Turner Entertainment - Background

Background

Turner Entertainment Co. was established on August 4, 1986 as a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System to oversee its film library after Ted Turner's short-lived acquisition of MGM/UA.

After re-selling the studio, Turner kept its library, which included the following:

• Nearly all of MGM's film and television library prior to May 23, 1986 ending with the film Killer Party (released on May 9, 1986)
  • Included in this portion are a few individual films that MGM acquired from other studios in connection with filming remakes, such as
    • The 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, originally from Paramount Pictures
    • The 1936 version of Show Boat and the 1931 version of Waterloo Bridge, both originally from Universal Studios
    • The 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda, originally from Selznick International Pictures and distributed by UA
• Some material from United Artists Television
  • Gilligan's Island and its two animated spin-offs The New Adventures of Gilligan and Gilligan's Planet
  • The former Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) catalog
    • Pre-1950 releases from Warner Bros.
      • Not included in this library were
        • Lady, Play Your Mandolin! - the first entry in the Merrie Melodies series
        • All the black-and-white entries in the Looney Tunes series
        • All the black-and-white Merrie Melodies produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions
        • All Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies released on or after August 1, 1948
        • All live-action short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948
    • Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios Popeye cartoons from Paramount Pictures
• The U.S. rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library
  • Some of these rights had not been held by MGM at the time of the Turner acquisition, these rights would be bought by Turner later on.
  • Turner later got rights to this library in Latin America as well.
• Films by Brut Productions, the production division of Fabergé (A Touch of Class).

Turner later re-sold United Artists and the MGM logo back to Kirk Kerkorian, and sold the old MGM studio lot to Lorimar, keeping the aforementioned library. In 1991, Turner Entertainment's parent Turner Broadcasting purchased Hanna-Barbera and its extensive animated library including The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, and Quick Draw McGraw (along with most of the Ruby-Spears library up to 1991). Turner's vast animation library served as the basis for Cartoon Network, and later Boomerang.

Turner Entertainment also played a huge part in film preservation and restoration, thus such classic films as Casablanca, Citizen Kane, King Kong, Easter Parade, and the original The Jazz Singer, can continue to be seen today via its various cable channels, as well as in revival movie houses and home video. The films are also internationally distributed and shown by many channels around the world.

Turner Entertainment also distributes films from the RKO Radio Pictures, pre-May 1986 MGM and pre-1950 Warner Bros. libraries, certain films from New Line Cinema (1994–1997), and shows from TBS, TNT, Hanna-Barbera (1991–1997), Cartoon Network, truTV and PBS (1994–2004) on home video via Turner Home Entertainment, and after 1996, Warner Home Video (which currently operates Turner's home video subsidiary as an in-name-only division) (see below).