Burbank Films Australia

Burbank Films Australia was an Australian animation-production company that in a span of eight years produced over thirty different animated films. These films were presented to the public through television or direct-to-video debuts.

History

The company's first animated productions in 1982 were a series of adaptations of books from Charles Dickens; these first few films characterized themselves by their grim appeal. The sketch-styled backgrounds and the simplicity of the original score, such as in "Oliver Twist" (1982), added to the dramatic tone of those first stories. The eight total Dickens adaptations were produced during two years. At the same time, in 1983, the company produced a short series of adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories, adapted from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the years that followed, until 1988, Burbank Films Australia adapted the works of many other well known authors and legends, including Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows", Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quijote de la Mancha", Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and Alexandre Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" among many others. [ [http://www.imdb.com/company/co0101137/ Burbank Films Australia] on Internet Movie Database]

In 1991, the company was resurrected under the name of Burbank Animation Studios, from them until the present time, the new studio has continued the production of "animated classics". [ [http://www.burbankanimation.com/ Burbank Animation Studios] ]

Copyright Status

There has been confusion as to whether ownership of these films has fallen into the public domain. Dispite the number of releases of these films, every Burbank Film has a valid US copyright and cannot be considered an Orphaned Work or Public Domain. The Burbank Films Australia catalogue is an example of the type of budget copyright content regularly parallel licenced to multiple DVD distributors.

When the Burbank Films Australia parent company Film Funding and Management Pty Ltd went into liquidation the distribution rights to the "Animated Classics Series" were transferred to ABR Entertainment Co [ [http://www.copyright.gov/ US Copyright Office] Document No V2555P425 1990-12-06] and the copyright was later fully assigned to Omnivision Ltd [ [http://www.copyright.gov/ US Copyright Office] Document No V2864P399 1992-09-15] . These are now owned by Pulse Distribution and Entertainment [ [http://www.copyright.gov/ US Copyright Office] Document No V3285P205 1996-09-25] and administered by digital rights management firm NuTech Digital [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_June_23/ai_n6086255/ BTECH] article on NuTech and Pulse distribution agreement.] . These titles are currently available in the US on Nutech's Digital Versitile Disc Ltd and DVD Ltd labels.

The distribution rights to "The Dickens collection" (Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Tale of two cities, Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Nicholas Nickelby) and "The Sherlock Holmes collection" (The Sign of the Four, The Baskerville curse, The Valley of Fear, and A Study in Scarlet) were transferred to Rikini Inc [ [http://www.copyright.gov/ US Copyright Office] Document No V2542P018 1990-08-24] , which later became International Family Classics or IFC Inc, who onsold the films to HS Holding Corporporation [ [http://www.copyright.gov/ US Copyright Office] Document No V3202P448 1996-01-31] who currently own the titles [ [http://www.peo7.com/peo/caselawsDetail42445/Page1.htm/ Film Office v. HS Holding Corp.] 2/24/2004.] . "Alice Through the Looking Glass" is now also owned by HS Holding Corporation [ [http://www.copyright.gov/ US Copyright Office] Document No V3205P164 1996-02-12.] who purchased the rights from INI Entertainment Group, the distributor of Burbank Animation Studios' post 1991 films. These titles are currently distributed by Liberty International in the US.

Payless Entertainment Australia began reissuing the Burbank Films catalogue in June 2008. [ [http://www.payless.com.au/index.php?/p/category/65/ Payless Entertainment] Burbank "Storybook Classics" catalogue.]

References

See also

* List of animation companies

External links

* [http://imdb.com/company/co0101137/ Burbank Films Australia] at the Internet Movie Database