Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the

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. ...

distribution division of

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, an American film studio owned by

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

, the entertainment unit of

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the Universal Pictures film library, the

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...

film library, most of the 1929–1949

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

film library held by

EMKA, Ltd. EMKA Limited is a company that is owned by the Universal Television division of NBCUniversal with the sole function of overseeing the list of Paramount Pictures films (1920–1929), 1929–List of Paramount Pictures films (1940–1949), 1949 Para ...

, and shows from the

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV (stylized as NBCUniversal SYNDICATION STUDIOS) is t ...

library (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, E!, Syfy,

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

, and

Oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

). The division also had distribution deals with

United Artists Releasing United Artists Releasing, LLC (UAR) was an American film distribution joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Annapurna Pictures and the successor to United Artists (UA) that operated from October 31, 2017 to March 4, 2023. Founded by form ...

, The Film Arcade,

Aviron Pictures Aviron Pictures was an American film production and distribution company founded by William Sadleir, founder of Clarius Entertainment (which, as the company went inactive shortly after his departure, Aviron can be considered a successor of) and ...

STX Entertainment STX Entertainment is an American independent entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds and TPG Growth managing partner Bill McGlashan, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projec ...

(save for films from EuropaCorp Films USA, which Lionsgate holds the video rights to),

Mattel Creations Mattel Television is the television production division of American toy and entertainment company Mattel, originally founded on March 31, 2016 as the successor to Mattel's earlier entertainment division, ''Mattel Playground Productions'', under t ...

(for the long-running ''Barbie'' direct-to-video film series), 101 Studios, Sovereign Films,

Open Road Films Open Road Films, LLC (formerly known briefly as Global Road Entertainment) is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Tom Ortenberg on March 26, 2011, as a joint ven ...

Briarcliff Entertainment Briarcliff Entertainment is an independent American film production and distribution company founded by former Open Road Films CEO Tom Ortenberg. Launched in 2018, the studio debuted with Michael Moore's documentary ''Fahrenheit 11/9'' as their ...

Pinnacle Peak Pictures Pinnacle Peak Pictures (formerly Pure Flix Entertainment until January 2021) is an American independent evangelical Christian film production and distribution studio founded by David A. R. White and Russell Wolfe. Pinnacle Peak produces Chris ...

, Picturehouse, Blumhouse Tilt,

Neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

and

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightlife, nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood popular today for music venues and comedy as well as a ...

(until 2021),

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

(in the United States and Canada; until 2018, after which

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures libra ...

took over) and

Entertainment One Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series. The company began on June 1, 1973 ...

(in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany and the United States; until 2024, after which

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...

took over). Since 2021, their releases are currently distributed in North America by Studio Distribution Services, a joint venture between UPHE and

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

, with select titles distributed by Allied Vaughn through its

Manufacture on demand Build-on-demand or manufacturing on demand (MOD) refers to a manufacturing process where goods are produced only when or as they are required. This allows scalability and adjustable assemblies depending on the current needs of the part requestor or ...

(MOD) solutions.

History

The company was founded in 1980 as MCA Videocassette, Inc. with Gene Giaquinto as president of the division. It released 24 films on

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 VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in May 1980, including '' Jaws'', ''

Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller (writer), Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom ...

'' and ''

The Deer Hunter ''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives are upended by fighting in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are played by Robert De Niro ...

'' as well as classic films such as ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

'', ''

Animal Crackers An animal cracker is a particular type of cracker (food), cracker, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or a circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear, or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and sli ...

'', and '' Scarface''. ''

Jaws 2 ''Jaws 2'' is a 1978 American horror thriller film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and co-written by Carl Gottlieb. It is the sequel to Steven Spielberg's '' Jaws'' (1975), and the second installment in the ''Jaws'' franchise. The film stars Roy ...

'' and ''

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

'' were also released that year. Before 1980

Castle Films Castle Films was a film company founded in California by former newsreel cameraman Eugene W. Castle (1897–1960) in 1924. Originally, Castle Films produced industrial and advertising films. Then in 1937, the company pioneered the production and ...

(known as Universal 8 after 1977) had served as Universal's home film distribution unit. In late 1983, both the

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 ...

sister label MCA Videodisc and the MCA Videocassette label were consolidated into a single entity, MCA Home Video, alternating with the MCA Videocassette, Inc. name until December 1983. In the mid-1980s, MCA Home Video began to license catalog titles to smaller, independent video firms with a focus on sell-through product. The first was in 1986 with Kartes Video Communications. The deal was followed with a similar agreement with

GoodTimes Home Video GT Media, Inc. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and classics. The ...

in 1987. Also in 1986, the company made agreements with Motown Productions and with children's book publisher

Price Stern Sloan Price Stern Sloan (originally known as Price/Stern/Sloan) or PSS! was a publisher (now an imprint of Penguin Random House) that was founded in Los Angeles in the early 1960s to publish the Mad Libs that Roger Price and Leonard Stern had concoc ...

. Both deals were intended to expand MCA's non-theatrical product. 1987 was a busy year for MCA Home Video; the company underwent an executive shuffle, signed an exclusive three-year deal with International Video Entertainment for video distribution, and began offering new content from Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. In 1990, with the 75th anniversary of Universal Studios, it became MCA/Universal Home Video and used that name alternating with the MCA Home Video name from 1990 until 1997. On December 9, 1996, the company was renamed as Universal Studios Home Video when MCA was reincorporated as Universal Studios, which would then later be merged into

Vivendi Universal Entertainment Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

in 2000. Universal's first titles on DVD, in 1997, were licensed to

Image Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 34 ...

for distribution. These early, bare-bones editions quickly fell out-of-print when Universal started making their own DVDs. In 2004, due to the merger of Universal Studios and

to form

NBC Universal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is a subsidiary of Comcast and headquartered at 30 ...

, Universal started releasing DVDs of shows from the newly established

NBC Universal Television Distribution NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV (stylized as NBCUniversal SYNDICATION STUDIOS) is t ...

. Before 2004, NBC shows were distributed on DVD by Lions Gate Home Entertainment and A&E Home Video under the label NBC Home Entertainment (formerly NBC Home Video under Trimark until it was bought by Lions Gate). NBC's home entertainment on-screen logo was simply the

NBC Enterprises NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV (stylized as NBCUniversal SYNDICATION STUDIOS) is t ...

syndication logo. In 2005 (by which point the Universal Studios Home Entertainment name was in use), the group was restructured; Universal 1440 Entertainment was formed as an internal production arm, while the London-based Universal Pictures Visual Programming (formerly PolyGram Visual Programming) unit was folded into Universal Pictures International;

Universal Cartoon Studios Universal Animation Studios LLC, formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios, is an American animation studio and a division of Universal 1440 Entertainment, an home entertainment division of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, which in tur ...

was absorbed into the Family Productions unit. The year after, UPHE acquired distribution rights to the ''Barbie'' film series after negotiations between Mattel and their previous domestic distributor,

, fell apart (Universal had already been distributing these films internationally). Universal was also the worldwide video distributor for DreamWorks titles using the

DreamWorks Home Entertainment DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film studio and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994, as a live-action and animation film s ...

moniker until 2006, when DreamWorks was sold to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

' parent company,

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...

, and as a result,

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 ...

took over distribution. After Viacom spun off DreamWorks in 2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment planned to resume distributing DreamWorks' movies, but this deal fell through. Until Lionsgate formed their home video division, Universal distributed their releases with the exception of ''

Dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

'', which was distributed by Columbia-TriStar Home Video. In 2007, it was signed on as home video distributor of releases by

Summit Entertainment Summit Entertainment, LLC (formerly the Summit Group, Summit Export Group, Summit Entertainment Group Inc., Summit Entertainment Limited, Summit Films Limited, and Summit Entertainment N.V.) is an American film production label of Lionsgate Film ...

(ironically, Summit was later bought by Lionsgate). In addition to DVDs, Universal was a major supporter of the

HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Density Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video.

format until

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

discontinued the format. Since July 22, 2008, UPHE released

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 ...

s and it was the last major Hollywood movie studio to do so. The first three Blu-ray releases to come out in the U.S. were ''

The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places * Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in P ...

'', its sequel ''

The Mummy Returns ''The Mummy Returns'' is a 2001 American fantasy action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It is the sequel to the 1999 film ''The Mummy'', and the second in ''The Mummy'' film series. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Jo ...

'' and ''

The Scorpion King ''The Scorpion King'' is a 2002 action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell. The film stars Dwayne Johnson (credited as The Rock) as the lead, with Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan in supporting roles. It ...

''. Since August 9, 2016, UPHE has released

Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray supports 4K UHD (3840 × 2160 pixel resolution) video at frame rates up to 60 progre ...

s. In 2015,

(now known as

Crunchyroll, LLC Crunchyroll, LLC is an American Entertainment#Industry, entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas. It currently operates the anime-focused Crunchyroll, eponymous over-the-top media service, over-the-top video on demand#Subscription models, ...

), formed a multi-year home video distribution deal with UPHE. Two years later,

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

acquired a 95% stake in Funimation, which resulted in

taking over distribution after the UPHE deal expired. Starting on June 5, 2018, because NBCUniversal acquired

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

in 2016, Universal began re-releasing all of DWA's film library on home video after their deal with

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment) was a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Stud ...

ended.

Internationally

Outside North America, before 1999, Universal releases were distributed by

CIC Video CIC Video was a home video distributor, established in 1980, owned by Cinema International Corporation (the forerunner of United International Pictures), and operated in some countries (such as United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Japan, France, Ge ...

, the home video division of

United International Pictures United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M ...

. When Universal nearly pulled out of UIP in 1999 following their then-parent

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

's purchase of PolyGram, they would pull out of CIC and renamed PolyGram's home video unit ( PolyGram Video) as Universal Pictures Video, later Universal Pictures International Entertainment. On February 28, 1999, Universal signed a multi-year distribution deal with Columbia TriStar Home Video to allow the latter to distribute Universal's DVD releases outside North America. At the start of 2015,

signed a distribution agreement with Universal, whereby the latter will distribute the former's titles overseas, particularly in the territories where Paramount holds an office. The deal began on July 1, 2015. Along with the announcement of the Universal/Warner Bros. NA physical home media joint-venture, Universal announced that they would begin distributing Warner Bros. titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan in the third quarter of 2020 through home video, while Warner Bros. announced that they would begin distributing Universal titles in the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the first quarter of 2021 through home video.

Distribution deals

In the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, UPHE used to distribute most

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s of films released theatrically by

Independent Films An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

and TV shows and films from

Studio 100 Studio 100 N.V. is a Belgian children's entertainment production & distribution company that specialized in high quality kids & family entertainment content and operated their in-house animation studios such as their Australian animation compa ...

until 2006, although this is now limited to catalog releases, as more recent films are now released through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and later on, Belga Home Video. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, UPHE distributes films on DVD and VHS through

in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999, the company was moved to Ster-Kinekor Home Entertainment after CIC Video was dissolved in the same year. In 2007, it was moved later to Nu Metro Home Entertainment on DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs until 2013, when Next Entertainment took over until 2021. UPHE also formerly distributed

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 ...

titles on home media in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(until 2024 when distribution moved to ESC Distribution), most of the

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

library in the UK and most of the

Carolco Pictures 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 th ...

library in Australia, Latin America, and several European countries (along with other

properties) until StudioCanal's global distribution deal with Universal expired in January 2022. In the 1980s until the late 1990s, they also distributed tapes released by

Cineplex Odeon Cineplex Odeon is a theatre brand owned by Cineplex Entertainment in Canada, after acquiring the Cineplex Odeon Corporation in 1998. As of 2023, there are 61 Cineplex Odeon locations in Canada. The former corporation was one of North America's ...

in Canada. In the UK, UPHE previously distributed its films on video internationally through

(a division of

Cinema International Corporation Cinema International Corporation (CIC) was a film distribution company started by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures in the early 1970s to distribute the two studios' films outside the United States – it even operated in Canada before it ...

, later

) alongside

. In Japan, releases from both Universal and Paramount appeared on CIC-Victor Video, Ltd. (a joint venture between CIC Video and

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

) for VHS and on Pioneer LDC, Inc. for Laserdisc. In June 2002, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment formed a joint-venture with Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd. called UCA (Universal Columbia Alliance), under which Universal would distribute back catalogue Columbia Tristar titles through retail. UPHE's international operations are a carryover from the PolyGram Video days,https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release/?id=59043 Universal Studios Home Video And Columbia Tristar Home Video Join For International DVD Distribution but UPHE operates a joint venture in

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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

with

called Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The venture distributes UPHE and SPHE titles on home media in those countries and also licensed

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series and films from the anime library of

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Min ...

, the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese division of UPHE's sister company, Universal Pictures International Entertainment, formerly known as Pioneer LDC from 1981 to 2003, Geneon Entertainment from 2003 to 2009 and Geneon Universal Entertainment from 2009 to very late 2013, the year they switched to their current name. The name of the joint venture is Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia. Before that, though,

had a marketing and distribution division in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

called Geneon USA, which, like UPHE, also distributed home video. At the time, NBCUEJ was known as Geneon Entertainment. Geneon USA shut down in late 2007, and Universal has licensed all of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan's catalog to other companies rather than directly distributing them themselves. Starting on March 26, 2022, NBCUEJ (through UPHE) distributes and licenses anime series and films. From 2017 to 2018,

began directly distributing a select number of its titles in Australia and New Zealand through Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia. In September 2018, Funimation transferred distribution to

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

, with Madman handling distribution and classification within the region. On October 3, 2014, Universal established global headquarters for its home video division in Los Angeles. The Universal deal expired upon the announcement of the Universal/Warner Bros. physical media joint-venture, and as a result, Paramount signed a new UK home entertainment distribution deal with

StudioCanal UK StudioCanal Limited, trade name, doing business as StudioCanal UK (formerly known as Optimum Releasing), is a British film distribution division and the official British branch of the French film & television production and distribution company ...

and

Lionsgate UK Lions Gate UK Limited (formerly Redbus Film Distribution, and briefly known as Helkon SK between 2001 and 2003) is the British subsidiary of the American film company, Lionsgate Studios. Founded in 1999 by Simon Franks and Zygi Kamasa, Redbus ...

's Elevation Sales on July 14, 2020, that began in November that year. In 2020,

SF Studios SF Studios is Sweden’s largest film studio. It is involved in production, distribution, and movie theater market chains (both Swedish and international, including American) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen ...

had signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles across the Nordic region. In early 2023 and late 2024, Plaion Pictures and Spirit Entertainment signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles respectively in Italy and the United Kingdom, which caused Universal's deal with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to expire in those countries. Since early 2024, ESC Distribution now handles Universal's titles on home media in France.

Universal 1440 Entertainment

Universal 1440 Entertainment is the direct-to-video entertainment label of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment created in 2005. The entity is a successor to MCA Family Entertainment (formerly Universal Family Entertainment). It was originally known as Universal Studios Family Productions, and

(now Universal Animation Studios) is a subsidiary of the company.

Filmography

Universal Playback

Universal Playback is a division of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and specializing in DVD and Blu-ray releases of TV shows, either it be produced or distributed by

. It offers a variety of titles across different TV genres, including TV shows, documentaries, and special interest content.

References

External links

*
Studio Distribution Services
{{Authority control 1980 establishments in California American companies established in 1980 Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Home video companies established in 1980 Home video companies of the United States Home video distributors Universal City, California Universal Pictures subsidiaries