Dormant US television production company
"Saban Entertainment" redirects here. For the company that has a division called Saban Entertainment Group, see
Saban Capital Group
.
BVS Entertainment, Inc.
, previously known as
Saban Productions
,
Saban Entertainment
and
Saban International
, is a currently-dormant subsidiary of
the Walt Disney Company
. Founded on April 24, 1980 as a music production company by
Haim Saban
[1]
and
Shuki Levy
, it slowly transitioned to or gravitated towards
television production
and
distribution
, where it is most known for producing and distributing
children's programs
for
Fox Family/ABC Family
and defunct channels
Fox Kids
and
Jetix
.
The company imported,
dubbed
and adapted various media formats from Japan such as
Maple Town
,
Noozles
,
Funky Fables
,
Samurai Pizza Cats
, and the first three
Digimon
series to North American and international markets over syndication, including both animation and live-action shows. Saban also adapted various
tokusatsu
shows from
Toei Company
, including
Power Rangers
(based on the
Super Sentai
series),
Big Bad Beetleborgs
(based on
Juukou B-Fighter
),
VR Troopers
(featuring elements of
Metal Hero
series such as
Space Sheriff Shaider
,
Jikuu Senshi Spielban
, and
Choujinki Metalder
), and
Masked Rider
(an original interpretation using scenes from the Japanese
Kamen Rider Black RX
).
Saban has also distributed and provided music for television programs produced by outside companies such as
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
,
Inspector Gadget
and the first two dubbed seasons of
Dragon Ball Z
.
In the 1990s, Saban also operated a production division
Libra Pictures
, which produced programs targeted towards older audiences than Saban's usual kid-friendly output,
[4]
as well as a syndicated subsidiary
Saban Domestic Distribution
, whose primarily purpose was to distribute shows for first-run and off-net syndication.
[5]
History
The early years
Saban Entertainment was formed on April 24, 1980, as
Saban Productions, Inc.
, which was initially a music production company. In 1981, it formed a longtime relationship with
DIC Audiovisuel and DIC Enterprises
to create soundtracks for their programs; Saban also composed music for companies like
Ruby-Spears Enterprises
and
Filmation
.
[6]
[7]
In 1984, Saban moved into production outright with its first television program
Kidd Video
, a co-production with
DIC Enterprises
, and it was picked up by
NBC
as part of their Saturday morning lineup.
[8]
The next project Saban produced was
Macron 1
, an English version of
GoShogun
featuring pop music, which was picked up for syndication by Orbis Communications for the fall of 1986.
[9]
In 1986, Saban Productions bought the foreign rights to the
DIC Enterprises
library of children's programming from DIC's parent
DIC Animation City
and then sold the rights to
Creativite et Developpement
shortly afterward, leading to DIC suing Saban for damages before reaching a settlement in 1991. In 1987, DIC expanded its relationship with Saban Productions to co-produce several shows, with Saban handling international distribution.
[10]
That year, both DIC and Saban Productions collaborated to provide series commitments to 26 episodes of
I'm Telling!
and 13 episodes of
The New Archies
for
NBC
.
[11]
On June 10, 1987, Saban Productions expanded to live-action TV and theatrical features with plans for a television film on
NBC
, an hour-long late-night series for
CBS
, a first-run strip for syndication, and a theatrical feature film. Several pilots such as
Love on Trial
,
Hidden Rage
,
Shocking But True
were produced but never realized.
[12]
In late October 1987, Saban Productions had obtained three independently produced projects as part of its first slate for the NATPE conference. The three strips included
Love Court
, a collaboration with television syndicator
Orbis Communications
;
All-American Family Challenge
, a game show taped at
Six Flags
; and
Alphy's Hollywood Power Party
, a teen celebrity dance show; the fourth project would be a network game show version of the board game
Uno
, which was set for
NBC
, and was to be produced by Peter Berlin and Rob Fiedler, who joined Saban shortly after
Wordplay
was cancelled.
[13]
In 1988, Saban Productions and Washington-based newspaper columnist
Jack Anderson
agreed to produce four quarterly specials under the branding
American Expose
, with then-future
Cops
creator/producer
John Langley
and
Malcolm Barbour
serving as producers.
[14]
Orbis Communications
, who already syndicated Saban's
Macron 1
, signed on to distribute the programs.
[15]
Newly created Saban International N.V, was to handle distribution of the same programs, as well as signing up for distribution of non-Saban television material.
[16]
Saban International N.V. would handle international sales of DiC programs such as
Hey Vern, It's Ernest
, until a lawsuit hit in 1990.
[17]
By early 1989, Saban formed the Saban/Scherick Productions division for production done with Edgar Scherick, primarily miniseries and made-for-TV films.
[18]
Around this time, they also began distributing the film library of
New World Pictures
(which had been sold by New World to Trans-Atlantic Films, consisting of ex-New World employees) to television stations. As the company grew, additional executives were hired to push into new areas like prime time programming. Saban created a division, Saban International N.V., based in both the U.S. and the Netherlands, for the international distribution of its shows (not to be confused with the interchangeable "Saban International Paris" as they were two different entities). Saban hired Stan Golden from Horizon International TV to head their international distribution arm. Then in August 1989, Tom Palmieri came from
MTM Enterprises
to become Saban's president. On September 13, 1989, the company renamed itself Saban Entertainment, Inc.
[19]
CLT in Luxembourg had signed a deal with Saban to market TV shows.
[20]
In 1990, Saban entered into a partnership with video game publisher
Acclaim Entertainment
and syndicator
Bohbot Entertainment
to develop the program
Video Power
.
[21]
Also that year, Saban started Saban Video, with distribution being handled by
Video Treasures
.
[22]
In 1991, Saban Entertainment struck a home video deal with Prism Entertainment that would allow Saban International the international distribution rights to select films.
[23]
In 1992, Saban signed a domestic distribution deal with
Bohbot Communications
to syndicate
Saban's Around the World in Eighty Dreams
and
Saban's Gulliver's Travels
as part of its
Amazin' Adventures
block.
[24]
Partnership with Marvel Entertainment Group
In 1992, Saban partnered with the Marvel Entertainment Group to produce an
animated series
based on Marvel's comic-book heroes
the X-Men
. Saban obtained the rights in a joint partnership with
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
and the
Fox Kids Network
, becoming Saban's first hit program and the company's first breakthrough, teaming up with another company.
[25]
The series ran until 1997. The following year, Saban brought another hit to the Fox Kids lineup,
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
, an adaptation of the Japanese
Super Sentai
franchise. In 1994 alone, licensed
Power Rangers
merchandise made Saban over a billion dollars in profits.
[26]
At distinct times in the 1980s, both Loesch and Saban had attempted adaptations of these shows, but had found themselves repeatedly rejected by other networks.
[27]
[28]
[29]
Later on in 1992, Saban formed a syndication subsidiary, Saban Domestic Distribution,
[5]
and unveiled a $50 million development slate. David Goodman, formerly of Goodman Entertainment Group, served as senior vice president of the company.
[30]
In 1994, Saban Entertainment launched Libra Pictures in an effort to gear films for older audiences, while the Saban name was used for kid-friendly material, in a similar manner what
The Walt Disney Studios
and
Touchstone Pictures
would have to offer.
[4]
In the same year, Saban signed a deal with A*Vision Entertainment to distribute cassettes under the Saban Home Entertainment and Libra Home Entertainment banners.
[31]
In December 1994, Saban launched a partnership/joint venture with
UPN
to establish the
UPN Kids
block.
[32]
The block would eventually premiere on September 10, 1995, with
Space Strikers
and
Teknoman
.
[33]
In 1995, the Saban Interactive unit was established to produce CD-ROM software based on the
Power Rangers
franchise.
[34]
On October 17, 1995, Libra Pictures president Lance Robbins was made Saban's president of motion pictures and television.
[35]
On November 3, 1995, Saban Entertainment and the
Fox Broadcasting Company
entered into a partnership that the two companies would create children's programing channels and services, develop and distribute programing and build licensing and merchandising opportunities on a global basis, and helped to expand its programming immediately.
[36]
Saban under Fox Family Worldwide
In July 1996, Fox Kids Network secured rights from
Marvel Entertainment Group
for
Captain America
,
Daredevil
and
Silver Surfer
and additional characters to be developed into four series and 52 episodes over seven years.
[37]
In the same month, Saban formed a new division, Saban Enterprises International, to handle international licensing, merchandising and promotional activities under president Michael Welter. Oliver Spiner, senior vice president of Saban International, took over operational duties previously handled by Welter. Eric S. Rollman was promoted from senior vice president production to executive vice president of Saban Animation.
[38]
Also in 1996, Fox Kids Network merged with Saban Entertainment to form
Fox Kids Worldwide
, which included the
Marvel Productions
and
Marvel Films Animation
library.
[39]
[40]
[41]
Also that year, Saban debuted its first FCC-friendly series
The Why Why Family
.
[42]
Shortly afterwards, Saban terminated its home video distribution deal with WarnerVision Entertainment and moved to
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
.
[43]
In 1997, the company produced a revival of
Captain Kangaroo
for the Saban Kids Network.
[44]
In 1998, Saban Entertainment began exclusively producing programs for Fox Kids and Fox Family, while its syndication unit Saban Domestic Distribution would refocus on developing films for syndication outside Fox channels.
[45]
In 1996,
New World Animation
(
The Incredible Hulk
), Saban (
X-Men
), and
Marvel Films Animation
(
Spider-Man
) each produced a Marvel series for television.
[46]
Marvel
was developing a
Captain America
animated series with Saban Entertainment for
Fox Kids
to premiere in fall 1998.
[47]
However, due to Marvel's bankruptcy, the series was canceled before the premiere.
[48]
Both Marvel and Saban would become parts of
The Walt Disney Company
; Saban (renamed BVS Entertainment) in 2001 and Marvel by the end of 2009.
On July 23, 2001, it was announced that the group would be sold to The Walt Disney Company as part of the sale of Fox Family Worldwide/Fox Kids Worldwide (which Disney renamed
ABC Family Worldwide
) by Haim Saban and
News Corporation
,
[49]
and on October 24, 2001, the sale was completed
[1]
[2]
with Saban Entertainment, Inc. rebranding as BVS (Buena Vista Studios) Entertainment, Inc.
[3]
on November 29, 2001.
[50]
The final program fully produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment and Saban International N.V. was
Power Rangers Time Force
, which ran throughout 2001, however,
Power Rangers Wild Force
was the final series created and pre-produced by Saban as MMPR Productions, the producer of the
Power Rangers
series from 1993 to 2001.
Following Disney's acquisition of Saban, its subsidiaries were also rebranded, with Saban International N.V. becoming BVS International N.V. and Saban International Services, Inc. becoming BVS International Services, Inc. Saban's 49.6% stake of Saban International Paris was purchased along with
Fox Family Worldwide
after Saban stepped down from the studio and the studio was rebranded as "SIP Animation" in October 2002, as the studio was not allowed to use the "Saban" brand after its take-over.
Saban's distribution branch was folded into
Buena Vista Television
on May 1, 2002.
[51]
A week prior,
Fox Kids Europe
announced that Buena Vista International Television would take over distribution services of Saban's children's library from Saban International on the same day. The strategy remained the same with Fox Kids Europe continuing to handle all television rights in Europe and the Middle East with Buena Vista handling servicing, while Saban content not under FKE would be handled exclusively by Buena Vista for all territories including rights outside of Europe and the Middle East.
[52]
Saban's European licensing subsidiary based in the United Kingdom, Saban Consumer Products Europe, which had been integrated within
Fox Kids Europe
since the end of 2000,
[53]
was renamed as Active Licensing Europe on April 13, 2003,
[54]
and eventually Jetix Consumer Products on May 4, 2004.
[55]
Legacy
Prior to the sale, Disney was only involved with one title produced by Saban Entertainment and its extensions.
Susie Q
, commissioned by Disney on behalf of
Super RTL
and
Disney Channel
, was produced by Saban's adult unit, Libra Pictures, and was released in 1996 as a
Disney Channel Premiere Film
. Disney would gain the
Susie Q
copyrights following it's purchase of Saban in 2001.
[56]
Including the shows produced after the sale,
Susie Q
is the only BVS Entertainment property which contains Disney logos and images on promotional and distributional materials and to be directly Disney-branded among the other BVS Entertainment properties.
Following the completion of the sale, Disney shut down Saban Entertainment's animation unit, but animation production continued at SIP Animation, which BVS held a minority stake in at the time. In this period, all shows produced and owned by BVS Entertainment (which did not receive its own logo) and SIP Animation were distributed by
Buena Vista International Television
and ended with their logos.
[57]
[58]
[59]
[60]
The portion of Saban that handled ADR production and post-production services for anime's English-language
dubbing
was renamed by ABC Family Worldwide as "Sensation Animation" on September 9, 2002;
[61]
and remained as such so Disney could continue dubbing
Digimon
(the second half of
Digimon Tamers
and
Digimon Frontier
) episodes. Once production ended in July 2003, Sensation Animation was closed and folded into
Walt Disney Television Animation
. Disney would later go on to dub the four remainder
Digimon
films,
Revenge of Diaboromon
(DA02),
Battle of Adventurers
(DT),
Runaway Locomon
(DT) and
Island of the Lost Digimon
(DF) in 2005 and the fifth TV season,
Digimon Data Squad
in 2007, but this time, the dubbing was handled by post-production studio
Studiopolis
. The majority of the past voice actors returned with a lack of some voice actors such as
Joshua Seth
.
After BVS Entertainment continued production of the
Power Rangers
franchise throughout the 2000s, Haim Saban founded
Saban Capital Group
and Saban Brands in 2010 and bought back
Power Rangers
and related properties from Disney. Saban Brands produced programs such as
Power Rangers
seasons starting with
Power Rangers Samurai
and
Glitter Force
.
[62]
Saban Brands was sold to Hasbro in 2018.
ABC Family produced a third film in Saban's
Au Pair
film series,
Au Pair 3: Adventure in Paradise
, in 2009,
[63]
featuring Haim Saban's stepdaughter
Heidi Saban
again in the leading role. Disney would not produce any more new projects based on pre-existing BVS properties until
X-Men '97
in 2024.
Disney served very little other than to hold copyrights for existing Saban properties. The company only existed legally after its last production,
Power Rangers RPM
, in 2009. Disney took little action other than merging the company's subsidiaries, such as Teen Dream Productions, Interprod Inc., Laurel Way Productions, and SIP Animation into BVS Entertainment.
[64]
[65]
[66]
Most BVS Entertainment properties have been vaulted by Disney since the late 2000s. BVS Entertainment was last listed by Disney in SEC filings in 2014
[67]
before becoming dormant.
Subsidiaries and divisions
The company had many subsidiaries around the world, some established to gain financial advantages; not all subsidiaries were actively producing shows, but contributed to the production or distribution of shows in certain aspects. All of these subsidiaries were later terminated by Disney into BVS Entertainment or other Disney units.
[64]
[65]
[66]
SIP Animation
SIP Animation
, formerly known as
Saban International Paris
, was a television production studio based in France, operating from 1977 to 2009. Saban International Paris was founded in France by Haim Saban and Jacqueline Tordjman in 1977 as a record label; in 1989, it moved into the animation field.
[68]
In November 1991, Saban International Paris became a separately-operated facility after its shares were divided in thirds,
[69]
with Saban Entertainment holding a 49.8% share
[70]
(later reduced to 49.6%).
[71]
[72]
In 2001, Disney inherited Saban's 49.6% stake in Saban International Paris as part of its purchase of Fox Family Worldwide.
[73]
[74]
[75]
The studio was renamed as SIP Animation in October 2002,
[75]
[76]
[77]
and continued producing shows with this respective name
[78]
[79]
[80]
until it went dormant in 2009. Although the studio was a separately operated multi-shareholder unit between 1991 and 2012,
BVS International N.V.
owned the rights to "SIP Animation" respective name, brand, logo and trademark between 2002 and 2012.
[81]
Disney became the sole shareholder partner in the studio through BVS Entertainment in 2012
[82]
[83]
and it was terminated and fully closed in October 2023. Following the formal dissolution of the studio, all remaining assets owned by SIP
[84]
became the property of its parent company BVS Entertainment.
[66]
- Creativite et Developpement
(1987?1998):
A rebranding of DIC's French unit (run by Jean Chalopin) after it split from DIC's American unit (run by Andy Heyward), which produced programs into the mid-1990s and owned some of DIC's earliest series. In April 1996, it was acquired by Saban International Paris (including the rights to produce a
Diabolik
series), and in 1998 its assets were liquidated by Saban.
[85]
Some of these assets are still owned by Disney.
Jetix Europe N.V.
Jetix Europe N.V.
, formerly Fox Kids Europe N.V. (1996?2009): BVS Entertainment held 73.3% priority shares in Jetix Europe N.V. to the behalf of its parent company ABC Family Worldwide Inc. The parent Jetix company in the Netherlands was responsible for financing, sales and operations across Europe.
[86]
These shares were later transferred to Disney Holdings B.V.
- Jetix Consumer Products:
UK based company, formerly
Saban Consumer Products
and
Active Licensing Europe
.
Other subsidiaries and divisions
- BVS International N.V.
- formerly Saban International N.V. (1989?2016): Saban's international distribution arm. It was an offshore company based in Curacao. While it held the majority of the shares of
Jetix Europe N.V.
along with BVS Entertainment,
[87]
it had commercial rights to the SIP Animation trademark after 2002,
[81]
and was also a copyright claimant for many shows and films. It was dissolved in 2016.
[86]
- Vesical Limited:
It was the company that held the
DIC
catalog (such as
Inspector Gadget
, Dennis the Menace and
Heathcliff
etc.), whose pre-1990 music was mostly composed by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy. Saban acquired the company and its assets, gaining the distribution rights to the DIC catalog outside the US, and these rights remained with BVS Entertainment until
DIC
re-purchased these rights in 2006.
[88]
- BVS International Services Inc. -
formerly Saban International Services Inc.- (1986?2011): It was founded in 1986 as
Shinwa Productions
[89]
to import, license and dub foreign TV shows. After changing its name twice as
Saban International Trading Company
[90]
and
Saban International Services Inc.
,
[91]
it took its last name in 2001.
[92]
The dubbing and licensing copyrights of the imported shows were registered in the name of this company. It was merged with the parent company in 2011.
[64]
- BVS International Programming A.V.V.
(1994?2007): It started its operations as an offshore company based in Aruba. Its first name was
"Fox Kids International Programming A.V.V."
The copyrights of several series, such as
Xyber 9: New Dawn
[93]
and
NASCAR Racers
,
[94]
were registered in its name. It was dissolved in 2007.
[95]
- Saban/Sherick Productions:
Founded together with
Edgar Sherick
in 1989.
[96]
It was involved in live-action film and TV series production and was then completely acquired by Saban. It was closed in May 2001, shortly before Disney took over the company.
[97]
- Laurel Way Productions Inc.:
Co-producer and copyright claimant of
Xyber 9: New Dawn
. It was merged with the parent company in 2011.
[65]
- Teen Dream Productions Inc.
(1994?2011): The company's only purpose was taking part in the production of
Sweet Valley High
. It was dissolved by merging with the parent company in 2011.
[64]
- MMPR Productions Inc.
: It appears in the credits as a subcontractor for
Power Rangers
shows produced between 1993 and 2001. Its fate is unknown.
- Interprod Inc.:
It was often featured in the credits of live-action TV and home video films, and was the copyright claimant for some films. It was merged with the parent company in 2011.
[65]
- Ventura Film Distributors B.V.:
Another group company based in the Netherlands. It is often featured in the credits of shows produced by Saban International Paris. Its fate is unknown. Its name appears in the 2001 Fox Family Worldwide-Disney purchase document and 1998 home video rights security agreement document.
[88]
- Sensation Animation:
It was simply a rebranding by Disney of Saban's ADR/post-production/dubbing studios, which translated the
fourth season
of
Digimon: Digital Monsters
. It was closed down and absorbed into
Walt Disney Television Animation
on July 14, 2003.
Libra Pictures International
Libra was founded to produce programs targeted to older audiences, like Saban did in its early years. It produced mostly co-productions with Shavick Entertainment and O'Hara-Horowitz. Although it is a separate unit, it has existed only as a trademark and does not have a legal entity. Throughout its existence, it produced low-budget B-grade films, some of them erotic thrillers, for TV networks and the direct-to-video home entertainment market. Saban's business partner, Shuki Levy, was usually in charge of the productions produced by this unit, and he was also included in the credits of most shows produced in this unit. The productions from Shuki Levy's personal company,
Vertigo Pictures
,
[98]
were later licensed by Saban Entertainment via Libra Pictures, and are still owned by Disney; Vertigo Pictures was suspended by FTB/SOS in 2004. Disney acquired the trademark rights
[99]
to Libra Pictures with Saban in 2001 and then discontinued the unit. Except for some definitive titles, it is unknown today how much of the
Libra Pictures
catalog is entirely owned by Disney, due to numerous co-productions or the transfer of home video/international distribution rights and/or some copyrights to third parties in the years before Disney acquired Saban Entertainment.
Susie Q
, the only
Disney-branded
production in Saban's history, some films from NBC's
Moment of Truth
series and erotic-thriller
Blindfold: Acts of Obsession
starring
Shannen Doherty
, constitute a significant part of the Libra catalog.
Libra Pictures
also contributed to the production of
Terminal Velocity
, a
Hollywood Pictures
-
Buena Vista
theatrical movie.
List of TV series and films
The company's main U.S. unit produced and distributed television shows and films as Saban Entertainment until the last quarter of 2001. Afterwards, BVS Entertainment continued to produce
Power Rangers
series and
SIP Animation
continued to produce animated series. However, the BVS Entertainment corporate umbrella also remained the parent company, holding the company's subsidiaries, even though shows produced or distributed by subsidiaries of the company are not credited to BVS Entertainment.
Media releases
Most Saban Entertainment-owned media from the early 1990s made their way to
VHS
in most regions. However, from the late 1990s on, almost all Saban Entertainment-owned entities were only released as
Australian
and
New Zealand
Region 4
VHSes
. And also, according to current
North American
rights holders,
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
(and then
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
) still has no plans to release these titles to
DVD
and
Blu-ray
, and as such, some of them instead aired on their sibling television channel,
Disney XD
and originally was on
Toon Disney
and
ABC Family
until the retirement of the
Jetix
branding in the U.S. In most European countries, Fox Kids Europe (later as "Jetix Europe") had a sister channel called
Fox Kids Play
(later as "Jetix Play") which aired various Saban Entertainment programs and shows owned by Fox Kids Europe/Jetix Europe. Some shows were also released on DVD and VHS by various independent distributors, such as Maximum Entertainment in the United Kingdom.
Many Marvel-related series distributed by Saban and some of their live-action films such as
Richie Rich's Christmas Wish
and
Three Days
are available on the
Disney+
streaming service, while
The Tick
is available on
Hulu
, and
Prime Video
has
Sweet Valley High
[100]
and
A.T.O.M.
[101]
available only in the United States.
On March 13, 2012,
Shout! Factory
announced a home video distribution deal with Saban Brands, which includes
VR Troopers
, the first two seasons of
Big Bad Beetleborgs
and
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
. The first 17 seasons of
Power Rangers
have been licensed for DVD releases by
Shout! Factory
, which has released the first 17 seasons to DVD in Region 1.
[102]
In Germany, they have released complete-season boxsets to every
Power Rangers
series, along with the English versions included up until season 6 due to problems with Disney.
In Australia,
Digimon: Digital Monsters'
first
and
second
seasons were re-released by
Madman Entertainment
on August 17, 2011.
[103]
[104]
In addition, the first five series was released on DVD in North America through
New Video
.
Library status
Program library
In 1996, the company had a library of more than 3,700 half-hours of children's programming, making it one of the largest in the world.
[105]
By the time they were sold to Disney in 2001, their library had increased to over 6,500 half-hours of children's programing.
[73]
With a few exceptions, the programs produced and/or distributed by BVS Entertainment and its subsidiaries are currently owned by
The Walt Disney Company
, and distributed by
Disney Platform Distribution
.
Music library
Saban's music library consisted of roughly 3,800 songs, themes and musical underscores, with this number taking into account music that Shuki Levy and Haim Saban produced together in the 1980s, prior to officially forming Saban Entertainment.
[106]
[107]
Nearly all of these compositions are listed on legal cue sheets as being written by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban, with these two also appearing in television credits as the composers for most Saban-related productions.
[106]
Starting in the 1990s, Haim Saban started using the pseudonym "Kussa Mahchi" for his musical credits, with spellings varying (for example, on
Dragon Ball Z'
s credits it was spelt "Kussa Mahehi"). For shows produced by Saban International Paris, he used the pseudonym "Michel Dax" beginning in the mid-1990s.
Princess Tenko
is an exception as it was not produced by SIP, although Haim Saban still composed the musics for the show under this pseudonym. "Michel Dax" is listed in television credits as the sole composer on all programs where this pseudonym is used, although Shuki Levy is still credited as being a co-writer on the cue sheets.
[108]
[109]
[110]
A 1998 investigation by
The Hollywood Reporter
alleged that during the 1990s, many television compositions credited to Levy and Saban were being
ghostwritten
by a salaried staff who did not receive royalties. This practice was legal since the musicians signed a contract agreeing to give up the rights to their compositions prior to joining.
[106]
Feature films produced by Saban Entertainment usually had to give proper credit to these ghostwriters, presumably since they were union productions.
[106]
Levy and Saban aren't included as composers in the credit sequences of films where the ghostwriters had to be acknowledged, however, they are still present on the cue sheets for most of these films.
[111]
[112]
Compositions which are believed to have been created by ghostwriters, including
Ron Wasserman
's theme for
X-Men: The Animated Series
, remain credited to Shuki Levy and Haim Saban whenever they are licensed to appear in other media, such as
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
and
X-Men '97
(which use the
X-Men
theme).
[113]
[114]
Some of this music library is believed to have gotten misplaced when Disney purchased Saban in 2001.
[115]
In 2010, Haim Saban sold it to independent Los Angeles label
Bug Music
, who in turn sold it to
BMG
in 2011.
[116]
References
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Haim Saban"
.
Saban
. Archived from
the original
on March 2, 2009
. Retrieved
February 19,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Haim Saban, producer, in Hollywood, Washington, Israel"
.
The New Yorker
. May 10, 2010. p. 6.
Archived
from the original on December 23, 2011
. Retrieved
November 4,
2010
.
- ^
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.
|
---|
Owner
| |
---|
Parent
| |
---|
Formerly
|
- Saban Entertainment Inc. (1980-2001)
|
---|
Founders
| |
---|
Subsidairies
| Major
|
- BVS International N.V. (1989?2016)
- Jetix Europe N.V.
(73.3%) (1996?2009)
- SIP Animation
(1977-2023)
- BVS International Services Inc. (1986-2011)
- Saban/Sherick Productions (1989-2001)
|
---|
|
---|
Divsions
|
- Libra Pictures International/Libra Home Entertainment (1994-2001)
|
---|
See also
| |
---|