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Dualstar

Dualstar Entertainment Group, LLC, commonly referred to simply as Dualstar, is a privately held American mass media and entertainment limited liability company owned by twin sisters Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen. Dualstar was founded May 5, 1993, as Dualstar Productions, before adopting its current name in 1994. The company established a niche for itself when it entered into a producing agreement with ABC for several TV movies, after the twins starred in the 1992 TV movie To Grandmother's House We Go.[2]

The company quickly became a massive success, becoming synonymous in the 1990s and early 2000s with child-friendly home entertainment.[3] In 2005, the company pivoted towards the fashion industry as its main focus, and ceased producing films, television series, magazines, video games, or other popular media. Dualstar was based in Los Angeles, California and is now based in Culver City.

History

In 1990, the father of American actresses Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, David Olsen retained Robert Thorne, a partner at the law firm Loeb & Loeb, to help re-negotiate their contracts for the series Full House.[4] Impressed with Thorne's work, Olsen hired Thorne to manage his daughters' careers when they were only 4-years old.[5]

The sisters were cast in the TV movie, To Grandmother's House We Go, which filmed in Vancouver, Canada beginning in May 1992,[6] with a planned release of that December. After filming had finished on the movie, the sisters were signed to the record label BMG Kidz in July, and recorded their debut album Brother for Sale that same month.[7] The album was released on October 30, [8] to a tepid reception, with reviewers calling it, "...so self-consciously cute... it's painful. Makes your fillings ache."[9] Despite the album's poor reception among adults, it was well received among its target demographic.[10] Alternatively, the film was very well received across demographics,[11] and was the tenth most watched program across all channels for the week November 30 - December 6.[12] The sales success of the album, and the film's success gave Thorne justified negotiating power when discussing future plans with ABC.[2]

To better represent the girls in their new career ventures, Dualstar Productions was started by Robert Thorne, through Loeb & Loeb, on May 5, 1993. At the time it was established, David Brian Olsen was designated as the president of Dualstar,[13] with Thorne serving as the Chief executive officer.[14] A month after Dualstar's creation, it was announced ABC Television Network and Dualstar had entered into a production agreement. Dualstar was to produce a 13-episode television series to star the Olsen twins following the final season of Full House, and a TV-movie for ABC, in addition to developing other programming.[2] The agreement would also give ABC participation in the next Mary-Kate and Ashley music album and music-video collection in which ABC would then receive royalties.[2]

Production on the first TV-movie began June 3, 1993, before the news of the deal with ABC had even been made public. In a co-production between Dualstar and Green/Epstein, the team behind To Grandmother's House We Go, it was decided to do another Holiday film, the new movie entitled Double, Double, Toil and Trouble would be slated for a 1993 Halloween release.[15] At the same time, work on their second album I'm the Cute One began, slated for an October release along with a music video tape entitled Our First Video.[16]

On April 12, 1994, Dualstar filed an amendment with the state of California to rename the company to Dualstar Entertainment Group, Inc.[17]

The twins had a development deal at Warner Bros. and ABC,[2] who had a television broadcast contract,[18] and set up its own video and audio arm with a deal at BMG Kidz, the kids label of BMG.[19][20] It then became a pioneer in the tween industry.[21][22]

The company operated eight such subsidiaries such as: Dualstar Productions, Dualstar Animation, Dualstar Records, Dualstar Video & DVD, Dualstar Interactive, Dualstar Publications, Dualstar Consumer Products and Dualstar Clothing.

Dissatisfied by the BMG deal, the Olsens opted to move the Dualstar Video label to WarnerVision Entertainment in 1995.[23]

In 1999, it entered into a partnership with game publisher Acclaim Entertainment to launch its Dualstar Interactive line.[24] Also that year, it launched Dualstar Animation and entered into a pact with DIC Entertainment to launch a Mary-Kate and Ashley cartoon.[25] The cartoon was subsequently picked up by ABC in 2001 for Disney's One Saturday Morning block.[26] In 2003, the group estimated that the sales are around $1.4 billion.[21] The interactive unit subsequently filed a lawsuit against Acclaim Entertainment in 2004.[27] Also that year upon their 18th birthday, the Olsens took control of the Dualstar studio.[28]

On May 7, 2004, the company released New York Minute, the Olsen twins' last and only theatrical film since 1995's It Takes Two. The film did not do well at the box office, and suffered negative critical reception. Since then, Dualstar and the Olsens have neither produced nor starred in another film.

In 2005, Dualstar partnered with Dylan and Cole Sprouse, the twin brothers from Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Dualstar launched a boys division, and signed the Sprouse twins to be the face of the division, which would bear their name as D.C. Sprouse.[29] The division produced Code, a magazine geared toward a young male demographic.[21]

In April 2015, Mary-Kate and Ashley reached a deal with Viacom-owned Nickelodeon to license the entire library.[30]

Company units

  • Dualstar Consumer Products, LLC. established November 29, 2000.[31]
  • Dualstar Animation, LLC. established March 6, 2001.[32]
  • Dualstar Interactive, LLC. established August 24, 2001.[33]
  • Dualstar Publications, LLC. established August 24, 2001.[34]
  • The Row, established November 29, 2005.[35][a]

Filmography

Theatrical films

Direct-to-video films

Television films

Direct-to-video short film series

Television series

A class action lawsuit against Dualstar alleges that the Entertainment Group failed to pay interns for menial tasks. The suit, brought forth by forty past and current interns, argues that the interns should have been paid minimum wage because they were doing similar jobs as their paid colleagues, without receiving academic or vocational credit.[39]

Dualstar responded, "As an initial matter, Dualstar is an organization that is committed to treating all individuals fairly and in accordance with all applicable laws. The allegations in the complaint filed against Dualstar are groundless, and Dualstar will vigorously defend itself against plaintiff's claims in court, not before the media. Dualstar is confident that once the true facts of this case are revealed, the lawsuit will be dismissed in its entirety."[40] The lawsuit was settled out of court in March 2017 for $140,000.[41]

References

  1. ^ "Business Entity Detail: DUALSTAR ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC. (search on Entity Number: C1857445)". California Business Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "'Full House' Twins Get Early Jump On ABCs in Business". The San Bernardino County Sun. San Bernardino, California. June 30, 1993.
  3. ^ Lippmann, John (March 10, 1997). "Twins Are 'No Shirley Temple,' But Olsens Mine Girls' Market". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ Vernon, Polly (September 27, 2003). "Teen Tycoons". The Guardian.
  5. ^ Udovitch, Mim (May 27, 2001). "The Olsen Juggernaut". The New York Times.
  6. ^ McNamara, Lynne (June 5, 1992). "Highlander Here For A Wee Dram". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  7. ^ Kleid, Beth (July 7, 1992). "People Watch: Twin Tunes". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California.
  8. ^ "'Full House,' Full Plates". Daily News. New York, New York. October 2, 1992.
  9. ^ Kennedy, Janice (December 21, 1992). "Enhance The Holiday Spirit With A Gift Of Music". The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
  10. ^ Grossberg, Josh (March 2, 1993). "Programmers Tuning In On Radio for Children". The Star-Tribune. Duarte, California.
  11. ^ McNamara, Lynne (December 24, 1992). "Made-In-Vancouver Films Win Viewers". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  12. ^ "Entertainment: Crime Pays For CBS-TV". The Union. Grass Valley, California. December 17, 1992.
  13. ^ "Statement and Designation by Foreign Corporation - Dualstar Productions". California Business Entity Search. May 5, 1993. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  14. ^ D'Innocenzio, Anne (July 6, 2004). "Twins All Grown Up". Press and Sun-Bulletin. Binghamton, New York. p. 28.
  15. ^ Beck, Marilyn (May 5, 1993). "Television: A Double Dose". Springfield News-Sun. Springfield, Ohio.
  16. ^ "Full House Twins Album Goes For Micro Bopper Listeners". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, California. October 3, 1993.
  17. ^ "Amended Statement by Foreign Corporation - Dualstar". California Business Entity Search. April 12, 1994. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  18. ^ Lowry, Brian (1993-05-12). "Dozen movies and trio of minis on ABC sked". Variety. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  19. ^ McCormick, Moira (1993-08-21). "Child's Play" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  20. ^ McCormick, Moira (1993-09-18). "Zoom, BMG Push Olsens Via QVC, Prime-Time Spots" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  21. ^ a b c Bahney, Anna (2006-04-30). "Boys Just Want to Be ... Olsens". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  22. ^ Galloway, Stephen (March 8, 1994). "Olsen Twins in Big Video Pact". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California.
  23. ^ Goldstein, Seth (1995-04-15). "WarnerVision Nabs Olsen Twins Vid Titles from BMG" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  24. ^ L. Scott, Tracey (2001-12-16). "The Olsen Twins: Playing With a Full Corporate House...Mary-Kate and Ashley Inc". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  25. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (1999-03-17). "Olsen twins pact for Disney toon". Variety. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  26. ^ Bernstein, Paula (2001-03-09). "ABC adds Olsens toon to Sat. ayem". Variety. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  27. ^ "Acclaim sued by Olsen twins over videogame contract". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  28. ^ Billey, Catherine (2005-01-29). "Arts, Briefly; Olsen Twins Take Charge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  29. ^ Kang, Stephanie (September 12, 2005). "Olsen Entrepreneurs Branch Out With Boys". The Wall Street Journal.
  30. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (2015-04-23). "Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen's Classic Movies & Series Heading to Nickelodeon". Variety. Retrieved 2021-10-18.
  31. ^ "Business Entity Detail: DUALSTAR CONSUMER PRODUCTS, LLC. (search on Entity Number: 200033410072)". California Business Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  32. ^ "Business Entity Detail: DUALSTAR ANIMATION, LLC (search on Entity Number: 200106510151)". California Business Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  33. ^ "Business Entity Detail: DUALSTAR INTERACTIVE, LLC (search on Entity Number: 200123610083)". California Business Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  34. ^ "Business Entity DUALSTAR PUBLICATIONS, LLC (search on Entity Number: 200123610085)". California Business Search. California Secretary of State. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  35. ^ "Trademark Office THE ROW (search on Case Number: 78980321)". Trademark Search. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
  36. ^ Rose, Maria (March 29, 2008). "When it's Olsen and done". Irish Independent.
  37. ^ "Trademark Office THE ROW (search on Registration Number: 3506697)". Trademark Search. United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
  38. ^ "TR Holding, LLC". USPTO. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
  39. ^ "Olsen twins respond to intern lawsuit". Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  40. ^ Feitelberg, Rosemary (11 August 2015). "Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's Dualstar Entertainment Fires Back About Unpaid Interns Lawsuit". Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  41. ^ Slattery, Denis. "Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to pay interns $140G in wage theft lawsuit - NY Daily News". Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  1. ^ Upon its creation, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of Dualstar.[36] On July 26, 2024, ownership of The Row trademark was transferred to a newly created TR Holding, LLC.,[37] which was established in January 19, 2023, with Ashley Olsen serving as CEO.[38]