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| Formerly | Sony Kids' Music/Video (1992–93) Sony Wonder (1993–2020) Sony Pictures Family Fun (2015–2020) |
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| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | February 1992 |
| Founder | Linda Morgenstern |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products | Family films |
| Parent | Sony Music Entertainment (1992–2004) Sony BMG Music Entertainment (2004–2007) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007–present) |
| Website | kidszone |
Sony Pictures Kids Zone is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not directly related to the former Sony Wonder Technology Lab, an interactive technology and entertainment museum, although the museum was also owned by Sony.
Sony Music Video launched its Sony Kids' Music and Sony Kids' Video labels in February 1992 after months of planning under the banner SMV Children's Library. Artists signed to Sony Kids' Music at launch included Dan Crow, Tom Chapin, Tom Paxton, Kevin Roth, Rory, and Lois Young, who would all release product in the spring. [1] After Sony Music Video dissolved in October, Sony Kids' Music and Video were coordinated and marketed through Epic Records beginning in January 1993. [2] On May 22, 1993, Nickelodeon signed a long-term agreement with Epic Records as well. [3]
On July 3, Sony Kids' Music and Video were merged as Sony Wonder; Sony Wonder's president Ted Green sought new strategic alliances like their one with Nickelodeon. [4] [5] [6] On April 24, 1995, Children's Television Workshop entered a long-term agreement to distribute Sesame Street videos, music, and books through Sony Wonder, while Columbia Pictures began development on two Muppet films which would be released on video by Columbia TriStar Home Video. Sony Wonder also took over distribution of Random House Home Video titles, also during April. [7]
On July 29, Nickelodeon and Sony Wonder launched the Nick Jr. Video label with three titles based on Eureeka's Castle , Gullah Gullah Island , and Allegra's Window ; an audio line launched on March 26, 1996. [8] In 1996, two years after Viacom's acquisition of Paramount Communications, the owners of Paramount Pictures, [9] Sony Wonder's deal with Nickelodeon expired, leaving Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. videos and DVDs to be distributed by Paramount Home Video (and CIC Video internationally until 1999). [10]
On August 2, 1997, Sony Wonder entered a long-term worldwide joint venture with Together Again Video Productions to create and distribute new and previous Kidsongs titles, starting with 20 new episodes of The Kidsongs Television Show. [11] On December 27, Sony Wonder and Golden Books Family Entertainment joined forces to release hit titles from Golden Books' catalog starting in spring 1998; [12] the contract continued with Classic Media after they acquired Golden Books.
The company was also the distributor (in Canada only) for series produced by Cinar, such as Wimzie's House , Madeline , A Bunch of Munsch , The Busy World of Richard Scarry and Caillou . [13]
On May 4, 1998, Sony Wonder bought Sunbow Entertainment, [14] which had produced various shows based on Hasbro's toy lines but whose original programming had mostly under-performed. On March 1, 2000, Sony Wonder signed a first-look distribution agreement with German-based management firm TV-Loonland AG to handle the distribution of their shows in German-speaking and Eastern European territories [15] and eventually signed a UK home video deal with Maverick. [16] On October 3, as an extension to the previous agreement, TV-Loonland purchased the television division of Sony Wonder, including its programming and ownership in Sunbow. As part of the deal, Sony kept the North American home video and international audio rights to its library. [17] [18] [19] On May 14, 2008, Hasbro acquired the Sunbow programs based on its properties, which are now part of the eOne library. [20] [21] [22] [23]
In 2009, TV-Loonland filed for bankruptcy. [24] In 2011, Loonland sold its catalogue to m4e AG. [25] In February 2017, Studio 100 acquired a majority stake in m4e AG. Studio 100 currently holds the television rights to most of the Loonland catalogue, including Sunbow and Sony Wonder. [26]
On March 13, 2007, Sony BMG announced that it was shutting Sony Wonder to focus on its core music business. [21] [22] [23] However, on June 20, 2007, it was announced that Sony Wonder became a division of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as its kids'- and family-entertainment label. [27] [28] Classic Media's, Sesame Workshop's and Random House's video deals were sold to Genius Products for an undisclosed amount, and later to Vivendi Entertainment. [28] The home media releases to Caillou were moved to Vivendi Entertainment Canada. Since 2012, Caillou DVDs are distributed by Entertainment One and after their purchase of Phase 4 Films in 2014, are released through the KaBoom Entertainment label. Sesame Workshop's properties were moved to Warner Home Video in 2010 following the closure of Genius Products. As of 2018, Sesame Workshop's properties are distributed by Shout! Factory through the Shout! Factory Kids label. [29] [30]
In 2012, DreamWorks Animation acquired Classic Media for $155 million; the company became a unit of DreamWorks Animation and was renamed to DreamWorks Classics.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, is the current distributor for Classic Media's properties after NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation in 2016.[ citation needed ]
In 2015, the Sony Wonder label was rebranded as Sony Pictures Family Fun, and was later folded and merged into Sony Pictures Kids Zone in 2020.
The Sony Wonder label was still used for the direct-to-video The Swan Princess film series up until the same year.
Nickelodeon, occasionally shortened to Nick, is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through Paramount Media Networks’ subdivision, Nickelodeon Group. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children, the channel is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 2 to 17, along with a broader family audience through its program blocks.
Paramount Media Networks is an American mass media division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of many of its television channels and online brands. Its related international division is Paramount International Networks.
The Cramp Twins is an animated television series created by British cartoonist Brian Wood based on his 1995 graphic novel of the same name. The show was produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Telemagination, and TV-Loonland AG, in association with Cartoon Network Europe.
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 3 Arts Entertainment, Pilgrim Media Group, Starz Inc. and a minority stake in Amblin Partners.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony.
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.
Sunbow Entertainment was an American animation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States. Griffin-Bacal's first animations were animated commercials for Hasbro's G.I. Joe toy line. The success of the animated commercials led partners Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal to form the company. Due to their close working relationship with Hasbro, Sunbow came to be recognized as the toy giant's unofficial television arm.
Nickelodeon Records is the record label for the children's television channel Nickelodeon, which is owned by Paramount Global. The label featured new and emerging young musical artists, "triple threat" singers who would also act and dance on the network's series, and soundtrack compilations based on Nickelodeon TV shows.
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. is the television broadcast syndication arm of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Global, founded on September 26, 2006 by CBS Corporation from a merger of CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions.
Fat Dog Mendoza is an animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Sony Wonder Television, and TMO-Loonland. The series is loosely based on a Dark Horse one-off comic book of the same name. The first Cartoon Network Europe co-production, it premiered on Cartoon Network UK on February 28, 2000.
Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is part of the Nickelodeon Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, which focuses on programs for children and teenagers.
Allspark, formerly known as Hasbro Studios, LLC, was an American production and distribution company located in Burbank, California. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of the American toy and multimedia company Hasbro. Originally just a TV production division, many of its TV shows were based on Hasbro properties and were broadcast on multiple media platforms, including Discovery Family.
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's own Rango and the end of their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2012.
Noggin is an American edutainment brand launched on February 2, 1999. It was co-founded by MTV Networks and Sesame Workshop. It started out as a cable television channel and a website, both centered around the concepts of imagination, creativity, and education. Since 2015, Noggin has been a streaming service.
TV-Loonland AG was a German branding and management company that specialized in the production of children's programmes. The company's offices were located in Europe. The company's mascot is a sheep on a blue dome.
