Seven Arts Pictures
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Seven Arts Entertainment Inc. was a British
independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...
production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...
founded in 1992. Notable films that were made by Seven Arts are '' Stander'', '' Asylum'', ''
Noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...
'' and more recently, '' Night of the Demons''.


History

Seven Arts Pictures was founded in the early 1990s by former
Carolco Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that was founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna in 1976. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit its peak in ...
president and CEO Peter Hoffman as Peter Hoffman Productions. In 1996, the studio came with a first look deal at Paramount Pictures. Hoffman runs a separate production company Cine Visions, which had been merged with ICE in 1997. Carolco had previously used the name Seven Arts as a joint venture with
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, ...
to produce and release mid-budget films; when the partnership was dissolved, Hoffman took the name Seven Arts with him to start over. With offices in London, England and Los Angeles, California, Seven Arts is producing motion pictures worldwide with budgets ranking from $2 million to $15 million for exhibition in domestic (i.e., the United States and Canada) and foreign theatrical markets and for subsequent post-theatrical worldwide release in other forms of media, including
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
and DVD, home video, pay-per-view, and free television.
Mario Kassar Mario F. Kassar (; born October 10, 1951) is a Lebanese-American film producer and industry executive who produced the first three films of the '' Rambo'' series, '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', '' Total Recall'', ''The Doors, Angel Heart'', ' ...
had headed Carolco with Hoffman. At one point, in the late 1990s, it was co-owned by
CanWest Global Communications Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, t ...
, who co-owned it with Peter and Susan Hoffman, with Canwest handling 35% of its share, and the Seven Arts International subsidiary, which was later absorbed into Fireworks Pictures. In 1998, it was in negotiations with Rysher Entertainment to handle international rights to the project '' Onegin'', with several deals across all territories.. In 2002, the Seven Arts International label was rejigged, which handled international sales of the films. In 2004, Seven Arts Pictures plc became a listed company on
Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market, Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in opera ...
(AIM). After trading on AIM for 3 years, the company moved to
Plus Markets PLUS Markets Group was a UK electronic stock exchange based in London for small cap companies. It was a market operator under MiFID Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and was both a regulated market and a multilateral trading facility ...
from 2007 to 2009. In preparation to its entrance 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 ...
, Seven Arts Pictures plc was listed on the
OTCBB The OTC (Over-The-Counter) Bulletin Board or OTCBB was a United States quotation medium operated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for its subscribing members. FINRA closed the OTCBB on November 8, 2021. The board was used fo ...
from 2008 to 2009. Since 2009, Seven Arts Pictures plc has been trading on the Nasdaq under SAPX. Seven Arts Pictures also has trading entities in the UK which have been put into liquidation owing investors millions of dollars. Below are a list of recent UK companies; most are in liquidation and are fronted by his daughter, Kate Hoffman: * Seven Arts Filmed Entertainment UK Ltd * Seven Arts Filmed Entertainment Ltd * Seven Arts Pictures plc – In liquidation * Cinematic Finance Ltd – In liquidation * Knife Edge Films Ltd – In liquidation * Gone To Hell Ltd – In liquidation Seven Arts had been implicated in major fraud by
HM Revenue and Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a department of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of stat ...
and also by many investors, claiming that Peter Hoffman's daughter is behind the many scams in the UK. In 2012, Seven Arts Pictures announced the creation of its new music division, Seven Arts Entertainment. This included the acquisition of musical assets by several multi platinum recording artists. Most notably is the rapper DMX whose next album was released in September 2012 titled '' Undisputed''. The new music division of Seven Arts plans to sign deals with already established artists as well as up and coming artists. The production slate of Seven Arts Pictures and third party producers are distributed through Seven Arts International.


Filmography

* '' Johnny Mnemonic'' (1995) * ''
Shattered Image ''Shattered Image'' is a 1998 Surrealist cinema, surreal thriller film written by Duane Poole and directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz (director), Raúl Ruiz. It stars William Baldwin, Anne Parillaud and Lisanne Falk. Plot Confusing realities ...
'' (1998) * '' Rules of Engagement'' (2000) * '' An American Rhapsody'' (2001) * '' No Good Deed'' (2003) * '' I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'' (2004) * '' Stander'' (2004) * '' Asylum'' (2005) * ''Shooting Gallery'' (2005) * ''
Noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...
'' (2005) * ''
Deal In cryptography, DEAL (Data Encryption Algorithm with Larger blocks) is a symmetric block cipher derived from the Data Encryption Standard (DES). Its design was presented by Lars Knudsen at the SAC conference in 1997, and submitted as a proposa ...
'' (2006) * ''
Autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...
'' (2007) * '' Knife Edge'' (2008) * ''Nine Miles Down'' (2009) * '' The Pool Boys'' (2010) * '' Night of the Demons'' (2010)


Founders controversy

Michael Arata and Peter Hoffman were accused of conspiracy, wire fraud in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
7 February 2014. Investigators said Arata and Hoffman sought tax credits for money they fraudulently claimed had been spent on the property. In April 2015, Hoffman was tried in a New Orleans court and found guilty of fraudulently claiming $1.13 million in state tax credits from the
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
state government for purchases of equipment and renovation work on an old mansion in the
French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...
, neither of which actually happened.


References


External links


Seven Arts Pictures
at the
IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{Authority control Companies based in Los Angeles Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States Film distributors of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the Alternative Investment Market Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq