Magnetic Video Corporation was a

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. ...

home audio Home audio refer to audio consumer electronics designed for home entertainment, such as integrated systems like shelf stereos, as well as individual components like loudspeakers and surround sound receivers. The evolution of home audio began ...

duplication service that operated between 1968 and 1982.

History

Magnetic Video Corporation was established by the co-founder Andre Blay, an American film producer in 1968 with Leon Nicholson and was based in

Farmington Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Farmington Hills is located roughly from downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States censu ...

. In 1977, it became the first corporation to release theatrical

motion pictures A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

onto

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

and VHS videocassette for consumer use. (Cartridge Television, Inc. preceded it in 1972 when it introduced the Avco

Cartrivision Cartrivision is an analog video tape cartridge format introduced in 1972, and the first format to offer feature films for consumer rental.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. ...

empire and the birth of

video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditi ...

systems. In the fall of 1976, Blay came up with the idea to release pre-recorded motion pictures on videocassette. The following year, he convinced

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Com ...

, which was then in financial difficulty, to license fifty of their films for home video release in VHS and

formats. Blay also established the Video Club of America in order to sell the titles directly to consumers by mail. Their first ad appeared in the November 26 to December 2 Issue of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' (Soap Cast on Cover). That same year, George Atkinson bought one

and one VHS copy of each of the first 50 movie titles from Magnetic Video that were then being sold to the public and established the Video Station rental company from a storefront in Los Angeles. He charged $50 for an "annual membership" and $100 for a "lifetime membership," which provided the opportunity to rent the videos for $10 a day. These 50 titles were:Magnetic Video
/ref> * '' Hello, Dolly!'' (1969) * ''

Fantastic Voyage ''Fantastic Voyage'' is a 1966 American science fiction adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. The film is about a submarine crew who is shrunk to microsco ...

'' (1966) * '' Von Ryan's Express'' (1965) * ''

The King And I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...

'' (1956) * '' Patton'' (1970) * '' The Hustler'' (1961) * '' The Agony and the Ecstasy'' (1965) * ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'' (1963) * '' The French Connection'' (1971) * '' Hombre'' (1967) * '' The Only Game in Town'' (1970) * '' Can-Can'' (1960) * '' The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (1951) * '' The Desert Fox'' (1951) * '' Beneath the Planet of the Apes'' (1970) * '' The Bible'' (1966) * '' The Boston Strangler'' (1968) * '' Tora! Tora! Tora!'' (1970) * '' The Detective'' (1968) * '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953) * '' The Longest Day'' (1962) * ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...

'' (1940) * '' The Robe'' (1953) * ''

How to Marry a Millionaire ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' is a 1953 American romantic comedy film directed by Jean Negulesco and written and produced by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays ''The Greeks Had a Word for It'' (1930) by Zoe Akins and '' ...

'' (1953) * '' Dr. Dolittle'' (1967) * '' The Panic in Needle Park'' (1971) * '' The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker'' (1971) * ''

Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point (geometry), point on the projection plane, image plane of a graphical perspective, perspective rendering where the two-dimensional perspective projections of parallel (geometry), parallel lines in three-dimensional ...

'' (1971) * '' The Sand Pebbles'' (1966) * ''

State Fair A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in t ...

'' (1962) * ''

Bus Stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...

'' (1956) * '' Three Coins in the Fountain'' (1954) * '' From the Terrace'' (1960) * '' Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines'' (1965) * '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943) * '' How to Steal a Million'' (1966) * '' How Green Was My Valley'' (1941) * '' M*A*S*H'' (1970) * '' Love is a Many-Splendored Thing'' (1955) * ''

Anastasia Anastasia (from ) is a feminine given name of Greek and Slavic origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe. Origin The name Anastasia originated during the Early Christianity, early d ...

'' (1956) * '' Boy on a Dolphin'' (1957) * '' The Hot Rock'' (1972) * ''

The Seven Year Itch ''The Seven Year Itch'' is a 1955 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, who co-wrote the screenplay with George Axelrod. Based on Axelrod's 1952 The Seven Year Itch (play), play of the same name, the film stars Marilyn Monroe ...

'' (1955) * '' Valley of the Dolls'' (1967) * '' Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' (1961) * '' The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958) * '' The Paper Chase'' (1973) * '' Carmen Jones'' (1954) * '' The Razor's Edge'' (1946) * '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1957) This and similar video stores were a success, and Magnetic Video took off, adding titles from the following companies in the next four years, in addition to continuing to release original titles from Fox: * 1978: Viacom, RBC Films/The

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

estate, and AVCO Embassy Pictures * 1979: Brut Productions, Bill Burrud Productions, and

Pathé Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

newsreels * 1980: ABC Pictures, ITC (Magnetic's first release from ITC was '' The Muppet Movie''), and American Film Theatre * 1981:

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

(UA; including pre-1950

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 ...

films which were owned by UA at that time), in addition to establishing short-lived sports and laserdisc divisions. The Magnetic Video project was such a success that it soon came over to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as "Magnetic Video UK" in 1978. Not long after, Magnetic Video branched into

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, trading under "Magnetic Video Australia". In March 1979, Fox purchased Magnetic Video, which was a small OTC traded public company (Blay was a major shareholder and Chairman). In January 1982, shortly after Blay's departure from the company, Fox reorganized Magnetic Video into 20th Century-Fox Video. Around the same time, Magnetic Video began to issue films in

laserdisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

format. Later that same year, Fox merged its video operations with CBS Video Enterprises, resulting in the creation of CBS/Fox Video on June 18, 1982. Magnetic Video Corporation famously opened its video releases with an animation of their logo and the words "MAGNETIC VIDEO CORPORATION" repeatedly scrolling upwards and mirrored in the background, and an announcement would come over the mellow guitar and horn music playing (announcements and music might differ depending on the company): * "By special arrangement with (movie studio name), Magnetic Video Corporation is proud to offer the following (major/classic) motion picture on videocassette." * "Magnetic Video, in cooperation with (movie studio name), is proud to offer the following feature on videocassette." (Alternate)

References

{{Region 1 home video Entertainment companies established in 1968 1982 disestablishments in Michigan American companies disestablished in 1982 Defunct companies based in Michigan Home video companies of the United States 20th Century Studios Companies based in Oakland County, Michigan 1968 establishments in Michigan American companies established in 1968