Becker Entertainment
Becker Entertainment is an Australian publicly listed entertainment company, owned by Prime Television Limited. Founded in 1965 by Russell Becker, one of the pioneers of commercial television in Australia, Becker was Australia's first independent distributor of television programs. It went on to become a major producer of Australian versions of numerous American game shows.
The company expanded into theatrical film distribution in the early '90s as REP (standing for Richard Entertainment Partners after Russell Becker's son Richard and his two friends Richard Sheffield and Richard Guardian who collaborated with him on the move into film. Richard Sheffield ran REP as a Becker employee until he left to establish the Australian office of Polygram Pictures).
The Australian box office success in 1994 of Four Weddings and a Funeral fueled the listing of Becker Entertainment Limited on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1995, with Richard Becker as Managing Director and Russell as Chairman. Subsequently, Becker Entertainment purchased the Dendy Cinema chain and became Australia's largest exhibitor of art house or limited release theatrical films.
The value of the Dendy brand, which Becker enhanced with new cinema construction, lead to the renaming of the theatrical distribution department to Dendy Distribution. Prior to the sale of Becker Entertainment to Prime Television, these two divisions were sold to Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey's Icon Productions.