Cinedigm

Cinedigm

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: CIDM
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	2000 (2000)
Founders	Bud Mayo
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California & New York City, New York
Key people	Chris McGurk, Chairman and CEO Jeff Edell, CFO Bill Sondheim, President, Entertainment
Products	Motion Pictures, Entertainment, Video on demand, Digital distribution, Film distribution
Number of employees	149
Divisions	Cinedigm Corp. Cinedigm Entertainment Group
Website	cinedigm.com

Cinedigm (or Cinedigm Corp.) is a North American entertainment company, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Cinedigm is engaged in digital cinema, software, and content marketing and distribution. Cinedigm is an independent content distributor in the United States, with a library of 50,000 films and TV episodes, and direct relationships with over 60,000 physical stores and digital retailers, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon, as well as the national video on demand platform on cable television. In addition, the company offers content marketing and distribution services in theatrical and ancillary home entertainment markets to alternative and independent movie content owners, as well as to theatrical exhibitors.^[1][2]

Digital cinema

Cinedigm provides the technology and the content necessary for transforming movie theaters worldwide into digital and networked entertainment centers. The transition from 35mm film projection, which had been used for 110 years, to digital projection systems was a worldwide motion picture industry effort and the costs to deploy this new technology were covered primarily through the payment of virtual print fees (VPF) from studios to implementation companies. To date, Cinedigm has deployed 12,601 screens at 1,408 locations with 377 exhibitor partners in domestic and international territories.^[3]

Theatrical releases

In 2012, Cinedigm established a theatrical releasing division, distributing numerous Oscar®-nominated films, including The Invisible War, Hell and Back Again, GasLand, Waste Land and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. Theatrical releases include Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12, Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors, Penny Lane’s Our Nixon, Shaul Schwarz’s Narco Cultura, Open Windows, and Night Moves.^[4] In 2016, Cinedigm acquired North American rights to comedy film Amateur Night^[5] and Punk's Dead premiere in one theater in Salt Lake City

History

Cinedigm Digital Cinema, Corp was founded in 2000 under the name Access IT Digital Media, Inc., through a group led by Bud Mayo, the founder of Clearview Cinemas. Mayo directed Cinedigm until his retirement in 2010, and subsequently founded Digital Cinema Destinations Corp. In September 2013, the company changed its name to Cinedigm Corp.^[6]

In January 2011, Chris McGurk joined as Chairman and CEO. Since that time, Cinedigm has grown and transformed from its pioneering origins in the digital cinema rollout in the overall digital entertainment content revolution.^[7]

In July 2011, Cinedigm closed the sale for Technicolor to acquire certain assets of Cinedigm's physical and electronic distribution business, which also includes the global licensing of the Cinedigm digital distribution software platform.^[8]

In August 2011, Screenvision acquired UniqueScreen Media, Inc. (USM), the cinema advertising division of Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. Additionally, the companies entered into a long-term agreement to partner their alternative content businesses, with Cinedigm becoming a major provider of alternative content distribution and promotion for Screenvision.^[9]

In April 2012, Cinedigm acquired New Video, an entertainment distributor of independent content, working with independent producers, filmmakers, and television networks, curating content for various platforms, including Digital, Cable, DVD, and theatrical release.^[10]

In October 2013, the company acquired Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment, an independent film, television, DVD and digital distribution company operating in the United States and Canada. The acquisition made Cinedigm the largest digital and physical distributor of independent, premium branded content worldwide.^[11]

In May 2014, Cinedigm launched Docurama, the OTT documentary channel available on Roku, Western Digital, Google TV, Yahoo Connected TV, Samsung, iPad, Android tablets, PS3, and Xbox.^[12][13] With a library of over 1,200 titles, Docurama offers full-length and short-form documentaries, non-fiction TV programming, behind-the-scenes interviews, as well as curated film festival coverage.^[14] The channel highlights projects from critically acclaimed and award-winning filmmakers, including Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), Fred Wiseman (La Danse), winner of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, and Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys), winner of the Director's and Audience Awards for documentary at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}

Docurama’s titles include Oscar-nominated films such as The Invisible War by Kirby Dick, and Danfung Dennis’s Hell and Back Again, winner of the Jury Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.^[20] Other award-winning films include Gasland, Josh Fox’s 2010 exposé of the hazards associated with natural gas drilling, and Joe Berlinger’s Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, an investigation of the legal process gone awry in an Arkansas murder case.^[21] Excusive features include The Fruit Hunters, featuring Bill Pullman in a movie by director Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze), and London: The Modern Babylon, in which director Julien Temple gives a history of the city leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympics. ^[22]

In February 2015, Cinedigm and Wizard World, producers of the largest chain of Comic Con and pop culture conventions in the United States, launched CONtv, a digital streaming network. CONtv provides consumers access to thousands of hours of exclusive content, an original slate of programming, as well as a vast digital catalog of over 1,200 titles, including cult television shows and genre movies encompassing sci-fi, horror, fantasy, anime, grindhouse, and martial arts action. Additionally, live coverage of events, panels and programs from Wizard World Comic Cons will be streamed.^[23]

The network’s original series include:

• Fight of the Living Dead, a combination of reality and scripted genres following nine YouTube stars as they work to survive the first 24-hours of a simulated zombie apocalypse.^{[24][25][26][27][28][29]}
• Actor Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) hosts Last Fan Standing, a game show filmed live at Wizard World Comic Con conventions nationwide. The series engages event attendees through a proprietary audience response system, where all patrons play along, competing for cash and prizes. The show culminates with the top four players vying for the coveted title of the Last Fan Standing.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]}
• My Morphing Life follows television and digital star Jason David Frank (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) through his daily adrenaline-fueled antics to give fans a thrilling look inside his base-jumping, high-flying life as he breaks world records, greets fans, raises his daughter and tackles death-defying stunts.^{[38][39][40][41][42]}

CONtv has licensed content from distributors including Starz Digital Media, RLJ Entertainment, DHX Media, The Jim Henson Company, Full Moon Films, Sentai Filmworks (aka Anime Network), Well Go USA, and Zodiak Media. These partnerships enable the network to carry an extensive catalogue from horror, to short-lived TV series, to cult classic films, including a selection of movies from cult directors Ed Wood, John Carpenter and Roger Corman. The digital network will also feature George Clooney’s famous performance in Return to Horror High, Seth Green in Arcade, Bruce Campbell in My Name Is Bruce, Gary Busey’s Gingerdead Man series and Tommy Chong’s Evil Bong films.^[43]

In September 2015, Cinedigm partnered with The Dove Foundation to launch Dove Channel, an online streaming service geared towards kids and faith-based viewers.^[44]

References

External links

• Official website