Artisan Entertainment was a privately held independent American movie studio that has been owned by Lions Gate Entertainment since 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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A movie studio is a controlled environment for the making of a film. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The company owned the home video rights to the film libraries of Republic Pictures, Vestron, and Carolco Pictures. They also owned Family Home Entertainment (FHE), and its motion picture subdivision, FHE Pictures. Republic Pictures Corporation (aka Republic Entertainment) is an independent film, television, and video distribution company that was originally a movie production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, best known for its specialization in quality B pictures, westerns and movie serials. ... Vestron Video International was a worldwide VHS video distributor during the 1980s and 1990s. ... The Carolco Pictures logo. ... Family Home Entertainment (FHE) is an American home video company, founded in 1982, which releases childrens and family-oriented programming, most notably the popular 1980s Marvel/Sunbow television series The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, as well as ThunderCats, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series,Gumby, and...

Artisan's releases included Requiem for a Dream, Pi, Grizzly Falls, Killing Zoe, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, The Blair Witch Project, Novocaine, and Startup.com. Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 film adaptation of a 1978 novel of the same name. ... The title of this article is incorrect because of technical limitations. ... Grizzly Falls is a film from 1999 about a boy and a bear, set in British Columbia in the early 20th Century. ... Killing Zoe is a 1994 movie directed by Roger Avary, and starring Eric Stoltz as Zed and Julie Delpy as Zoe. ... National Lampoons Van Wilder (also known as Van Wilder, Van The Man and Van Wilder: Party Liaison) is a 2002 comedy movie directed by Walt Becker and stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. ... The Blair Witch Project is a low-budget American horror film released in 1999. ... Novocaine is a 2001 film written and directed by David Atkins and starring Steve Martin, Laura Dern, Helena Bonham Carter, Lynne Thigpen and Elias Koteas. ... Startup. ...

History

Artisan, unlike most movie studios, has its roots in the home video industry. The home video business rents and sells videocassettes and DVDs to the public. ...

Artisan Entertainment began its life in 1984 as USA Home Video, which the tapes were usually packaged in large sized boxes and included films such as Supergirl, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and many B-movies including those that begin and end with B-actress Sybil Danning talking about the film that is being shown under the Adventure Video label. USA was the non-family division of Family Home Entertainment, which was founded in 1982. Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... Supergirl is a 1984 feature film. ... Silent Night, Deadly Night is a slasher film that was released in 1984 and starred Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Britt Leach and Leo Geter. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ... Sybil Danning (born May 24, 1952 in Ried, Austria) is best known for her many outstanding roles in B-movies, science fiction films, and action movies. ...

In 1986 the company became known as International Video Entertainment (IVE). In the late 1980s, the company branched into film distribution for television. This article cites very few or no references or sources. ...

In 1987 IVE began to distribute films by Carolco Pictures starting with the unrated release of Angel Heart. The first two Carolco films (First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II) were released under the Thorn EMI/HBO Video name, but were released in 1990 under Carolco Home Video. The Carolco Pictures logo. ... Angel Heart is a 1987 horror movie written and directed by Alan Parker, starring Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet and Robert De Niro. ... First Blood is the first film featuring the character of troubled Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. ... Released on Friday, May 24, 1985, the second movie of Rambo, Rambo: First Blood Part II, has Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) released from prison by Federal order to document the possible existence of POWs in Vietnam, under the belief that he will find nothing and the government can sweep the issue...

In 1990 IVE became Live Home Video with the divisions such as Carolco Home Video and Family Home Entertainment. Family Home Entertainment (FHE) is an American home video company, founded in 1982, which releases childrens and family-oriented programming, most notably the popular 1980s Marvel/Sunbow television series The Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, as well as ThunderCats, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series,Gumby, and...

In 1993, the company took over Vestron Pictures after its downfall; Vestron had been known best for Dirty Dancing, which had been the second highest-grossing independent film of all time. Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Vestron Video was a company based in Millford, CT that was active from the early 1980s to mid-1990s. ... Dirty Dancing is a 1987 romance film directed by Emile Ardolino. ...

In 1995, when Carolco ceased to exist as a company, StudioCanal got full rights to their film library and thus Live (under a new deal with the French-based production company) continued to distribute Carolco's films for video. Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... StudioCanal (aka Le Studio Canal, Canal Plus, Canal + Distribution, and Canal+ Image S.A.), is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. ...

Other ex-video distributors that had been owned by Live Entertainment include Lightning Video, Vidmark (and Trimark), and Magnum Entertainment.

In 1995, Live Entertainment decided to branch into film production, and in 1998, was rechristened Artisan Entertainment. Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...

In May of 2003, Artisan and Microsoft jointly announced the first release of a high definition DVD, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Extreme Edition). The release was a promotion for the Windows Media version 9 format; it could only be played on a personal computer with Windows XP. Artisan had released the movie in 2002 on D-VHS. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Projection screen in a home theater, displaying a high-definition television image. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Terminator 2: Judgment Day (commonly abbreviated T2) is a 1991 movie directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Robert Patrick. ... Windows Media Video (WMV) is a generic name for the set of video codec technologies developed by Microsoft. ... Windows XP is a line of proprietary operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... D-VHS logo “DVHS” redirects here. ...

After Lions Gate agreed to acquire Artisan in 2003, video releases that had been with Artisan are now under the Lions Gate banner. Lions Gate Films is a Canadian film production and distribution company that is currently the largest and most successful independent film distributor/studio in North America. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External link

• Press release about High-Definition DVD release