J2 Communications

History

J2 Communications was founded in 1986 by James P. Jimirro, who had previously been the founding president of The Disney Channel and then a CBS executive. Many of J2 Communications' notable releases included films from ITC, as well as Dorf, a sports-themed comedy series starring Tim Conway. Due to increasing competition in the home video market and declining profitability, J2 Communications decided to stop distributing home video products in 1992.

In 1990, J2 Communications acquired the National Lampoon magazine and licensed out the brand for use in feature films bearing the National Lampoon name that were released between 1990 and 2003, with the exception of 1997's Vegas Vacation.

J2 Communications was contractually obligated to publish a new issue of the National Lampoon magazine once per year. However, J2 Communications showed very little interest in the magazine itself, to the point where the number of issues released varied unpredictably. After 1995, the company published one issue of the National Lampoon magazine per year until November 1998. After this, the contract was renegotiated and J2 Communications was prohibited from publishing further issues.

On August 2, 2002, J2 Communications was bought out by Dan Laikin and Paul Skjodt, and was renamed "National Lampoon Inc.".

Releases

TBD