Hemdale Film Corporation

Hemdale Film Corporation, known as Hemdale Communications after 1993, was an independent British-American film production company and distributor. The company was founded in London in 1967 as the Hemdale Company by actor David Hemmings and John Daly, naming the company from a combination of their surnames.[2] The company produced numerous acclaimed films, often in conjunction with companies such as TriStar and Orion Pictures, including Platoon (1986) and The Last Emperor (1987), back-to-back winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Hemdale Film Corporation

Industry	Film
Fate	Defunct
Founded	1967 (1967) (as The Hemdale Company)
Founders	David Hemmings John Daly
Defunct	1995
Headquarters	London, England, United Kingdom Los Angeles, California, United States[1]
Key people	John Daly Derek Gibson

History

Hemdale began as an investment company to cut the high personal taxes on British actors.[3] Eventually, the company went public as Hemdale Ltd. and began diversifying. Hemdale partnered with Patrick Meehan of Worldwide Artists, who once managed the band Black Sabbath,[4] invested in feature films, financed stage productions such as Grease, and became involved in boxing promotions such as The Rumble in the Jungle match between George Foreman and Muhammed Ali.[3] John Daly was Hemdale's chairman and president. David Hemmings left the company in 1971, and Daly purchased his stock.[3] Hemdale also distributed cable TV to hotels, which, in 1974, was its major source of revenue.[3] After producing and distributing British films throughout the 1970s, Hemdale relocated to Hollywood in 1980 and focused extensively on movie-making.[3][5] A distribution agreement was made with Orion Pictures. In 1981 Derek Gibson joined the company as executive vice president and head of production. Daly and Gibson were then credited together as executive producers on all Hemdale films.[6]

Among Hemdale's best known films are The Terminator, The Return of the Living Dead, Hoosiers, Salvador, River's Edge, Platoon, and The Last Emperor; the latter two were back-to-back recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Hemdale produced and or financed over 80 films during this period.

In 1986, Salvador was the first major film released by Hemdale Distribution in the United States.[7] Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf had received a regional release in December 1985.[8]

In 1991, Hemdale sold its valuable assets to another company that Daly and Gibson ran at cut-rate prices, which became Hemdale Communications.[9] Erik Parkinson joined the new company as president of Hemdale Pictures Corporation and Hemdale Home Video.[10] That same year, the new Hemdale created a collection of many video cassette titles released by Hemdale Home Video around the United States of America. Its first title was the Home Video reissue of the original Terminator in 1991,[11] via a distribution deal it signed with the old Hemdale company, then renamed NSB Film Corporation, to release some films from the latter's 150-title library.[9][12] In 1993, Hemdale Pictures was rechristened as Hemdale Communications.[9] In 1995, the video rights to some of Hemdale's higher-profile titles were licensed to LIVE Entertainment (now Lionsgate).

In 1992, NSB sued Daly and Gibson for selling the Hemdale remnants to Parkinson's company,[9] and Crédit Lyonnais Bank Nederland for breach of contract, racketeering, fraud, equitable subordination and contributing to its bankruptcy.[13][14] The next year, Crédit Lyonnais filed another lawsuit against NSB, resulting in the bank foreclosing on both NSB and its Hemdale library and forcing NSB to severe ties with Hemdale Home Video to release some of its titles.[12] In 1994, NSB and Crédit Lyonnais settled their year-old ligation.[14]

In March 1995, Daly and Gibson left the company, to be succeeded in their positions by Eric Parkinson.[15][16] That November, the company was reorganized; Parkinson was relegated to running only the video division, and former studio tax attorney Ray Bennett became chairman of Hemdale, while Larry Glauber became CEO. On November 9, 1995, Hemdale filed for involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[17][18]

Aftermath

After the studio closed, the Hemdale library was then incorporated into Consortium de Réalisation, a French holding company set up by Crédit Lyonnais to handle the rights to titles acquired by Credit Lyonnais Bank (this was otherwise known as the “Epic” library). In 1999, the library was incorporated into the Orion Pictures output now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, after MGM acquired the Consortium de Réalisation/“Epic” library from PolyGram (ironically, Orion was the theatrical distributor for a number of Hemdale's films). One significant exception is The Last Emperor, a Hemdale production whose rights are now held by its producer, Jeremy Thomas. Hemdale licensed each of the US media rights to different companies; for example, Columbia Pictures handled US theatrical distribution only. Most of the foreign productions Hemdale distributed have subsequently returned to their original owners (such as Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, which producer Tokyo Movie Shinsha now controls worldwide). In the late '80s and early '90s, the television rights to the Hemdale library lay with Carolco Pictures.[19]

The company's last new credit was the Virgin Games video game adaptation The Terminator, which showed up on the game's start up screen as Hemdale's The Terminator.

Films

Release Date	Title	Notes
December 18, 1972	Images	distributed by Columbia Pictures
March 19, 1975	Tommy	distributed by Columbia Pictures
August 19, 1979	Sunburn	distributed by Paramount Pictures
April 24, 1981	Cattle Annie and Little Britches	distributed by Universal Pictures
September 25, 1981	Carbon Copy	co-production with RKO Pictures; distributed by Avco Embassy Pictures
October 16, 1981	Strange Behavior	distributed by World Northal
October 14, 1982	Turkey Shoot	distributed by Roadshow Film Distributors
June 24, 1983	Yellowbeard	distributed by Orion Pictures
October 1983	Escape from the Bronx	distributed by New Line Cinema
April 1984	Race for the Yankee Zephyr
June 1984	A Breed Apart	distributed by Orion Pictures
September 28, 1984	Irreconcilable Differences	co-production with Warner Bros.
October 26, 1984	The Terminator	distributed by Orion Pictures
November 16, 1984	Special Effects	distributed by New Line Cinema
November 1984	Perfect Strangers	distributed by New Line Cinema
January 25, 1985	The Falcon and the Snowman	distributed by Orion Pictures
August 16, 1985	The Return of the Living Dead	distributed by Orion Pictures
December 1985	Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf
March 5, 1986	Salvador
April 18, 1986	At Close Range	distributed by Orion Pictures
November 14, 1986	Hoosiers	distributed by Orion Pictures
November 21, 1986	Body Slam	distributed by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
November 21, 1986	Defense of the Realm
December 19, 1986	Platoon	distributed by Orion Pictures
May 8, 1987	River's Edge	distributed by Island Pictures
May 15, 1987	Made in U.S.A.	distributed by TriStar Pictures
May 1987	My Little Girl
June 12, 1987	Burke & Wills
July 10, 1987	The Whistle Blower
August 1, 1987	Love at Stake	distributed by TriStar Pictures
August 21, 1987	Inside Out
September 18, 1987	Hotel Colonial	distributed by Orion Pictures
September 25, 1987	Best Seller	distributed by Orion Pictures
November 20, 1987	The Last Emperor	distributed by Columbia Pictures
November 1987	Slate, Wyn & Me
December 18, 1987	High Tide	distributed by TriStar Pictures
1987	Scenes from the Goldmine
February 5, 1988	The Supergrass
March 25, 1988	High Season
May 25, 1988	The Tale of Ruby Rose
July 15, 1988	A Killing Affair
September 15, 1988	War Party
November 23, 1988	Buster
December 23, 1988	The Boost
January 13, 1989	Ha-Holmim
January 27, 1989	Cohen and Tate
March 3, 1989	Out Cold
April 28, 1989	Criminal Law
May 19, 1989	Miracle Mile
June 2, 1989	Vampire's Kiss
July 21, 1989	Shag
August 18, 1989	Blood Red
September 22, 1989	The Time Guardian
October 6, 1989	The Everlasting Secret Family
November 10, 1989	Staying Together
January 5, 1990	Love or Money
January 26, 1990	Incident at Raven's Gate
April 20, 1990	Chattahoochee
May 6, 1990	The Belly of an Architect
??, 1990	Wishful Thinking
September 21, 1990	Don't Tell Her It's Me
November 2, 1990	Vincent & Theo
November 21, 1990	Hidden Agenda
April 12, 1991	Impromptu
April 19, 1991	Kill Line
June 14, 1991	Bright Angel
September 27, 1991	Prime Target	distribution
November 15, 1991	Cheap Shots
November 1991	Thousand Pieces of Gold	distribution
February 28, 1992	Complex World	distribution
March 13, 1992	Highway to Hell	distribution
May 29, 1992	Cold Heaven	distribution
June 15, 1992	Beautiful Dreamers	distribution
??, 1992	Round Numbers	distribution
August 7, 1992	Bed & Breakfast	distribution
August 21, 1992	Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland	distribution
August 26, 1992	Knock Outs	distribution
September 1, 1992	The Legend of Wolf Mountain	distribution
October 14, 1992	Murder Blues	distribution
??, 1992	Merlin - The True Story of Magic	distribution
March 1, 1993	Breakfast of Aliens	distribution
March 5, 1993	Love Your Mama	distribution
April 25, 1993	The Magic Voyage	distribution
September 10, 1993	The Seventh Coin	distribution
September 15, 1993	Laser Moon	distribution
October 6, 1993	In a Moment of Passion	distribution
January 5, 1994	Quest of the Delta Knights	distribution
January 19, 1994	Future Shock	distribution
??, 1994	The Polar Bear King	distribution
May 4, 1994	Confessions of a Hitman	distribution
June 3, 1994	The Princess and the Goblin	distribution
September 13, 1994	Savage Land	distribution
October 19, 1994	The Story of Christmas	distribution
January 3, 1995	The Littlest Viking	distribution
March 28, 1995	Across the Moon	distribution
May 20, 1995	Mosquito	distribution
October 24, 1996	One More Shot	co-distribution with Tapeworm Video Distributors
October 31, 1997	Grizzly Mountain	co-distribution with Legacy Releasing and LIVE Entertainment

References

1. "Release date not set for movie shot in S.C." Associated Press (November 6, 1988). Retrieved on April 1, 2011.
2. "High-risk Movie Mogul". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
3. Lambie, Ryan (7 April 2015). "The Rise and Fall of Hemdale". Den of Geek.
4. John Daly biography - Yahoo Movies Archived February 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
5. Thomas, Bob. "Independent filmmakers may produce over half of releases." Associated Press (October 23, 1986). Retrieved on April 1, 2011.
6. "High-risk Movie Mogul". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
7. Todd McCarthy (March 5, 1986). "Film reviews - Salvador". Variety.
8. "1986 U.S. Film Releases by Company". Variety. February 19, 1986. p. 283.
9. "Former Hemdale exex target of NSB lawsuit". Variety. 1994-03-02. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
10. Brennan, Judy (1992-10-27). "Creditors file request to put NSB Corp. into default". Variety. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
11. "Hemdale Sets Up Homevid Division". Variety. 1991-05-06. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
12. Ayscough, Suzan (1993-05-12). "CL, guilds pact against Hemdale". Variety. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
13. Brennan, Judy (1993-03-26). "Hemdale haunts Lyonnais". Variety. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
14. Cox, Dan (1994-04-04). "Former Hemdale unit settles Guild/Bank suit". Variety. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
15. Allbusiness.com Hemdale Communications Inc. announces resignation of chairman John Daly and president Derek Gibson; March 6, 1995 Archived January 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
16. "Shakeup At Hemdale". Variety. 1995-03-13. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
17. Nielsen Business Media (1995-11-25). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 86. eric parkinson hemdale.
18. "TCR_Public/951109.MBX". www.bankrupt.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
19. "Carolco I: Cleared for Action!" (PDF). American Radio History. 27 March 1989. Retrieved 18 February 2019.

External links

• Hemdale Film Corporation on IMDb (as Hemdale)
• Hemdale Film Corporation on IMDb (as Hemdale Film Distribution)
• Hemdale Film Corporation on IMDb (under full name)