Halestorm Entertainment

{{Short description|American film production company}}

{{Distinguish|Halestorm}}

{{More citations needed|date=June 2007}}

Halestorm Entertainment was a film production and distribution company based in Orem, Utah.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/magazine/the-cinema-of-latterday-saints.html|title=The Cinema of Latter-Day Saints|last=Bauer|first=Carlene|date=July 31, 2005|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 31, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} It was founded in January 2001 by Kurt Hale and Dave Hunter,[http://www.halestormentertainment.com/about-halestorm About Halestorm] from Halestorm's official website who were both film majors at Brigham Young University. Halestorm films were largely created by, for, and about Latter-day Saints and usually contain a

high number of clichés and stereotypes about the behavior and culture of mainland Western United States members of the Church. Because of that, their films are mostly shown in first run movie theatres in that region, where most US members of that church live.

The company started with a successful first film, The Singles Ward, released in 2002.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/25/AR2006012502320.html|title=Big-Screen Religion|last=Chandler|first=Michael Alison|date=January 26, 2006|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=October 31, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} However, with a major box office failure in The Home Teachers it faced a declining market for explicitly Mormon-themed comedy films.{{cite web|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865601732/What-happened-to-the-wave-of-Mormon-movies.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425075803/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865601732/What-happened-to-the-wave-of-Mormon-movies.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 25, 2014|title=What happened to the wave of Mormon movies?|first=Jim|last=Bennett|date=25 April 2014|website=DeseretNews.com|access-date=9 January 2019}} In response, Halestorm phased out of producing explicitly LDS-based films with Church Ball sporting fewer in-jokes and named talent in an attempt to gain a wider audience.{{cite web|url=https://www.deseret.com/2006/3/17/19943534/church-ball-may-be-halestorm-s-last-lds-comedy|title='Church Ball' may be HaleStorm's last LDS comedy|date=17 March 2006|website=DeseretNews.com|access-date=8 April 2022}}

The company was quietly dissolved in 2020 after years of inactivity.{{cite web|url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ut/5527600-0160|title=HALESTORM ENTERTAINMENT, LLC|website=OpenCorporates|access-date=18 June 2022}} Currently, Deseret Book controls most of their library.