Phase 4 Films was a Canadian

film distribution Film distribution (also known as Film exhibition or Film distribution and exhibition) is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marke ...

company based in Toronto. It had two branches in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

and

Fort Mill, South Carolina Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. ...

. Its subsidiary kaboom! Entertainment markets children's entertainment.

History

Phase 4 Films traces its history to Telegenic, a family-oriented film distributor founded in 1996. Berry Meyerowitz purchased Telegenic in 2000 and renamed it Kaboom! Entertainment. In 2006,

Peace Arch Entertainment Peace Arch Entertainment ("PAE") (formerly known as Medco from 1981 until 1985 and Vidatron Entertainment from 1985 until 1999) was a Canadian motion picture and television production company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with offices in Lo ...

Group, which later merged with ContentFilm, purchased Kaboom!. Berry Meyerowtiz founded Phase 4 Films in April 2009 when he bought back their North American distribution business. In 2011, Phase 4 announced a new Canadian television venture alongside Take 5 Development. In 2012, they partnered with

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...

's SModcast Pictures to distribute those films in the United States and Canada. In 2014, Phase 4 acquired ESI Distribution and signed distribution deals with

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

and

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

. On June 2, 2014, Phase 4 Films was acquired by

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 ...

Trademark infringement lawsuit

In 2013, Phase 4 picked up the Canadian animated feature ''

The Legend of Sarila ''The Legend of Sarila'' (french: La Légende de Sarila) is a 2013 Canadian computer-animated adventure film and Canada's first 3-D animated feature film.Robert Ito (7 February 2014)"For a Plucky Upstart, Icy Industry Tundra" ''New York Times' ...

'' for distribution in the United States, renaming the film ''Frozen Land'' and drastically changing the logo to mimic that of

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

'' Frozen''. In late December 2013, Disney filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Phase 4 in California federal court, seeking an injunction against the continued distribution of ''Frozen Land'' in the United States. Disney alleged that less than three weeks prior to the release of its animated feature film ''Frozen'', Phase 4 Films theatrically released ''The Legend of Sarila'', which garnered "minimal box office revenues and received no significant attention." To trade off the success of Disney's animated film and " enhance the commercial success of Sarila, the defendant redesigned the artwork, packaging, logo, and other promotional materials for its newly (and intentionally misleadingly) retitled film to mimic those used by isneyfor ''Frozen'' and related merchandise." While film titles cannot be trademarked by law, Disney cited a number of alleged similarities between the new Phase 4's ''Frozen Land'' logo and Disney's original one. By late January 2014, the two companies had settled the case; the settlement stated that the distribution and promotion of ''The Legend of Sarila'' and related merchandise must use its original title and Phase 4 must not use trademarks, logos or other designs confusingly similar to Disney's animated release. Phase 4 was also required to pay Disney $100,000 before 27 January 2014, and make "all practicable efforts" to remove copies of ''Frozen Land'' from stores and online distributors before 3 March 2014.

Filmography

References

{{Authority control Entertainment One Film distributors of Canada Film distributors of the United States Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Defunct film and television production companies of Canada Mass media companies disestablished in 2016 Companies established in 1996 2014 mergers and acquisitions