FilmWorks, Casablanca Record & FilmWorks and PolyGram Pictures In 1975,
Peter Guber quit
Columbia Pictures to start out
FilmWorks with a producing deal. A year later, during the production of
The Deep, it was merged with
Casablanca Records to form
Casablanca Record & FilmWorks. The company would enjoy success with
The Deep and
Midnight Express. The music company
PolyGram (owned by
Dutch-based
Philips and
Germany's
Siemens) bought out its share of Casablanca Record & FilmWorks in 1977. Two years later, in 1979, Casablanca Record & Filmworks left Columbia Pictures to join
Universal Pictures, and gave Casablanca Record & Filmworks creative control over the pictures. PolyGram reserved the finances and Guber would run as
CEO. Guber would form a partnership with
Barbra Streisand's hairdresser
Jon Peters, who co-produced his client's
A Star Is Born remake. Peters would produce PolyGram's films, and eventually become a stockholder with Guber. He had intended to work with
Boardwalk Records, but he was forced to join PolyGram Pictures instead. The first film under the Universal/PolyGram alliance was
King of the Mountain (1981), which was a box-office flop. More money-losers followed. Ancillary markets such as
home video and
pay television were not yet established, and broadcast television networks were paying less for licenses to films. PolyGram's European investors were not happy; they had lost about $80 million on its film division. Not long after, Siemens parted with Philips. Guber and Peters left PolyGram Pictures in 1982, taking their plans for a new
Batman movie with them, along with a few other projects. The duo eventually found a home at
Warner Bros. A part of their exit proceedings, PolyGram would still own 7.5% of profits from some of its projects, including the 1989
Batman film. both the film and television units eventually closed down by 1983 after a string of first-run syndication strip flops.
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment In the early 1980s, PolyGram Video was launched. PolyGram Video, headed by Michael Kuhn and David Hockman, was created to distribute concert films and feature films acquired from third-parties, as well as long-form music videos and stand-up comedy videos from the likes of
Roy Chubby Brown,
Jethro and
Bernard Manning (though they would later add
Jim Davidson,
Billy Connolly and
Lee Evans to their stand-up comedy video lineup when they purchased Vision Video Ltd in 1993). In 1986, a joint venture with Heron Communications,
Channel 5 Video, began operation. Channel 5 Video later began to obtain the rights to titles from Heron's U.S. children's arm,
Hi-Tops Video. Kuhn and Hockman were able to parlay PolyGram Video's success into financing feature films. The first film produced by PolyGram's new film division was
P.I. Private Investigations in 1987. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, PolyGram continued to invest in a diversified film unit with the purchases of individual production companies. In 1991, PolyGram's Michael Kuhn became the head of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Film production within PolyGram differed from traditional Hollywood studios, in that power to make ('green light') a film was not centralised in the hands of a small number of executives, but instead was decided by negotiations between producers, management and marketing. Kuhn claimed that "movies sort of green lit themselves." In 1993, PolyGram purchased Vision Video Ltd (which was previously the video arm of
Virgin Group) from
General Electric Capital for $5.6 million. Vision Video Ltd would be placed within PolyGram Video as their budget label. PolyGram Video took over the distribution of
Manga Entertainment's titles in Australia and New Zealand in late 1996 after Siren Entertainment's license to the Manga Video catalog expired, but PolyGram lost the license to the Manga Video catalog in 1998 after
Madman Entertainment took over the licenses. This was due to Manga Entertainment being moved from Island Records to Palm Pictures. PolyGram also built up a sizable film and television library that could be profitable. In 1995, the company purchased
ITC Entertainment for $156 million. Through this purchase, PolyGram acquired 350 feature films, several thousand hours of television programming, and gained further access into the television market. That same year, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment acquired a 75% majority stake in British home video distributor
Abbey Home Entertainment. In 1997, PFE agreed to purchase the
Epic film library, which included a thousand feature films from a variety of companies, from
Crédit Lyonnais for $225 million. PolyGram also attempted purchasing
MGM and
The Samuel Goldwyn Company's library, but to no avail. In July 1998, PolyGram was in talks to sell their stake in Abbey Home Entertainment back to Ian and Anne Miles, letting AHE trade independently again, in exchange, PolyGram Video would take over releasing
Fun Song Factory titles, around the same time, PolyGram purchased Astrion plc and placed it within Vision Video Ltd, as a result, they would take over releasing
Letterland titles. On December 7, 1997, PolyGram and
Warner Bros. reached a deal to co-finance films produced by
Castle Rock Entertainment. PFE's film distribution arm was based in the
United Kingdom, and invested heavily in British film making — some credit it with reviving the British film industry in the 1990s. Despite a successful production history, new Philips CEO
Cor Boonstra began to draw back Philips' media operations, excepting their stake in PolyGram, in 1997. At the time, Philips was seen as a bloated conglomerate riddled with problems; Boonstra initially denied that PolyGram would be sold. However, by early 1998, Boonstra's attitude had shifted and various bidders began to make themselves known, as Philips began to pursue a manufacturing-only business model. At the same time, PolyGram had been suffering from their own internal issues, chiefly a series of loss-making films and a lack of major pop music hits. In hindsight, analysts have also pointed to another reason for Boonstra's sale of the assets, namely Philips manufacturing blank CDs, as
music piracy subsequently impacted the music industry hugely in the years afterwards. Philips ultimately decided to sell PolyGram to the beverage
conglomerate Seagram in 1998 (Seagram had chosen PolyGram over EMI because of PolyGram's better management); only interested in PolyGram's music operations, Seagram, which at the time controlled
Universal Pictures, looked forward to divesting in PFE. After being dissatisfied with offers to buy the studio (including a joint venture between
Canal+ and
Artisan Entertainment), Seagram opted to sell off individual assets and folded whatever remained into Universal. In October 1998,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) paid $235–250 million to acquire 1,300 films released before March 31, 1996, from PolyGram, however, the deal did not include the ITC library or the film,
The Last Seduction II, which in 1999, were sold to
Carlton Communications (now known as
ITV Studios) for $150 million. Some of PFE's North American distribution assets, including PolyGram Video's US and Canada operations were sold to
USA Networks. Universal would inherit the remaining titles, which included a third of the pre-April 1996 films, one-third of the post-April 1996 films, as well as PolyGram Television's library, and PolyGram Video's international operations. Universal would then set up their own international arm from the ashes of PFE's international division on February 9, 1999 that included theatrical and video distribution; pulling out of
CIC Video and nearly pulling out of
United International Pictures. After the box office failure of
Mickey Blue Eyes, a title inherited from PolyGram that ended up becoming one of the few titles that were self-distributed by Universal internationally until 2007, all the theatrical assets of Universal Pictures International were folded into United International Pictures, which continued to exist until 2006.
Relaunch as PolyGram Entertainment == Production companies ==