Formerly |
|
---|---|
Company type | Subsidiary |
Industry | Entertainment |
Genre | Media company |
Founded | 1979 |
Founder | Robert Halmi |
Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 5 |
Key people | |
Parent | Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment |
Website | Official website |
Halcyon Studios, LLC., formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., is an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution of scripted television content, part of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. It was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Jr. and Robert Halmi Sr. (1924–2014) as Robert Halmi, Inc. The company uses the direct-to-series model for TV series. [2]
Robert Halmi Inc. was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Sr. [3] In July 1986, Robert Halmi Jr. took over as president and chief operating officer from Halmi Sr., who became the company's chairman and chief executive. [4]
From 1985 to 1988, RHI began a slowly-executed takeover of Hal Roach Studios, which gave the company North American rights to a majority of the Laurel & Hardy films and shorts, the home entertainment and theatrical rights to the portion of the Our Gang shorts that were not retained by MGM, and a majority of Hal Roach Studios’ feature films. Robert Halmi Inc. was then renamed as HRI Group. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Not too long after, HRI Group was taken over by the Australian financial services company Qintex (having joined the board of RHI when the merger with HRS was completed), and renamed Qintex Entertainment. However, Qintex quickly proved to be on the brink of financial collapse, with their bid for the assets of MGM/UA Entertainment Co. failing, and entered chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1989; their American operations had previously failed to provide timely payments to MCA Television (which Qintex had partnered with to distribute The New Leave It to Beaver ) the month prior. [10] [11] [12] In 1990, Halmi re-purchased the assets of Qintex Entertainment for $40 million. [13]
In 1990, independent film studio New Line Cinema acquired a 52% stake in the studio, which was renamed as RHI Entertainment; for a time, RHI productions and New Line's films were distributed to television stations under the banner New Line Television Distribution.
In 1992, RHI Entertainment made a deal with Cabin Fever Entertainment to distribute its library on home video. [14]
Hallmark Cards agreed to purchase RHI in April 1994. [15] RHI had a 1,800 plus hours film library at that time. [16] Hallmark Entertainment was then formed with RHI and Signboard Hill Productions, another Hallmark Cards subsidiary, [17] becoming subsidiaries. [16] Hallmark sold the Filmation library and its rights to Entertainment Rights in March 2004. [18]
In December 2005, Hallmark Cards sold off Hallmark Entertainment to an investor group led by Robert Halmi Jr., it was renamed back to RHI Entertainment. [19] [20]
On December 10, 2010, RHI filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. [21] The company emerged from bankruptcy on March 29, 2011. [22]
In March 2012, the company was renamed Sonar Entertainment. The name change stemmed from the Halmis leaving the company. [23]
On April 9, 2021, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sonar's assets, which currently includes most of the Hal Roach Studios library, and other material previously released and/or produced by predecessor companies Qintex, RHI, Cabin Fever, and Hallmark. [24]
On May 3, 2021, CSS announced it would launch Halcyon Television, a scripted television studio. [25] [26]
On April 23, 2024, its parent Chicken Soup for the Soul announced a $636.6 million loss in 2023, and warned that without any options to generate additional financing, the company may be forced to liquidate or pause operations, and seek a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing. [27] On June 29, 2024, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after missing a week of paying its employees and failing to secure financing. [28]
As Qintex Entertainment, the company co-produced the miniseries Lonesome Dove for CBS. [29]
As of December 2017, Sonar Entertainment's scripted series on-air, in production or slated to commence production included Mr. Mercedes , written by David E. Kelley, based on the novel by Stephen King, with Audience Network for DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse; Seasons 1 and 2 of The Son , starring Pierce Brosnan for AMC; Seasons 1 and 2 of The Shannara Chronicles , for Spike; and Das Boot, an eight-part series based on the film, for Sky. [30]
Kids Incorporated is an American children's television program that began production in the mid-1980s and continued airing well into the early 1990s. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performances as an integral part of every episode. The pilot episode was shot on September 1, 1983, and the series aired in syndication from September 1, 1984, to December 26, 1985, and on Disney Channel from November 3, 1986, to January 9, 1994. Reruns aired on Disney Channel until May 30, 1996.
Hallmark Media is an American media production company with corporate headquarters located in Studio City, California, and is a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. is an American self-help, consumer goods and media company based in Cos Cob, Connecticut. It is known for the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. The first book, like most subsequent titles in the series, consisted of inspirational true stories about ordinary people's lives. The books are widely varied, each with a different theme. Today, Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC continues to publish about twelve new books per year.
Redbox Automated Retail, LLC is an American video on-demand streaming and video rental company specializing in DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD rentals and purchases and formerly video games via automated retail kiosks and TVOD, AVOD, and FAST services via its website, Android and iOS apps, and many consumer electronic devices. Redbox kiosks feature the company's signature red color and are located at convenience stores, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, mass retailers, and pharmacies.
The following is a complete list of the 220 Our Gang short films produced by Hal Roach Studios and/or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer between 1922 and 1944, numbered by order of release along with production order.
Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as The Laugh Factory to the World, it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on July 23, 1914. The studio lot, at 8822 Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, United States, was built in 1920, at which time Rolin was renamed to Hal E. Roach Studios. The first series in Hal Roach Studios were the Willie Work comedies, with first short being A Duke For A Day.
Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. was an American television program and home video distributor established in 1954 as ABC Film Syndication, the domestic and overseas program distribution arm of the ABC Television Network. They primarily licensed programs from independent producers, rather than producing their own content.
Our Gang is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the producer of the Laurel and Hardy films, Our Gang shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema. Our Gang is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way; Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children, rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.
Qintex Limited was an Australian financial services company founded in 1975 as Takeovers, Equities & Management Securities (TEAM). It was renamed Qintex Limited and came to prominence in 1986, collapsing five years later in 1991. Its main shareholder and Managing Director was Christopher Skase.
New Line Television was the television production arm of the film studio of the same name. It was active for about 20 years from 1988 to 2008.
Genius Products was a home entertainment company based in Santa Monica, California, United States.
Crackle, formerly named Grouper and Sony Crackle, is an American video streaming service founded in 2004. The service was purchased by Sony Pictures in 2006 and was renamed as Crackle. In 2018, the name was changed to Sony Crackle. Sony sold a majority stake to Chicken Soup for the Soul in March 2019, and the name was changed back to Crackle.
Screen Media Ventures, LLC is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001 and owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment since 2017 alongside its subsidiary Popcornflix. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the pursuit of active outreach efforts for issues showcased in Screen Media produced and distributed motion pictures. While the Spotlight Initiative serves as a strategic business component that will create unique marketing, branding, and advertising opportunities as well as value for mass marketers, it also enhances America's cultural connection to the stories and social agendas of our times.
Alchemy was an American independent global film distributor based in Los Angeles, California. The company acquired and distributed feature films, television series and specialty programming.
Popcornflix LLC is a website and over-the-top (OTT) service offering free ad-supported streaming video of feature-length movies and webisodes owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.
Larry Levinson Productions (LLP) is the production company of Larry Levinson. Levinson is an American screenwriter, producer and the president of Levinson Productions. By 2016, the company had produced over 200 films.
MGM-Pathé Communications was an American film production company that operated in Los Angeles County, California from 1990 to 1992.
Robert Halmi (Sr.) was a Hungarian-born producer of movies and mini-series for television.
1091 Pictures is an American production company based in New York City and Los Angeles. The company was founded as the film and television division subsidiary of The Orchard in 2015. The company is best known for the Oscar-nominated films Life, Animated and Cartel Land. Sony divested the company and its catalogue of over 4,000 in 2019, with the company adopting the name 1091 Media. In 2020, the company rebranded as 1091 Pictures and announced that its parent company rebranded as Streamwise, the name of its new technology platform in development.