Hemdale Film Corporation, known as Hemdale Communications after 1993, was an independent British-American film production company and distributor founded in London in 1967 as the Hemdale Company by actor David Hemmings and John Daly. Hemmings left the company in 1971, and Daly purchased his stock. They were known for having produced numerous acclaimed and well-known genre films, often in conjunction with companies such as TriStar, Orion and Manhattan.
History[]
Hemdale is a combination of Hemmings and Daly's surnames. Hemdale began as an investment company to cut the high personal taxes on British actors. Eventually, the company went public as Hemdale Ltd. and began diversifying. Hemdale launched a talent agency that helped launch the careers of such bands as Black Sabbath and Yes, invested in feature films, financed stage productions such as Grease, and became involved in boxing promotions such as The Rumble in the Jungle match between George Foreman and Muhammed Ali. Hemdale also distributed cable TV to hotels, which, in 1974, was its major source of revenue. After producing and distributing British films throughout the 1970s, Hemdale relocated to Hollywood in 1980 and focused extensively on movie-making. A distribution agreement was made with Orion Pictures. John Daly was Hemdale's chairman and president. In 1981 Derek Gibson joined the company as executive vice president and head of production. Daly and Gibson were then credited together as executive producers on all Hemdale films.
Among Hemdale's best known films are The Terminator, The Return of the Living Dead, Hoosiers, Salvador, River's Edge, Platoon, and The Last Emperor; the latter two were back-to-back recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Hemdale produced and or financed over 80 films during this period. The company suffered a credit line withdrawal from its French bank Crédit Lyonnais due to a number of Government bank inquiries. The bank's difficulties forced it to withdraw Hemdale's line of credit, causing the company to file for bankruptcy protection.
In 1991, Eric Parkinson joined Hemdale as president of Hemdale Home Video and Hemdale Communications. That same year, Hemdale created a collection of many video cassette titles released by Hemdale Home Video around the United States of America. Its first title was the Home Video reissue of the original Terminator in 1991. In 1995, the video rights to some of Hemdale's higher-profile titles were licensed to LIVE Entertainment (now Lionsgate).
In 1995, Hemdale shut its doors, shortly after it was announced that Daly and Gibson would leave the company. The library was then incorporated into Consortium de Réalisation, a French holding company set up by Crédit Lyonnais to handle the rights to titles acquired by Credit Lyonnais Bank.
Aftermath[]
After the studio closed, the Hemdale library was incorporated into the Orion Pictures output now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via Polygram Entertainment, after MGM acquired the Consortium de Réalisation library from PolyGram (ironically, Orion was the theatrical distributor for a number of Hemdale's films). One significant exception is The Last Emperor, a Hemdale production whose rights are now held by its producer, Jeremy Thomas. Hemdale licensed each of the US media rights to different companies; for example, Columbia Pictures handled US Theatrical only. Most of the foreign productions Hemdale distributed have subsequently returned to their original owners (such as Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, which producer Tokyo Movie Shinsha now controls worldwide).
The company's last new credit was the Virgin Games video game adaptation The Terminator, which showed up on the game's start up screen as Hemdale's The Terminator.
in 2020, Hemdale's entire library were purchased by Fox-Weinstein-Dimension Pictures. it was relaunched as a genre division of Fox-Weinstein-Dimension Holdings, replaced Dimension Films.
Films[]
| Release Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| April 24, 1981 | Cattle Annie and Little Britches | distributed by Universal Pictures |
| September 25, 1981 | Carbon Copy | distributed by Avco Embassy Pictures |
| October 16, 1981 | Strange Behavior | distributed by World Northal |
| June 24, 1983 | Yellowbeard | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| October 1983 | Escape from the Bronx | |
| April 1984 | Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr | |
| May 1984 | R-O-M-E spells Rome | based on Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince; distributed by Manhattan Pictures |
| June 1984 | A Breed Apart | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| September 28, 1984 | Irreconcilable Differences | co-production with Warner Bros. |
| October 26, 1984 | The Terminator | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| November 16, 1984 | Special Effects | distributed by New Line Cinema |
| November 1984 | Perfect Strangers | |
| January 25, 1985 | The Falcon and the Snowman | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| August 16, 1985 | The Return of the Living Dead | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| January 1986 | Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf | |
| February 9, 1986 | A Killing Affair | |
| April 18, 1986 | At Close Range | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| April 23, 1986 | Salvador | |
| November 1, 1986 | Inside Out | |
| November 14, 1986 | Hoosiers | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| November 21, 1986 | Body Slam | distributed by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group |
| November 21, 1986 | Defense of the Realm | |
| December 19, 1986 | Platoon | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| January 12, 1987 | The Base | distributed by Manhattan Pictures |
| May 8, 1987 | River's Edge | distributed by Island Pictures |
| May 15, 1987 | Made in U.S.A. | distributed by TriStar Pictures |
| May 1987 | My Little Girl | |
| June 12, 1987 | Burke & Wills | |
| July 10, 1987 | The Whistle Blower | |
| July 30, 1987 | High Tide | distributed by TriStar Pictures |
| August 1, 1987 | Love at Stake | distributed by TriStar Pictures |
| September 18, 1987 | Hotel Colonial | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| September 25, 1987 | Best Seller | distributed by Orion Pictures |
| November 1987 | Slate, Wyn & Me | |
| 1988 | Scenes from the Goldmine | |
| February 5, 1988 | The Supergrass | |
| March 25, 1988 | High Season | |
| April 15, 1988 | The Last Emperor | distributed by Columbia Pictures |
| May 25, 1988 | The Tale of Ruby Rose | |
| November 23, 1988 | Buster | |
| December 23, 1988 | The Boost | |
| January 13, 1989 | Ha-Holmim | |
| January 21, 1989 | Cheap Shots | |
| January 27, 1989 | Cohen and Tate | |
| March 3, 1989 | Out Cold | |
| April 28, 1989 | Criminal Law | |
| May 19, 1989 | Miracle Mile | |
| June 2, 1989 | Vampire's Kiss | |
| July 21, 1989 | Shag | |
| August 18, 1989 | Blood Red | |
| September 22, 1989 | The Time Guardian | |
| September 29, 1989 | War Party | |
| October 6, 1989 | The Everlasting Secret Family | |
| November 10, 1989 | Staying Together | |
| January 5, 1990 | Love or Money | |
| January 26, 1990 | Incident at Raven's Gate | |
| April 20, 1990 | Chattahoochee | |
| May 6, 1990 | The Belly of an Architect | |
| ??, 1990 | Wishful Thinking | |
| September 21, 1990 | Don't Tell Her It's Me | |
| November 2, 1990 | Vincent & Theo | |
| November 21, 1990 | Hidden Agenda | |
| April 12, 1991 | Impromptu | |
| April 19, 1991 | Kill Line | |
| June 14, 1991 | Bright Angel | |
| September 27, 1991 | Prime Target | distribution |
| November 1991 | Thousand Pieces of Gold | distribution |
| February 28, 1992 | Complex World | distribution |
| March 13, 1992 | Highway to Hell | distribution |
| May 29, 1992 | Cold Heaven | distribution |
| June 15, 1992 | Beautiful Dreamers | distribution |
| ??, 1992 | Round Numbers | distribution |
| August 7, 1992 | Bed & Breakfast | distribution |
| August 21, 1992 | Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland | distribution |
| August 26, 1992 | Knock Outs | distribution |
| September 1, 1992 | The Legend of Wolf Mountain | distribution |
| October 14, 1992 | Murder Blues | distribution |
| ??, 1992 | Merlin - The True Story of Magic | distribution |
| March 5, 1993 | Love Your Mama | distribution |
| April 25, 1993 | The Magic Voyage | distribution |
| ??, 1993 | Breakfast of Aliens | distribution |
| September 10, 1993 | The Seventh Coin | distribution |
| September 15, 1993 | Laser Moon | distribution |
| October 6, 1993 | In a Moment of Passion | distribution |
| January 5, 1994 | Quest of the Delta Knights | distribution |
| January 19, 1994 | Future Shock | distribution |
| ??, 1994 | The Polar Bear King | distribution |
| May 4, 1994 | Confessions of a Hitman | distribution |
| June 3, 1994 | The Princess and the Goblin | distribution |
| September 13, 1994 | Savage Land | distribution |
| October 19, 1994 | The Story of Christmas | distribution |
| January 3, 1995 | The Littlest Viking | distribution |
| March 28, 1995 | Across the Moon | distribution |
| May 20, 1995 | Mosquito | distribution |
| July 21, 1996 | The Bad Bug | co-distribution with Manhattan Pictures |
| October 24, 1996 | One More Shot | co-distribution with Tapeworm Video Distributors |
| October 31, 1997 | Grizzly Mountain | co-distribution with Legacy Releasing and LIVE Entertainment |