Image Entertainment Inc. was founded in 1981 as a LaserDisc distributor and became a major player in the format, distributing for many major studios' LaserDisc output (including Buena Vista and Universal). Once DVDs dominated the home media market and soon rivaled VHS in the late 1990s, Image re-focused its output distribution to DVDs (and later, Blu-rays alongside DVDs), although they did release a few VHS tapes as well. In 2012, Image was acquired by RLJ Acquisition, Inc. and was merged with another purchase,
Acorn Media; the Image name stopped being used on-screen in 2015. After that, it was an in-name only subsidiary of RLJ Entertainment until 2018. The
RLJE Films name has been used since 2017.
AMC Networks purchased RLJ Acquisition on November 1, 2018.
