Associated Film Distribution

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Associated Film Distribution" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Associated Film Distribution was a British film distribution company. It was set up in the 1970s by ITC Entertainment and EMI Films to distribute their films in the US.

Michael Deeley, head of EMI at the time, opposed the move. He thought it had been motivated by Sir Lew Grade's belief that his films had failed in the United States due to poor distribution.

The company was launched in 1978 with $40 million in capitalisation. It aimed to distribute 12 films a year. The initial slate included:

• The Story of Maria Callas directed by Zeffirelli
• two films from Alan Carr, Cafe Society and a musical
• The Wife directed by John Schlesinger
• an Ingmar Bergman film
• Movie Movie Two - a sequel to Movie Movie (never made)
• Saturn 3
• French Vanilla directed by Stanley Donen (never made)
• The Muppet Movie
• Escape to Athena
• Firepower
• Blood Feud
• Raise the Titanic
• The Legend of the Lone Ranger
• The Chinese Bandit (never made)
• Eleanor Roosevelt's Niggers
• The Golden Gate from the novel by Alistair MacLean (never made)
• Green Ice
• The Gemini Contenders and The Scarlatti Inheritance from novels by Robert Ludlum
• Trans Siberian Express^[1]