| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/polygramfilmed.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [=PolyGram=] Filmed Entertainment (PFE) was a film company founded in 1980 as a partnership between the [=PolyGram=] music company and film producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters. It was a way to get into film production and create a viable European competitor to the Hollywood studios, which it managed to achieve. Over its decade-long existence, the company managed to produce and distribute many successful UK productions (bringing people such as Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis into worldwide fame) and producing a number of American films, occasionally in joint ventures with Creator/{{Disney}}, Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/{{Universal}}. Indeed, they co-owned Creator/GramercyPictures with Universal in the 1990s, though it went under in 2000. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | In comparison to normal Hollywood studios, they did not produce films themselves, but rather through several "boutique" labels, including the UK's Working Title Films, and Propaganda Films and Interscope Communications in the US. Of these, only Working Title survives as a Universal subsidiary. Similarly, their films "sort of green-lit themselves"; there wasn't much board-room decision making, it was the producers who did it. Additionally, they operated an anime distribution studio operating in the Anglosphere--Creator/MangaEntertainment, which started out as a subsidiary of their Creator/IslandRecords label. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | For most of the 1990s, PFE was on a roll. Their most prominent period started in 1994, when ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral'' became an unexpected international sensation that earned both critical acclaim and commercial success. They followed that film with several films that were similarly acclaimed and popular, like ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'', ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}'' and ''Film/{{Fargo}}''. To bulk up their library, they also bought out Creator/ITCEntertainment in 1995 and the year after bought the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_World_Entertainment_(film_company)#Crédit_Lyonnais_control_(1992-1996) Epic film library]] (which included the catalogues of Hemdale, Nelson Entertainment and pre-1993 Creator/CastleRockEntertainment, among many other companies). |
| 8 | |
| 9 | In 1998, after the financial failures of ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' and ''Film/BarneysGreatAdventure'', parent company Philips NV decided to exit the media business (mostly because of a new head honcho who came from Sara Lee bakeries and didn't understand his new role), [=PolyGram=] was sold to Seagram (the liquor company, and then-owners of Universal). Having mostly bought [=PolyGram=] for their music holdings and needing to pay off the debt from the deal, Seagram proceeded to slowly sell off and wind down the studio's operations, first by selling off the majority of its pre-1996 film holdings (up to ''Jack & Sarah'', and including the Epic library) to Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer (ironically also involved with the bank that backed Epic, Credit Lyonnais, having come under the control of the Lyonnais-backed Italian fraudster Giancarlo Parretti for a period in 1990-91), the ITC Entertainment library to [[Creator/{{ITV}} Carlton Television]], the Manga Entertainment library to Creator/PalmPictures, Slash Records and London Records to Creator/WarnerMusicGroup and, after failing to find a buyer, absorbed what remained of [=PolyGram=] Films into Universal. Unfortunately for [=PolyGram=], their decision to close couldn't have come at a less opportune time: One of their final films, 1999's ''Film/NottingHill'', was a huge box office hit around the world, and it would have turned their fortunes around had they still existed when it was released. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | The history of [=PolyGram=] Filmed Entertainment is explored in the 2007 documentary ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0820013/ 100 Films and a Funeral]]'', based on the memoir of former PFE chief Michael Kuhn. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [=PolyGram=] had previously ventured into films in the early '80s, but this venture went nowhere despite successes such as ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'' and ''Film/{{Flashdance}}''. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The [=PolyGram=] brand name was revived in February 2017 as Universal Music's film studio, forming an alliance with its sister company Creator/StudioCanal. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | !! Films produced or distributed by [=PolyGram=] include: |
| 19 | [[index]] |
| 20 | * ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'' (1981) |
| 21 | * ''Film/DeadlyBlessing'' (1981) |
| 22 | * ''Literature/EndlessLove'' (1981) |
| 23 | * ''Film/{{Flashdance}}'' (1983) |
| 24 | * ''Theatre/AChorusLine'' (1985) |
| 25 | * ''Film/{{Clue}}'' (1985) |
| 26 | * ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' (1989)[[note]][=PolyGram=] didn't actually produce this film nor did they produce the three sequels. In the early '80s, [=PolyGram=] Pictures held the film rights to the ''Batman'' franchise, only to sell them off to film producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters (who in turn sold them to Warner, which owns Creator/DCComics) in exchange for a 7.5% stake in the films. This is why [=PolyGram=] receives credit for these films.[[/note]] |
| 27 | ** ''Film/BatmanReturns'' (1992) |
| 28 | ** ''Film/BatmanForever'' (1995) |
| 29 | ** ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' (1997, the [[FranchiseKiller last Batman movie of that continuity]], all 4 Batman films were produced with Creator/WarnerBros) |
| 30 | * ''Film/WildAtHeart'' (1990) |
| 31 | * ''Film/{{Candyman}}'' and [[Film/CandymanFarewellToTheFlesh its first sequel]] (1992, 1995) |
| 32 | * ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' (1992) -- international distribution |
| 33 | * ''Posse'' (1993) |
| 34 | * ''Film/{{Kalifornia}}'' (1993) |
| 35 | * ''Film/RomeoIsBleeding'' (1993) |
| 36 | * ''Film/DazedAndConfused'' (1993) |
| 37 | * ''Film/AHomeOfOurOwn'' (1993) |
| 38 | * ''Film/TheHudsuckerProxy'' (1994) |
| 39 | * ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral'' (1994) |
| 40 | * ''Film/{{Backbeat}}'' (1994) |
| 41 | * ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert'' (1994) |
| 42 | * ''Film/{{Nell}}'' (1994) |
| 43 | * ''Film/ShallowGrave'' (1995) |
| 44 | * ''Film/FrenchKiss'' (1995) |
| 45 | * ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' (1995) |
| 46 | * ''Film/CanadianBacon'' (1995) |
| 47 | * ''Film/HomeForTheHolidays'' (1995) |
| 48 | * ''Film/DeadManWalking'' (1995) |
| 49 | * ''Film/MrHollandsOpus'' (1995) |
| 50 | * ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' (1995) |
| 51 | * ''Literature/{{Trainspotting}}'' (1996) |
| 52 | * ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' (1996) |
| 53 | * ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' (1996) |
| 54 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000: The Movie'' (1996) |
| 55 | * ''Film/BarbWire'' (1996) |
| 56 | * ''Film/{{Kazaam}}'' (1996) |
| 57 | * ''Film/{{Sleepers}}'' (1996) |
| 58 | * ''Film/ThePortraitOfALady'' (1996) |
| 59 | * ''Film/{{Bean}}'' (1997) |
| 60 | * ''Film/{{Dobermann}}'' (1997) |
| 61 | * ''Film/TheGame1997'' |
| 62 | * ''Film/ALifeLessOrdinary'' (1997) |
| 63 | * ''Film/{{The Borrowers|1997}}'' (1997) |
| 64 | * ''Film/TheGingerbreadMan'' (1998) |
| 65 | * ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' (1998) |
| 66 | * ''Film/BarneysGreatAdventure'' (1998) |
| 67 | * ''Film/TheLastDaysOfDisco'' (1998) |
| 68 | * ''Film/ReturnToParadise'' (1998) |
| 69 | * ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome'' (1998) |
| 70 | * ''Film/{{Elizabeth}}'' (1998) |
| 71 | * ''Film/VeryBadThings'' (1998) |
| 72 | * ''Film/YourFriendsAndNeighbors'' (1998) |
| 73 | * ''Film/NottingHill'' (1999) |
| 74 | * ''Film/ArlingtonRoad'' (1999) |
| 75 | * ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'' (1999) |
| 76 | * ''Film/MickeyBlueEyes'' (1999) (production only, distributed by Creator/WarnerBros in North America and Creator/{{Universal}} internationally) |
| 77 | * ''Film/TheGreenMile'' (1999) (production only, distributed by Creator/WarnerBros in North America and Creator/{{Universal}} internationally) |
| 78 | [[/index]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Creator / PolygramFilmedEntertainment
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
