Factory, its current legal name) is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment.

[5] The company's first product was Red, White & Rock, a joint release with PBS station WQED-TV that was produced with Warner Strategic Marketing.

[7] Other early releases included blues and jazz CDs from the Biograph label, a Fats Domino CD and DVD, and several documentaries (Superstar: The Life And Times of Andy Warhol, What Happened To Kerouac?).

Factory released an expanded two-disc version of Jim Croce's first record, the Facets album.

[12] Other notable releases included a pair of The Electric Company multidisc sets,[13] the re-envisioned Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream & Other Delights Rewhipped,[citation needed] a series of Elvira's Movie Macabre DVDs[14] and the first of what would be three cover CDs with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, called Under The Covers Vol.

acquired the rights to several other television series like Punky Brewster,[16] The Weird Al Show,[17] and America's Funniest Home Videos.

These included The Lonely Bull, South of the Border, Lost Treasures, Whipped Cream & Other Delights and others.

[23] On the sports side, they entered into a licensing deal with Major League Baseball, releasing themed and World Series DVDs through 2010 and then again from 2016 till present.

[24] By 2007, classic TV on DVD was a major focus, with season sets of Blossom[25] McHale's Navy[26] and Ironside,[27] an authorized collection of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,[28] and themed and actor-specific editions of Inside the Actors Studio hitting shelves.

bought the Hightone Records catalog and added artists Tom Russell, Joe Ely, and Rosie Flores to its brand.

[31] At the same time, the company was ramping up its place as a children's animation destination and continuing with a TV on DVD schedule.

reached another milestone when it struck a deal with toy and board game company Hasbro, releasing the original Transformers and G.I.

Real Monsters,[36] Hey Arnold!,[37] The Angry Beavers,[38] CatDog,[39] The Wild Thornberrys,[40] The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius,[41] and Danny Phantom.

Factory signed an agreement with Saban Brands to distribute the Beetleborgs, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Power Rangers and VR Troopers catalogs in North America.

Factory announced a horror label called Scream Factory, specializing in classic and cult horror films on discs such as Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, They Live, The Howling, Lifeforce, Deadly Eyes, and others.

and Fred Seibert acquired Video Time Machine, a year and genre media-based iOS app, from Original Victories Inc.[46] In July 2013, Shout!

was having with complete-series box sets of such series as All in the Family, Route 66,[49] and Barney Miller[50] extended to such properties as The Bob Newhart Show,[51] Hill Street Blues,[52] and a Blu-Ray release of Pee-Wee's Playhouse[53] and The Jeffersons.

[60] In June, a minority stake in the company was taken by Cinedigm, while extending their home entertainment platform distribution agreement.

[citation needed] On January 10, 2017, Shout Factory acquired the worldwide television format and ancillary rights to Starcade with plans to reboot the series.

Factory announced their acquisition of the broadcast and home media distribution rights for the first three Digimon Adventure tri.

Factory acquired the North American distribution rights to In This Corner of the World, with a U.S. theatrical release to take place on August 11, 2017, co-released by Funimation Films.

[78] A similar worldwide distribution agreement with Henson went into effect on January 1, 2024 for streaming, video on demand, broadcast, digital download, packaged media and certain non-theatrical rights for the films Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, as well as behind the scenes specials Inside the Labyrinth and The World of the Dark Crystal.

Factory obtained digital distribution and streaming rights to 189 titles from the Halcyon Studios division of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment on March 27, 2023.

Studios took over the US distribution rights to Tatsunoko Production's 1967 anime Speed Racer from Crunchyroll, which began with the digital release of the original television series of the same name and its Japanese-language version on June 1st of that year.

Factory announced they had signed a muli-title distribution deal with Nash Entertainment to bring a library of unscripted shows to streaming and other platforms all over the world.

Releases under these agreements have included the complete Joss Whedon/John Cassaday series of Astonishing X-Men, plus Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers and Iron Man: Extremis on DVD and Blu-ray;[87] the original Transformers, G.I.

Joe, Jem and My Little Pony cartoons, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Power Rangers, VR Troopers, Sesame Street, Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Law & Order: Criminal Intent (under license from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment), some Nickelodeon series like Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, The Wild Thornberrys, CatDog, Danny Phantom, Hey Dude, The Angry Beavers, Aaahh!!!

Factory announced a horror sub-label called Scream Factory, specializing in classic and cult horror films such as Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, They Live, The Howling, Lifeforce, The Return of the Living Dead, and others being released to DVD and Blu-ray.

Factory announced to have struck a multi-year deal with Alliance Entertainment and Mill Creek Entertainment that granted them the exclusive SVOD and AVOD digital rights to the Ultra series, 1,100 episodes and 20 films acquired by Mill Creek the previous year.