StudioCanal UK


StudioCanal Limited, doing business as StudioCanal UK, is a British film distribution division and the official British branch of the French film & television production and distribution company StudioCanal in the UK. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime, independent, art, British, Irish and American films in the United Kingdom.

History

Optimum Releasing (1999–2011)

The company was founded in October 1998, and began operation as Optimum Releasing in May 1999. The company, at the time, was exclusively a theatrical distributor, holding distribution of new releases and UK rights to the back catalogues of other companies. Optimum's first theatrical release was a restored version of The Third Man, licensed from Le Studio Canal+, and was released in July of that year, on the same weekend as the anticipated UK release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
The company launched a Home Entertainment division in 2004, and released material under several banners:
  • Optimum Home Entertainment
  • Optimum Classic
  • Optimum World
  • Optimum Asia
Optimum released over two hundred films a year and were one of the most prominent distributors in the independent film and world cinema market in the United Kingdom since the closure of Tartan Films in June 2008. In May 2006, Optimum Releasing was acquired by French film producer and distributor StudioCanal, a subsidiary of Vivendi's Canal+ Group, for £22–25 million, marking a re-entry into an international market for StudioCanal. Since then, StudioCanal now releases films from their back catalogue through Optimum Releasing under the Optimum Classic banner.
Some of the last titles released under the Optimum Releasing name include Kill List, The Guard, and a re release of Whisky Galore!.

StudioCanal UK (2011–present)

In September 2011, Optimum Releasing was rebranded under the StudioCanal name. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tyrannosaur, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, The Awakening, and W.E. were among the first films released under the new name.
In December 2022, the company sued Wild Bunch International over their British/Irish Studio Ghibli contract, certifying that Wild Bunch International's deal with Netflix for the Ghibli catalogue breached an agreement over standalone streaming rights where Wild Bunch claimed that "non-internet" steaming platforms "don't exist". WBI counter-sued StudioCanal UK, where they citified that their distribution deal was recouping distribution expenses against all forms of distribution, and not theatrical as they originally claimed. As of 2023 with the release of The Boy and the Heron, Elysian Film Group officially took over as Ghibli's distributor in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2023, after Pathé exited the UK theatrical film market and shut down its UK distribution, StudioCanal acquired the distribution rights to films previously by Pathé including Chicken Run, James and the Giant Peach and The Magic Roundabout.