Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC,[1][2] often shortened to UPHE, is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast.[8] Also in 1986, the company made agreements with Motown Productions[9] and with children's book publisher Price Stern Sloan.These early, bare-bones editions quickly fell out-of-print when Universal started making their own DVDs.In 2015, Funimation (now known as Crunchyroll, LLC), formed a multi-year home video distribution deal with UPHE.[42] For a short time, Universal also distributing titles from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment on VHS between 2002 and 2003.[44] UPHE's international operations are a carryover from the PolyGram Video days,[45] but UPHE operates a joint venture in Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment called Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.Geneon USA shut down in late 2007, and Universal has licensed all of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan's catalog to other companies rather than directly distributing them themselves.[46][47] On October 3, 2014, Universal established global headquarters for its home video division in Los Angeles.[49] Along with the announcement of the Universal/Warner Bros. NA physical home media joint-venture, Universal announced that they would begin distributing Warner Bros. titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan in the third quarter of 2020 through home video, while Warner Bros. announced that they would begin distributing Universal titles in the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the first quarter of 2021 through home video.[22] In 2020, SF Studios had signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles across the Nordic region.[50] In early 2024, Plaion Pictures (who currently distributes Paramount releases in Italy and Sony Pictures releases in Germany) had signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles in Italy, which caused Universal's deal with Warner Bros. to expire there.In early 2025, Spirit Entertainment (who currently handles shows by BBC Studios and re-releases of Gerry Anderson shows) signed a distribution deal with Universal to handle titles in the United Kingdom, starting with DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot, which caused Universal's deal with Warner Bros. to expire there.