Backstory:A24 Antilles
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 2012 (as The Skouras Group) December 31 2019 (as A24 Antilles) |
| Headquarters | Trouvaille, Rogatia |
| Key people | Sullivan Ramsoomair (President/COO) |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Services | Film, television and DVD distribution |
| Owner | A24 |
| Employees | 477 |
| Website | a24.hc |
A24 Antilles (formerly The Skouras Group; referred to as Skouras on-screen) is the Rogatian-based Caribbean division of independent-film company A24. A24 was originally established in 2012 as Skouras, a spin-off from 20th Century Fox Rogatia, which primarily served as the custodian of the MGM and DHX Media catalogues in Rogatia.
In December 2019, Skouras was sold to and renamed A24, spinning off the DHX rights to a new regional division of the rebranded WildBrain, while the MGM library moved to Disney-ABC via the American parent's acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
History
The original Skouras company emerged in the wake of 2011's News of the World phone hacking scandal, which gravely affected 20th Century Fox's parent conglomerate, News Corporation. In protest of this incident, a group of 27 executives at Fox Rogatia decided to take some of its distribution rights to a new company. In February 2012, they acquired the local rights to titles from MGM and several Canadian companies as part of an exit package. On March 21, 2012, they named their new company "Skouras", after Fox USA's president during 1942–62.
At the same time, the new Skouras bought logo licensing rights from a long-dormant U.S. distributor of the same name; it used a modified version of the latter's 1985 wordmark. The two firms shared nothing in common apart from this logo, their name and honoree, and the fact that both released Lasse Hallström's My Life as a Dog at different times.
On June 12, 2012, Skouras released its first wave of DVD/Blu-ray releases, comprising re-issues of Cookie Jar material from the previous Fox deal. Its first cinema release was Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer, in August 2012.
During its first 15 months of operation, Skouras was fully independent. Beginning in July 2013, several U.S. and Canadian companies bought stakes in the distributor in exchange for the Rogatian rights to their libraries. MGM Holdings was first (on July 15), followed by Canada's DHX Media (on August 1) and Corus Entertainment (on September 1). 2929 Entertainment, owner of Magnolia Pictures, followed suit on October 8.
Tribune Broadcasting, co-owners of the U.S. digital subchannel This TV (with MGM), bought a 2.5% stake on November 1, 2013; Canadian companies Bell Media and Cogeco followed suit on November 15. On March 17, 2014, the Barbados financial/insurance company Sagicor came into the fold as a minor shareholder. (Sagicor later became co-owner of Siriko with StudioCanal up till its 2019 buyout by Jamaica's Palace Amusements and South Africa's Naspers.)
In October 2019, Skouras announced plans to split into two companies after DHX, one of their clients, renamed itself WildBrain. That December, Skouras retained the independent/arthouse/foreign offerings under new branding and ownership/management, as A24 Antilles; meanwhile, the Skouras "Fun and Family" package formed the basis of WildBrain's Caribbean subsidiary. The MGM library moved to Disney-ABC as part of the Fox acquisition deal.
Skouras' final two theatrical releases were Uncut Gems and The Farewell (in late December 2019), both from their then-imminent parent firm.
Theme music
Skouras' logo theme, a re-orchestrated snippet of Björn Isfält's score from My Life as a Dog, débuted in June 2014 on DVD/Blu-ray and July 11, 2014 in theatres. It was retired shortly before A24 took over operations in December 2019.
Distribution
Current
A24 is the Rogatian representative to titles from its U.S. parent, along with:
- GKIDS
- Studio Ghibli (starting with Princess Kaugya and When Marnie Was There; earlier titles formerly through Disney-ABC until 2020)
- The Criterion Collection[N 1]
- IFC Films[N 1]
- Magnolia Pictures[N 2]
- Kino International/Kino Lorber[N 1]
- Music Box Films[N 1]
- Well Go USA
- Ira Deutchman's Emerging Pictures
- Variance Films[N 2]
- Zeitgeist Films[N 2]
- Strand Releasing[N 2]
- Cohen Media Group[N 2]
- HanWay (since August 2022)
- PBS Distribution/American Public Television (mostly non-PBS Kids titles)
- The Fred Rogers collection (Mister Rogers' Neighborhood/Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood/Peg + Cat/Odd Squad/Donkey Hodie/Alma's Way)
- Sesame Workshop (Sesame Street and related media; The Electric Company, Cro, and other properties)
Former
Currently with WildBrain
- DHX Media
- Cookie Jar Entertainment (formerly CINAR)[N 3]
- Ragdoll Worldwide (since September 2013)
- Epitome Pictures[N 4]
- Nerd Corps Entertainment (since December 2014)
- Cloudco (formerly Those Characters from Cleveland; excluding Care Bears)
- Nelvana[N 3]
- PBS Kids
- Flying Bark Productions (plus works from predecessor Yoram Gross Films; excluding animation-service efforts for other companies; since December 2013)
- Nippon Animation
- Benesse Corporation/Shimajiro
Currently with LCI
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (excluding pre-1986 backlog)[N 3][N 5]
- Cloudco (Care Bears) (until November 2022)[N 3][N 6]
- Toonz Entertainment (January 2015–November 2022)[N 6]
- Imira Entertainment
- Acció S.L.
- Imira Entertainment
Currently with Upland
- Russian animation studios Soyuzmultfilm, T/O Ekran, and Kievnauchfilm (June 2013–March 2022)[N 6]
- Russian film studios Mosfilm and Lenfilm (June 2013–March 2022)
Home media
In June 2014, Skouras struck a deal with RLJ's Image Entertainment, whereby Image distributed certain Skouras releases in the United States. This deal expired upon the rebrand to A24.
Animation
Skouras was the Rogatian media licensee to the Care Bears franchise, whose rights Fox handled from 2007 until Skouras' 2012 formation; WildBrain after the split from A24; and LCI from November 2022 onward.
Anime
In July 2014, Skouras became the official Rogatian licensee of titles from Nippon Animation and its precursor, Zuiyo Eizo. A Region 1 DVD of the 1979 TV special Manxmouse was the first release in the deal, on November 25, 2014. From January 2015, the company issued DVD sets of Nippon's World Masterpiece Theatre, plus a reissue of Banner the Squirrel, inherited from E1's anime division aOne/A1.
Skouras also gained rights ShoPro's Hamtaro in January 2014 (from A1); Knack Animation's Don Chuck Monogatari (1975–77) in May 2014; TMS' The Adventures of Gamba in November 2014; and Pierrot's The Wonderful Adventures of Nils in January 2015. Complete series sets were released on:
- February 17, 2015 (Don Chuck)
- May 19, 2015 (Hamtaro)
- September 15, 2015 (Gamba)
- November 10, 2015 (Nils)
In December 2014, the company acquired the original 1993–2008 Shimajiro series for the Caribbean market. Thanks to its high episode count (726), plans for a complete series set were scrapped in favour of regional weekday syndication. During September–December 2015, the first 65-episode "collection" aired subtitled on Rogatia's HCP-TV (on weekday afternoons at 3:30 AST) and other Caribbean stations. Collection #2 (episodes 66–130) aired during February–May 2016, Collection #3 (131–195) during September–December 2016, and so forth until the ninth one (521–585) in late 2019. WildBrain took over the Shimajiro license in 2020, resuming with Collection #10 (586–650) that January; taking a one-year hiatus in light of the Canadian parent's WOW! license; and concluding the classic era with Collection #11 (651–726) during September–November 2021.
Skouras also handled DVD sets for the original subtitled Sakura Card Captors in summer 2017, sublicensed from NIS America; the rights moved to Skouras' successor company three years later.
As A24, it introduced Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch to Caribbean audiences in September 2020, over 15 years after a previous attempt by ADV Films floundered. Season 1, also subtitled, aired on the Stride channel (on Saturday nights) until May 2022, with Season 2 following during the 2022–23 season.
Television
Skouras was the Caribbean DVD licensee for the 1980s sitcom 227, under license from Sony Pictures Television. Season 1 was re-issued on February 27, 2014, with the remaining sets released until November 2016. Skouras also released a 20-episode best-of set for Valerie and the Hogans (under license from Warner Bros. Television) on January 13, 2015.
In July 2014, Skouras started issuing box sets of obscure Disney Television Animation series under license from Disney; these rights moved to StudioCanal (later Siriko) in May 2017.
Notes
- ^ a b c d Previously distributed by E1.
- ^ a b c d e Previously distributed by Hycam Entertainment.
- ^ a b c d Rights inherited from 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Skouras handled Rogatian sales to Degrassi: Next Class, followup to Epitome's Degrassi: The Next Generation series. The predecessor was once handled by CBS Entertainment (via Degrassi's U.S. cable broadcaster, TeenNick). Caribbean rights to the entire Degrassi franchise are now with WildBrain.
- ^ Catalogue distributed by Disney–ABC during March 2019–December 2022.
- ^ a b c Transferred to WildBrain after split from Skouras/A24.
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