GoodTimes Entertainment

Not to be confused with Goodtimes Enterprises.
GT Media, Inc.
Formerly
  • GoodTimes Home Video Corp. (1984–1993)
  • GoodTimes Entertainment Ltd. (1993–2003)
  • GT Brands Holdings LLC (2003–2005)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryHome video company
Founded1984; 40 years ago (1984)
Defunct2009; 15 years ago (2009)
FateFolded into Gaia, Inc.
HeadquartersMidtown Manhattan, New York City
Key people
Products
Parent

GT Media, Inc. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and classics. 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. Its headquarters were in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company had a distribution facility in Jersey City, New Jersey and a duplication facility in Bayonne, New Jersey, known as GTK Duplicating Co..[1]

Following the bankruptcy, GoodTimes' parent company was sold to Yoga-focused content company Gaiam in September 2005.

History

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GoodTimes began with the distribution of copies of public domain titles. Though the company also produced and distributed many low-priced fitness videos such as the 29 Minute Workout video series, 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. 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[2] (though their plots were sometimes very different), and GoodTimes would often release these films close to the theatrical/home-video releases of other studios. 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. 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.[3] 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. Despite these changes, however, GoodTimes continued to produce animated films based on public domain "knockoff" titles.[4] At the Summer CES 1985, GoodTimes launched a home video label Kids Klassics Home Video, which was specifically designed for a children's audience.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] That year, Goodtimes and Kids Klassics merged their distribution arms to form Goodtimes/Kids Klassics Distribution Corp.[9] 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.[10] Expanding from home video distribution, GoodTimes founded its spin-off, GT Interactive as a way to distribute video games.[11] This company was sold to the French game publisher Infogrames in 1999. At different times, GoodTimes contracted with Columbia Pictures, NBC, HBO, Worldvision Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera,[7] Orion Home Video,[12] Universal Pictures[8] and Paramount Pictures to release inexpensive tapes of many of their films and TV series. In addition, GoodTimes released several compilations assembled from public domain films, film trailers, earlier television programs and newsreels. Most of these were credited to Film Shows, Inc.

On February 10, 2003,[13] Quadrangle Capital Partners purchased GoodTimes Entertainment for $90 million plus $160 million in debt,[14] and rebranded the company as GT Brands.[13]

Bankruptcy and sale to Gaiam

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On July 11, 2005, GT Brands Holdings filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.[15] A day later, Gaiam announced to acquire all of GoodTimes' assets for $40 million.[16] The deal was closed in September 2005[17] and GT Brands Holdings LLC was renamed as GT Media, Inc.,[18] becoming Gaiam's general-interest label that released films and animation from DIC Entertainment and mockbusters from The Asylum.

By the end of the 2000s, the GT Media brand was no longer used by Gaiam, with the company solely distributing fitness and yoga media under the latter label. On April 3, 2012, the company acquired and merged with Vivendi Entertainment, renaming the combined subsidiary Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment.[19] In October 2013, Cinedigm purchased Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment for $51.5 million; after this Gaiam had exited the home video industry, with the subsidiary merging with Cinedigm's New Video to form a standalone distributor under the Cinedigm name.[20][21]

Library

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Prior to the company's bankruptcy, GoodTimes Entertainment produced at that time a TV series called Wulin Warriors. The series was an edited version of Pili, produced by Broadway Video and Animation Collective for Cartoon Network's Toonami block in 2006.

The company also produced the children's musical live action video series Treehouse Trolls Birthday Day and Treehouse Trolls Fun and Wonder (1992), the latter being remembered as Rachael Harris's first contribution to the film industry.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Company Information". GoodTimes Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 17, 2000. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
  2. ^ Edwards, C. (January 8, 2014). "The Ultimate Guide to Animated Mockbusters". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  3. ^ Nichols, Peter M. (September 10, 1993). "Home Video". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  4. ^ Nichols, Peter (September 17, 1993). "Disney loses suit over Good Times' 'Aladdin' video". Bangor Daily News. Bangor Publishing Company. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  5. ^ "Heavy accent on video, CD, hardware at Summer CES" (PDF). Billboard. June 8, 1985. p. 96. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  6. ^ "Firms toy with children's market" (PDF). Billboard. August 17, 1985. p. 27. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Bessman, Jim (May 3, 1986). "Kids Klassics To Market Titles for Worldvision" (PDF). Billboard. p. 53. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Stewart, Al (June 20, 1987). "Lorimar Drops KLV-TV Promotion" (PDF). Billboard. p. 71. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  9. ^ "Goodtimes In A Merger With Kids Klassics; Will Keep Low Price Policy". Variety. July 22, 1987. p. 47.
  10. ^ "Klusaritz Quits GT Publishing". Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  11. ^ "History of GoodTimes Entertainment Ltd. – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  12. ^ 30 Orion Pics to GoodTimes (PDF). Billboard. June 5, 1993. p. 102.
  13. ^ a b Peers, Martin (February 10, 2003). "Quadrangle Buys GoodTimes". The Wall Street Journal. p. B4. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via ProQuest.
  14. ^ Del Franco, Mark (July 13, 2005). "Gaiam Buys Bankrupt Entertainment Firm". Multichannel Merchant. Penton Media. Archived from the original on September 26, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  15. ^ "Oak Point Partners, LLC acquires remnant assets of the GT Brands Holdings LLC, et al., Bankruptcy Estates". November 2021. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  16. ^ "Gaiam grabs Goodtimes". July 12, 2005. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  17. ^ "Gaiam closes GoodTimes Entertainment deal at $35M". Denver Business Journal. bizjournals.com. January 13, 2014. Archived from the original on January 13, 2014.
  18. ^ Gaiam to Acquire Assets of GoodTimes Entertainment
  19. ^ "Gaiam completes acquisition of Vivendi Entertainment, the nation's largest independent content distributor". MarketWatch. April 3, 2012. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012.
  20. ^ "Cinedigm To Acquire Gaiam, Inc.'s Entertainment Unit, A Multi-Platform Content Licensor And Distributor". Archived from the original on October 31, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  21. ^ McNary, Dave (October 17, 2021). "Cinedigm Bulks Up With $51.1 Million Acquisition of Gaiam Vivendi". Variety. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  22. ^ "How old was Rachael Harris in her first movie: The Treehouse Trolls: The Forest of Fun and Wonder (1992)?". In That Movie. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
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