Becker Entertainment is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

production company.

History

The company was founded in 1965 as R.A. Becker by Russell Becker, one of the pioneers of commercial television in Australia. Becker was Australia's first independent distributor of television programs. It went on to become a major producer of Australian versions of numerous American game shows. In 1976, Russell's son Richard Becker bought out Fremantle International's Australian unit, who was producing several game shows to the markets of Australia and New Zealand. In 1977, Richard Becker was joining the family business after four years with the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, and helped them expand the television division. In 1987, the company launched its subsidiary, PRO Films, to produce feature films in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

market. The company expanded into theatrical film distribution around the same time as REP (standing for Richard Entertainment Partners) after Russell Becker's son Richard and his two friends Richard Sheffield and Richard Guardian who collaborated with him on the move into film. Richard Sheffield ran REP as a Becker employee until he left to establish the Australian office of

PolyGram Pictures PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (formerly known as PolyGram Films and PolyGram Pictures or simply PFE) was a British film studio founded in 1979 which became a European competitor to Hollywood, but was eventually sold to Seagram Company Ltd. in 19 ...

). The Australian box office success of ''

Four Weddings and a Funeral ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle ...

'' fueled the listing of Becker Entertainment Limited on the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

in 1995, with Richard Becker as Managing Director and Russell as Chairman. Around the same time, PolyGram and Becker parted ways, with

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (formerly known as PolyGram Films and PolyGram Pictures or simply PFE) was a British film studio founded in 1979 which became a European competitor to Hollywood, but was eventually sold to Seagram Company Ltd. in 1 ...

establishing its Australian unit. Subsequently, Becker Entertainment purchased the Dendy Cinema chain and became Australia's largest exhibitor of art house or limited release theatrical films. The company begin expanding its market to Indonesia, with a 10-year deal with broadcaster

RCTI RCTI (''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia'') is a West Jakarta-based Indonesian free-to-air television network. It is best known for its soap operas, celebrity bulletins, news, and sports programmes. It was first launched in 1989, origina ...

in 1998. In the late 1990s, the company gained the rights to the 600-title library from TMS Distribution (the former incarnation of Hoyts Distribution). In 2003, the company expanded its holdings to include a new international sales unit Becker Films International, led by Reiko Bradley, which manages international sales of Becker's films around the world. A year later, the company decided to sell its stake in home video distributor

Magna Pacific Magna Home Entertainment was an independent home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand. As of February 2009, Magna Home Entertainment became a fully owned subsidia ...

for $27 million. Becker Entertainment was sold to

Prime Television Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as '' CBN-8'' in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capi ...

in 2007. Around the same time, Becker sold off its Dendy Films and

Dendy Cinemas Dendy Cinema Pty Limited is an Australian cinema chain. Dendy operates in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast. Its main competitors are Hoyts, Village, Event, Wallis Cinemas, Palace Cinemas and Reading. It is a subsidiary of Icon Prod ...

chain to

Icon Film Distribution Icon Productions is a production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey, which, unlike most other independent production companies, funds most of its development and production cos ...

in 2008. After stepping down from Becker Entertainment in 2007, Richard Becker went on to establish a new company, Becker Film Group in 2008 With the remaining assets owned by Prime Television Limited, the company was eventually delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange, and remaining rights absorbed into Prime Television Limited. Prime went on to rename the company WASTAR ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD ACN 073 853 371.

Relaunch

On 22 September 2016, Daniel Becker and RJ Brent successfully lobbied ASIC to register a new trading entity of Becker Entertainment Pty Ltd ACN 614 954 157 This company was established as a Film and TV Production Company, and started focusing on projects in 2017 with ''My Day Job'' and ''Ravenswood''.

References

External links

Becker Entertainment
{{Seven West Media Television production companies of Australia Prime Media Group Seven Network Entertainment companies established in 1965 1965 establishments in Australia

History

Relaunch

See also

References

External links