Subsidiary | |
Founded |
Los Angeles, California, United States (1980 ) |
Headquarters | Universal City, California, United States |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Products | Home video |
Owner |
NBCUniversal (Comcast) |
Parent | Universal Filmed Entertainment Group |
Website | www |
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA-Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc Inc. and MCA Videocassette Inc.) is the home video distribution division of American film studio Universal Pictures, owned by the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast.
The company was founded in 1980 as MCA Videocassette, Inc., with the release of films on Beta and VHS, including Jaws, Jaws 2, and 1941. In late 1983, both the Laserdisc sister label MCA Videodisc and the VHS/Beta label MCA Videocassette were consolidated into a single entity, MCA Home Video, alternating with the MCA Videocassette name until December 1983. In 1990, with the 75th anniversary of Universal Studios, it became MCA/Universal Home Video, alternating with the MCA Home Video name from 1990 until 1997. The company later went by various company names, including Universal Studios Home Video (1997–2005), and Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2005–2016).
In 1980, they released two '50s 3-D motion pictures, Creature from the Black Lagoon and It Came from Outer Space, in anaglyphic format on Beta and VHS.
This company was the video distributor for DreamWorks titles until DreamWorks was sold to Paramount Pictures' parent company, Viacom, in 2006, at which point Paramount took over distribution. After Viacom spun off DreamWorks in 2008, Universal Studios Home Entertainment was planned to resume distributing DreamWorks' movies, but this deal fell through. The company was also the video distributor for Summit Entertainment releases until they were bought by Lionsgate, at which point 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment took over distribution. Until Lionsgate formed their home video division, their releases were distributed by UPHE with the exception of Dogma, which was distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.