Empire produced and distributed a number of low-budget horror and fantasy feature films, including Re-Animator, Troll, Ghoulies, Trancers, and From Beyond.
[1] Initial Empire productions included Swordkill (aka Ghost Warrior) and The Dungeonmaster, each of which received limited theatrical releases in 1984.
The first was Urban Classics, which produced films such as Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, Galactic Gigolo, and Space Sluts in the Slammer.
Its purpose was to distribute to the foreign market a set of low-budget films that had been offered to Wizard Video, yet another Empire division.
[12] Later that year, Australian home video veteran Walter Lehne would purchase Infinity's 14 titles in a $1 million deal that included movies from Filmtrust, Intercontinental Releasing Corporation, and others as well.
[15] Empire began to collapse in mid-1988, due to financial problems, including long-term debt obligations to Crédit Lyonnais.
[16] As a result, the releases of the titles that were in production, such as Stuart Gordon's Robot Jox, Peter Manoogian's Arena, and David Schmoeller's Catacombs, were delayed by several years.
Since October 1998, most of Empire's library is owned by MGM via Orion Pictures following its acquisition of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment's pre-April 1996 catalogue.