Retropolis Entertainment was founded on April 19, 2002 by Bob Emmer, Garson Foos, and Richard Foos, three principals from
Rhino Records, as the company was negotiating with the five majors for distribution. After selling Rhino to
Warner Music Group in 1998, the three set out to launch a new retro pop culture label. The company's first product was
Red, White & Rock, a 2002 joint release with
PBS station
WQED-TV that was produced with
Warner Strategic Marketing. In August 2002, Retropolis acquired
Biograph Records. Other early releases included blues and jazz CDs from the Biograph label, a
Fats Domino CD and DVD, and several documentaries (
Superstar: The Life And Times of Andy Warhol,
What Happened To Kerouac?). Retropolis was renamed Shout! Factory in April 2003. At that time, Shout! had signed a press and distribution agreement with
Sony Music Entertainment. In 2004, Shout! released
Freaks and Geeks on DVD, the first television series released on DVD for the company. With 18 episodes, it became one of the most expensive DVDs to produce, costing over a million dollars in music licensing. That same year, they released William Shatner's album
Has Been and
SCTV box sets. In 2004, Shout! released an expanded two-disc version of
Jim Croce's first record,
Facets. In 2004, Shout! purchased the rights to the adult animated series
Home Movies and released each season set, and ultimately a complete series box. Other notable releases included a pair of
The Electric Company multi-disc sets, the re-envisioned
Herb Alpert's
Whipped Cream & Other Delights Rewhipped, a series of ''
Elvira's Movie Macabre DVDs and the first of what would be three cover CDs with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, called Under The Covers Vol. 1; Sweet himself was also added as a featured solo artist. Shout! acquired the rights to several other television series, including Punky Brewster, The Weird Al Show, and America's Funniest Home Videos''. In 2005, Shout! Factory obtained the rights to Herb Alpert's catalog, launching the Herb Alpert Signature Series of CDs. These included
The Lonely Bull,
South of the Border,
Lost Treasures,
Whipped Cream & Other Delights and others. They also got the rights to talk show host
Dick Cavett's library and began releasing theme sets focused on rock icons:
Ray Charles (including all his visits to the show),
John Lennon (The Beatles) and
Yoko Ono, and others. They also jumped into children's animation with a deal with
DIC Entertainment.
Heathcliff And the Catillac Cats was the first release from that deal, followed by
The Legend of Zelda,
Super Mario Bros. Super Show,
Inspector Gadget, Sabrina the Animated Series, and
C.O.P.S. The Animated Series. On the sports side, they entered a licensing deal with
Major League Baseball, releasing themed and
World Series DVDs from 2005 to 2010 and then again from 2016 till present. By 2007, vintage TV on DVD was a major focus, with season sets of
Blossom, ''
McHale's Navy and Ironside, an authorized collection of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and themed and actor-specific editions of Inside the Actors Studio'' hitting shelves. Meanwhile, they also began releasing
Mickey Hart's catalogs. In March 2008, Shout! bought the
Hightone Records catalog and added musical artists
Tom Russell,
Joe Ely, and
Rosie Flores to its brand. That same year, the company continued ramping up its place as a children's animation destination by taking over the
Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD series, releasing a 20th anniversary set, and continuing to put out box sets of episodes never before released on DVD. In 2009, Shout! reached another milestone when it struck a deal with toy/board game company
Hasbro, releasing the original
Transformers and
G.I. Joe animated-series box sets. That same year, it released the first
My Little Pony DVD,
My Little Pony: Twinkle Wish Collection. Shout! continued to release several Hasbro properties, including the series
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, until January 1, 2019, when it released its final DVD for that series,
Hearts and Hooves. In 2010, Shout! signed a multi-year deal with
Marvel Animation to begin releasing titles by Disney-owned Marvel. This included
Super Hero Squad Show and
Marvel Knights properties (
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted,
Black Panther,
Iron Man: Extremis, and
Spider-Woman). In October of that year, Shout! announced the release of
The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series, which included all 89 episodes. In 2011, Shout! Factory made another landmark move when they struck a deal with Viacom-owned
Nickelodeon to release the live-action sitcom
Hey Dude and the animated
Nicktoons: ''
Rocko's Modern Life, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold!, The Angry Beavers, CatDog, The Wild Thornberrys, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, and Danny Phantom''. In May 2012, Shout! Factory signed an agreement with
Saban Brands to distribute the
Beetleborgs,
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, the original
Power Rangers, and
VR Troopers catalogs in North America. In the same month, the company acquired Oregon-based home entertainment company
Timeless Media Group, adding more programs to its expanding catalog, such as
The Red Skelton Show,
Peter Gunn,
The Gene Autry Show,
The Virginian,
Wagon Train,
Laramie, as well as the
Roy Rogers: King of the Cowboys movie collection. In June 2012, Shout! Factory announced a horror label called Scream Factory, specializing in classic and cult horror films on Blu-ray and DVD, such as
Halloween II,
Halloween III: Season of the Witch,
They Live,
Lifeforce,
Deadly Blessing, and others. That same month, Shout! and Frederator founder
Fred Seibert acquired Video Time Machine, a decade and genre media-based iOS app, from Original Victories Inc. In July 2013, Shout! Factory acquired the North American distribution rights to the
ITC Entertainment library as part of a deal with UK-based
ITV Studios Global Entertainment. The 30+ related tiles included ''
Sophie's Choice, On Golden Pond, Brief Encounter, The Last Unicorn, The Boys From Brazil'', and others.
2014–present In 2014, the success Shout! was having with complete-series box sets of such series as
All in the Family,
Route 66, and
Barney Miller extended to such properties as
The Bob Newhart Show,
Hill Street Blues, and a Blu-Ray release of ''
Pee-Wee's Playhouse and The Jeffersons. In 2014, Shout! announced their acquisition of the rights to WKRP in Cincinnati, with the intention of restoring all four seasons of the show "complete" (i.e., complete as legally possible) with their original musical scores. The 2014 release was a monumental event for fans of the show, since the original DVD release in 2007 had been mired in squabbles regarding music rights. In September 2014, Shout! acquired Westchester Films, an independent film company whose library includes the films of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, the Marx Brothers, and Orson Welles, as well as eight Godzilla films, among others. That same year, Shout! became the distributor of Super Sentai in North America. In 2015, Shout! released Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger under the name Super Sentai Zyuranger: The Complete Series'' with English subtitles.
IFC Midnight partnered with Scream Factory in February 2015 for exclusive home distribution, starting with
The Babadook. On February 5, 2015, Shout! Factory launched its flagship TV ad-supported streaming services online and via Roku. Available shows and movies included 16
Werner Herzog films,
Roger Corman cult films, and TV shows including
Father Knows Best and ''
It's Garry Shandling's Show''. In June,
Cinedigm took a minority stake in the company, while extending their home entertainment platform distribution agreement. Cinedigm and Shout! would then relaunch the Factory's streaming service and cross market each others' streaming services. In November 2015, Shout! announced it had acquired the rights to
Mystery Science Theater 3000 from
Best Brains Inc. and launched a "Bring Back MST3K"
Kickstarter with the goal of producing up to 12 new feature-length episodes of the series, with series creator
Joel Hodgson serving as executive producer. In January 2016,
Concord Bicycle Music bought the HighTone catalog from the company. The same year, Shout! Factory released
The Crush under subsidiary brand Scream Factory and
Long Way North. On January 10, 2017, Shout Factory acquired the worldwide television format and ancillary rights to
Starcade with plans to reboot the series. On January 17, Shout! Factory announced their acquisition of the broadcast and home media distribution rights for the first three
Digimon Adventure tri. films with plans for a dual-language release on DVD and Blu-ray. On May 18, Shout! Factory acquired the North American distribution rights to
In This Corner of the World, with a
U.S. theatrical release to take place on August 11, co-released by
Funimation Films. In October, it was revealed that Shout! Factory would be the distributor for
GKIDS' North American re-releases of
Studio Ghibli films formerly owned by Disney in the U.S. Titles included
My Neighbor Totoro,
Ponyo,
Princess Mononoke, ''
Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Spirited Away. Afterwards, Shout! began distributing other GKIDS films, like Summer Wars and Wolf Children''. In April 2025, it was announced that Shout! would release a steelbook Blu-ray of Studio Ghibli's
Grave of the Fireflies, which had been out of print for years. In November 2017, Shout! Factory announced the formation of Shout! Studios, a production and distribution arm that specializes in content development. The first films to be distributed under the new banner included
Humor Me,
The House of Tomorrow, and
Izzy Gets the F Across Town, all slated for 2018 premieres, along with
Basmati Blues and
Big Fish & Begonia (partnering with Funimation Films again for theatrical distribution). In March 2018, Shout! Factory teamed up with China-based Ace Film to acquired the
New Horizons film library from its founder
Roger Corman. Shout! will distribute this catalog in North America, Europe, Russia, and Australia. Shout! also expanded its North American distribution deal with ITV Studios Global Entertainment to cover over 135 films and TV series from ITV's library, with TV series including
The Prisoner, Hammer House of Horror, several
Gerry Anderson TV shows, and others. In August, Shout! struck a multi-year deal with
Sesame Workshop to distribute the
Sesame Street home video library, taking over from
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. In March 2020, Shout! Factory acquired a mix of worldwide, domestic, and international broadcast and select streaming rights to more than 20 TV series and movies and 900 hours of programming. This included
Stephen J. Cannell's catalog of 1970s to 1990s shows, such as
21 Jump Street, Hunter, Wiseguy, The Commish, The Greatest American Hero, and
Riptide. In July 2020, Shout! Factory announced a multi-year deal with
Alliance Entertainment and Mill Creek Entertainment, which granted the exclusive SVOD and AVOD digital rights to the
Ultra series, 1,100 episodes and 20 films previously acquired by Mill Creek. Shout! Factory will stream the catalog in North American countries (U.S. and Canada) through their services, Shout! TV and TokuSHOUTsu. In February 2022, Shout! Factory acquired the American distribution rights to the TV series
ALF, including its
animated prequel series and its spin-off
ALF Tales from Alien Productions and
Lionsgate. That same month, Shout! entered into an exclusive all-rights distribution arrangement with Amcomri Entertainment's United Kingdom-based subsidiary company, 101 Films. Earlier that week, Shout! also acquired the library of
Halcyon Studios, a division of
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. In August 2022, Shout! Factory signed a worldwide distribution deal with
The Jim Henson Company to bring 13 of Henson's programs and specials to home entertainment and streaming platforms in all territories, including
Farscape and
The Storyteller. A similar worldwide distribution agreement with Henson went into effect on January 1, 2024 for streaming, video-on-demand, broadcast, digital download, packaged media and certain non-theatrical rights for the films
Labyrinth and
The Dark Crystal, as well as behind-the-scenes specials,
Inside the Labyrinth and
The World of the Dark Crystal. In July 2023, Shout! Factory announced it had signed a North American distribution deal with
Aardman Animations, covering four of Aardman's properties:
Morph,
Wallace and Gromit (except
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit),
Shaun the Sheep and
Timmy Time. That same month, the company announced its rebranding to Shout! Studios to match with its film distribution division. In May 2024, Shout! Studios took over the U.S. distribution rights to
Tatsunoko Production's 1967 anime
Speed Racer from
Crunchyroll, which began with the digital release of the original television series of the same name and its Japanese-language version on June 1 of that year. In October 2024, Shout! Studios announced a multi-title distribution deal with
Nash Entertainment to bring its library of unscripted shows to streaming and other platforms worldwide. In January 2025, Shout! acquired the rights to the
Golden Princess movie library, including 156 Hong Kong cinema classics. Later that month, Shout! announced it would be bringing five seminal Jet Li martial arts classics to 4K resolution. In April 2025, Shout! Studios acquired
Gravitas Ventures from
Anthem Sports & Entertainment, planning to use the company as a separate banner along with the main Shout! brand. In July 2025, Shout! Studios' parent company
Oaktree Capital Management acquired
FilmRise, and merged them into a holding company named Radial Entertainment. That same month, Shout! appointed former Crunchyroll director Thomas Breckenridge to its newly created role of Director of Product Development and Marketing (Anime Content). In October 2025, Shout! Studios' new parent company, Radial Entertainment, acquired U.S. distribution rights for
Conan O’Brien’s 11-season TBS series. Later that month, Shout! announced it was ending its “Physical Forever Club” online store membership program. Initiated in late 2024, the free program offered 3% store credit for purchasing Blu-rays and DVDs at the ShoutFactory.com online store. In November 2025, it was announced that Shout! Factory's 4K and Blu-ray releases, including its Scream Factory horror catalog, would be available through GRUV Entertainment's GRUV.com moving forward, after ShoutFactory.com discontinued its standalone site. Gruv.com is an online shop run by Universal Pictures. In early 2026, it was announced that GKIDS and Shout! Studios'
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (2025) had been nominated at the
BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts),
Critics Choice Awards,
Golden Globes, and
Oscars in the best animated feature category. The film would debut on Blu-ray on March 10, 2026. In March 2026,
RiffTrax and Shout! Studios announced that almost $6 million had been raised through a Kickstarter campaign to create new episodes of
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and that new episodes were in the works
. Radial Entertainment, the entertainment company formed from the merger of Shout! Studios and FilmRise, obtained full ownership of the
MST3K brand in January 2026. In April 2026, Shout! Studios and GKIDS announced the release
Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut
Perfect Blue (1997) on 4K UHD Blu-Ray. It would be released on June 16 as an all-new limited edition 3-Disc SteelBook. == Licensing deals ==