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Artisan Entertainment is an independent movie studio that since 2003 has been owned by Lions Gate Entertainment.
The company owns the home video rights to the film libraries of Republic Pictures, Vestron, and Carolco Pictures. They also own FHE (Family Home Entertainment), and its motion picture subdivision, FHE Pictures. Artisan, unlike most movie studios, has their roots in the home video industry. Artisan Entertainment began its life in 1984 as International Video Entertainment (IVE). IVE was primarily a home video distributor known for its selection of B movies. In the late 1980s, the company branched into film distribution for television. After a name change to Live Home Video (later Live Entertainment) in 1990, the company began its alliance with Carolco Pictures when it offered to distribute their releases on home video. The company also acquired an independent family home video company, Family Home Entertainment. In 1993, the company took over Vestron Pictures (best known for their release of Dirty Dancing, which had been the second highest-grossing independent film of all time) after its downfall. In 1995, when Carolco ceased to exist as a company, StudioCanal got full rights to their film library and thus Live (under a new deal with the French-based production company) continued to distribute Carolco's films for video. In 1997, Live Entertainment decided to branch into film production, and in 1998, was rechristened Artisan Entertainment.
Some of Artisan's film releases have been Requiem for a Dream, Killing Zoe, The Blair Witch Project, and Startup.com. It was in 2003 that Lions Gate Films agreed to acquire Artisan, thus all video releases that had been with Artisan are now under the Lions Gate banner.
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