Vivendi Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group Distribution, is taking over the core home entertainment distribution operations of Genius Products. As a result of the deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, Vivendi's catalog is expected to grow 200% to more than 3,000 titles.
Vivendi will distribute Genius' own library, which includes the arthouse Wellspring line, and future releases for an unspecified number of years.
Until early this year, Genius was majority-owned by The Weinstein Company (TWC) and has been distributing TWC titles to retail. Precisely the scarcity of box office hits from this indie studio is what put Genius in financial trouble.
No information was given as to how Blu-ray output would be impacted by the acquisition. As of now, neither Genius nor Weinstein have any Blu-ray product announced (see our post of
June 8). The only Genius title that was pre-announced, '
Iron Man: Armored Adventures Vol.1', is up for preorder at Amazon but without a release date.
Sources said Vivendi will assume distribution of TWC's catalog and some new direct-to-video titles, but TWC's new release theatricals are expected to move to another distributor (Universal Home Video, in the case of 'Inglourious Basterds').
Prior to the deal, Vivendi already distributed Shout! Factory, Palisades Tartan, Codeblack, Eebee's Adventures and other lines. Last year, Vivendi added a theatrical distribution arm to handle eight to 14 films per year.