Image Acquires Handmade Library for Blu-ray

Image Entertainment, Inc. announced today the licensing of the Handmade Films library, featuring over 30 titles including such classics as Time Bandits, The Long Good Friday, the Oscar-nominated Mona Lisa, A Private Function, Withnail and I and How To Get Ahead In Advertising. The announcement was made by Ted Green, Image Chairman and CEO. No Blu-ray release schedule for the library was given at this time.

"The Handmade Films library contains some of the greatest and most influential films of the past thirty years," remarked Green. "We look forward to making these classics available for the first time on Blu-ray and digital download for a new generation of fans."

"We're thrilled about our new partnership with Image Entertainment," said Antony Fraser, CEO Handmade plc. "Their legendary expertise with home entertainment is the perfect match for our picture collection."

Handmade Films was created in 1978 by ex-Beatle George Harrison and producer Denis O'Brien. The label's first theatrical release was Terry Gilliam's seminal 1981 fantasy Time Bandits. Throughout the 1980s, Handmade Films released an amazing string of commercial and critical hits including 1982's gritty gangster drama The Long Good Friday starring Oscar-nominee Bob Hoskins and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren; Oscar-winner Neil Jordan's lyrical, Oscar-nominated 1986 film noir Mona Lisa; the black comedies Withnail and I from 1987 and How To Get Ahead In Advertising released in 1989, both starring Richard Grant; as well as farces like A Private Function with Monty Python alum Michael Palin and Maggie Smith and Water with Oscar-winner Michael Caine and Valerie Perrine.