Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of American film studio Universal Pictures, owned by the NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

History

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

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

and VHS in May 1980, including '' Jaws'', '' Animal House'' and '' The Deer Hunter'' as well as classic films such as ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

'', ''

Animal Crackers An animal cracker is a particular type of 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 slightly sweet, but ...

'' and '' Scarface''. '' Jaws 2'' and ''

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

'' were also released that year. Prior to 1980, Castle Films (known as Universal 8 after 1977) had served as Universal's home film distribution unit. In late 1983, both the

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

sister label MCA Videodisc and the VHS/Beta label MCA Videocassette, Inc. were consolidated into a single entity, MCA Home Video, alternating with the MCA Videocassette, Inc. name until December 1983. In 1990, with the 75th anniversary of Universal Studios, it became MCA/Universal Home Video, alternating with the MCA Home Video name from 1990 until 1997. The company later went by various company names, including Universal Studios Home Video (1997–2005) and Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2005–2016). In 1980, they released two '50s 3-D motion pictures, '' Creature from the Black Lagoon'' and '' It Came from Outer Space'', in anaglyphic format on Beta and VHS. In 1986, MCA Home Video had inked a distribution deal with video distributor Kartes Video Communications to re-release older and classic titles on videocassette, with six titles from the Universal catalog. This was followed by a similar agreement in 1987, when MCA Home Video had inked a distribution deal with GoodTimes Home Video to re-release several MCA catalog titles for a low price. In 1986, the company had inked an agreement with

Motown Productions Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of '' ...

, in order to launch a series of four "Motown Video Originals" in an effort to enter the direct-to-video market as "mini-movies" which was budgeted in the mid-six figures, and wanted to be viewed as breakthrough programs by MCA in the anticipated "longform music video" category. Also that year, the company formed a partnership with children's book publisher Price Stern Sloan, who already succeeded with the '' Wee Sing'' titles, inked a deal with the company to handle videocassette releases of children's programs, like '' Mr. Men'' and ''The World's Worst Jokes'', which are the first two projects offered by $100,000, and MCA handled worldwide distribution of PSS projects, with the exceptions of '' Mr. Men'' and '' Wee Sing'', which PSS handled worldwide distribution. In 1987, MCA Distribution Corp., who normally distributed titles from MCA Home Video and independent home video distributor International Video Entertainment signed an exclusive three-year agreement, that provided that all product produced by IVE, as well as subsidiary label Family Home Entertainment, would be delivered to MCA, which that would only handle distribution for the company, as well as IVE, which would continue to control sales and marketing policies and activities, to be in effect by March 1, and that the IVE subsidiary Creative Video Services would handle a multi-year agreement with the company, which Creative Video Services would supply over 1 million videocassettes that was produced by MCA a year, and initial releases covered by the agreement are a series of titles produced by Carolco Pictures and Scotti Bros. Pictures, and that MCA would offer to distribute new videocassettes from Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. That year, MCA has restructured its MCA Home Entertainment unit, naming business affairs vice president Sondra Berchin to take over the new position as executive president of the MCA Home Entertainment division, and responsible for handling out new titles and responsibilities to Ned Nalle, Louis Feola and Blair Westlake, all of them were previously alumus of various MCA/Universal units, namely Universal Pay Television. After the founding of NBC Universal in 2004, Universal started releasing DVDs of shows from the newly established NBC Universal Television Distribution. Universal 1440 Entertainment was formed in 2005 as the production arm of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. This company was the worldwide video distributor for DreamWorks titles until DreamWorks was sold to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

' parent company, Viacom, in 2006, at which point Paramount took over distribution. After Viacom spun off DreamWorks in 2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment was planned to resume distributing DreamWorks' movies, but this deal fell through. Until Lionsgate formed their home video division, their releases were distributed by Universal with the exception of '' Dogma'', which was distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 2007, it was signed on as home video distributor of releases by Summit Entertainment. In addition to DVDs, Universal was a major supporter of the HD DVD format until Toshiba discontinued the format. Since July 22, 2008, UPHE released Blu-rays 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'', its sequel The Mummy Returns and '' The Scorpion King''. Since August 9, 2016, UPHE started releasing Ultra HD Blu-rays''. UPHE is the U.S. home video distributor for all of the Universal Pictures film library, the

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...

film library, and shows from NBCUniversal Television Distribution ( NBC, E!,

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

, USA Network, Universal Kids, and Oxygen). The division also currently has distribution deals with

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...

, The Film Arcade, Aviron Pictures,

STX Entertainment STX Entertainment is a mini-major American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects. In April 2020, STX announced that it would merg ...

, 101 Studios, Open Road Films, MGM Home Entertainment (select new releases only, most of them are handled by

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

, although both companies own Studio Distribution Services, LLC. via a joint venture), Pure Flix Entertainment, Picturehouse, Blumhouse Tilt, DreamWorks Classics (via DreamWorks Animation), Big Idea Entertainment,

Neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

(until 2021 when distribution shifted to

Decal A decal (, , ) or transfer is a plastic, cloth, paper, or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern or image that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for ''decalcom ...

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

(in Canada, UK, Australia, Spain, Germany and USA), and Amazon Studios (starting with '' Brad's Status''). Distribution is currently handled by Studio Distribution Services, LLC., a joint venture between UPHE and

. In 2015, two years prior to Sony Pictures Television acquiring a 95% stake in Funimation (now known as

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

, LLC), Funimation formed a multi-year home video distribution deal with UPHE.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

soon took over after the UPHE deal expired. Starting on June 5, 2018, Universal re-released all of

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

's film library after their deal with

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 ...

ended.

Studio Distribution Services, LLC

On January 14, 2020, Universal and

announced that they would partner on a 10-year multinational joint-venture, merging their physical operations in North America. Universal will distribute Warner Bros.' titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan; while Warners will distribute Universal's titles in the U.K., Italy and Benelux. On April 7, 2020, the European Commission approved the merger. The company was later named Studio Distribution Services, LLC. Since June 1, 2021, SDS' logo took the UPHE logo's place on the back covers of the home releases; while there have been several exceptions that had the UPHE logo in place, mainly 4K (including steelbooks) and Blu-ray releases.

Internationally

On February 28, 1999, Universal signed a multi-year deal with Columbia TriStar Home Video to allow the latter to distribute Universal DVDs outside North America. In the Netherlands, UPHE used to distribute most DVDs of films released theatrically by Independent Films, although this is now limited to catalog releases, as more recent films are now released through

and later on, Belga Films. UPHE also distributed StudioCanal titles on home media in France, most of the

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

library in the UK and most of the Carolco Pictures library in Australia, Latin America, and several European countries (along with other StudioCanal 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 in Canada. UPHE previously distributed its films on video internationally through

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 ...

(a division of Cinema International Corporation, later United International Pictures) 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 corporation. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company is best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for ...

) for VHS and on Pioneer LDC, Inc. for Laserdisc. Following Universal's acquisition of

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

in 1999, PolyGram Video (which had international operations) was dissolved into Universal. UPHE's international operations are a joint venture with

, a carryover from the PolyGram days,http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=59043 Universal Studios Home Video And Columbia Tristar Home Video Join For International DVD Distribution but more often than not, both UPHE and SPHE operate a joint venture in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, New Zealand and Scandinavia called Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The venture distributes UPHE and SPHE titles on home media in those countries and also licensed anime series and films from the anime library of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan had a marketing and distribution division in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

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 licenses anime series and films from the anime library. From 2017 to 2018, Funimation 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, 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. At the start of 2015, Paramount Home Media Distribution signed a distribution agreement with Universal, whereby the latter will distribute the former's titles overseas, particularly the territories where Paramount holds an office. The deal began on July 1, 2015, in the United Kingdom. Universal will continue distributing Paramount's DVDs and Blu-rays out of the United States and Canada. With the distributor change for Universal's titles in the UK, Paramount Home Entertainment signed a new UK home entertainment distribution deal with StudioCanal and Lionsgate UK's Elevation Sales on July 14, 2020 that began in January 2021. Along with the announcement of the Universal/Warner Bros. NA physical home media joint-venture, Universal announced that they would begin handling home video distribution of Warner Bros. titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan in the third quarter of 2020, while Warner Bros. announced that they would begin handling home video distribution of Universal titles in the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the first quarter of 2021. In 2020, SF Studios had inked a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles across the Nordic and Baltic regions.

Universal 1440 Entertainment

Universal 1440 Entertainment is the direct-to-video entertainment label of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment created in 2005. The label didn't had a on-screen logo, which it uses the Universal Pictures logo.

Filmography

Notes and references

External links

*
Studio Distribution Services
{{Authority control Universal Pictures subsidiaries Home video companies established in 1980 Home video distributors Home video companies of the United States