Trimark Pictures

{{{company_name}}}
Type	{{{company_type}}}
Founded	August 1984 (as Vidmark Entertainment) June 23, 1989 (as Trimark Pictures)
Founder	Mark Amin
Headquarters
Key people	Mark Amin (Chairman & CEO)
Products	Motion Pictures
Parent	Vidmark, Inc. (1985–1995) Trimark Holdings (1995–2000) Lionsgate (2000–2001)
Divisions	Trimark Interactive Trimark Television Kidmark Entertainment Trimark Home Video
Subsidiaries	CinemaNow (formerly) Trimark Ultra Sports

Trimark Pictures (also referred to as Trimark) was an American production company that specialized in the production and distribution of television and home video motion pictures. The company was formed in 1984 by Mark Amin as Vidmark Entertainment with Vidmark Inc. (later Trimark Holdings Inc.) established as the holding company. As a small studio, Trimark produced and released theatrical, independent, television and home video motion pictures. The logo features a triangle with a profile of a tiger's head.

Among the company's many releases are Peter Jackson's 1992 film Dead Alive, which they chose to release theatrically due to Jackson's possessing a following. They are well known for releasing films considered to be controversial for the time period, as in the case with the 1999 film Better Than Chocolate, as some newspapers refused to carry advertisements for the film that featured the word "lesbian" as part of a critic blurb.

Background

Vidmark Entertainment was formed in August 1984 and began operating as a domestic home video distributor in early 1985. In 1987, Vidmark began distributing and sub-licensing motion pictures for international distribution.

Vidmark Entertainment first became involved with motion picture production in 1988, when its founders and investors provided financing for the feature Demonwarp. Demonwarp was produced by Richard L. Albert through his advertising company Design Projects, Inc., which was Vidmark's and many other home video and independent film distributors' advertising company. Demonwarp was shot on 35mm film, and starred George Kennedy, but only cost $250,000 to make. Coming from a marketing background, producer Rick Albert convinced Mark Amin that if the film's budget was limited to the minimum baseline sales that Vidmark could make with any film released on videocassette in the United States, then the motion picture would have to be profitable. Since the original investors in Vidmark also invested in and owned the 20/20 Video chain of stores, they could accurately project what the minimum sales would be. The projections proved true, and adding to the robust U.S. home video sales, international sales, cable and free television sales, Demonwarp earned many multiples of its original budget. Mark Amin served as executive producer, and during production of Demonwarp he decided to raise money by a public offering of Vidmark, to form Trimark.

Trimark picked up its first film, Warlock, a 1989 film starring Julian Sands which was a major theatrical hit with fans of such films. Trimark eventually made the sequel Warlock: The Armageddon in 1993. Trimark also saw success in other familiar film series the studio produced and distributed. Leprechaun, released in 1993 starring a young Jennifer Aniston and Warwick Davis as the sinister leprechaun grossed over $10 million during its theatrical run. One theatrical sequel and four direct to video sequels eventually followed. Other Trimark productions included The Dentist, a major hit on HBO, Return of the Living Dead III and Pinocchio's Revenge. Trimark also made the dramatic Eve's Bayou, starring Samuel L. Jackson, which received critical acclaim. Trimark also released the miniseries Storm of the Century on home video.

On December 31, 1991, Vidmark acquired International Broadcast Systems, Ltd. for $1.6 million and renamed the company as Trimark Television. In June 1992, Vidmark, Inc. changed its name to Trimark Holdings, Inc. to reflect Trimark's diversification of its distribution streams. In March 1993, the company formed Trimark Interactive to expand into the emerging market for interactive software and multimedia. Trimark Interactive's assets were sold to Graphix Zone in March 1997.

In 2000, Trimark merged with Lions Gate Entertainment in which Amin became the single largest shareholder. In 2001, Mark Amin founded Sobini Films, and is its CEO.

In late 2017, Lionsgate launched a channel for Roku streaming players using the Vidmark name and a modified variant of their late 1980s logo, with Lionsgate-owned movies, including some from the original Vidmark and Trimark, amongst the selection.

Gallery

TBA

List of distributed movies

Theatrical

Release Date	Title	Notes
May 12, 1989	Going Overboard
September 24, 1989	A Fool and His Money
November 17, 1989	High Stakes
July 14, 1990	Solar Crisis
September 29, 1990	Backstreet Dreams
November 2, 1990	Frankenstein Unbound	Co-production with 20th Century Fox
May 1991	Servants of Twilight
June 14, 1991	Kickboxer 2	theatrical distribution only
October 4, 1991	Whore
October 18, 1991	Dolly Dearest
November 15, 1991	And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird
January 31, 1992	Into the Sun
May 20, 1992	The Psychic	USA distribution only
January 8, 1993	Leprechaun
February 12, 1993	Dead Alive	USA distribution only
September 24, 1993	Warlock: The Armageddon
October 8, 1993	Deadfall
October 29, 1993	Return of the Living Dead 3	limited release
November 12, 1993	Philadelphia Experiment II
January 14, 1994	Death Wish V: The Face of Death
February 25, 1994	Silent Tongue
April 8, 1994	Leprechaun 2
May 13, 1994	Trading Mom
October 28, 1994	Frank and Jesse
November 23, 1994	Love and a .45
December 5, 1994	The Stoned Age
December 9, 1994	Federal Hill
April 21, 1995	Swimming with Sharks
August 11, 1995	A Kid in King Arthur's Court	co-production with Walt Disney Pictures
September 8, 1995	Separate Lives	USA distribution only
October 6, 1995	Kicking and Screaming
October 25, 1995	The Doom Generation	USA distribution only
February 10, 1996	Evolver	co-production with A Band Apart
August 1996	Crimetime
October 18, 1996	The Dentist
January 31, 1997	Meet Wally Sparks
February 28, 1997	Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
April 25, 1997	Nothing Personal	USA distribution only
May 2, 1997	Ripe
May 16, 1997	Sprung
July 25, 1997	Box of Moonlight
September 10, 1997	First Love, Last Rites
November 7, 1997	Eve's Bayou
January 16, 1998	Star Kid
January 24, 1998	The Curve
March 13, 1998	Chairman of the Board
April 17, 1998	Chinese Box
July 24, 1998	Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss
August 21, 1998	Carnival of Souls	limited release
September 4, 1998	Phoenix	produced by Lakeshore Entertainment
September 11, 1998	Cube
September 18, 1998	Trance	AKA The Eternal: Kiss of the Damned
October 7, 1998	Slam
December 11, 1998	The Dentist 2
December 20, 1998	Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows
December 30, 1998	Another Day in Paradise
May 15, 1999	The Sex Monster
May 28, 1999	Twice Upon a Yesterday
August 13, 1999	Better Than Chocolate
September 17, 1999	Romance
October 15, 1999	Joe the King
February 18, 2000	Beautiful People
April 21, 2000	The Last September
May 12, 2000	Held Up
July 11, 2000	History Is Made at Night
October 12, 2000	Faust: Love of the Damned
December 1, 2000	What's Cooking?
January 2001	Skipped Parts

Direct-to-video

Release Date	Title	Notes
1988	Demonwarp
November 30, 1988	Body Beat
February 9, 1990	The Sleeping Car
June 6, 1990	The Amityville Curse
September 15, 1990	Spirits	distribution only; produced by Cinema Group
September 26, 1990	Mob Boss	produced by American Independent
April 17, 1991	Black Magic Woman
December 27, 1992	Prototype X29A
August 4, 1993	American Kickboxer 2
September 22, 1993	Thunder in Paradise
November 24, 1993	Cyborg 2
May 25, 1994	Freefall
November 2, 1994	Dangerous Touch
November 9, 1994	Hong Kong '97
May 30, 1995	Night of the Running Man
June 27, 1995	Leprechaun 3
March 12, 1996	True Crime
May 16, 1996	Curse of the Starving Class
September 3, 1996	Sometimes They Come Back... Again
February 25, 1997	Leprechaun 4: In Space
July 28, 1998	A Kid in Aladdin's Palace
November 10, 1998	The Landlady
April 27, 1999	King Cobra
September 7, 1999	Sometimes They Come Back... for More
October 12, 1999	Warlock III: The End of Innocence
December 27, 1999	Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying
March 28, 2000	Leprechaun in the Hood
May 23, 2000	Cord
March 13, 2001	Killer Bud
April 24, 2001	xChange
June 26, 2001	Blood Surf
July 10, 2001	Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal

• After Alice
• After the Storm (2001)
• At First Sight
• Atomic Train
• Attraction
• Blink of an Eye (1992)
• The Bogus Witch Project
• Cabin Pressure
• Christy: The Movie
• Cut
• Diplomatic Siege
• Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion
• Fear of Flying
• Frankenstein and Me
• Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood (a.k.a. The River Pirates)
• Happiness
• Interceptor (1992)
• An Invited Guest
• Kids
• Let the Devil Wear Black
• Love Is a Gun
• Mutiny
• NetForce
• The Perfect Tenant
• Route 666
• Running Free (1994)
• Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists
• The St. Francisville Experiment
• The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
• South of Heaven, West of Hell
• The Stepdaughter
• Tail Lights Fade
• Treehouse Hostage
• Zigs