Echo Bridge Entertainment was an American independent distribution company. It acquired and distributed feature films, scripted and non-scripted series, documentaries, and children's programming for home video, digital and television in the United States and throughout the world. Since its acquisition of Alliance Atlantis International Distribution and recent distribution partnerships with

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, ...

and ABC Disney/Buena Vista, Echo Bridge Entertainment had a combined portfolio of over 11,000 titles, including '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (a co-production with

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programmin ...

Epitome Pictures Epitome Pictures Inc. (later known as DHX Studios Toronto) was a Canadian film and television production company based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded by Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn in 1992, the company is best known for producing '' Degrassi: ...

), until DHX Media acquired the family library in November 2014.

History

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, a division of Echo Bridge Entertainment, was founded in 1995 as Platinum Disc Corporation, initially distributed DVDs of low-budget and

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

films. It was named and had its logo inspired from the real

Echo Bridge Echo Bridge is a historic masonry bridge spanning the Charles River between Needham to Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, and Ellis Street in Newton. The bridge carries the Sudbury Aqueduct and foot traffic, and is located in the Hemlock G ...

in Newton,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. In February 2004, Echo Bridge Entertainment was founded at the

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held annually in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance, and acquire films. Participants come from more than 7 ...

, with the acquisition of the libraries of

CineTel Films CineTel Films Inc. was an independent film production company and distributor based in West Hollywood, California. History The company was founded in Chicago in 1980 as Chicago Teleproductions and later moved the company's headquarters to Los ...

and PM Entertainment. In September 2004, Echo Bridge announced that it would acquire the Green Communications library. In July 2005, Platinum Disc Corporation and Echo Bridge Entertainment merged to form Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. In April 2008, Echo Bridge acquired the international operations, including television distribution rights to

Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Los ...

library from

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

, with the exception of the '' CSI'' franchise, which was retained by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. In 2011, Echo Bridge Entertainment and

made a distribution deal in which Echo Bridge would release 251 films from the Miramax catalog, with the other 550 going to

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 ...

and

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

as Miramax had a similar distribution deal with them. On March 17, 2014, after Echo Bridge lost the distribution rights to the Miramax titles, the Miramax releases all went out of print and any mention of them was removed from their website. Lionsgate later expanded their deal with Miramax to include the 251 films previously released by Echo Bridge until 2020, when

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

(which parent company acquired a 49% stake of Miramax in 2019) extended their own deal with Miramax to include those 251 films. In 2014, Echo Bridge sold its family library to

(now known as WildBrain). In January 2017, filmmaker and producer

Steven Paul Steven Paul (born May 16, 1959) is an American independent filmmaker, actor, and talent manager. He is the chairman, founder and CEO of Crystal Sky Pictures. Life and career Paul was born in New York City. His mother, Dorothy Koster Paul, was ...

purchased the non-family assets of Echo Bridge, which in turn renamed as Echo Bridge Acquisition Corp, later becoming dormant and then folded into SP Distribution in 2021, with the distribution rights to the Echo Bridge/PM/Alliance Atlantis library in turn acquired by the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based distributor and streaming service

FilmRise FilmRise is an American media company, headquartered in New York City, that operates a film and television studio and a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) network. As of November 2024, the FilmRise app has reported more than 31.5 milli ...

for digital distribution.

Filmography

Platinum Disc Library

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment Library

References

External links

Official Echo Bridge/Twitter

Official Echo Bridge/Facebook
{{Authority control Companies based in Wisconsin Mass media companies established in 1995 Mass media companies disestablished in 2021 Home video companies of the United States DVD companies of the United States Film distributors of the United States La Crosse, Wisconsin American independent film studios WildBrain

History

Filmography

See also

References

External links