Alliance Atlantis

Formation and history[edit]

Alliance Atlantis was formed in 1998 from the merger of two former production companies, Alliance Communications (founded in 1984) and Atlantis Communications (founded in 1978).^[2] As President and Board Director of the subsequent combined Alliance Atlantis, Lewis Rose was responsible for leading the teams which arranged the merger financing of $545 million and which achieved in excess of $20 million in savings and synergies from the combination of the two companies in the year following the merger. (The merger was also parodied on Made in Canada, when that show's Pyramid Productions merged with a company called Prodigy.) After the merger, the company laid off 15% of their staff (much of them from pre-merger Aliiance), and closed the former Atlantis sales office in Amsterdam.^[3] As part of the merger deal, Robert Lantos, founder of Alliance, signed a deal for film and TV production with Alliance Atlantis through his own firm, Serendipity Point Films.^[4][5]


At the time of the merger, both companies had launched various Canadian specialty television services; in 1995, Alliance launched Showcase Television while Atlantis launched Life Network (which has since been renamed "Slice"); in fall 1997 the companies launched History Television and HGTV Canada respectively. Earlier that year, Alliance Atlantis teamed up with Hallmark Cards to create Crayola Kids Adventures, a series of three direct-to-video adaptations of well-known children's novels. Atlantis had also been a major investor in YTV in its first few years before selling out to Shaw Communications and later, Corus Entertainment from 1999.^[6]


In 1998, the company purchased 75% of Cineplex Odeon Films.^[7] In 1999, Kinowelt purchased an interest in Alliance Atlantis' UK distribution arm, which was soon renamed to Momentum Pictures in 2000.^[8][9] Also that year, the company secured the Canadian rights to distribute features by Destination Films.^[10] Also in 2000, it purchased the rights to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from Disney's Touchstone Television.^[11][12] Another major deal in 2000 was a renewal of their distribution pact with Artisan Entertainment, including Canadian distribution of Artisan material, and UK theatrical distribution of Artisan films via Momentum Pictures.^[13]


The company expanded its business with its launch of its children's production label AAC Kids in 1999,^[14] and its nonfiction production label, AAC Fact in 2000.^[15][16] These labels were dissolved in 2003.^[17]


In 2000, AAC Kids signed a European co-financing and distribution deal with German studio TV-Loonland AG.^[18]


In 2001, the company purchased Salter Street Films, which produced a number of television shows for both the Canadian and international market. However, soon after the acquisition, Salter Street was disbanded and its active projects were transferred to Alliance Atlantis' own television production/development division.


Citing lower profits, Alliance Atlantis later closed the majority of its production arm, aside from the highly profitable CSI: Crime Scene Investigation family of series, which it co-produces with CBS Television Studios. It briefly maintained Salter Street's long-running This Hour Has 22 Minutes before transferring the show to the Halifax Film Company, made up of former Salter Street employees Its primary business became its ownership of a number of Canadian specialty services, which, in addition to those listed above, later included Food Network, Discovery Health (now FYI Canada), BBC Canada, BBC Kids and more.


Throughout the years, the company had purchased assets of several bankrupt studios, including Norstar Entertainment, Telescene, Peace Arch, Cinemavault, Odeon Films and in 2005, had bought out the television library of Fireworks Distributing Corporation from CanWest Global Communications.^[19]


In 2007, Alliance Atlantis was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine, the only broadcaster to be included on the list.^[20]