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 of scripted television content, part of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. It was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Jr. and Robert Halmi Sr. (1924–2014) as Robert Halmi, Inc. The company used the direct-to-series model for TV series. In July 2024, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment was placed in

Chapter 7 liquidation Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''reor ...

, which would instigate the cessation of its subsidiaries, including Halcyon Studios.

History

Robert Halmi Inc. was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Sr. In July 1986, Robert Halmi Jr. took over as president and chief operating officer from Halmi Sr., who became the company's chairman and chief executive. From 1985 to 1988, RHI began a slowly-executed takeover of

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and, through its TV production subsidiary, Hal Roach Television Corporation, television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and busin ...

, which gave the company North American rights to a majority of the Laurel & Hardy films and shorts, the home entertainment and theatrical rights to the portion of the

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also pr ...

shorts that were not retained by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, and a majority of Hal Roach Studios’ feature films. Robert Halmi Inc. was then renamed as HRI Group. Not too long after, HRI Group was taken over by the Australian financial services company

Qintex Qintex Limited was an Australian financial services company founded on 1 April 1975, as Takeovers, Equities & Management Securities (TEAM). Its headquarters was in Brisbane, Australia. Its main shareholder and managing director was Christophe ...

(having joined the board of RHI when the merger with HRS was completed), and renamed Qintex Entertainment. However, Qintex quickly proved to be on the brink of financial collapse, with their bid for the assets of MGM/UA Entertainment Co. failing, and entered chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1989; their American operations had previously failed to provide timely payments to MCA Television (which Qintex had partnered with to distribute '' The New Leave It to Beaver'') the month prior. In 1990, Halmi re-purchased the assets of Qintex Entertainment for $40 million. In 1990, independent film studio

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

acquired a 52% stake in the studio, which was renamed as RHI Entertainment; for a time, RHI productions and New Line's films were distributed to television stations under the banner New Line Television Distribution. In 1992, RHI Entertainment made a deal with Cabin Fever Entertainment to distribute its library on home video.

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a Privately held company, privately held, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of greeting cards in the United ...

agreed to purchase RHI in April 1994. RHI had a 1,800 plus hours film library at that time. Hallmark Entertainment was then formed with RHI and Signboard Hill Productions, another Hallmark Cards subsidiary, becoming subsidiaries. Hallmark sold the

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company founded by Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland and Norm Prescott in 1962, before closing by Group W Productions on February 3, 1989. Located in Reseda, California, Filmation produced animated ...

library and its rights to

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. ...

in March 2004. In December 2005, Hallmark Cards sold off Hallmark Entertainment to an investor group led by Robert Halmi Jr., and it was renamed back to RHI Entertainment. On June 17, 2008, the company announced it will begin trading on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

under the ticker symbol "RHIE". On December 10, 2010, RHI filed for

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

. The company emerged from bankruptcy on March 29, 2011. In March 2012, the company was renamed Sonar Entertainment. The name change stemmed from the Halmis leaving the company. On April 9, 2021, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sonar's assets, which currently includes most of the

library, and other material previously released and/or produced by predecessor companies Qintex, RHI, Cabin Fever, and Hallmark. On May 3, 2021, CSS announced it would launch Halcyon Television, a scripted television studio. On March 27, 2023,

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

licensed digital distribution and streaming rights to 189 titles from Halcyon Studios. On April 23, 2024, its parent Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment announced a $636.6 million loss in 2023, and warned that without any options to generate additional financing, the company may be forced to liquidate or pause operations, and seek a potential

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

protection filing. On June 29, 2024, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after missing a week of paying its employees and failing to secure financing. On July 10, 2024, a bankruptcy judge ordered to convert Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's Chapter 11 bankruptcy into a

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

liquidation after accusing the company's previous CEO of misusing the business and failing to pay employees or support healthcare. With the Chapter 7 conversion, the company's assets will be liquidated, resulting in the cessation of its subsidiaries, including Halcyon Studios. Liquidation has not occurred yet as of April 2025.

Notable works

As Qintex Entertainment, the company co-produced the miniseries '' Lonesome Dove'' for CBS. As of December 2017, Sonar Entertainment's scripted series on-air, in production or slated to commence production included '' Mr. Mercedes'', written by David E. Kelley, based on the novel by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

, with Audience Network for

DIRECTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

and

AT&T U-Verse U-verse TV is an internet protocol television (IPTV) service operated by DirecTV. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse was originally a triple play package that included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), IP telephone (now AT& ...

; Seasons 1 and 2 of '' The Son'', starring

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

for

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

; Seasons 1 and 2 of ''

The Shannara Chronicles ''The Shannara Chronicles'' is an American fantasy drama (film and television), drama television series created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. It is an adaptation of The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, ''The Sword of Shannara'' trilogy of fantasy ...

'', for Spike; and ''Das Boot'', an eight-part series based on the film, for Sky.

References

{{Hallmark Cards 2021 mergers and acquisitions American companies disestablished in 2024 American companies established in 1979 Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment subsidiaries Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1989 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2024 Entertainment companies of the United States Mass media companies disestablished in 2024 Mass media companies established in 1979