The deal announced yesterday will be effective from March 1st, 2021.

The Scandinavian group will handle the physical home entertainment distribution of Universal Pictures’ film and TV content across the Nordic and Baltic region.

Martin Brandtler, Nordic Head of Home Entertainment Distribution at SF Studios said: “The agreement with Universal comes at a time when we are repositioning the physical home entertainment business and are aiming to drive it much further. We share the same basic belief in the format and its future possibilities, and Universal’s esteemed catalogue and exceptional slate of exciting new content should attract a massive consumer base in the Nordic and Baltic markets."

John Revill, Executive Vice President, Global Partnerships for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) also said: ”This collaboration with SF Studios provides an important opportunity for us to ensure the longevity of our physical business and create greater scale across the Nordics and Baltics during this unique and transformative time in the home entertainment space. We are confident that through this partnership, we are ideally positioned to navigate changes in the business while further developing our retail footprint throughout these regions.”

UPHE titles to be available on Blu-ray and DVD include Trolls World Tour, the Jurassic World and the Fast and Furious franchises,  Illumination’s upcoming family film Minions: The Rise of Gru, as well as classics from DreamWorks Animation and the Downton Abbey cult series.

The deal with UPHR comes on the heels of SF Studios’ similar physical HE agreement, signed early November with Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). The Blu-ray/DVD distribution deal was described by the partners as ‘a natural next step” of their existing theatrical distribution collaboration in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sony HE titles will be available in the Nordic and Baltic regions via SF Studios from January 11, 2021.

Bonnier-owned SF Studios closed another physical HE deal in August with Warner Bros. for the Nordic region.