Dimension Films, the subsequent installments were released directly to video, and bore little to no narrative continuity, beginning with Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995). In 2009, a second adaptation of the short story aired on the Syfy network, via Fox 21 Television. A third adaptation of the short story titled Children of the Corn (2020), was released on October 23, 2020.
Alliance Films was a Canadian motion picture distribution and production company.
Echo Bridge Entertainment was an American independent distribution company. It acquired and distributed feature films, scripted and non-scripted series, documentaries, and children's programming for home video, digital and television in the United States and throughout the world. Since its acquisition of Alliance Atlantis International Distribution and recent distribution partnerships with Miramax and ABC Disney/Buena Vista, Echo Bridge Entertainment had a combined portfolio of over 11,000 titles, including Degrassi: The Next Generation, until DHX Media acquired the family library in November 2014.
These are lists of films sorted by the film studio that made them.
Lantern Entertainment, LLC is an American independent film and television studio formed by Lantern Capital Partners on July 16, 2018.
Lionsgate Studios Corporation, simply known as Lionsgate Studios, is an American film and television production and distribution conglomerate owned by Lionsgate and based in Santa Monica, California. It was formed on 14 May 2024 after Lionsgate spun out its film and television businesses, which was completed a week earlier on the 7th.