Prism Leisure Corporation

Prism Leisure Corporation Plc

Company type	Public limited company
Genre	Publisher and distributor of DVDs and videos, CDs and cassettes, video games and toys
Founded	1980; 44 years ago (1980)
Founder	Geoff Young
Defunct	June 4, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-06-04)
Fate	Administration Entertainment assets acquired by FremantleMedia Music assets acquired by Prism Leisure Ltd.
Successors	Prism Leisure Ltd FremantleMedia Home Entertainment
Headquarters	Enfield, Middlesex , UK
Key people	Geoff Young
Subsidiaries	Odyssey Video

Prism Leisure Corporation Plc was a distribution and publishing company that primarily focused on reissues and compilations, often at low prices. The company was located in Enfield, Middlesex, United Kingdom until it was placed into administration in June 2007.^[1]

History

The company was founded in 1980 as Geoff's Records by chairman Geoff Young.^[2]

The company was taken private in November 1998 after a management buyout.^[3]

The company launched an online store in 2001.^[4]

The company expanded in 2002 by acquiring competitors^{[5] [6]} and became the UK's leading wholesaler and worldwide distributor of CDs, cassettes, computer games, videos and DVDs.^[5] They also handled board games and toys.^[1]

In 2004, the company sold its retail locations. The Great Yarmouth King Street store was renamed "Better Leisure" and closed in October 2012.^[7]

On 4 June 2007, the company was placed into administration.^[8] Their entertainment assets were acquired by FremantleMedia while the music assets were acquired by ex-employee Ivor Young, who formed a successor business Prism Leisure Ltd. to continue releasing CDs. Despite sharing the same name, the two Prism Leisure businesses had no legal connection.^[9] On 16 January 2008, the company signed a deal with Go Entertain for the distribution of Prism Leisure Ltd.'s catalogue in some countries.^[10] The company continued to release music material, including purchasing the catalogue of distributor Telstar Records until being acquired by Phoenix Music International in 2013.^[11]

Products

DVD/video

Prism Leisure became a major publisher and distributor of budget home video on DVD and VHS. Titles include films such as Doomwatch, The Jigsaw Man, March or Die, The Brave Little Toaster, The Shawshank Redemption, Help! I'm a Fish, Treasure Island and The Whistle Blower. They also released television series including Birds of a Feather.

List of studios distributed by Prism Leisure

This is a selection of companies that had their DVDs released by Prism Leisure.

• Abbey Home Media
• Addictive Films
• Arrow Films (a few titles including Fritz the Cat and The Kentucky Fried Movie)
• Carlton Video
• DIC Entertainment
• Digital Entertainment Limited
• Film 2000
• FremantleMedia^[12]
• Full Moon Entertainment
• Granada Ventures (done after the Carlton-Granada merger)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (a few of their old films)
• Medusa Pictures
• Metrodome Distribution
• M.I.A (also known as "Missing In Action", not to be confused with the 1984 film)
• Momentum Pictures
• Odyssey Video
• Redbus Film Distribution (at this time, Redbus Home Entertainment)
• Sanctuary Visual Entertainment
• Second Sight Films
• Tartan Films
• Third Millennium
• Troma

CD/cassette

The majority of Prism's musical catalogue were compilations and reissued material, including Jefferson Airplane's Feed Your Head: Live '67–'69. Several compilations by country music singer Kenny Rogers were also released and/or distributed by Prism throughout their existence, of both his solo and group material.

Video games

Prism Leisure entered the video game industry in 1986 by creating the label Endurance Games to publish the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad re-releases of System 3's International Karate^[2] and purchasing Addictive Games, home of the best-selling Football Manager, the following year.^[13] Addictive was used as a full price label (with releases including HotShot, The Kristal and further Football Manager games) while the Paxman Promotions name was used for compilations. Prism also became the UK publisher for the US company First Star Software and saw them release new versions of some of their games, including Superman: The Game and Boulder Dash II. Many old games were licensed for compilations with some getting individual releases.^[14]

Other merchandise

Prism Leisure also distributed board games and toys.

References

1. "Prism Leisure Corporation Profile". Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
2. Eddy, Richard (July 1988). "Fractured Light". The Games Machine. No. 8. Newsfield. p. 7. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
3. https://www.theregister.com/1998/11/13/prism_managers_bid_to_take/ ^{[bare URL]}
4. "Prism Leisure to launch consumer DVD shop".
5. "Reznor News". Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
6. Minns, Adam (13 November 2002). "UK's Prism Leisure acquires Odyssey | News | Screen". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
7. "Owner pulls plug on Great Yarmouth music shop". 12 October 2012.
8. "Prism Leisure - Under Administration". prismleisure.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
9. "Prism Leisure Ltd."
10. "Prism Leisure Ltd". vps1.2creation.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
11. "Telstar | Phoenix Music International".
12. "Prism tempts studios with UK DVD distribution".
13. "News Input: Cheapies". Crash. No. 40. Newsfield. May 1987. p. 11. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
14. "Silverbird History". The Bird Sanctuary. Retrieved 14 November 2018.