Film Chest
Encyclopedia
Film Chest, is a privately-held media company that specializes in the archiving, restoring, licensing and distribution of films. It has offices in New York, NY, and Rockport, MA.
Film Chest distributes consumer DVDs, and sells digital content via online outlets including Apple's iTunes Store
, Amazon.com
, and Hulu
. It also licenses its movies to TV networks, including American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies
, and for use as stock footage. According to the company’s website, it services "high-quality content for use in broadcast television, film projects, video streaming, distribution, public television, cable or other professional needs."
and The Devil Bat
), cartoons (Bugs Bunny
), and Oscar-winning classics like Orson Welles’ The Stranger
, for which Film Chest completed the first-ever HD restoration.
In 2010, the company purchased a 45,000-foot warehouse in Bridgeport, CT, where it plans to store and digitize film collections.
Film Chest distributes consumer DVDs, and sells digital content via online outlets including Apple's iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
, Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, and Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
. It also licenses its movies to TV networks, including American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, and for use as stock footage. According to the company’s website, it services "high-quality content for use in broadcast television, film projects, video streaming, distribution, public television, cable or other professional needs."
History
The company was founded in 2000 by partners Phil Hopkins and Ralph Stevens, and has since amassed one of the largest privately-owned film libraries, containing approximately 2,000 film and TV titles. The titles comprise rare science-fiction, horror and action-adventure films (such as The Giant Spider InvasionThe Giant Spider Invasion
The Giant Spider Invasion is a low-budget 1975 film produced by Transcentury Pictures, a partnership owned by the film's director Bill Rebane. The film is about giant spiders that terrorize the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and the surrounding area. The Giant Spider Invasion was given a U.S. release...
and The Devil Bat
The Devil Bat
The Devil Bat is a black-and-white comedy-horror movie which was produced by Producers Releasing Corporation and directed by Jean Yarbrough...
), cartoons (Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
), and Oscar-winning classics like Orson Welles’ The Stranger
The Stranger (1946 film)
The Stranger is an American film noir directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, Edward G. Robinson, and Loretta Young. The film was based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by Victor Trivas. Sam Spiegel was the film's producer, and the film's musical score is by Bronisław Kaper...
, for which Film Chest completed the first-ever HD restoration.
In 2010, the company purchased a 45,000-foot warehouse in Bridgeport, CT, where it plans to store and digitize film collections.
Select Titles
- The Bat
- The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
- A Bucket of BloodA Bucket of BloodA Bucket of Blood is a 1959 American comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman. It starred Dick Miller and was set in beatnik culture. The film, produced on a $50,000 budget, was shot in five days, and shares many of the low-budget filmmaking aesthetics commonly associated with Corman's work....
- Carnival MagicCarnival Magic (film)Carnival Magic is a 1981 American film directed by Al Adamson and starring Don Stewart. Originally intended as a family-oriented children’s film, it has since gained a cult following in underground and B movie film circles due to its surreal plot and incongruously-adult themes.-Plot:Markov the...
- Dementia 13Dementia 13Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman...
- The Giant Spider InvasionThe Giant Spider InvasionThe Giant Spider Invasion is a low-budget 1975 film produced by Transcentury Pictures, a partnership owned by the film's director Bill Rebane. The film is about giant spiders that terrorize the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and the surrounding area. The Giant Spider Invasion was given a U.S. release...
(Director’s Cut)
- His Girl FridayHis Girl FridayHis Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...
- House on Haunted HillHouse on Haunted HillHouse on Haunted Hill is a 1959 American B movie horror film from Allied Artists. It was directed by William Castle, written by Robb White, and starring Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. He and his fourth wife, Annabelle, have invited five people to the house for a "Haunted...
- Kansas City Confidential
- The Last Time I Saw ParisThe Last Time I Saw ParisThe Last Time I Saw Paris is a 1954 romantic drama made by MGM. It is loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Babylon Revisited." It was directed by Richard Brooks, produced by Jack Cummings and filmed on locations in Paris and the MGM backlot. The screenplay was by Julius J. Epstein,...
- MetropolisMetropolisA metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
- Nosferatu
- Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
– Murder At The Baskervilles
- The StrangerThe Stranger (1946 film)The Stranger is an American film noir directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, Edward G. Robinson, and Loretta Young. The film was based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by Victor Trivas. Sam Spiegel was the film's producer, and the film's musical score is by Bronisław Kaper...
- Three StoogesThree StoogesThe Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
- Disorder In The Court
- Till the Clouds Roll ByTill the Clouds Roll ByTill The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed...