Fans of the original
Transformers cartoon series and other Sunbow properties such as
G.I. Joe, Jem and the Holograms and
Inhumanoids were saddened this past Spring when Sony Music
announced they were shutting down the SonyWonder division. SonyWonder was the current owner of the license to release those properties on DVD, and had exercised the license only once: to release a new DVD edition of the animated
Transformers: The Movie motion picture this past November. But the Sunbow properties and other items in-house, like
Holly Hobbie and Friends, were all that were left for SonyWonder, as distribution licenses with other companies expired, and DVD releases for studios such as Shout! Factory, Classic Media and Sesame Workshop went elsewhere.
For three months the situation has remained dormant, but this past week things brightened up! A few days ago
Video Business trade magazine, in
a report by Susanne Ault, said that the main studio - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment ("SPHE", and known in years past as Columbia/TriStar) - was moving the SonyWonder label into their domain, since the Sony Music division was not going to use that label any longer. Making that transfer lets kid titles that SPHE has released in the past have their own kid-oriented label to release under, including animated properties such as
Berenstain Bears, Dragon Tales, Stuart Little, Harold and the Purple Crayon and the non-animated PBS show
It’s a Big, Big World.
Properties that SonyWonder already has will apparently stay with the label, too. The
Video Business story specifically names
Holly Hobbie, and we've got word from the studio that the Sept. 18th release of the film
Holly Hobbie: Best Friends Forever will be the first title of the newly-revived SonyWonder line.
We caution you, though, that there was NO word, from either the studio or in the
Video Business article, that any Sunbow properties -
Transformers or otherwise - were on the schedule or even on their radar. At this time TVShowsOnDVD.com is NOT telling you to expect new DVD releases for those properties. However, it is the first gleam of hope we've had for a quarter of a year on those cartoons, and we knew it would be remiss not to share that hope with our readers.
Speaking in theory, it would make sense to us for SonyWonder to target a re-release of original
Transformers cartoons to coincide with the DVD release of the upcoming new box office
Transformers film. That's just our own thoughts, however. Stay tuned, and if we get any further developments about this, we'll certainly let you know!
