Prism Leisure Corporation

Last updated

Prism Leisure Corporation Plc
Company type Public limited company
GenrePublisher and distributor of DVDs and videos, CDs and cassettes, video games and toys
Founded1980;44 years ago (1980)
FounderGeoff Young
DefunctJune 4, 2007;16 years ago (2007-06-04)
FateAdministration
Entertainment assets acquired by FremantleMedia
Music assets acquired by Prism Leisure Ltd.
SuccessorsPrism Leisure Ltd
FremantleMedia Home Entertainment
Headquarters
Enfield, Middlesex
,
UK
Key people
Geoff Young
Subsidiaries Odyssey Video

Prism Leisure Corporation Plc was a distribution and publishing company that primarily focused on reissues and compilations, often at low prices. The company was located in Enfield, Middlesex, United Kingdom until it was placed into administration in June 2007. [1]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 1980 as Geoff's Records by chairman Geoff Young. [2]

The company launched an online store in 2001. [3]

The company expanded in 2002 by acquiring competitors [4] [5] and became the UK's leading wholesaler and worldwide distributor of CDs, cassettes, computer games, videos and DVDs. [4] They also handled board games and toys. [1]

On 4 June 2007, the company was placed into administration. [6] Their entertainment assets were acquired by FremantleMedia while the music assets were acquired by ex-employee Ivor Young, who formed a successor business Prism Leisure Ltd. to continue releasing CDs. Despite sharing the same name, the two Prism Leisure businesses had no legal connection. [7] On 16 January 2008, the company signed a deal with Go Entertain for the distribution of Prism Leisure Ltd.'s catalogue in some countries. [8] The company continued to release music material, including purchasing the catalogue of distributor Telstar Records until being acquired by Phoenix Music International in 2013. [9]

Products

DVD/video

Prism Leisure became a major publisher and distributor of budget home video on DVD and VHS. Titles include films such as Doomwatch , The Jigsaw Man , March or Die , The Brave Little Toaster , The Shawshank Redemption , Help! I'm a Fish , Treasure Island and The Whistle Blower . They also released television series including Birds of a Feather .

List of studios distributed by Prism Leisure

This is a selection of companies that had their DVDs released by Prism Leisure.

CD/cassette

The majority of Prism's musical catalogue were compilations and reissued material, including Jefferson Airplane's Feed Your Head: Live '67–'69 . Several compilations by country music singer Kenny Rogers were also released and/or distributed by Prism throughout their existence, of both his solo and group material.

Video games

Prism Leisure entered the video game industry in 1986 by creating the label Endurance Games to publish the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad re-releases of System 3's International Karate [2] and purchasing Addictive Games, home of the best-selling Football Manager , the following year. [11] Addictive was used as a full price label (with releases including HotShot , The Kristal and further Football Manager games) while the Paxman Promotions name was used for compilations. Prism also became the UK publisher for the US company First Star Software and saw them release new versions of some of their games, including Superman: The Game and Boulder Dash II . Many old games were licensed for compilations with some getting individual releases. [12]

Other merchandise

Prism Leisure also distributed board games and toys.

Related Research Articles

Artisan Entertainment was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until it was purchased by later mini-major film studio Lions Gate Entertainment in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and distribution agreements. Its headquarters and private screening room were located in Santa Monica, California. It also had an office in Tribeca in Manhattan, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandai Visual</span> Defunct Japanese anime and distribution company

Bandai Visual Co., Ltd. was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.

StudioCanal S.A.S. is a French film production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. The company is a unit of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American global mass media and entertainment company. Originally a Canadian company, it was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. In addition to its flagship Lionsgate Films division, its other divisions include Lionsgate Television and Lionsgate Interactive. It owns a variety of subsidiaries such as Summit Entertainment, Entertainment One, Debmar-Mercury, and Starz Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoyts</span> Australian cinema chain

The Hoyts Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes Hoyts Cinemas, a cinema chain, and Val Morgan, which sells advertising on cinema screens and digital billboards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madman Entertainment</span> Australian distribution and rights management company

Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatrical and home entertainment formats in Australia and New Zealand.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shout! Studios</span> American home video and music company

Shout! Studios is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued in DVD or Blu-ray format, include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy specials. Considered a boutique Blu-ray label, Shout! Studios, in addition to its mainline home video releases, also releases films under the sublabels Scream Factory, Shout! Select, and Shout! Kids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vestron Video</span> Defunct American home video company

Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWE Home Video</span> Video distribution and production company (1997–2023)

WWE Home Video was a video distribution and production company that distributed WWE programming. A division of WWE formed on April 16, 1997, as WWF Home Video, it replaced a similar independent company owned by Evart Enterprises, Coliseum Video which operated between 1985 and 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Pictures Home Entertainment</span> Home video distribution division of Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio, owned by NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.

Ocean Shores Video Limited(Chinese: 海岸錄影有限公司 or Chinese: 海岸貢獻) is the home video division of Win's Entertainment Co Ltd. The company is owned by Television Broadcasts Limited the entertainment division of Panasonic, Pioneer and Philips was a Hong Kong based distributor of martial arts films in the 1980s.

Lionsgate Films is a Canadian-American film production and film distribution studio founded in Canada, now a division of Lionsgate Entertainment headquartered in Santa Monica. It is the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America.

Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's production ceased in 2007, and its remaining rights are now chiefly vested in BMG Rights Management. Castle also operated a subsidiary label, Essential Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anchor Bay Entertainment</span> American home entertainment and production company

The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Studios Home Entertainment</span> British video and music publisher

2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide & Woolworths Group respectively.

Roadshow Entertainment is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow that distributes films in Australia and New Zealand. Their first release was Mad Max. Roadshow Entertainment is an independent video distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment</span> Film, television, DVD and digital distribution company

Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment was a film, television, DVD and digital distribution company that operated in the United States and Canada. It was also a distribution partner for independent content providers.

Lionsgate UK Limited is the British subsidiary of the Canadian-American film company, Lionsgate.

References

  1. 1 2 "Prism Leisure Corporation Profile". Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  2. 1 2 Eddy, Richard (July 1988). "Fractured Light". The Games Machine. No. 8. Newsfield. p. 7. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "Prism Leisure to launch consumer DVD shop".
  4. 1 2 "Reznor News". Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  5. ↑ Minns, Adam (13 November 2002). "UK's Prism Leisure acquires Odyssey | News | Screen". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "Prism Leisure - Under Administration". prismleisure.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  7. ↑ "Prism Leisure Ltd."
  8. ↑ "Prism Leisure Ltd". vps1.2creation.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  9. ↑ "Telstar | Phoenix Music International".
  10. ↑ "Prism tempts studios with UK DVD distribution".
  11. ↑ "News Input: Cheapies". Crash. No. 40. Newsfield. May 1987. p. 11. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  12. ↑ "Silverbird History". The Bird Sanctuary. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.