Cleopatra Entertainment is the film division of long time
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
-based indie label
Cleopatra Records
Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, ...
, most known for promoting dark and experimental music. Founded in 2015, the company has distributed, developed, and produced several films most of which have a strong horror and/or music component. The company has focused primarily on the home video market through partnerships with
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
-based film distributor
The Orchard as well as AMPED Music Distribution, and
MVD Entertainment Group
MVD Entertainment Group, (previously Music Video Distributors, Inc.) is an American production company and film distributor based in Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Pottstown was laid o ...
.
History
Cleopatra Entertainment officially began in 2015 with the U.S. release of "Forever and a Day", a documentary/concert film about German heavy metal band
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
This was followed in August of the same year by the company's first major production,
Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival
''Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival'' (stylized onscreen as ''The Devil's Carnival: Alleluia!'') is a 2015 American musical fantasy horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Terrance Zdunich. It is a direct sequel to Bousman's 201 ...
, the second installment of the cult horror musical franchise from director
Darren Lynn Bousman
Darren Lynn Bousman (; born January 11, 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in horror films. He has directed four of the '' Saw'' films: ''Saw II'', ''Saw III'', ''Saw IV'', and ''Spiral''. He also direct ...
(director of several installments in the
Saw series) and writer
Terrance Zdunich
Terrance Zdunich (; born July 23, 1976) is an American artist, singer, actor, writer, composer, producer, illustrator and storyboard artist. He is most known for his role as GraveRobber in '' Repo! The Genetic Opera'', as Lucifer in ''The Dev ...
(of
Repo! The Genetic Opera
''Repo! The Genetic Opera'' is a 2008 American rock opera horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Based on the 2002 musical of the same name, written and composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, the film stars Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino ...
). In addition to financing the film, Cleopatra produced the Blu-ray and DVD releases and also released the official CD soundtrack, which included all of the musical numbers from the film featuring
Paul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino (, ; April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law.
Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese cri ...
,
Barry Bostwick
Barry Knapp Bostwick (born February 24, 1945) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Brad Majors in the musical comedy horror film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975) and Mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom ''Spin City'' (19 ...
,
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...
,
Ted Neeley
Teddie Joe "Ted" Neeley (born September 20, 1943) is an American singer, actor, musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for portraying the title role in ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' (1973), a role for which he was nominated for two Gol ...
,
Tech N9ne
Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...
,
Emilie Autumn
Emilie Autumn Liddell (born September 22, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, author and violinist. Autumn's musical style is described by her as "Fairy Pop", "Fantasy Rock" or "Victoriandustrial". It is influenced by glam rock and ...
,
Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson's musical ''Rent'' on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the ...
,
Butcher Babies
Butcher Babies is an American groove metal band from Los Angeles, consisting of frontwomen Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey, guitarist Henry Flury (Amen), bassist Ricky Bonazza, and drummer Chase Brickenden. Their debut album, ''Goliath'', was r ...
and
Nivek Ogre
Kevin Graham Ogilvie (born December 5, 1962), known professionally as Nivek Ogre, is a Canadian musician, performance artist and actor, best known for his work with the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded with cEvin Key. Si ...
.
In 2016, Cleopatra Entertainment released its second music documentary to the home video market, this one about UK punk band
The Damned, called
Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead, which premiered a year earlier at the
SXSW Film Festival
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
.
Cleopatra Entertainment also purchased the vampire thriller ''Blood Trap'', starring
Gianni Capaldi
Gianni Capaldi is a Scottish actor and film and television producer.
Early life and education
Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire to parents Tony and Maria, Capaldi grew up in the town and went to St Mary's Primary School followed by Hamilton ...
,
Costas Mandylor
Costas Mandylor (born Konstantinos Theodosopoulos; 3 September 1965) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Kenny in ''Picket Fences'' and for portraying Mark Hoffman in the ''Saw'' films.
Early life
Mandylor was born i ...
and
Vinnie Jones
Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer.
Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Ch ...
, and released it to the home video market in October of that year. Also in October 2016, Cleopatra brought the dark romantic comedy ''
StalkHer
''StalkHer'' is a 2015 Australian romantic comedy thriller film directed by John Jarratt and Kaarin Fairfax – both also star in the film.
Plot synopsis
John Jarratt stars as Jack, who is pushed past the brink of his stalking obsession ove ...
'', starring
John Jarratt
John Jarratt is an Australian television film actor, producer and director and TV presenter who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He has appeared in a number of film roles including '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ' ...
and
Kaarin Fairfax
Kaarin Louise Fairfax (born 30 September 1959) is an Australian actress, director and singer who played the role of 'Dolour Darcy' in two TV miniseries '' The Harp in the South'' (1986) and its sequel '' Poor Man's Orange'' (1987) based on book ...
, to US audiences. The company will also see a theatrical release for the film ''
A Street Cat Named Bob
James Anthony Bowen (born 15 March 1979)''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' is an English author based in London. His memoirs ''A Street Cat Named Bob'', ''The World According to Bob'' and ''A Gift from Bob'', were ...
'', based on the book of the same name by
James Bowen.
Coming productions for the company include more thrillers such as ''The Devil's Domain'' (starring
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. He has starred in many films and television series, frequently collaborating with director Quentin Tarantino, most famously in the latter's debut film ''Reservoir Dogs'' (19 ...
), ''The Black Room'' (starring
Lin Shaye
Linda Shaye (born October 12, 1943) is an American film, television, and theater actress. In a career spanning over forty years, she has appeared in more than a hundred feature films. She is perhaps best known for her starring role as Elise Rai ...
), and ''The 27 Club''. In 2017, the company released ''
England is Mine'', the biopic of
the Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to em ...
frontman
Morrissey and ''Street Survivors'', based on a plane crash involving band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ( ...
, co-written by Skynyrd drummer
Artimus Pyle
Thomas Delmer "Artimus" Pyle (born July 15, 1948) is an American musician who played drums with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991. He and his bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...
,
one of the members who survived the incident.
Films
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
Film production companies of the United States
American companies established in 2015