Styhon Entertainment

Styhon Entertainment Partners, Inc. (trading as Styhon Entertainment) is a Finnish-owned American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Founded by Howard Styhon in 1993 and sold to Kasperi Salovaara (who also owns Zoop Music Entertainment) in 2021, it focuses on foreign and independent films and has distributed various commercially successful films.

It is one of the largest international sales and film distribution companies by library and availability. They're also a leading international broadcaster and leading producer of children's entertainment and factual content worldwide.

Under the Styhon Media Networks division, it also operates a group of digital cable and satellite channels, which broadcast a mix of original programs and the company's syndicated content.

Before the sale to Salovaara, the company's majority stake was split between Access Industries and Howard Styhon.

They distribute Brittania Pictures's movies internationally, while Brittania distributes their films in Spain, Portugal and the UK.

Styhon Brothers Entertainment
In 1986, after the dissolution of Producers Sales Organization, brothers Howard and Ronald Styhon started a production company, Styhon Brothers Entertainment.

In 1988, Styhon Brothers Entertainment struck "slate financing" deals with New World Pictures and, in 1990, Cannon Group; they were one of, if not the first, of their kind; agreeing to finance a number of their original productions.

In 1992, Styhon Brothers ran into some financial difficulties, but quickly recovered.

Styhon Entertainment
In 1993, Howard Styhon left Styhon Brothers to found his own production company Styhon Entertainment, and immediately struck a deal with Warner Bros.

In 1998, Styhon Entertainment, Warner Bros. and Canal+ helped Steven Reuther found his own production company Bel-Air Entertainment. It sadly went bankrupt around 2002 and it was integrated back into Styhon.

In 2020, Styhon Entertainment expanded drastically after a merger with Morgan Creek Entertainment, Revolution Studios, Red Granite International, Lightyear Entertainment, HALO 8 Entertainment, The Film Arcade, Pro-Active Entertainment Group (ClickStar), Excel Entertainment Group, and Hannover House, and acquisition of most assets from Ultra V Holdings, owner of Relativity Media.

With these changes, Styhon Entertainment became the latest mini-major film studio, and a member of the Motion Picture Association. They also recruited Stephen J. Anderson, Mark Johnson, Jordan Kerner and Gavin Polone as part of their management board.

On November 30, 2020, Styhon Entertainment purchased a site in Syracuse, New York with intentions to build a facility known as the Central New York Film Hub.

In January 2021, Styhon Entertainment acquired distribution offices of Brittania Pictures in Africa (including South Africa and Egypt), Asia (including Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Russia and Hong Kong) and Latin America (including Brazil). The deal also included Afpak Films - its distribution arm in the Middle East - and majority-owned CX7 Entertainment - which was a spin-off of Brittania Pictures's distribution offices in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Moldovia, Ukraine and ex-Yugoslavia countries.

They also acquired Brittania Pictures's distribution offices in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland; the first two were closed shortly afterwards, with the latter two being merged into Styhon's Fishfilm GmbH and newly-acquired Element Pictures respectively. They closed Brittania Pictures Japan, in favor of establishing a distribution deal with Longride; offices in Australia were merged into Australian Filmgroup, though select films are set to be co-distributed by Roadshow Films.

They also acquired Metropolitan Filmexport and Davis Films from the Hadida brothers, and Brittania Pictures France, and moved the two companies under Cinéa. Brittania France's distribution deals outside of Brittania, and "non-film import operations" of Metropolitan, will move to Cinéa. Brittania Pictures's Belgium and Luxembourg operations were merged into Cinéa Belux, which also moved under Cinéa.

November 2021 acquisitions
Led by Salovaara, the acquisition spree was commenced, with the goal of all deals closing on the month of November 2021. They expect to break even after these acquistions within 5 years.

Styhon Entertainment purchased Omnicom, Interpublic Group of Companies and Dentsu (except for their Japanese operations), and merged them to form Veridian Group. The former Dentsu and Interpublic assets make up the Hello Media side, while the former Omnicom assets make up the Veridian Communications Group - both are planned to be merged in the near future.

Styhon Entertainment acquired Highlight Communications AG, ProSieben.Sat1 Group, AMC Networks, PalmStar Media, Andrew McMeel Universal, Ion Media, Cumulus Media, Weigel Broadcasting, Beyond International, Walden Media, Corus Entertainment, Blue Ant Media, Really Useful Group, Discovery Inc, Studio 100, FilmNation Entertainment, Scholastic, WildBrain, Madman Entertainment, mm2 Entertainment, Boat Rocker Media and Univision Communications to boost their publishing, international distribution, sports, live entertainment and television businesses. They also acquired the Asia Pacific and South American operations of Fremantle and ELAN Group's media and entertainment divisions. Gulf Film became part of Afpak Motion Pictures, while ELAN Media became part of Viridian Group.

They acquired Dolby, Panavision, NSR Scandinavia Group and Ymagis Group to boost their post-production and cinema services operations; and also acquired BroadbandTV, RTL Group's MCN operations, Nordic Entertainment Group, rest of the former Defy Media's assets, Mixed Media Group and Wow Unlimited Media to boost their digital media and licensing operations.

Debt controversy
In 2020, Styhon Television's international distribution arm Styhon International Television filed for bankruptcy, due to immense debt. The debt was actually inherited actively from other divisions within Styhon Entertainment. They were soon investigated by FTC, yet they weren't successful enough to sue Styhon for these practices.

Due to this, the group of companies had to be sold, to investor Kasperi Salovaara for $872 million USD, including the forgiven debt. Commenting on the acquisition, Salovaara said "it would've cost almost a dollar, but [Styhon] didn't want it to wither into bankruptcy".

The Launchpad
Styhon Entertainment's group of companies follow a common ruleset, though modified to fit each company's corporate culture; however, most common between all companies is the "launchpad" motive; to kickstart careers in live entertainment, film and television. They have offered internships every season, offering training for upcoming workers and consulting for productions.

Philantrophy
Styhon Entertainment used to be affiliated with Autism Speaks; however, due to internal conflicts, they have since ended ties and Styhon now has a close relationship with ASAN. They also work closely with GLAAD.

These ties to organizations are what Howard Styhon regards as "representation research"; including how a demographic can be represented in a harmless way and in a way that would not disrupt films or series episodes. Their inclusion of minorities in their productions are praised for, among other reasons, subtlety and maturity in handling "taboo topics".

Ownership

 * Salovaara Ventures Group (majority stake)
 * Minority stakes (each >2%):
 * ELAN Group
 * BNP Paribas
 * Vine Alternative Investments
 * Thunderbird Entertainment
 * Advance Publications
 * Dolan family

Logo
The logo starts off with a lake, as a rock appears, skipping over the water. The camera follows it through the river's curves as it pans up and then shows the creek in the form of the letter "S". After zooming out, it fades to the Styhon Entertainment logo made of silver.

For newer prints of Revolution and Jim Henson titles, the Morgan Creek theme was used.

The print logo and the motion logo seen in television shows and pre-2022 films include the Styhon Entertainment name, but since the release of the trailer for the American remake of I Saw the Devil (2022), the logo only features the Styhon S.

Distributed by Styhon International
Vertical Entertainment and AMBI Group's films are to be distributed outside North America and Europe, while films by Nu Image, A24, Sierra/Affinity, Highland Film Group and Neon are distributed only in non-English-speaking markets (with a slight exception on A24's films which will also be distributed within all of the Oceania territories, especially Australia and New Zealand).

Brittania Pictures's films will be distributed outside Canada, United States, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands and the UK; where, within the latter four countries, Brittania distributes Styhon films instead.

International distribution of Styhon's films

 * Svensk Filmindustri (Nordic countries, 2021-present) - co-distribution deal
 * Columbia Pictures (the Philippines, 2020-present)
 * CJ Entertainment (South Korea, 2020-present)
 * Brittania Pictures (UK, Spain and Portugal, 2021-present)
 * Longride (Japan, 2021-present)
 * Pathé (Switzerland, 2021-present) - co-distribution deal
 * Eagle Pictures (Italy, 2021-present) - co-distribution deal

In development
Styhon Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Pathé announced the development of an American remake of 99 Francs, with the working title of "The Burnout", set to start pre-production in March 2021. Styhon Entertainment is also developing a remake of the 1970 British film Performance.