becoming Gaiam's general-interest label that released films and non-exercise videos such as animated films from DIC Entertainment and mockbusters from The Asylum.īy the end of the 2000's, the GT Media brand was no longer used by Gaiam, with the company solely distributing its non-Yoga products under their standard name. and GT Brands Holdings LLC was renamed as GT Media, Inc. A day later, Gaiam announced that they would acquire all of GoodTimes' assets for $40 million. On July 11, 2005, GT Brands Holdings filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. On February 10, 2003, Quadrangle Capital Partners purchased GoodTimes Entertainment for $90 million plus $160 million in debt, and rebranded the company as GT Brands. Most of these were credited to Film Shows, Inc. In addition, GoodTimes released several compilations assembled from public domain films, film trailers, earlier television programs and newsreels. At different times, GoodTimes contracted with Columbia Pictures, NBC, HBO, Worldvision Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera, Orion Home Video, Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures to release inexpensive tapes of many of their films and TV series. This company was sold to the French game publisher Infogrames in 1999. Expanding from home video distribution, GoodTimes founded its spin-off, GT Interactive as a way to distribute video games. In the 1990s they expanded the company into GT Publishing, a division of the company that published children's books under the Inchworm Press imprint. That year, Goodtimes and Kids Klassics merged their distribution arms to form Goodtimes/Kids Klassics Distribution Corp. This was followed in 1987 by signing a deal with major video distributor MCA Home Video to license these titles to videocassette, mainly the Universal Pictures catalog for a price of $15. The company made its first licensed client in 1986, by signing a deal with Worldvision Home Video to reissue titles on videocassette, through the Kids Klassics label, which was mostly on Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The first Kids Klassics videos were 52 different cartoons, which were all meant to be in color and received a 50-50 joint venture with Remco to market the Mel-O-Toons cartoons by Storer Broadcasting. At the Summer CES 1985, GoodTimes launched a home video label Kids Klassics Home Video, which was specifically designed for a children's audience. Despite these changes, however, GoodTimes continued to produce animated films based on public domain "knockoff" titles. As a result of this lawsuit, GoodTimes was required by law to print its name atop all of its future VHS covers, in order to clearly demonstrate to the public at large that this was not the " blockbuster" title that they would be purchasing. The Walt Disney Company sued GoodTimes in 1993 because the videotape packaging closely resembled Disney's, allegedly creating the potential of confusing consumers into unintentionally purchasing a GoodTimes title, when they instead meant to purchase a film from Disney. This was largely legal, as the stories of the big-budget films were based on folk tales that had long been in the public domain, and the major studios had little room to claim exclusive rights to the stories or the main characters. Many of its home-video titles-such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Sinbad, The Little Mermaid, The Three Musketeers and Thumbelina-were named similarly or identically to big-budget animated films from other studios (though their plots were sometimes very different), and GoodTimes would often release these films close to the theatrical/home-video releases of other studios. Though the company also produced and distributed many low-priced fitness videos, its most recognized line of products were the series of low-budget traditionally animated films from companies such as Jetlag Productions, Golden Films, and Blye Migicovsky Productions, as well as a selection of the works of Burbank Films Australia. GoodTimes began with the distribution of copies of public domain titles. įollowing the bankruptcy, GoodTimes' parent company was sold to Yoga company Gaiam in September 2005. The company had a distribution facility in Jersey City, New Jersey and a duplication facility in Bayonne, New Jersey. Its headquarters were in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The founders for the company were the brothers Kenneth, Joseph and Stanley Cayre (often referred to and credited simply as the "Cayre Brothers") of Salsoul Records. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and classics. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video.
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