MGM Home Entertainment facts for kids
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Trade name
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MGM Home Entertainment |
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Formerly
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| Industry | Home video |
| Fate | Physical media operations transferred to Studio Distribution Services. Its labels remain in use on SDS-distributed releases. |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | |
| Parent | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
MGM Home Entertainment LLC is a company that distributes movies and TV shows for home viewing. It's also known as MGM Home Entertainment. This company is part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a famous American media company.
Today, MGM Home Entertainment is owned by Amazon MGM Studios. This studio is a part of Amazon. Since 2020, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has helped distribute MGM's movies and shows. They do this through a company called Studio Distribution Services.
You can find TV series made by Amazon MGM Studios on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. These are distributed through MGM Home Entertainment. An example is the TV series Fallout.
Contents
The Story of MGM Home Entertainment
Early Years: 1978 to 1982
MGM Home Entertainment started in 1978. It was first called MGM Home Video. Its job was to release MGM movies and TV shows for people to watch at home.
In 1980, MGM teamed up with CBS Video Enterprises. This was the home video part of the CBS TV network. Together, they formed MGM/CBS Home Video. In October 1980, they released their first movies on Betamax and VHS tapes.
The first 24 movies came in special brown cases with gold letters. Later, movies were sold in gray box sets. These boxes had either the MGM or CBS Video logo. MGM/CBS also released some movies from Lorimar. These had the Lorimar logo on them.
In 1981, MGM/CBS worked with Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment. They helped market some Goldwyn movies. CBS Video Enterprises handled the distribution.
Changes and Growth: 1982 to 1998
In 1982, MGM bought United Artists (UA). After this, CBS left the video partnership. CBS then joined 20th Century Fox to create CBS/Fox Video. MGM's video company became MGM/UA Home Video.
MGM/UA continued to license older UA films. They also licensed pre-1950 WB films to CBS/Fox. This was due to an old agreement UA had with Fox. In 1982, MGM/UA also made a deal with The Cannon Group. They released Cannon Group movies until 1985. In 1985, they partnered with Rene Malo Video for Canadian distribution.
In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM's older film library. This included pre-1986 MGM films and pre-1950 Warner Bros. films. After this, MGM/UA made a deal with Turner. They continued to distribute these older films for home video.
Also in 1986, MGM/UA signed a deal with Roger Corman's studio, Concorde Pictures. This gave MGM/UA rights to distribute Concorde's movies worldwide.
In October 1990, Pathé Communications bought MGM. MGM/UA Home Video then made a deal with Warner Home Video. Warner Home Video would distribute MGM/UA movies worldwide. This merger also meant MGM gained many films from the Cannon Films library. MGM/UA also started distributing the rest of the UA library.
In 1994, MGM/UA Home Video launched MGM/UA Family Entertainment. This label was for movies suitable for families. In 1996, Warner made a deal with Image Entertainment. Image Entertainment would distribute MGM/UA movies on LaserDisc.
In 1997, MGM/UA started releasing movies on DVD. Some of these were from the Turner catalog. MGM was still allowed to distribute them. That same year, MGM bought Orion Pictures. Orion Home Video (Orion's video division) became part of MGM/UA. In 1998, the company changed its name to MGM Home Entertainment.
New Deals: 1998 to 2005
After buying Orion, MGM kept Orion Pictures as a separate company. This helped them avoid issues with their distribution deal with Warner Home Video. So, Orion Pictures films were released under the Orion Home Video label.
In 1999, MGM bought most of the PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library from Seagram. This added 4,000 more films to MGM's collection. These PolyGram films were placed under Orion Pictures. This also helped avoid the Warner Home Video distribution agreement.
In March 1999, MGM paid to end its distribution contract with Warner Home Video early. The deal was supposed to end in 2003, but it finished in February 2000. After this, Warner Home Video took over the rights to MGM/UA films owned by Turner. MGM then signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Fox would distribute MGM films overseas.
In 2001, MGM and Amazon.com started "MGM Movie Vault." This service distributed VHS copies of rare or out-of-print films only through Amazon.
On March 3, 2003, MGM Home Entertainment launched MGM Kids. This was a special label for children's content.
On May 27, 2003, MGM took back full control of its distribution in some countries. These included the United Kingdom, Australia, and parts of Europe. However, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment still distributed for MGM in many other regions.
Changing Partners: 2005 to 2019
In 2005, a group led by Sony bought MGM. Sony wanted MGM to support its Blu-ray format. MGM started releasing new content through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The name "MGM Home Entertainment" was retired that year.
However, Sony did not sell as many MGM DVDs as expected. Also, Harry Sloan became MGM's chairman. He wanted MGM to be independent from Sony. Because of these issues, MGM stopped working with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in May 2006. Instead, MGM signed a new worldwide distribution deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
In 2010, MGM's parent company, MGM Holdings, recovered from financial difficulties. From 2011 to 2018, MGM did not release or market its own movies directly. Instead, other studios handled the distribution and marketing for MGM's projects.
Some of MGM's recent movies were released on DVD and Blu-ray by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Examples include Skyfall and Spectre. Other MGM movies were released by the home video companies of their co-distributors. For example, The Hobbit trilogy was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
In 2011, MGM launched the "MGM Limited Edition Collection." This service offered DVDs of unreleased or out-of-print titles from MGM's library. These were sold through the Warner Archive Collection.
Fox's deal to distribute the MGM library was extended in 2011 until 2016. On June 27, 2016, the deal was renewed again until June 30, 2020.
Recent Times: 2019 to Present
In 2019, Disney bought Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox. After this, MGM announced it would not renew its deal with Fox. MGM started looking for a new distributor.
In 2020, MGM named Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as its new home media distributor. This change did not include movies co-produced with other studios outside Warner Bros.
On May 26, 2021, it was announced that Amazon would buy MGM. The merger was completed on March 17, 2022. MGM continues to operate as a label under Amazon.
How MGM Movies Are Distributed Today
In the United States and Canada, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment distributes MGM's movies. They do this through Studio Distribution Services. This is a joint company between Warner Bros. and Universal. Warner Bros. also handles international distribution, except for Japan.
Warner Bros. already owns and distributes MGM's pre-May 1986 film library. This is because they own Turner Entertainment Co.. However, Warner Bros. started a new distribution deal with MGM for its newer movies. This began when MGM left 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on June 30, 2020.
MGM also licenses some of its films and TV shows to other companies. These include Kino Lorber, the Criterion Collection, and Shout! Studios. They also handle home media releases of their "Manufacture-on-demand" titles through Allied Vaughn.
HBO Max handles the streaming rights for MGM's pre-May 1986 library. Amazon Prime Video and MGM+ handle the streaming rights for the post-May 1986 library.
Many films from Orion Pictures (since its return) have been released by different companies. For example, The Town That Dreaded Sundown was released by Image Entertainment. However, 20th Century Fox, and later Warner Bros., handle home video distribution for Orion's movies released through UAR.
Current Distribution Partners
- Studio Distribution Services
- Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment (1990–1999; 2020–present) for most MGM films. Warner Bros. also handles older MGM films through Turner Entertainment Co.
- Allied Vaughn (for special "Manufacture-on-demand" releases)
Past Distribution Partners
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005–2006)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1999–2005 internationally; 2006–2019 worldwide)
- Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (2019–2020) (after Disney bought 20th Century Fox)
- Studio Distribution Services
- Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2018–2022)
- Deuce Entertainment (2021–2022) (for dollar store DVD releases)
