Private company

Legend Films

American home video distributor

Legend Films is a San Diego–based company founded in August 2001 which originally provided restoration and colorization of classic black-and-white films for TV, theatrical and home video release via Legend Films Home Entertainment Distribution. They also distributed RiffTrax until it was spun off on July 3, 2012. RiffTrax is a business from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 offering humorous audio commentaries on MP3 files, DVDs and Blu-rays for titles in the Legend Films library.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Aug 2001Founded1

Legend Films is a San Diego–based company founded in August 2001 which originally provided restoration and colorization of classic black-and-white films for TV, theatrical and home video release via Legend Films Home Entertainment Distribution. They also distributed RiffTrax until it was spun off on July 3, 2012. RiffTrax is a business from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 offering humorous audio commentaries on MP3 files, DVDs and Blu-rays for titles in the Legend Films library.2

The story

Legend Films' founder, Barry Sandrew, Ph.D. pioneered and patented the first all-digital colorization technology in 1987 and then reinvented the process in 2000 by patenting the most advanced colorization technology that largely automates the process (Image sequence enhancement system and method – US Patent 7181081 [12]). Some of the works being colorized by Legend are films that have fallen into the public domain and are now copyrighted only in their colorized form in the United States, while their original copyright on the black-and-white version is still in force. Other movies in the Legend Films library are titles color produced in revenue sharing partnerships with the original copyright holder. Legend has colorized films owned by 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Paramount Home Entertainment. In less than three years, Legend Films has restored and colorized over 100 feature films in high definition or film resolution.

In 2006, comedian and former Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Michael J. Nelson was appointed Chief Content Producer and established the RiffTrax business.

Legend Films now does most of its work in Carlsbad, California, and Patna, India.

From Wikipedia’s article on Legend Films, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. Aug 2001Founded Founded1

Sources

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