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BVS Entertainment, Inc.
Formerly
 Saban Productions, Inc. (1980–1988)
Saban Entertainment, Inc. (1988–2001)
Industry Animation
Filmmaking
Fate Acquired by The Walt Disney Company
Successor BVS Entertainment
Saban Brands
Buena Vista Studios
Founded 1980; 44 years ago (1980)
Founders Haim Saban
Shuki Levy
Defunct October 1, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-10-01)
Headquarters Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Haim Saban (Chairman/CEO)
Shuki Levy (President/CFO/CCO)
Products Television programs
Theatrical films
Owner News Corporation & Haim Saban (1996-2001)
The Walt Disney Company (2001-Present)
Parent Fox Family Worldwide (1996-2001)
ABC Family Worldwide
(Walt Disney Television) (2001-Present)
Subsidiaries Saban International N.V. (later BVS International N.V.)
Saban International Services, Inc. (later BVS International Services, Inc.)
Saban International Paris (Sold off in 2002)

Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International, which operated outside the United States; current legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by music and television producers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy as "Saban Productions".

The company imported, dubbed, and adapted several Japanese series such as Maple Town, Noozles, Funky Fables, Samurai Pizza Cats, and the first three Digimon series to North America and international markets for syndication, including both animation and live action shows. Saban also adapted various tokusatsu shows from Toei Company, including Power Rangers (based on the Super Sentai series), Big Bad Beetleborgs (based on Juukou B-Fighter), VR Troopers (featuring elements of Metal Hero series like Space Sheriff Shaider, Jikuu Senshi Spielban and Choujinki Metalder), and Masked Rider (an original interpretation using scenes from the Japanese Kamen Rider Black RX).

Saban was involved in the co-production of French/American animated shows created by Jean Chalopin for DIC Entertainment. Some of these early 1980s co-productions were Camp Candy, Ulysses 31, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, and The Mysterious Cities of Gold (the third of which was a Japanese co-production).

Saban has also distributed and provided music for TV programs produced by other companies, such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Inspector Gadget and the first 2 dub seasons of Dragon Ball Z.

Saban International Paris

Main article: SIP Animation

Saban International Paris, later SIP Animation, was a television production company based in France that operated from 1977 to 2009.

Saban International Paris was founded in France by Haim Saban and Jacqueline Tordjman in 1977 as a record company. In 1989, Saban International Paris moved into the animation field. The studio would go on to produce many animated series for Fox Kids Europe in the 1990s and 2000s. Haim Saban departed the company in 2001 with the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide, which was followed by The Walt Disney Company taking a stake in the company and a name change to SIP Animation on October 1, 2002. SIP continued to co-produce animated series with Jetix Europe (previously Fox Kids Europe) during the 2000s. SIP Animation was closed in 2009.

List of television series and films

Animated TV series

Saban Entertainment

Saban International Paris

For shows produced after SIP became independent in 2002, see SIP Animation.

Some of the shows featured the "Saban's" corporate bug in their title. Saban Entertainment itself is not listed.

  • Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid (1991, co-production with Antenne 2, Hexatel, Fuji TV and Fuji Eight Co., Ltd.)
  • Saban's Around the World in 80 Dreams (1992-1993, co-production with Antenne 2)
  • Saban’s Gulliver’s Travels (1992–1993, co-production with Antenne 2)
  • Journey to the Heart of the World (1993–1994, co-production with Media Films TV, Dargaud Films and Belvision Studios)
  • Space Strikers (1995–1996, co-production with M6 and Montana, in association with Seoul Broadcasting System Productions)
  • Saban's Iznogoud (1995, co-production with P.I.A. S.A., France 2, BBC and RTL 4 S.A.)
  • Saban's The Why Why Family (1995–1998, co-production with France 3 and ARD/Degeto)
  • Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist (1996–1997)
  • Saban's Princess Sissi (1997–1998, co-production with CinéGroupe, France 3, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Ventura Film Distributors B.V. and Créativité et Développement)
  • Walter Melon (1998–1999, co-production with France 2, ARD/Degeto and Scottish Television Enterprises)
  • Saban's Diabolik (1999–2001, co-production with M6, Ashi Productions and Mediaset S.p.A.)
  • Jim Button (1999-2000, co-production with CinéGroupe, Société Radio-Canada, WDR, Ventura Film Distributors B.V., TF1, ARD/Degeto and Thomas Haffa/EM.TV & Merchandising AG)
  • Wunschpunsch (2000-2001, co-production with CinéGroupe, Société Radio-Canada, Ventura Film Distributors B.V. and TF1)
  • Jason and the Heroes of Mount Olympus (2001–2002, co-production with Night Storms Productions) (continued work as SIP)
  • Gadget & the Gadgetinis (2002–2003, co-production with Fox Kids Europe, DIC Entertainment Corp., M6, Channel Five and Mediatrade S.P.A.) (taken over from Saban)

Foreign television series

Saban Entertainment dubbed and or distributed the following foreign television series in English:

Live-action TV series

Saban Entertainment produced and or distributed the following live action TV series:

Live-action films

  • Alphy's Hollywood Power Party (1987; TV special)
  • Rescue Me (1988)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1990) (produced by Saban/Scherick Productions, Hexatel, Starcom, TF1, Reteitalia, and Beta Film)
  • The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990) (produced by Saban/Scherick Productions for TNT)
  • A Perfect Little Murder (1990) (co-production with MollyBen Productions for Gary Hoffman Productions)
  • Blind Vision (1991)
  • Till Death Us Do Part (1991) (produced by Saban/Scherick Productions)
  • Prey of the Chameleon (1992)
  • Round Trip to Heaven (1992)
  • Black Ice (1992)
  • Revenge on the Highway (1992)
  • Nightmare in the Daylight (1992) (produced by Saban/Scherick Productions and Smith/Richmond Productions)
  • Anything for Love (1993)
  • In the Shadows, Someone's Watching (1993)
  • Under Investigation (1993)
  • Terminal Voyage (1994)
  • Samurai Cowboy (1994)
  • Shadow of Obsession (1994)
  • Guns of Honor: Rebel Rousers (1994)
  • Blindfold: Acts of Obsession (1994)
  • Guns of Honor: Trigger Fast (1994)
  • Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)
  • Virtual Seduction (1995)
  • Christmas Reunion (1995)
  • Chimp Lips Theater (1997; two TV specials)
  • Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)
  • Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997)
  • The Christmas List (1997)
  • Gotcha (1998)
  • Circles (1998)
  • National Lampoon's Men in White (1998)
  • Casper Meets Wendy (1998)
  • Rusty: A Dog's Tale (1998)
  • Addams Family Reunion (1998)
  • Earthquake in New York (1998)
  • Richie Rich's Christmas Wish (1998)
  • The Christmas Takeover (1998)
  • Men of Means (1999)
  • Taken (1999)
  • Michael Jordan: An American Hero (1999)
  • Don't Look Behind You (1999)
  • Heaven's Fire (1999)
  • Au Pair (1999)
  • Ice Angel (2000)
  • Au Pair II (2001)
  • Oh, Baby! (2001)
  • Three Days (2001)

Animated films/specials

  • Barbie and the Rockers: Out of this World (1987) (co-production with DIC Entertainment and Mattel)
  • Barbie and The Sensations: Rockin' Back to Earth (1987) (co-production with DIC Entertainment and Mattel)
  • A Christmas Adventure (1987)
  • Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (1997) (TV distributor and musical composer for the 1997 Funimation-Ocean Productions dub)
  • Digimon: The Movie (2000)

Media releases

  • Most Saban Entertainment-owned media from the early 1990s made their way to VHS in most regions. However, from the late 1990s on, almost all Saban Entertainment-owned entities were only released as Australian and New Zealand Region 4 VHSes. And also, according to current North American rights holders, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment had (and still has) no plans to release these titles to DVD and Blu-ray, and as such, some of them instead aired on their sibling television channel, Disney XD and originally was on Toon Disney and ABC Family before the retirement of the Jetix branding in the United States. In most European countries, Fox Kids Europe (later Jetix Europe) had a sister channel called Fox Kids Play (later Jetix Play) which aired various Saban Entertainment programs and shows owned by Fox Kids Europe/Jetix Europe. Some shows were also released on DVD and VHS by various independent distributors, such as Maximum Entertainment in the United Kingdom.

Digimon

  • In Australia, Digimon: Digital Monsters seasons one and two was re-released by Madman Entertainment on August 17, 2011.
  • In addition, the first five series was released on DVD in North America through New Video.

Power Rangers

  • In Germany they have released complete season box sets to every Power Rangers series, with the English Versions included up until season 6 due to problems with Disney. The series is available in the German Amazon.
  • The first 17 seasons of Power Rangers have been licensed for DVD releases by Shout! Factory, which has released the first 17 seasons to DVD in Region 1.
  • Saban and Lions Gate Entertainment produced a live-action reboot movie of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Others

Saban's library

The Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment library today is mostly owned by The Walt Disney Company, with a few exceptions:

  • The Power Rangers franchise and other PR-related shows (VR Troopers, Masked Rider, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Big Bad Beetleborgs and Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog), which were purchased back by Haim Saban from Disney for $43 million on May 12, 2010. The Digimon franchise in the United States was also purchased back by Saban in September 2012. All of the Power Rangers franchise and the PR-related shows are now owned by Hasbro through Allspark/eOne, which acquired the assets of Saban Brands in 2018, while Digimon has reverted to Toei Animation.
  • Pigs Next Door was a co-production with Fox Kids, EM.TV and Wavery B.V. Studio 100, which acquired EM.TV's children's library in 2008, owns the US digital rights and some international rights to the series (Europe, China, Australia, New Zealand and Quebec).
  • Splash Entertainment owns the distribution rights to Bobby's World, under license from series creator Howie Mandel.
  • The international distribution rights to the pre-1990 DIC Entertainment library reverted to DIC in the 2000s. This library is now owned by WildBrain through Cookie Jar Entertainment.
  • Goosebumps is owned by Scholastic Entertainment, with distribution handled by 9 Story Media Group.
  • Many of Saban's anime licenses, such as Macron 1, Noozles, Flint the Time Detective, The Littl' Bits and Saban's The Adventures of Pinocchio expired in the 2000s.
  • CinéGroupe owns the series that it co-produced with Saban and SIP, including What's with Andy? and The Kids from Room 402. These series are distributed through partner company HG Distribution.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Saban Entertainment para niños

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