About: Film Ventures International

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About: Film Ventures International Sponge Permalink

An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

Originally a low-budget production and distribution company specializing in horror and imported ripoffs, FVI was started in 1968 by Edward Montoro. The company operated at a profit until around 1980 when FVI imported, distributed, and heavily promoted the film Great White, a near-blatant ripoff of Jaws. Unlike other mockbusters of the day, Great White was similar enough to the movie it imitated that Universal studios sued FVI on the grounds of plagiarism, seeking to have distribution of the film halted entirely. The suit was successful, and Great White was pulled from all U.S. theaters less than a week after it had opened. The decision was a massive financial loss to FVI, which had spent more than $4 million on advertising and promotion of the film.

Attributes	Values
rdfs:label	Film Ventures International
rdfs:comment	Originally a low-budget production and distribution company specializing in horror and imported ripoffs, FVI was started in 1968 by Edward Montoro. The company operated at a profit until around 1980 when FVI imported, distributed, and heavily promoted the film Great White, a near-blatant ripoff of Jaws. Unlike other mockbusters of the day, Great White was similar enough to the movie it imitated that Universal studios sued FVI on the grounds of plagiarism, seeking to have distribution of the film halted entirely. The suit was successful, and Great White was pulled from all U.S. theaters less than a week after it had opened. The decision was a massive financial loss to FVI, which had spent more than $4 million on advertising and promotion of the film.
sameAs	dbr:Film_Ventures_International
dcterms:subject	Companies
abstract	Originally a low-budget production and distribution company specializing in horror and imported ripoffs, FVI was started in 1968 by Edward Montoro. The company operated at a profit until around 1980 when FVI imported, distributed, and heavily promoted the film Great White, a near-blatant ripoff of Jaws. Unlike other mockbusters of the day, Great White was similar enough to the movie it imitated that Universal studios sued FVI on the grounds of plagiarism, seeking to have distribution of the film halted entirely. The suit was successful, and Great White was pulled from all U.S. theaters less than a week after it had opened. The decision was a massive financial loss to FVI, which had spent more than $4 million on advertising and promotion of the film. FVI's financial difficulties worsened from 1980 on, reaching their peak in 1984 when Edward Montoro's wife filed for divorce, entitling her to half of the company's worth. Unable or unwilling to pay, Montoro embezzled roughly $1 million from the company and fled the country. To date, Montoro's whereabouts are unknown. FVI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1985, and the company was shut down entirely, though not before releasing its last two films, Torchlight (as a distributor) and City Limits (as a producer). After bankruptcy, FVI was purchased by INI Entertainment Group, a small TV syndicator seeking to trade on FVI's name. Beginning in 1987, the new FVI got into the legally questionable practice of acquiring the rights to show clips of movies, and then using "clips" which consisted of the movies almost in their entirety with the "FVI treatment"—replacing the music, releasing them under new titles with new opening credits sequences—and then claiming the copyright to those elements. Many of these "FVI-retitled" films were subsequently shown on MST3K.

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