ArgosyMTM Group

ArgosyMTM Group (formerly known as Argosy Communications from 2006-2011) is an American production company conglomerate. It was formed in 2006 when Corus Entertainment sold off its US assets. It is majority owned by the Peck family, with the Blake, Lopez, and Shires families holding minority stakes.

It is based in Seattle, WA, with satellite offices in Charlotte, NC; New York, NY; San Jose, CA; Irving, TX; and Tokyo, Japan.

History
Argosy has its origins as a magazine in 1882. It was known as a “pulp fiction” magazine, and had classic stories about Tarzan and Martians.

In 1943, Association of Film Makers (AoFM), a film production company founded in 1937, was acquired by the magazine's publisher, Frank A. Munsey Company.

In 1953, the magazine’s publisher, Popular Publications, opened a TV production unit, known as Argosy Media, after the magazine. At the same time, Michael Shires, former Disney storyboard artist, and his inexperienced son, Michael Shires Jr., were hired to head an animation division of Argosy Media, recognizing the potential of television animation.

In 1973, after a corporate reorganization, AoFM was renamed to its current name, Argosy Pictures.

Later in 1973, Popular Publications spun off Argosy Media and Argosy Pictures into a new company, Argosy Media Affiliates. The company continued to make popular films and TV series, but in 1974, Michael Shires Sr. left to become a production assistant for a Jim Henson project that eventually became the Muppets, leaving Shires Jr. on his own.

In 1982, Argosy Media Affiliates was acquired by rival producer MTM Enterprises, which moved into the Argosy studios in Seattle, and reorganized its company as Argosy Entertainment.

In 1983, Argosy hired two then-obscure local indie cartoonists, mainly known in the Seattle area at the time: Ellen Peck and Paul Lopez: to restructure its television animation unit, as MTM wanted to start making Saturday morning cartoons. Ellen Peck sketched a new logo for MTM, a simplification of the orange cat emblem the company had used since 1969, but accidentally sent it to the Argosy unit, which coloured it grey and gave it the name “Aaron”, after then-CEO Aaron Marshall. The original Aaron logo only lasted until 1988 on screen, but was used as the corporate logo of Argosy Media until 1993, when the company returned to its previous “stylized A” logo, coloured in red.

In 1988, Argosy Entertainment, including Argosy Media and MTM, was acquired by ITV franchise Television South (TVS), which reorganized itself as TVS Entertainment. In 1990, however, TVS lost the franchise round to Meridian, and had to cease broadcasting in 1993. TVS sold its assets to televangelist Pat Robertson’s International Family Entertainment (IFE) shortly after ceasing broadcasting.

In late 1992, Paul Lopez died in a car crash, allegedly caused by his drunk driving, though Ellen Peck claims he was trying to hit pedestrians while drunk. He was replaced with Nathan Blake, his trainee and apprentice, who had already written some episodes for Argosy TV shows.

IFE was acquired by Canadian cable company Shaw Communications in 1996. In 1998, Shaw sold the failing Family Channel unit to Fox, to concentrate on its Canadian cable networks (including YTV), but retained ownership of Argosy, MTM, the TVS and Southern libraries, and the pre-1998 Family Channel library. In 1999, Shaw spun off its media assets, including Argosy and MTM, as Corus Entertainment.

In 2003, Argosy Media formed a joint venture with Nintendo, known as Toadette Animation, after the expiry of Nintendo’s deal with DiC. Singaporean-Canadian animator Tiger Lee Clarke, then working at Nelvana, was hired to lead this division, and moved to Seattle permanently.

In 2006, Corus sold off its holdings outside of Canada; consisting of Argosy Media, MTM Enterprises, and the Southern, TVS, and Family Channel libraries; to a new company, forming Argosy Communications.

In 2011, after acquiring NASCAR, Argosy Communications reorganized itself as the modern ArgosyMTM Group.

Main

 * Seattle, WA: The company has had a presence in Seattle since the early days. Seattle developed a film industry in the early days of film, not as large as Hollywood in California, but still decently sized, including several “mini-major” companies. In 1937, several of these companies merged to form the Association of Film Makers, which eventually became Argosy Pictures. The company moved into its current headquarters, in Home Plate Center, in 2015.
 * Charlotte, NC: Argosy Studios Charlotte initially opened in 1964. In 2008, the Argosy/NASCAR Plaza was built, which was renamed to simply NASCAR Plaza after ArgosyMTM’s acquisition of NASCAR in 2011. Much of its NASCAR operations, acquired in 2011, are based here.
 * San Jose, CA: The first presence of Argosy-related companies in San Jose was in 1968, when Argosy Studios California opened. The current building was opened in 1994.
 * New York, NY: In 1979, Argosy Media Affiliates acquired the historic Bonwit Teller building. The New York office of ArgosyMTM Group still operates out of this building today.
 * Irving, TX: This building was acquired in 2016, after ArgosyMTM Group acquired CEC Entertainment. It is known as the “ArgosyMTM Southwest Annex”.
 * Tokyo, Japan: Argosy arrived in Tokyo in 1987. Unlike other international offices, the Tokyo office reports directly to corporate HQ in Seattle; this is rumoured to be due to Ellen Peck’s adoration of, and close links to, Japanese culture (since she was raised by a Japanese stepmother). The current building, known as Argosy Media Japan Center, opened in 1999.

Secondary

 * San Tan Valley, AZ: This quite large property was once the mansion of the suspiciously-wealthy Dile family, and was built in 1908, predating the admission of the state of Arizona by 4 years. Through a series of sales, corporate mergers, and acquisitions, the property eventually ended up in the hands of Popular Publications, and later, Argosy Media Affiliates. It is popularly known as the “Argosy Mansion”.
 * Chicago, IL: The Argosy Supertower, formerly known as Stainton Supertower. Converted from a prohibition-era speakeasy, and originally housed Stainton Enterprises from 2015 to 2018, when that company was bought out by ArgosyMTM Group.
 * Utica, NY: Originally a special-needs facility of the Utica school district; acquired in 1995. The interior was gutted and redesigned by an Austrian architect. This building is notable for its deliberately-uneven floors, and also for having no right angles or regular designs inside, except in the basement and cafeteria.

Film divisions

 * MTM Films
 * MTM Family (formerly Argosy Family Entertainment from 1991-96)
 * MTM Nature (formerly Argosy Wildlife Features from 1991-96)
 * MTM Faith (formerly Argosy Christian Features from 1991-96)
 * Argosy Pictures
 * Seven Arts
 * Gramercy Pictures
 * RKO Pictures (acquired in 2020)

TV divisions

 * Argosy Media
 * MTM Enterprises
 * ArgosyMTM Dubbing

Other divisions

 * ArgosyMTM Records
 * Argosy Records
 * MTM Records
 * ArgosyMTM Publishing
 * Argosy Press
 * ArgosyMTM Interactive
 * Mitchell Project
 * Tomboy Games
 * Nintendo of America (50-50 joint-venture with Nintendo Japan)
 * ArgosyMTM Sports
 * NASCAR
 * Pacific Northwest Sports Group
 * Seattle SuperSonics (NBA)
 * Seattle Storm (WNBA)
 * Seattle Seahawks (NFL)
 * Seattle Metropolitans (NHL)
 * Seattle Mariners (MLB)
 * Seattle Sounders (MLS)
 * CEC Entertainment
 * Chuck E. Cheese
 * ShowBiz Pizza
 * Peter Piper Pizza
 * Creative Engineering Inc.