Nov 04 2009
Millcreek, The Little Distributor That Could (and did)
Just recently as October of 2009, Millcreek Entertainment signed a new deal with Stephen J. Cannel Productions to exclusively distribute seven of their TV series including 21 Jump Street, Greatest American Hero, Hunter, and Silk Stalkings just to name a few. Earlier in 2009, Millcreek also acquired the rights to distribute He-Man Masters of the Universe (2002 version) and Dungeons and Dragons from the now defunct BCI/Eclipse. But just how did this Minnesota based distributor acquire so many titles? They’ve actually been doing it for years, starting with public-domain movies.
Founded in 2003 as a subsidiary to Digital1Shop, Millcreek Entertainment distributes DVDs through Alliance Entertainment, Anderson Merchandisers, Baker & Taylor, ESI Distribution, Ingram Entertainment, Navarre Corporation, Vivendi Visual Entertainment, VPD and WaxWorks. While there have been many competitors in the public-domain video distribution game (including the pricey Alpha Video and the now defunct Digiview), Millcreek stood out in both quantity and price. Acquiring several masters of public-domain movies, Millcreek distributed these movies in giant, double-disc sets that would include anywhere from 10-250 movies at a price that would usually equate to about fifty cents a movie. These sets specialized in everything from westerns to science fiction. For years, they have been the front-runners in value-priced DVDs, but now that they’ve acquired so many TV shows that were once distributed at double the price Millcreek is asking, they may become the next juggernaut of TV-on-DVD distributors (if they’re not already).
Already their latest TV titles have earned the company its own shelf section at Target. It’s kind of odd how just a little over a year ago I was staring at He-Man Master of the Universe Volume 1 on their shelves for $15 from BCI/Eclipse. Now I’m staring at that same volume under Millcreek for $5. Not to mention that with every TV show they pick up that was once on DVD, all extras come with it so you are pretty much getting the same release for a lot less money.
Also, consider Blu-Ray. The amount of data that can be written to Blu-Ray is increasing with technology that it’s up to the point where we could fit one hundred movies on a single Blu-Ray disc. While that sounds great, many distributors won’t take much advantage of this because of either the copyright or the price the product would cost. However, if Millcreek enters into the Blu-Ray arena, they could be the leader in writing several movies (or a complete TV series) to a single disc. When and if they decide to take that plunge, they’ll be the ones to take advantage of Blu-Ray’s full capacity potential.
While it may seem ferocious that such a company is gobbling up all these titles and thrusting them out to retailers at incredible speed, it’s comforting to know that movies and TV show which may fall through the cracks into the public domain can be salvaged by Millcreek. What was once seen as a public-domain bargain distributor has now become a big name distributor in TV programs. With millions of DVDs sold each year, it looks likes they are here to stay for awhile.
