| RLJ Entertainment | |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Traded As: | NASDAQ: |
| Former Names: | Image Entertainment (1981–2012) |
| Location: | Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, United States[1] |
| Industry: | Entertainment |
| Parent: | AMC Networks (83% stake) the RLJ Companies (17% stake) |
RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450 programs internationally via sublicense agreements. For many of its titles, Image has exclusive audio and broadcast rights as well as digital download rights to approximately 2,100 video programs and over 400 audio programs containing more than 6,000 tracks. The company is headquartered in Chatsworth, California.
Founded in 1981 as a NASDAQ-listed public company known as Image Entertainment, Image began as a distributor of LaserDiscs, whose sound and picture quality surpassed that of VHS and Beta, the dominant tape formats of the time. In its earlier years, the company originally distributed X-rated titles in addition to mainstream titles.[2] Image successfully secured exclusive output deals with major studios such as Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, Orion Pictures, and The Walt Disney Company, and grew to become the dominant distributor of the format. The company was trading under the symbol "DISK".
In August 1994, Image entered the CD-ROM market, releasing movies on the CD-ROM format.[3]
As the 1990s came to a close and Laserdiscs gave way to DVDs, Image re-focused on the fledgling format that quickly came to dominate the home video marketplace. While studios were busy managing the transition from VHS to DVD, Image began to acquire DVD rights to long-form music concert programs, television programming, foreign films and a broad array of special interest programming from GRB Entertainment, 20th Television/Foxstar Productions, Orion Pictures, Playboy Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures, all of which were being ignored by the major studios and music labels.[4]
In 2005, Image signed a distribution deal with Bandai Visual to distribute select anime titles under the Honneamise label.[5] The deal ended in March 2007, when Bandai Visual switched over to Geneon USA.[6]
Image continued to work with its long-term partner, Criterion Collection, as well as hundreds of independent content producers and rights holders to bring products to the marketplace. By the 10th anniversary of the DVD, Image has once again established itself as a dominant distributor of independently produced programs. In 2008, Image began to expand its release schedule to include feature films.
On August 31, 2010, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment partnered with Image Entertainment in a multi-year agreement, marketing and distributing some DVDs and Blu-rays by Image. Image retains its own sales and marketing.[7] The deal was expired in April 2012, when Mill Creek Entertainment agreed to release the most of Sony Pictures libraries. On April 27, 2011, Image Entertainment made a long-term agreement with Lakeshore Entertainment to distribute their film library on home media. This also gave them access to the New World Pictures library which Lakeshore acquired in 1996, with many of the titles not issued on Blu-ray at the time.[8] Incidentally, Image originally released a number of New World titles on laserdisc from the late 80's to early 90's. On April 2, 2012, it was announced that RLJ Acquisition, Inc. had entered into an agreement to acquire Image Entertainment as well as Acorn Media and plan to merge the two companies. The two companies operate under the banner "RLJ Entertainment".[9] The company was then renamed RLJ Entertainment.[10] In 2014, RLJ acquired British media distributor Acorn Media UK, this deal also included 64% in Agatha Christie Limited.[11]
On July 30, 2018, AMC Networks reached a definitive agreement to acquire RLJ Entertainment where AMC would pay $59 million for the remaining RLJE shares not owned by AMC or Robert L. Johnson.[12] The transaction was approved by RLJ Entertainment's stockholders on October 31, and AMC Networks completed the acquisition on November 1.[13] RLJ Entertainment became a privately owned subsidiary of AMC Networks, with Johnson and his affiliates owning a 17% stake.
| Title | Release date | |
|---|---|---|
| Every Day | January 14, 2011 | |
| The Way Back | January 21, 2011 | |
| Passion Play | May 6, 2011 | |
| The Double | October 28, 2011 | |
| Beneath the Darkness | January 6, 2012 | |
| Lovely Molly | May 18, 2012 | |
| Home Run Showdown | July 27, 2012 | |
| Goats | August 10, 2012 | |
| The Tall Man | August 31, 2012 | |
| Barrymore | November 14, 2012 | |
| Day of the Falcon | March 1, 2013 | |
| Tomorrow You're Gone | April 5, 2013 | |
| The Numbers Station | April 26, 2013 | |
| Evidence | July 19, 2013 | |
| Stranded | July 26, 2013 | |
| Blood | August 9, 2013 | |
| Winnie Mandela | September 6, 2013 | |
| The Colony | September 20, 2013 | |
| Paradise | October 18, 2013 | |
| Last Love | November 1, 2013 | |
| Black Coffee | January 10, 2014 | |
| The Suspect | ||
| The Outsider | February 7, 2014 | |
| Odd Thomas | February 28, 2014 | |
| Sparks | March 7, 2014 | |
| Devil's Knot | May 9, 2014 | |
| Wolf Creek 2 | May 16, 2014 | |
| All Cheerleaders Die | June 13, 2014 | |
| Rage | July 11, 2014 | |
| Aftermath | July 18, 2014 | |
| August 1, 2014 | ||
| Drive Hard | October 3, 2014 | |
| The Houses October Built | October 10, 2014 | |
| The Rewrite | February 13, 2015 | |
| Digging Up the Marrow | February 20, 2015 | |
| The Cobbler | March 13, 2015 | |
| Blackbird | April 24, 2015 | |
| Burying the Ex | June 19, 2015 | |
| Dark Was the Night | July 24, 2015 | |
| Return to Sender | August 14, 2015 | |
| Some Kind of Hate | September 18, 2015 | |
| Pay the Ghost | September 25, 2015 | |
| A Christmas Horror Story | October 2, 2015 | |
| Bone Tomahawk | October 23, 2015 | |
| Condemned | November 13, 2015 | |
| Criminal Activities | November 20, 2015 | |
| Nina | April 22, 2016 | |
| The Phenom | June 24, 2016 | |
| The Mind's Eye | August 5, 2016 | |
| September 2, 2016 | ||
| I.T. | September 23, 2016 | |
| Dog Eat Dog | November 4, 2016 | |
| Knucklehead | December 6, 2016 | |
| Once Upon a Time in Venice | June 16, 2017 | |
| Pilgrimage | August 11, 2017 | |
| Ruin Me | August 27, 2017 | |
| Bushwick | August 25, 2017 | |
| The Limehouse Golem | September 8, 2017 | |
| The Houses October Built 2 | September 22, 2017 | |
| Brawl in Cell Block 99 | October 6, 2017 | |
| The Osiris Child | ||
| Mayhem | November 10, 2017 | |
| Another WolfCop | December 1, 2017 | |
| I Kill Giants | March 23, 2018 | |
| Terminal | May 11, 2018 | |
| August 17, 2018 | ||
| Arizona | August 24, 2018 | |
| Mandy | September 14, 2018 | |
| Beyond the Sky | September 21, 2018 | |
| Ride | October 5, 2018 | |
| Galveston | October 19, 2018 | |
| Monster Party | November 2, 2018 | |
| The Standoff at Sparrow Creek | January 18, 2019 | |
| The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot | February 8, 2019 | |
| Plus One | June 14, 2019 | |
| Into the Ashes | July 19, 2019 | |
| A Score to Settle | August 2, 2019 | |
| Gwen | August 16, 2019 | |
| Satanic Panic | September 6, 2019 | |
| Mary | October 11, 2019 | |
| Trick | October 18, 2019 | |
| Adopt a Highway | November 1, 2019 | |
| The Shed | November 15, 2019 |
| Title | Release date | |
|---|---|---|
| Color Out of Space | January 24, 2020 | |
| VFW | February 14, 2020 | |
| The Postcard Killings | March 13, 2020 | |
| You Don't Nomi | June 9, 2020 | |
| The Tax Collector | August 7, 2020 | |
| Spree | August 14, 2020 | |
| The Pale Door | August 21, 2020 | |
| The Owners | September 4, 2020 | |
| The Superdeep | September 4, 2020 | |
| 2067 | October 2, 2020 | |
| The Opening Act | October 16, 2020 | |
| The Dark and the Wicked | November 6, 2020 | |
| Always and Forever | November 20, 2020 | |
| Castle Freak | December 4, 2020 | |
| Archenemy | December 11, 2020 | |
| January 22, 2021 | ||
| The Reckoning | February 5, 2021 | |
| Son | March 5, 2021 | |
| Shoplifters of the World | March 26, 2021 | |
| The Water Man | May 7, 2021 | |
| Seance | May 21, 2021 | |
| Great White | July 16, 2021 | |
| No Man of God | August 27, 2021 | |
| Prisoners of the Ghostland | September 17, 2021[14] | |
| South of Heaven | October 8, 2021 | |
| The Spine of Night | October 29, 2021 | |
| Apex | November 12, 2021 | |
| Silent Night | December 3, 2021 | |
| Last Looks | February 4, 2022 | |
| Creation Stories | February 25, 2022 | |
| Offseason | March 11, 2022 | |
| Dual | April 15, 2022 | |
| The Cellar | ||
| The Twin | May 6, 2022 | |
| White Elephant | June 3, 2022[15] | |
| Murder At Yellowstone City | June 24, 2022 | |
| July 29, 2022[16] | ||
| Allegoria | August 1, 2022 | |
| Section Eight | September 23, 2022[17] | |
| Old Man | October 14, 2022 | |
| Slash/Back | October 21, 2022 | |
| The Lair | October 28, 2022 | |
| Nocebo | November 4, 2022 | |
| The Friendship Game | November 11, 2022 | |
| Taurus | November 18, 2022 | |
| Christmas with the Campbells | December 2, 2022 | |
| Christmas Bloody Christmas | December 9, 2022 | |
| The Apology | December 16, 2022 | |
| Kids vs. Aliens | January 20, 2023 | |
| Sympathy for the Devil | July 28, 2023[18] | |
| The Dive | August 25, 2023 | |
| Suitable Flesh | October 27, 2023[19] | |
| It's a Wonderful Knife | November 10, 2023[20] | |
| No Way Up | February 16, 2024 (USA/Canada/International distribution only through Warner Bros. Pictures)[21] | |
| Arcadian | April 12, 2024[22] |