Orion Classics started in 1982 as the distribution label for the then independent film production company Orion Pictures, now owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It was relaunched on May 21, 2018.

The original focus of 1980-era Orion Classics was on acquiring independent and foreign films for North American distribution, as headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom. In addition it aimed to produce some arthouse films of its own. It was launched when Barker, Bernard and Donna Gigliotti moved from UA Classics, a United Artists specialty division. Among its most notable films were Babette's Feast, Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train and Richard Linklater's Slacker.

Since its relaunch Orion Classics has released Mike P. Nelson's The Domestics and Jim Cummings' The Wolf of Snow Hollow, among others.

History Orion Classics was formed by Orion Pictures in 1982 as an autonomous division for specialty films. United Artists Classics executives, Tom Bernard, Michael Barker and Donna Gigliotti, having a dispute with its parent United Artists left to fill Orion Classics' executive ranks, thus mirroring Orion Pictures' formation. With the UA Classics executives, the division had built in connection with the art house film community. While the three executives had different titles and responsibilities they acted as all having the same responsibilities.

The division took on the early UA Classics modus operandi of frugal marketing spending and strict staggered releasing with few prints. Thus 10 to 50 prints would be made based on its potential success with an average marketing budget of $225,000 would be first released in New York City before moving on to other metropolitan areas and given time to find its position.

The team was able to get French filmmaker Eric Rohmer to switch from UA Classics to Orion. He was then the source of its first film and box office hit with Pauline at the Beach in July 1983. Thus Orion Classics released four out of five of Rohmer's 1980s films and investing in a few of them. Orion's last acquisition in 1983 was its first independent US movie, Strangers Kiss (1984).

In August 1983, the company had indicated that they would be into production of its own material by late 1984 or early 1985. However, Orion Pictures was having more box office failures then successes thus those plans were put on hold.

In late 1991, when Orion Pictures was in serious financial trouble, Barker, Bernard, and Bloom left Orion Classics. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court forced Orion Classics to give up rights to the highly anticipated Merchant Ivory Productions adaptation of Howards End; at the invitation of former Orion president Mike Medavoy, who was now located at TriStar Pictures, Barker, Bernard, and Bloom set up Sony Pictures Classics, with Howards End as the company's first release.

Shortly after, John Hegeman took over the reins of Orion Classics, but with little clarity of what was to be done with it. Nevertheless, the company retained rights to four titles acquired by the Barker-Bernard-Bloom administration: Raise the Red Lantern, A Woman's Tale, A Tale of Springtime, and The Adjuster. Most of these titles failed to create a splash in the American market, while Raise the Red Lantern was a minor financial success grossing over $2.5 million. Following the restructuring of its parent company and a shift to Los Angeles from New York City, Orion Classics not only lost access to the epicentre of the U.S. specialty film market, thus acquiring very few films throughout the mid-1990s, but was also forced to cease financing films and pivot strictly to distribution; the division continuously incurred losses during this period, with its only minor success being the 1995 film Jeffrey, which grossed roughly $3.5 million domestically.

In the mid-1990s, Metromedia acquired Orion, and merged the classics division into the Samuel Goldwyn Company. Both Orion and SGC were sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1997, with the latter's function of producing and/or distributing independent films being assumed by MGM's United Artists division.

Relaunch In May 2018, it was announced that Orion Classics would be revived as a multiplatform distribution label, with 8 to 10 films being released per year. Orion Classics will be MGM's method of getting into the day-and-date theatrical-VOD business. The label's first film is Mike P. Nelson's The Domestics, which was released in theaters on June 28, 2018, and on VOD and digital the next day.

Film library Title Release date Heads I Win, Tails You Lose 1982 The Pool Hustlers Beyond the Door September 5, 1982 Pauline at the Beach July 29, 1983 Carmen October 20, 1983 Scrubbers January 31, 1984 Privates on Parade April 13, 1984 Sugar Cane Alley April 13, 1984 Another Country June 29, 1984 Strangers Kiss August 13, 1984 Old Enough August 24, 1984 Full Moon in Paris September 7, 1984 Swann in Love September 14, 1984 Where the Green Ants Dream February 8, 1985 My New Partner March 8, 1985 MacArthur's Children May 17, 1985 Henry IV June 28, 1985 Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart August 9, 1985 Came a Hot Friday October 4, 1985 Colonel Redl Ran December 20, 1985 A.K. January 29, 1986 My Beautiful Laundrette March 7, 1986 A Great Wall May 30, 1986 The Green Ray August 29, 1986 Restless Natives September 12, 1986 The Sacrifice November 1986 El Amor brujo December 23, 1986 One Woman or Two February 6, 1987 Devil in the Flesh May 22, 1987 Jean de Florette June 26, 1987 Rita, Sue and Bob Too July 17, 1987 End of the Line August 28, 1987 Dancing in Water September 18, 1987 Manon of the Spring November 5, 1987 Au Revoir Les Enfants December 1987 A Month in the Country February 19, 1988 Babette's Feast March 4, 1988 Wings of Desire May 6, 1988 Loose Connections July 8, 1988 Boyfriends and Girlfriends July 15, 1988 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown November 11, 1988 Field of Honor January 20, 1989 Murmur of the Heart February 3, 1989 Chocolat March 10, 1989 The Reader April 21, 1989 The Music Teacher July 7, 1989 Mystery Train November 7, 1989 Camille Claudel December 21, 1989 Too Beautiful for You March 2, 1990 Monsieur Hire April 20, 1990 Jesus of Montreal May 25, 1990 May Fools June 22, 1990 Wait Until Spring, Bandini June 29, 1990 Life and Nothing But September 14, 1990 Leningrad Cowboys Go America November 2, 1990 Cyrano de Bergerac December 1, 1990 Open Doors March 8, 1991 Love Without Pity May 31, 1991 My Father's Glory June 14, 1991 Europa Europa June 28, 1991 Slacker July 5, 1991 My Mother's Castle July 26, 1991 Opera September 6, 1991 The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe September 27, 1991 Rhapsody in August December 20, 1991 Raise the Red Lantern March 13, 1992 A Woman's Tale May 1, 1992 The Adjuster May 29, 1992 A Tale of Springtime July 17, 1992 Rain Without Thunder February 5, 1993 Boxing Helena September 3, 1993 Nostradamus September 16, 1994 Bar Girls April 7, 1995 Jeffrey August 18, 1995 Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey August 24, 1995 Maybe... Maybe Not July 12, 1996 Ed's Next Move September 27, 1996 Trees Lounge October 11, 1996 Prisoner of the Mountains January 31, 1997 This World, Then the Fireworks July 11, 1997 One Man's Hero September 24, 1999 The Domestics June 28, 2018 Unlovable November 1, 2018 Jinn November 15, 2018 Clara's Ghost December 6, 2018 Maine December 14, 2018 All These Small Moments January 17, 2019 Valley Girl May 8, 2020 The Wolf of Snow Hollow October 9, 2020 Nada é por Acaso

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