Genius Products (formerly known as Genius Entertainment) was a home entertainment company based in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, United States. The ''Baby Genius'' line was one of a number of "smart toys" that came out in response to a study book about the

Mozart effect The Mozart effect is the theory that listening to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may temporarily boost scores on one portion of an IQ test. Popular science versions of the theory make the claim that "listening to Mozart makes you smarter" or ...

. Genius also released DVDs for other companies, including

Entertainment Rights Entertainment Rights PLC (formerly known as Sleepy Kids PLC and SKD Media PLC) was a British multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that specialised in television shows and cartoons, children's media, films, and distribution. ...

Classic Media DreamWorks Classics is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded as Classic Media in 2000 by Eric Ellenboge ...

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...

(from 2007 to 2009),

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, and PorchLight Entertainment.

History

Genius Products Inc. was founded in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in 1999. created by Klaus Moeller and Larry Balaban. In 2001, the video release of ''Baby Genius: The Four Seasons'' won a Kids First! award, beating ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

''. By 2002,

AOL Time Warner Warner Media, LLC (doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warner i ...

was distributing ''Baby Genius'' products. Genius Products acquired American Vantage Media (formerly Fox Lorber, Winstar TV & Video, and Wellspring Media, spun off from

Winstar Communications Winstar Communications, Inc. (at some point WinStar Communications) was an American telecommunications company that provided broadband services to business customers. Winstar owned and operated a broadband network in 60 major markets in the Unite ...

in 2001) in early 2005. On December 5, 2005, Genius Products, Inc. announced a distribution

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...

(TWC) called Genius Products, LLC (GPL), with Weinstein holding a 70% stake. GPL would hold the Wellspring film library, including the Fox Lorber, Winstar and American Vantage Media titles, and the bulk of GPI's assets. Weinstein Co. added distribution rights for its products combined with no cash and received a 50% cut in the distribution fee on their films. The high-profile with Weinstein helped Genius Products to open the doors to major retailers like

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

. With major retailers available to Genius, other entertainment companies including

and

Robert Halmi Robert Halmi (Sr.) (; January 22, 1924 – July 30, 2014) was a Hungarian-born producer of movies and mini-series for television. Early life Robert Halmi was born in Budapest on January 22, 1924. His father, Béla Halmi, was a photographer and b ...

Inc. had signed with them. Under Weinstein's order, the Wellspring Home Entertainment division was moved to

at the end of April, dropping most of the previous staff and closing its theatrical distribution unit, while transferring theatrical distribution to TWC. TWC also arranged for direct-to-video funding from Blockbuster in exchange for exclusive rental rights. Expecting the indistinguishable dozen films to be made (possibly by a standing Romanian-based crew) under the multi-year deal would generate regular income of $1 to $2 million. In January 2006, Pacific Entertainment, formed by Moeller and Balaban, purchased ''Baby Genius'' and other lines from Genius Products, Inc. for $3 million. The other lines were preschool brands such as ''Wee Worship'' and the ''

Little Tikes Little Tikes is an American manufacturer of children's toys, with headquarters and manufacturing located in Hudson, Ohio. The company also has other manufacturing and distribution facilities in Asia and Europe. Little Tikes' products are mostly l ...

'' music and DVD series. Genius Products retained exclusive U.S. distribution rights for the lines. In April 2006, Genius Products signed a distribution agreement with Tartan USA, an American division of the British company Tartan Films to distribute its titles on DVD, taking over from TLA Releasing. In July 2006, Genius Products signed an agreement with

ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by the Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. Founded by Bill Rasmussen in 1979, it owns and operates local and global cable and ...

to distribute DVDs of ESPN programs via the ESPN Home Entertainment label. In October 2006, Genius Products signed distribution agreements with

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids, stylized as discovery k!ds, is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television block within Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel in October 1996. Discovery Kids on NBC was ...

and

to distribute their titles on DVD. On December 10, 2006, Genius Products signed a distribution agreement with

RHI Entertainment Halcyon Studios, LLC, formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., was an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...

(now known as Sonar Entertainment) to distribute its miniseries and television films on DVD. In January and February 2007, Genius Products and The Weinstein Co. signed distribution and co-production agreements with

and

after Sesame Workshop and Classic Media's deals with

Sony Wonder Sony Pictures Kids Zone is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not directly related to the fo ...

ended. Genius would distribute Sesame Workshop and ER/Classic Media's shows, while Weinstein Co. would work with Sesame and ER/Classic Media on current properties and for future development. At this time,

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist for the first seven months of president Donald Trump's first ...

was the chairman of the board at Genius. In 2009, investment firm Quadrant Management affiliate, GNPR Investments, acquired 60% of Genius Products, LLC, with TWC retaining 15% and Genius Products, Inc. holding 25%. Later that year, Genius' home video distribution rights were acquired by

Vivendi Entertainment Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment (formerly known as Vivendi Entertainment, Vivendi Visual Entertainment and Visual Entertainment) was a film, television, DVD and digital distribution company that operated in the United States and Canada. It was also a ...

, while distribution rights to

were sold to

Warner Home Video 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 ...

. In 2011, GPL was pushed into involuntary bankruptcy over $8.5 million in debt by

and two other companies.

Distribution rights

* BKN International AG *

(2007-2009, NA) *

(2006-2009) * BFC Berliner Film Companie Distribution GmbH * ESPN Home Entertainment *

Inc. * Pacific Entertainment (2006-2009) *

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

* PorchLight Entertainment *

Rainbow Media AMC Networks Inc. is an American mass media and entertainment corporation headquartered in Pennsylvania Plaza, 11 Penn Plaza, New York City. The company owns and operates the AMC (TV channel), AMC cable channel, BBC America, IFC (American TV ch ...

(2006-2009, US) *

(2007-2009, NA) *

(2006-2009, US)

References

{{Authority control The Weinstein Company Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States Entertainment companies established in 1996 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2011 Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Home video companies of the United States