Fireworks Entertainment (originally Skyvision Entertainment) was an independent studio originally founded in 1991 by Brian K. Ross and later bought out by

Jay Firestone Jay Firestone (born 13 October 1956) is a Canadian film and television producer. Personal Growing up in a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Firestone was the third child of six born to Jewish parents Esther, the first female cantor in Canada, and Pa ...

in 1996 to produce, distribute and finance television shows and feature films.The Believer - Jay Firestone
Skyvision Entertainment was originally operating as a division of John Labatt Entertainment Group. In 1993,

Orion Pictures Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...

inked an agreement with Skyvision Entertainment to handle series rights to the ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...

'' franchise. Also that year, it entered into an agreement with Rigel Entertainment for international distribution rights to '' RoboCop: The Series''. In 1996, Skyvision Entertainment was purchased by Jay Firestone, former employee of Alliance Communications, and rebranded it to Fireworks Entertainment. The first show under the new name was '' F/X: The Series'', which they acquired from Orion Pictures in 1994. Fireworks was acquired by

Canwest Global 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. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

in May 1998, and was later sold to ContentFilm (production company of ''

The Cooler ''The Cooler'' is a 2003 American crime drama film directed by Wayne Kramer, from a screenplay by Frank Hannah and Kramer. The film stars William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy, Ron Livingston, Estella Warren, Paul Sorvino, and Alec Baldw ...

''), a British company, in April 2005. Over the years, Fireworks has amassed a significant catalogue of television shows and movies (under the Fireworks Pictures label) In 1998, Peter Hoffman's Seven Arts Pictures formed an alliance with Fireworks to start out the Seven Arts International branding. In 2000, CanWest Films merged with Seven Arts International, another Canwest subsidiary to start the Fireworks Pictures branding to produce theatrical motion pictures. On October 2, 2001, Pliny Porter was hired as head of production and development for the Fireworks Pictures subsidiary, in order to make an effort to continue producing their own feature films. On March 14, 2011, Fireworks International was renamed as Content Television and its parent company, ContentFilm was also renamed as Content Media Corporation, which was later acquired by Canadian-based Kew Media Group in 2017 and after Kew Media's liquidation and collapse in 2020, its library was later acquired by

Quiver Distribution Quiver Distribution is an American-Canadian film production and film distribution company founded in 2019 by Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman. The company is best known for releasing films '' The Fanatic'', ''Running with the Devil ''Running wit ...

via its Quiver Entertainment division..

Court cases

The original company was sued by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

regarding

Queen of Swords The Queen of Swords is a card in the Suit of Swords, part of the Minor Arcana set of the Tarot. Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play tarot card games. In English-speaking countries, Tarot cards are utilized primarily for div ...

and by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

regarding Mutant X.{{cite web, url=http://openjurist.org/277/f3d/253/twentieth-v-marvel , title=Retrieved February 21, 2010 , publisher=Openjurist.org , access-date=2012-12-29

Television shows (as Fireworks Entertainment)

TV shows filmed in widescreen 16:9 from 2000 but generally broadcast in 4:3 pan and scan. The widescreen versions are available on DVD. * ''

100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd ''100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd'' is a television sitcom created for Nickelodeon by Steven H. Berman, Mitchel Katlin, and Nat Bernstein. The series ran for three seasons, premiering on October 16, 1999, and airing its final episode on April 21, 2002 ...

'' * ''

18 Wheels of Justice ''18 Wheels of Justice'' is an American crime drama series that aired from 2000 to 2001 on TNN. It starred Lucky Vanous as federal agent Michael Cates (posing as a truck driver, with a Kenworth T2000 semi-truck), and G. Gordon Liddy as Jacob Cal ...

'' * ''

Adventure Inc. ''Adventure Inc.'' is a dramatised adventure television series produced primarily in Canada which aired from 30 September 2002 to 12 May 2003. It was a co-production of Fireworks Entertainment (Canada), Tribune Entertainment (United States), M6 ...

'' * '' Andromeda'' (

Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', its sequel spin-off series ''Star Trek: The Animated Series,'' and ''Sta ...

) * '' Black Hole High'' * ''

Caitlin's Way ''Caitlin's Way'' (aired in Australia under the title ''Just a Kid'') is a live action teen drama series that aired on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2002. The show was co-created by Thomas W. Lynch. Premise ''Caitlin's Way'' focuses on Caitlin Seeg ...

'' * ''

Even Stevens ''Even Stevens'' is an American comedy television series that originally aired on Disney Channel from June 17, 2000, to June 2, 2003, airing a total of 65 episodes over three seasons. It follows the life of the Stevens, a family living in subur ...

'' (co-produced by Disney Channel) * '' F/X: The Series'' * ''Highlander: The Raven'' * ''La Femme Nikita (TV series), La Femme Nikita'' (co-produced by Warner Bros. Television) * '' Mutant X'' * ''

'' * ''Relic Hunter'' *'' RoboCop: The Series'' * ''RoboCop: Prime Directives'' (TV miniseries) *''Second City Television, SCTV'' (distribution only; inherited from Western International Communications, WIC during CanWest era) * ''Wild Card (TV series), Zoe Busiek: Wild Card'' * ''Young Dracula''

Films (as Fireworks Pictures)

* ''A Wrinkle in Time (2003 film), A Wrinkle in Time'' * ''An American Rhapsody'' * ''Better Than Sex (film), Better Than Sex'' * ''Coronado (2003 film), Coronado'' * ''Faithless (2000 film), Faithless'' * ''Greenfingers'' * ''Hardball (film), Hardball'' * ''Innocence (2000 film), Innocence'' * ''Interstate 60'' * ''Me Without You (film), Me Without You'' * ''Nola (film), Nola'' * ''Passionada'' * ''Raising Victor Vargas'' * ''Rat Race (film), Rat Race'' * ''Simon Magus (film), Simon Magus'' * ''Solas (film), Solas'' * ''The Believer (2001 film), The Believer'' * ''The Man from Elysian Fields'' * ''Who Is Cletis Tout?''

References

Mass media companies established in 1991 Mass media companies disestablished in 2011 Film production companies of Canada Film production companies of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United States Former Corus Entertainment subsidiaries