1988 Through the Present Day

This page describes significant events related to Hoosiers in the years after its release.

1988

January 22: Videotapes of Hoosiers return to store shelves as production company Hemdale, VHS distributor Vestron, and the video division of HBO reach an out-of-court settlement that ends their legal battle over the movie’s home video rights.

April 3: Hoosiers makes its television debut. It is shown on HBO at 6 p.m. on a Sunday.

Spring: The movie debuts on over-the-air pay-TV channels such as WHT in the New York City area and SelecTV in the Los Angeles area.

May 17: Cinemax begins showing the film.

Late spring: Premium channel Festival (owned by HBO) begins showing Hoosiers.

HBO Home Video releases Hoosiers on laser videodisc.

October 12: Vestron releases the movie on VHS for $19.98 after reclaiming the rights from HBO Home Video.

December 9: Hoosiers debuts on the Disney Channel.

1989

May 10: Gene Hackman sues Hemdale for $5.5 million, alleging they failed to pay him his contracted share of videocassette revenues.

1991

June 13: The USA network begins showing the film.

July 24: Soundtrack composer Jerry Goldsmith sues Hemdale for failing to pay him $150,000, his contracted share of the videocassette profits.

1993

Knightstown, Indiana, where the Huskers’ home games were filmed, renames its 1921 gymnasium the Hoosier Gym Community Center in honor of the movie.

1995

The soundtrack is released on CD in Japan. The soundtrack is released on CD in Europe under the title Best Shot.

1995–1996

Hemdale Communications, formerly known as Hemdale Film Corp. (Hoosiers’ production company), is dissolved. Hemdale had filed for bankruptcy in 1991.

1996

September: Newspapers in Indianapolis and Bloomington feature articles that look back on Hoosiers a decade after its Indiana premiere.

November 10: The Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis celebrates the 10th anniversary of Hoosiers’ release. A reunion and conversation are held with the filmmakers and some of the Huskers, and the movie is screened at United Artists Circle Centre.

1997

July: Orion Pictures, distributor of Hoosiers, is sold to MGM, which absorbs Orion’s film library.

December 9: Hoosiers is released on DVD.

2001

December 18: Hoosiers is named to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as a motion picture that is culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

2005

March 1: The two-disc Collector’s Edition DVD is released. It contains 14 deleted scenes, the 1954 Milan state-championship game, commentary from the director and writer/producer, and other special features.

2006

June 3–11: Filming location Knightstown celebrates the 20th anniversary of Hoosiers’ release.

2007

March 13: The film is released on Blu-ray DVD.

2010

June 4–5: Knightstown celebrates the 25th anniversary of Hoosiers’ filming.

2011

Hoosiers celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Indiana release. Commemorative events are held in several cities and towns throughout the state, including Bloomington, Indianapolis, Decatur, Edinburgh, Nineveh, and Elkhart.

2012

Hoosiers celebrates the 25th anniversary of its national release.

June 5: A Blu-ray DVD is released that contains all the same special features as the Collector’s Edition DVD. Events held in Milan celebrate the debut of this disc.

December 10: The soundtrack is released by Intrada.

2013

March 20: Hoosiers director David Anspaugh returns to the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, the home gym of the Hickory Huskers, for the first time since the filming over 27 years earlier.

The Milan ’54 Hoosiers Museum acquires many of the basketball uniforms and a few other clothing items and props from the film and displays them in its new building.

2015

July 21: The NBA franchise Indiana Pacers announce that the team will wear red-and-gold Hickory uniforms, inspired by Hoosiers, in several games during the next couple of seasons.

2016

September 16–17: Knightstown celebrates the 30th anniversary of Hoosiers’ release. Husker David Neidorf (Everett, Shooter’s son) returns to the Hoosier Gym for the first time in 31 years. Many other people from the movie are present as well to sign autographs. Neidorf presents the Gym with the original team portrait from the last scene of the movie, which his father had purchased after filming.

2019

May 1: Hoosiers is offered on Netflix.

2021

November 20: Knightstown celebrates the 35th anniversary of Hoosiers’ release.

Read about what happened with Hoosiers from 1981 to 1987.