Roadshow Entertainment (formerly known as Roadshow Home Video from 1982–1993) is an Australian

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

company that is a division of

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange a ...

(formerly Roadshow Home Video and Roadshow Entertainment) that distributes films in Australia and New Zealand. Their first release was ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centres on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ...

''. Roadshow Entertainment is an independent video distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

History

In 1982,

Entertainment was founded as Roadshow Home Video as a subsidiary of Roadshow Distributors. Their first batch of movie titles, released on both VHS and Betamax format, were: * '' Sex World'' (1978) * ''The Never Dead'' (aka: '' Phantasm'', 1979) * ''

'' (1979, with blue cover art) * '' Insatiable'' (1980) * ''

Little Lord Fauntleroy ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was published as a serial in ''St. Nicholas Magazine'' from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Charles Scribner's Sons, Scribner's (the publisher of ...

'' (1980) * ''

A Change of Seasons ''A Change of Seasons'' is the first EP by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, first released on September 19, 1995, through East West Records. It comprises the 23-minute title track and a collection of live cover songs performe ...

'' (1980) * ''

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

'' (1980) * ''

Scanners ''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telep ...

'' (1981) * '' King of the Mountain'' (1981) * ''

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'' (1981) * '' Endless Love'' (1981) Around the same time, the company launched a label, Vibrant Video, which was dedicated to primarily R-rated adult fare and horror films, but the label itself did not last very long, as some of the titles have been moved to Palace. 1984: Palace Films was started as a home video distributor between Roadshow, Blake Films and private investor Antony Veccola, with Roadshow handling home video distribution of its titles. In 1985, Roadshow Home Video became Village Roadshow Home Video and Premiere Home Entertainment was established. Veccola bought out the other company's stock of Palace and it ventured out into the film distribution business and opened a small number of art-house cinemas around Australia's main cities and became an independent company. Its home video release were still handled by Village Roadshow until the late 1990s. That year, the company began picking up titles from

Walt Disney Home Video Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

in the Australian market, taking over from home video distributor Syme Home Video. 1989: Applause Home Video was established as a Village Roadshow label, with ''

Babette's Feast ''Babette's Feast'' () is a 1987 Danish drama film directed by Gabriel Axel. The screenplay, written by Axel, was based on the 1958 story by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). It was produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen and Benni Korzen, with f ...

'' being the first title under the label. Video Selection Australia was also established by Roadshow as a label for family releases. In 1992, Disney elected to split up its ties from Roadshow Home Video and the company became an independent home video distributor by way of Buena Vista Home Video's Australian arm. 1993: Village Roadshow Home Video becomes Village Roadshow Entertainment. Around the same time, the Premiere, Applause and Video Selection Australia labels were discontinued. In 1994, the company launched its own interactive division, called Roadshow New Media, aka Roadshow Interactive to publish software for Australia and New Zealand. Late 1990s: Palace's home video distribution with Roadshow has been expired, Palace would instead sign a home video deal with

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment) was a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Stud ...

. In 2008 Palace films signed a contract with Madman Entertainment to be the Australian and New Zealand distributor of DVDs/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD titles in both Australia and New Zealand. # Roadshow started releasing DVDs in Australia with the release of '' Evita'' on 31 October 1997. In 2008, Roadshow started releasing Blu-rays. On 21 September 2020,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

announced that its distribution deal with Village Roadshow would expire at the end of 2020. The two studios' partnership had lasted for more than four decades. Since 2021, Warner Bros' films are released theatrically through Universal Pictures International, while Roadshow is continuing to release future Warner Bros. titles through their physical media and digital formats.

Roadshow and Village Roadshow subsidiaries and divisions

* Roadshow Vibrant Video (1982-1983) - a division for distributing adult films * Premiere Home Entertainment (1985–1993) – a division of Village Roadshow * Festival Video (1983–1990s) – a joint venture with

Festival Mushroom Records A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes ...

and Warner Bros. * Mushroom Video (1983–1990s) – a joint venture with Festival Mushroom Records and Warner Bros. * Applause Home Video (1989–1993) – a division of Village Roadshow * Reel Corporation (2000s–) – budget division of Village Roadshow * Hopscotch Films (2005–2011) – distributed by Village Roadshow (stopped in 2011 when

eOne Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series. The company began on June 1, 1973 ...

acquired Hopscotch for $20.7 million.) * Palace Home Video/Entertainment/Films (1984–2000) – (subsidiary of Roadshow/Village Roadshow) (split itself from Village Roadshow in the late 1990s) * Roadshow New Media (1990s) – video games publishing division of Village Roadshow, also known as Roadshow Interactive * Roadshow-Lorimar Home Video (1985–1990) – a division for distributing Lorimar releases * Roadshow Music (1994–2013)

Labels distributed, duplicated and re-supplied

Roadshow Entertainment has its own label named Roadshow Films, which is in turn the theatrical distribution unit of Village Roadshow. The unit was originally formed in 1968 by the owners of

Village Cinemas Village Cinemas is an Australian-based multinational film exhibition brand that mainly shows blockbusters, mainstream, children and family films and some arthouse, foreign language and documentary films. Since 2003, its Australian sites bec ...

as quite simply Roadshow, initially to distribute drive-in pictures, often in collaboration with fellow Australian distributor Blake Films under the joint releasing label of Blake-Roadshow, and the acquisition of reissue rights of ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

''. These films were so successful that Roadshow would gain the Australian franchise for pictures by

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

in order to give them access to a continuing library of product. In 1971, it entered a long-standing partnership with

to distribute and market its films in Australia and New Zealand under a joint venture, called Roadshow International, with the distribution side for international producers being renamed to Roadshow Distributors. The company begin expanding in local film production after the success of the 1971 film ''

Stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

'', to start out a joint venture film production company

Hexagon Productions Hexagon Productions was an Australian film production company established in 1972 by Roadshow Distributors with Tim Burstall and Associates and the company Bilcock and Copping. All parties had successfully collaborated on ''Stork'' (1971) and wante ...

, with

Tim Burstall Timothy Burstall AM (20 April 1927 – 19 April 2004) was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie '' Alvin Purple'' (1973) and its sequel '' Alvin Rides Again'' (1974). Burstall's films f ...

and Associates, and the company Bilcock and Copping, who each held 25% of its shares. The company made major hits, like ''

Alvin Purple ''Alvin Purple'' is a 1973 Australian sex comedy film starring Graeme Blundell in the title role; the screenplay was written by Alan Hopgood and directed by Tim Burstall, through his production company Hexagon Productions and Village Road ...

'', which became a smash hit for the Australian film market, and Bilcock and Copping backed out of the venture prior to making the film ''Eliza Fraser''.Scott Murray, 'Tim Burstall', ''Cinema Papers'' Sept-Oct 1979 p494David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p28Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p274Scott Murray, 'Tim Burstall', ''Cinema Papers'' Sept-Oct 1979 p494 When Hexagon went dormant in the 1970s, the company continued to distribute local productions by other studios, including the smash hit ''

'' by Kennedy Miller, and the international film ''

Rebel A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...

'' by Phillip Emanuel. In 1974, the company began entering television distribution within the Roadshow group under the name of Roadshow Television. In 1987, it merged with Greater Union Film Distributors to form Roadshow-Greater Union Distributors, with Roadshow Distributors and Greater Union Distributors acting as subsidiaries of the unit. The company began distributing films produced by

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...

with its units of

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures was an American film distribution label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featured ...

and

Hollywood Pictures Hollywood Pictures Company was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1989, by Disney CEO Michael Eisner and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood Pictures was ...

. The company as a whole was merged into Roadshow five years later. In 1989, the company begin distributing pictures produced by its American-based subsidiary

Village Roadshow Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures is an American film production company founded in 1989. It is a division of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), which in turn is majority-owned by Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors, wi ...

, a sister firm that was established that year. In 1998,

Buena Vista International Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...

parted ways with the company in order to set up its own Australian distribution arm. Also that year, when Village Roadshow Pictures shuttered its international division, Beyond Films begin representing the sales for Australian productions. In 2001, the company's film distribution unit became Roadshow Films, while Miramax split its ties from Roadshow to shift itself to BVI. On 16 December 2014, Roadshow Films acquired a 33% stake in

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

film production and international sales company

FilmNation Entertainment FilmNation Entertainment, LLC is an American entertainment company focused on film production, financing, and distribution. History 2008–2012: Founding FilmNation Entertainment is an independent film production and distribution company co-f ...

. However, as of 2017, Roadshow Films' stake has since reduced to 31%. *

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

(branded as ABC DVD and

ABC Music ABC Music is Australia's largest independent record label. It operates under the ABC Commercial division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It covers a wide range of music genres, including classical, children’s and adult contempo ...

) * Foxtel Original *

Lantern Entertainment Lantern Entertainment, LLC is an American independent film and television production company founded by Lantern Capital Partners on July 16, 2018. The studio was formed from the acquired assets of The Weinstein Company (TWC) in a bankruptcy au ...

Dimension Films Dimension Films was an American independent film and television production and distribution label founded in 1992, and currently owned by independent studio Lantern Entertainment. Formally one of the American " mini-majors" (i.e., small to m ...

(post-2005 titles only) *

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

(mid 1990s–present) *

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

(mid 2016–present) *

MGM Home Entertainment MGM Home Entertainment LLC (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment, d/b/a MGM Home Entertainment and formerly known as MGM Home Video, MGM/CBS Home Video and MGM/UA Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of the American med ...

(2020–present) (via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) * Reel Corporation (branded as Reel DVD) * ITV Studios Home Entertainment (branded as ITV) *

Mandalay Pictures Mandalay Pictures (formerly known as Mandalay Entertainment) is an American independent film production company founded on May 27, 1995, which is part of producer and businessman Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment. From 1997 until 2002, Lion ...

STX Entertainment STX Entertainment is an American independent entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds and TPG Growth managing partner Bill McGlashan, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projec ...

Former

* Endeavour Entertainment (branded as Endeavour-Roadshow) *

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, a ...

(1985–1992) (started self-distributing their own releases on home video) *

New World International New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...

(1983–1991) *

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

(1996–2019) (moved to Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) (moved to Madman Entertainment in 2024) *

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...

(2003–2009) (moved to Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) *

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...

(1971–2020) (moved to

Universal Pictures International Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American film production and distribution company headquartered at the Universal Studios complex in Universal City, ...

) *

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

(pre-2022) (moved to Paramount Pictures International) *

/ Filmways Pictures/

Orion Pictures Orion Releasing, LLC (Trade name, doing business as Orion Pictures) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon (company), Amazon. It was founded in 1978 as Ori ...

(1969–1991) (moved to

Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment to manage its motion picture operations. It was laun ...

) *

Producers Sales Organization Producers Sales Organization (PSO; also known as PSO Productions, Inc.) was an independent motion picture production and sales company founded in 1977. Initiated by Mark Damon, an actor-turned-producer, PSO mostly handled foreign sales of independ ...

(1977–1986) *

Carolco Pictures Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that was founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna in 1976. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit its peak in th ...

(1982–1995) *

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...

(1987–1999) (started self-distributing their own releases) *

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

(1991–2010) (moved to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) *

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

(1980s–mid 1990s, 2018–2024)

References

External links

Roadshow Home Video

Welcome to Roadshow
{{Authority control Mass media companies of Australia Home video distributors Home video companies of Australia Entertainment companies established in 1982 Mass media companies established in 1982 1982 establishments in Australia Companies based in Sydney Film distributors of Australia