Harvey Films

The Harvey Entertainment Company (formerly known as Harvey Films and Harvey Entertainment, or simply Harvey, and later named Sunland Entertainment Co.) was the production arm of comic book publisher Harvey Comics. It was founded in 1957.

A majority of the company's assets were purchased by Classic Media (currently owned by NBCUniversal via DreamWorks Animation) in 2001 under the in-name subsidiary ''Harvey Entertainment, Inc.'', while the remains of the business including the live-action film division were folded within Echo Bridge Entertainment.

History

Early History

In the early 1960s, they created Harvey Funnies, the original entertainment company to produce ''The New Casper Cartoon Show''.

Harvey Films v. Columbia Pictures

On October 28, 1986, Harvey Films filed a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures claiming that the logo for the film ''Ghostbusters'' was similar to the logo for '' The Ghostly Trio'', specifically the ghost in the logo was similar to ''Fatso'', and Columbia argued that ''Fatso'' was only a portion of their, at the time, renewed trademark, and there were three ghosts instead of just one. The court argued that the logos are largely dissimilar and that ''The Ghostly Trio'' had only the words of the trademark and the three ghosts while the logo for ''Ghostbusters'' has a sign for prohibition with only the torso and head of only one ghost. The expressions are different, with their ghosts having mischievous or evil facial expressions, while the other one is bewildered. The court said:

The court dismissed the case for not violating their trademark.

Purchase by Jeffrey A. Montgomery

In 1989, Jeffrey A. Montgomery purchased Harvey from the Harvey family for $7.5 million. With this, the company became a subsidiary of Montgomery's HMH Communications (based in Santa Monica, California) and was renamed Harvey Comics Entertainment. Universal Pictures secured a 10% stake in Harvey in exchange for producing films based on ''Casper'' and select other Harvey properties.

During this period, Montgomery began to re-syndicate the existing animated library as well as reprint older comic book titles. Through Claster Television, ''Casper & Friends'' was syndicated to local TV stations for three years between 1990-1994, while the "Harvey Classics" comic books began being published around the same time. In 1991, the company licensed out ''Richie Rich'' and ''Casper'' to Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures respectively to create films based on the characters.

In 1993, Harvey launched two additional comic book imprints to publish titles outside of its existing library - Nemesis Comics and Ultracomics, the latter was made to publish Ultraman comics. In the same year, the company went public under the NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange and was renamed The Harvey Entertainment Company.

In March 1994, the company saw expanded losses with its revenue falling 26%. In May, Marvel Comics took over publishing and distribution for Harvey's comic book titles. In September, the first Harvey television series produced exclusively for television, ''The Baby Huey Show'', aired on syndicated television stations for two seasons. The series featured brand new made-for-TV ''Baby Huey'' cartoons, as well as an assortment of existing Harvey cartoons, effectively replacing the previous syndication package.

On May 29, 1996, Harvey commissioned Saban Entertainment to produce new direct-to-video material based on ''Casper'' and ''Richie Rich'', with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment secured as the distributor. This deal was placed outside of the theatrical deal with Universal, of which they would produce a sequel to the 1995 ''Casper'' film and retain all other theatrical rights to the character. In September, a second newly-produced series, '' Richie Rich'' was syndicated for a single series of thirteen episodes.

In February 1997, Harvey re-acquired full merchandising and licensing rights to their properties including ''Casper'' and ''Richie Rich'' from Universal Pictures, although they would continue to work with the company on new animated projects. The company reported a net loss of $386,000 in March, which Harvey blamed on the repurchase. In September, the company expanded their deal with Saban Entertainment to include an additional ''Casper'' feature - '' Casper Meets Wendy'' for a fall 1998 release, with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment remaining on board as distributor.

In February 1998, Harvey pre-sold a package of ''HarveyToons'' cartoons, entitled ''The HarveyToons Show'', to the then-upcoming Fox Family Channel. Jeffrey A. Montgomery and Greg Yulish were ousted from the company in March. On July 27, Harvey announced that through a business plan with the Global Media Management Group, the company would produce a slate of twelve direct-to-video feature films and three television shows.

Restructuring

In April 1999, the company changed hands after a group of investors purchased it for $17.7 million. The company secured continued losses, including a $250,000 loss for '' Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure''. In September 1999, Harvey announced that they would purchase the film distributor PM Entertainment from its founders Joseph Merhi and Richard Pepin for $6.5 million and a further $1.45 million in stock. In October, the company entered into a partnership with Spümcø to produce web-exclusive content featuring an assortment of Harvey characters. in November, the company signed a theme park deal with Landmark Entertainment Group to construct and design a theme park featuring the Harvey characters. The company attended its first MIPCOM in November 1999 after entering the self-distribution market, announcing the work of a new CGI-animated ''Casper'' Christmas movie with Mainframe Entertainment and a live-action ''Baby Huey'' series aimed towards a pre-school audience. Harvey Home Entertainment also released several ''HarveyToons'' VHS releases with Universal Studios Home Video. The ''Casper'' project with Mainframe was officially announced in December.

Harvey's purchase of PM Entertainment was closed in January 2000, with PM becoming a fully-owned subsidiary of Harvey. In February, the company launched a new subsidiary, Harvey Fashion LLC, as a joint-venture with PG Capital. Harvey Fashion would manufacture, sell and market apparel collections based on the classic Harvey characters. In March, the company teamed up with Studio B Productions to produce a new television series featuring Wendy the Good Little Witch, entitled ''Wendy the Witch'', for an early-2001 delivery. The company engaged in third-party distribution in April 2000 by becoming the international sales representative and distributor of animation studio Film Roman. In May, the company acquired television rights to the website ''Walter Miller's Home Page'', allowing Harvey to branch off to primetime television. Universal acquired North American distribution rights to '' Casper's Haunted Christmas'' in June. In the same month, Harvey entered into a worldwide licensing agreement with Hearst Entertainment, with the latter handling merchandising and licensing to bring the Harvey Classics over to a new generation. At the beginning of August, the company secured a deal with website ThinkBox to add its characters to ThinkBox's kids portal, with Harvey also receiving an equity position in ThinkBox. On August 17, the company purchased North American distribution rights to the movie ''A Monkey's Tale'' from Pearson Television International.

Sale of assets to Classic Media

In August, it was announced that Lions Gate Entertainment was an interested partner in taking over Harvey Entertainment with eight other companies also interested. At the end of the month, the newly-formed Classic Media announced that they would purchase a 60% stake in Harvey Entertainment for a cash-and-stock deal valued at $30 million. The deal fell through at the beginning of November. At this point, Harvey Entertainment was on the verge of liquidation. Harvey sold international sales rights to the PM Entertainment library to CineTel Films in February 2001.

Following the failed purchase, on March 8, 2001, The Harvey Entertainment Company announced that Classic Media would purchase all its media library for $17 million. The deal would include Harvey's entire library of classic characters, film library, print materials, the "Harvey" brand and logo, among others. The Harvey Entertainment Company (including PM Entertainment) itself would not be included in the sale and would be renamed. The deal was verified by the two businesses in May and the deal was closed on June 26. The following day, The Harvey Entertainment Company was renamed Sunland Entertainment Co., putting a focus exclusively on the PM Entertainment catalogue. Following the sale of the Harvey characters, Classic Media formed an in-name subsidiary entitled Harvey Entertainment, Inc. to hold all copyrights to the Harvey catalog.

In 2003, Roger Burlage sold the remains of Sunland Entertainment and PM Entertainment, alongside its library, to a group of investors who also purchased out the assets of CineTel Films. With this, Echo Bridge Entertainment was formed.

List of ''Harvey Films'' productions

Theatrical films
* ''The Sad Sack'' (1957 film starring Jerry Lewis)
* '' Richie Rich'' (1994 theatrical film) (co-production with Warner Bros. Family Entertainment)
* '' Casper'' (1995 theatrical film) (co-production with Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

TV series
* '' Matty's Funday Funnies'' (1959–1962)
* '' The New Casper Cartoon Show'' (1963–1964) (co-production with Paramount Cartoon Studios)
* '' Casper and the Angels'' (1979–1980) (co-production with Hanna-Barbera)
** '' Casper's Halloween Special'' (TV special) (1979) (co-production with Hanna-Barbera)
** '' Casper's First Christmas'' (TV special) (1979) (co-production with Hanna-Barbera)
* '' The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show'' (1980–1982) (co-production with Hanna-Barbera)
* '' The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show'' (1982–1984) (co-production with Hanna-Barbera)
* '' Casper and Friends'' (1990–1994)
* ''Casper: Classics'' (1994–1995)
* ''The Baby Huey Show'' (1994–1996) (co-production with Carbunkle Cartoons (season 1) and Film Roman (season 2))
* '' Casper'' (1996–1998) (aka '' The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper'') (co-production with Amblin Television and Universal Cartoon Studios)
* '' Richie Rich'' (1996) (co-production with Film Roman)
* '' The Harveytoons Show'' (1998–2001)

Direct-to-video
* '' Casper: A Spirited Beginning'' (1997) (co-production with Saban Entertainment, distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
* '' Casper Meets Wendy'' (1998) (co-production with Saban Entertainment, distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
* '' Richie Rich's Christmas Wish'' (1998) (co-production with Saban Entertainment, distributed by Warner Home Video)
* '' Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure'' (1999) (Distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Video, self-distributed overseas)
* '' Casper's Haunted Christmas'' (2000) (co-production with Mainframe Entertainment, distributed by Universal Studios Home Video and self-distributed overseas)

Cancelled projects

Harvey once planned to create theatrical films based on a selection of characters, but these films never materialized.
* ''Hot Stuff''
* ''Bunny''
* ''Richie Rich Goes First Class''
* ''Wendy''

References

External links

NBCUniversal official website

{{NBCUniversal

Harvey Comics
American animation studios
Mass media companies established in 1957
Film production companies of the United States
Television production companies of the United States
DreamWorks Classics
Universal Pictures subsidiaries
NBCUniversal