Halcyon Studios, LLC., formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., is an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution of scripted television content, part of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. It was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Jr. and Robert Halmi Sr. (1924–2014) as Robert Halmi, Inc. The company uses the direct-to-series model for TV series.[2]
History
Robert Halmi Inc. was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Sr.[3] In July 1986, Robert Halmi Jr. took over as president and chief operating officer from Halmi Sr., who became the company's chairman and chief executive.[4]
From 1985 to 1988, RHI began a slowly-executed takeover of Hal Roach Studios, which gave the company North American rights to a majority of the Laurel & Hardy films and shorts, the home entertainment and theatrical rights to the portion of the Our Gang shorts that were not retained by MGM, and a majority of Hal Roach Studios’ feature films. Robert Halmi Inc. was then renamed as HRI Group.[5][6][7][8][9]
Not too long after, HRI Group was taken over by the Australian financial services company Qintex (having joined the board of RHI when the merger with HRS was completed), and renamed Qintex Entertainment. However, Qintex quickly proved to be on the brink of financial collapse, with their bid for the assets of MGM/UA Entertainment Co. failing, and entered chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1989; their American operations had previously failed to provide timely payments to MCA Television (which Qintex had partnered with to distribute The New Leave It to Beaver) the month prior.[10][11][12] In 1990, Halmi re-purchased the assets of Qintex Entertainment for $40 million.[13]
In 1990, independent film studio New Line Cinema acquired a 52% stake in the studio, which was renamed as RHI Entertainment; for a time, RHI productions and New Line's films were distributed to television stations under the banner New Line Television Distribution.
In 1992, RHI Entertainment made a deal with Cabin Fever Entertainment to distribute its library on home video.[14]
Hallmark Cards agreed to purchase RHI in April 1994.[15] RHI had a 1,800 plus hours film library at that time.[16] Hallmark Entertainment was then formed with RHI and Signboard Hill Productions, another Hallmark Cards subsidiary,[17] becoming subsidiaries.[16] Hallmark sold the Filmation library and its rights to Entertainment Rights in March 2004.[18]
In December 2005, Hallmark Cards sold off Hallmark Entertainment to an investor group led by Robert Halmi Jr., it was renamed back to RHI Entertainment.[19][20]
On December 10, 2010, RHI filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.[21] The company emerged from bankruptcy on March 29, 2011.[22]
In March 2012, the company was renamed Sonar Entertainment. The name change stemmed from the Halmis leaving the company.[23]
On April 9, 2021, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sonar's assets, which currently includes most of the Hal Roach Studios library, and other material previously released and/or produced by predecessor companies Qintex, RHI, Cabin Fever, and Hallmark.[24]
On May 3, 2021, CSS announced it would launch Halcyon Television, a scripted television studio.[25][26]
Notable works
As Qintex Entertainment, the company co-produced the miniseries Lonesome Dove for CBS.[27]
As of December 2017, Sonar Entertainment's scripted series on-air, in production or slated to commence production included Mr. Mercedes, written by David E. Kelley, based on the novel by Stephen King, with Audience Network for DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse; Seasons 1 and 2 of The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan for AMC; Seasons 1 and 2 of The Shannara Chronicles, for Spike; and Das Boot, an eight-part series based on the film, for Sky.[28]
