StudioCanal UK (formerly Optimum Releasing/Home Entertainment/Classics) is a film distributor company working in the UK and Ireland. The company releases many films, including foreign language films, anime releases such as Studio Ghibli's films and independent British, Irish and American films in the UK and sometimes Ireland.

Optimum was acquired by StudioCanal, a subsidiary of Vivendi SA, in 2006. Since StudioCanal bought Optimum, the French company distribute their large back catalogue of classic British films (many from the Cannon and EMI catalogues) through Optimum releasing under the strand 'Optimum Classic'.

In September 2011, the company was renamed StudioCanal UK

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tyrannosaur, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, The Awakening and W.E were among the first films released under the StudioCanal UK banner.

When named Optimum, the company's image was that of a modern, independent new release and back catalogue distributor. Films were released under four strands: Optimum Releasing (Theatrical New Releases), Optimum Home Entertainment (DVD, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD New Releases), Optimum Classic (DVD Re-releases of back catalogue films) and Optimum World (New and Back Catalogue World Cinema). The latter three appear to be still being used, despite the company's name change.

Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award (Best Ensemble) and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award (Best Acting Ensemble). He is part of a group of filmmakers dubbed the Splat Pack, because of their dedication to the genre and their relentless horror films.

Roth was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Dr. Sheldon Roth, a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, and Cora Roth, a painter. His grandparents emigrated from Austria, Russia, and Poland; Roth was raised Jewish.

Roth began shooting films at the age of eight after watching Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). He made over 50 short films with his brothers Adam and Gabe before graduating at Newton South High School and attending film school (the Tisch School of the Arts) at New York University, from which he graduated in 1994. By the age of 20, and while still a student at NYU, Roth ran the office of producer Frederick Zollo, eventually leaving to devote himself to writing full-time.

Richard Ellef Ayoade ( /aɪ.oʊˈɑːdeɪ/, eye-oh-WA-dee, born 12 June 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer and director, best known for his role as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.

Ayoade was born in Whipps Cross, London, an only child to a Norwegian mother, Dagny (née Baassuik), and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. Ayoade studied at St. Joseph's College in Ipswich, Suffolk and later studied law at St Catharine's College, Cambridge (1995–1998) where he won the Martin Steele Prize for play production and was president of the Footlights from 1997 to 1998.

While in Footlights, Ayoade acted in and wrote many shows. He and Footlights vice-president John Oliver wrote two pantomimes together: Sleeping Beauty, and Grimm Fairy Tales. Ayoade acted in both Footlights' 1997 and 1998 touring shows: Emotional Baggage and Between a Rock and a Hard Place (directed by Cal McCrystal).

Ayoade co-wrote the stage show Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight with Matthew Holness, whom he also met at the Footlights, appearing in the show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2000 where it was nominated for a Perrier Award. In 2001 he won the Perrier Comedy Award for co-writing and performing in the sequel to Fright Knight, Garth Marenghi's Netherhead.