WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT GROUP ACQUIRES RIGHTS
TO 70 FILMS FROM THE SAMUEL GOLDWYN LIBRARY
Agreement Covers Nearly Every Film in the Goldwyn Library
Including The Best Years of Our Lives, Wuthering Heights,
The Pride of the Yankees, Guys and Dolls, Hans Christian Andersen,
The Bishop’s Wife
Burbank, Calif. (March 30, 2012) – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) and The Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. Family Trust have entered into an agreement whereby Warner will license the North American distribution rights to some 70 titles from the Samuel Goldwyn Films library. The deal was announced today by Jeff Baker, Warner Executive Vice President and General Manager, Theatrical Catalog, and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., founder of The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and the son of pioneer motion picture mogul Samuel Goldwyn.
The agreement represents nearly every film produced by the legendary producer, Samuel Goldwyn, including some that have never before been available to the home entertainment market. Titles could be released on Blu-ray Disc™, DVD, electronic sell-through and VOD as early as the 4thquarter of this year. Specific announcements to follow.
“The acquisition of the stellar Samuel Goldwyn library reaffirms WBHEG’s commitment to the classics and ownership through physical and digital distribution to consumers,” said Baker. “Our library, already boasting such crown jewels as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and Casablanca to name just a few, will be strengthened even further with Goldwyn’s fine titles from American film history.”
The Samuel Goldwyn Films library includes nearly four decades of classic films, all personally produced by Goldwyn for his Samuel Goldwyn Productions between 1925 and 1955. Top titles to be added to the WBHEG library, already the largest in the world, include The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946’s Oscar®-winning Best Picture, which increases the number of WBHEG library’s Best Picture Oscar® winners to 22, the most of any other single studio. Other highlights include William Wyler’s 1939 drama, Wuthering Heights starring Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven, The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper, Guys and Dolls starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine, and Hans Christian Andersen starring Danny Kaye. Additionally, eight Gary Cooper films are included in the Goldwyn library, which also boasts films from some of the most acclaimed directors in screen history including Wyler, Howard Hawks and John Ford.
According to Sam Goldwyn Jr., “I could not be more pleased to have our library in such esteemed and capable hands. Warner Bros. has had an exceptional reputation going back to the days of my father. The idea that our treasured titles such as Wuthering Heights, The Best Years of Our Lives, and dozens of others will be handled with such passion and care could not make me happier.”
The agreement, covering U.S. and Canada, includes all home video, electronic sell-through, and transactional VOD rights.
SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS LIBRARY:
THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO
ARROWSMITH
THE AWAKENING*
BALL OF FIRE
BARBARY COAST
BELOVED ENEMY
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
THE BISHOP’S WIFE
BULLDOG DRUMMOND
COME AND GET IT
CONDEMNED
THE COWBOY AND THE LADY
CYNARA
CYTHEREA*
DARK ANGEL*
DEAD END
THE DEVIL DANCER*
THE DEVIL TO PAY!
DODSWORTH
EDGE OF DOOM
ENCHANTMENT
THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES
GUYS AND DOLLS
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
HIS SUPREME MOMENT*
IN HOLLYWOOD WITH POTASH & PERLMUTTER*
I WANT YOU
THE KID FROM BROOKLYN
THE KID FROM SPAIN
KID MILLIONS
THE LITTLE FOXES
THE MAGIC FLAME*
THE MASQUERADER
MY FOOLISH HEART
NANA
THE NIGHT OF LOVE*
ONE HEAVENLY NIGHT
OUR VERY OWN
PALMY DAYS
PARTNERS AGAIN, WITH POTASH & PERLMUTTER*
POTASH AND PERLMUTTER*
THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES
THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE
RAFFLES
RAFFLES (1930)
THE REAL GLORY
THE RESCUE*
ROMAN SCANDALS
ROSEANNA MCCOY
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
SECRETS
A SONG IS BORN
SPLENDOR
STELLA DALLAS
STELLA DALLAS (1925)*
STRIKE ME PINK
TARNISH*
THESE THREE
THEY GOT ME COVERED
THEY SHALL HAVE MUSIC
A THIEF IN PARADISE*
THIS IS HEAVEN*
TWO LOVERS
THE UNHOLY GARDEN
UP IN ARMS
WE LIVE AGAIN
THE WEDDING NIGHT
THE WESTERNER
WHOOPEE!
THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH*
WOMAN CHASES MAN
WONDER MAN
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
*silent film
About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group:
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment's home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHEG oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHEG distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com.
ABOUT SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS
Samuel Goldwyn Films is a major, independently owned and operated motion-picture company that develops, produces and distributes innovative feature films and documentaries. The company is dedicated to working with both world renowned and emerging writers/filmmakers and committed to filmed entertainment that offers original voices in uniquely told stories. This is best exemplified by the Academy Award® nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and SUPER SIZE ME, AMAZING GRACE and Julie Delpy's hit comedy 2 DAYS IN PARIS. Past Goldwyn titles include PRICELESS, a romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou, Academy Award® winner Claude Lelouch's ROMAN DE GARE, the critically hailed ELEGY starring Academy Award® nominee Penélope Cruz, HARRY BROWN starring Michael Caine and, on the faith side, the box office smashes FIREPROOF, FACING THE GIANTS and AMAZING GRACE. MAO’S LAST DANCER, directed by Academy Award nominee Bruce Beresford was one of the top grossing independent films of 2010. In addition to THE DOUBLE HOUR, a revered thriller that was one of the top foreign language grossers of 2011, SGF released THE WHISTLEBLOWER, a powerful, ripped from the headlines thriller starring Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz that premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. Upcoming releases include THE ISLAND PRESIDENT (March 28th), winner of this year’s Audience Award at Toronto about former President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced – the literal survival of his country and everyone in it, ROBOT & FRANK starring Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon which recently premiered at Sundance to rave reviews and DIANA VREELAND THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL, an acclaimed documentary about the late fashion icon which premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
