Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki
Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki
15,897
pages
in: Organisations, Distributors, VHS,
and 3 more

Anchor Bay Entertainment

View source
Main Page
Gallery

Anchor Bay Entertainment was an American home entertainment and production company formed in 1995. They distributed Thomas & Friends on VHS and DVD in the US from 1995 to 2008 and in Canada from 2001 to 2008. During its time of distribution by Anchor Bay, Thomas reached platinum-selling status and, in 2002, ranked consistently on the VideoScan ranking top 50 chart of children's weekly video sales.[1]

History

Anchor Bay Entertainment was formed through the merger of Video Treasures and StarMaker, two competing video distribution companies, when they were sold to the Handleman Company and formed a new corporate umbrella, Anchor Bay Entertainment, on 2 May 1995.

Previously, Video Treasures had purchased Strand Home Video from VCI in December 1993[2], inheriting the Thomas & Friends distribution rights in the process. Video Treasures began distributing Thomas on VHS in 1994, still using the Strand Home Video name on VHS tapes that year. In the early months of 1995, Video Treasures distributed Thomas on VHS using its own name but, later that year, it was merged to form Anchor Bay Entertainment, though the Video Treasures name continued to be used on Thomas VHS tapes for the next two years. Video Treasures also had Canadian branch named HGV Video Productions formed in 1989, which was unaffected by the 1995 merger until 2001. HGV Video Productions distributed Thomas & Friends on VHS in Canada from 1992 to 2001, after which it was folded into its new parent company and was renamed Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada, Limited.[1]

In the 1990s and 2000s, Anchor Bay was primarily known for its distribution of horror and cult films but it did distribute some children's shows as well. In addition to Thomas & Friends, Anchor Bay also distributed Shining Time Station, Eloise, Bobby's World, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Roseanne, Tickety Toc, Chuggington and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Anchor Bay also had a film studio known as Anchor Bay Films, which mainly distributed direct-to-video and independent films.

In 2003, Handleman sold Anchor Bay to IDT Entertainment, at the time a newly formed entertainment division of telecommunications company IDT Corporation. In 2006, Liberty Media, the owner of the Starz cable network, purchased IDT Entertainment from IDT Corporation and renamed it Starz Media. On 3 April 2007, Anchor Bay was renamed as Starz Home Entertainment but, in early 2008, Starz Home Entertainment was changed back to Anchor Bay Entertainment. On 30 June 2016, Lionsgate agreed to purchase Anchor Bay's parent company Starz Inc. for $4.4 billion in cash and stock. The merger was completed on 8 December 2016. On 29 August 2017, Lionsgate folded Anchor Bay into their own home media division.

In June 2021, Lionsgate was purchased by Shake Creations, Inc. for over $7 billion.

Thomas & Friends Releases

Originals

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Re-releases

1995

1996

DVD Packs

2003

2004

2005

2006

2008

Double Features

Shining Time Station Release

1997

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 [1] Home Media Magazine (1 August 2002).
  2. ↑ [2] Billboard (11 June 1994), page 62.
*Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, Fandom will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki