| MPI Media Group | |
| Foundation: | 1976 |
| Location: | Orland Park, Illinois |
| Key People: | Malik Ali (president & co-founder) |
| Homepage: | MPI Media Group |
MPI Media Group is an American producer, distributor and licensor of theatrical film and home entertainment. MPI's subsidiaries include MPI Pictures, MPI Home Video, Gorgon Video, and the horror film distributor Dark Sky Films. The company is located in Orland Park, Illinois, and was founded in 1976 by brothers Malik & Waleed Ali.[1]
MPI also owns the stock footage archive WPA Film Library, which offers one of the industry's largest collections of music performances, newsreels, political coverage and pop culture footage and the British Pathe Newsreel Archive.[1] The company was originally started in 1976 as Maljack Productions, Inc.
The company branched out into video distribution in 1983. One of the first titles, The Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night, which honored the movie's 20th anniversary was an instant best seller on the Billboard Videocassette Top 40.[2] Maljack had branched out into the vintage TV show genre with The Prisoner serving as one of the first titles to come out of the MPI Home Video label.[3] They eventually became a leader in the vintage television show industry, along with Paramount Home Video.[4]
In 1984, Maljack introduced the Gorgon Video line. In 1985, Maljack released a series of videocassettes featuring the lost episodes of the vintage Jackie Gleason TV show The Honeymooners.[5] Maljack also released shows via licensing agreements with such distributors like ITC Entertainment, as well as Captain Kangaroo.[6] In 1986, Maljack Productions, Inc. (MPI) released the David Selznick-produced Ronald Reagan documentary Reagan's Way, which was originally commissioned for French TV.[7]
Also, in 1986, Doc Projects Inc. had signed a deal with Maljack Productions in order to release its first documentary, Great Crimes of the Century.[8] In 1987, Maljack Productions, Inc. was officially shortened to MPI. In 1987, Frank Zappa's Honker Home Video had signed a distribution deal with MPI in order to release their titles on videocassette.[9]