"Trans World Entertainment Logo History (featuring Epic Productions and Empire International Pictures)" made by TR3X Productions, 11/04/2024.
Trans World Entertainment was an American independent production/distribution company that lasted from 1983-93, and they produced low-to-medium budget films for the home-video market. Founded by Moshe Diamant and Eduard Sarlui in 1983, they were originally a video distribution company before "She", "Creature" and "Pray for Death" were released in theatres in 1985.
Epic Productions was founded by the two founders of TWE in 1986, and Diamant became CEO and chairman of Epic (unrelated to Epic Records), while Sarlui remained CEO and chairman of TWE, which had recently signed a home-media deal with Media (founded by Charles Band) to distribute their theatrical titles on videocassette. In early 1988, Epic Productions managed to buy Empire International Pictures after the founder (Charles Band, 1983) offered his company to them, and this happened because of Empire's financial problems (e.g. purchasing Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica in Italy) along with long-term debt obligations to Crédit Lyonnais. As the 1980s ended, TWE slowed down on making films whilst Epic Productions began to release several films, some of which included "Ghosts Can't Do It" and "Beyond the Door III"; Triumph Films distributed the films produced by Epic Productions, and TWE eventually became a holding company for their films after releasing "Eyes of an Angel" in 1991. Epic Productions was on the rise to fame by this point, as they planned to create a home-media division (the last Epic Home Video logo would've appeared on their VHS release of "Catacombs", titled as "Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice" when it was released by Columbia-Tristar Home Video in 1993; another note: the first Epic Home Video logo only appeared on trailers for their films on Columbia-Tristar Home Video releases), but when Crédit Lyonnais removed the founders of TWE/Epic from their companies in 1992, a massive scandal occurred and this led to TWE and Epic being defunct in the following year. Their film catalogue was owned by Crédit Lyonnais from 1993-97, then PolyGram Filmed Entertainment from 1997-98, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1998-present.
Timestamps
0:00 Trans World Entertainment (01)
1:16 Epic Productions (02)
1:57 Epic Home Video (03)
2:10 Empire International (bonus)
2:20 Credits
-TR3X