Witchblade #1 Anime Series Launch of the Year
Fort Worth, TX - October 22, 2007 -- FUNimation Entertainment announced today that the company's Witchblade volume one release is the best-selling anime home entertainment release to date in 2007.
According to analysis of Nielsen VideoScan data after its September 25th release date, Witchblade volume 1 is the #1 best selling anime series launch of the year based on first week sales.
Nielsen VideoScan collects sell-through POS (consumer purchase) sales data weekly from traditional channels of video distribution including mass merchants, audio/video and video specialty retailers, electronics outlets, grocery stores, drug stores, and some Internet sites. Nielsen VideoScan maintains this weekly POS data in one of the largest databases of VHS and DVD products in the country.
From the renowned anime studio GONZO, Witchblade is the saga of a woman who must bear the burden of a terrible force of destruction known as the Witchblade. Based on the comic book series from Top Cow Productions, the anime series goes into the future to tell the tale of a new bearer of the Witchblade and the conspiracy that surrounds her burden. Witchblade is the first U.S. comic book property to be made into an anime.
FUNimation will release Witchblade volume 2 on November 6th. DVD packaging features exclusive covers from Top Cow Productions artists.
About FUNimation Entertainment
FUNimation® Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Navarre Corporation, is the nation's leading home video entertainment company for Japanese animation. The company has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights with its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, Internet, home video sales and distribution. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and its brands, please visit www.funimation.com.
About Top Cow Productions
Top Cow was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri who also co-founded Image Comics in the same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and 2 licensed) in the industry's Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades. Its flagship franchise Witchblade was TNT's #1 original film of 2000 and the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga by Studio GONZO in 2006. Top Cow's other flagship property, The Darkness, was developed into a major next generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and was released to critical and commercial success in June 2007. Wanted is currently in production as a major motion picture from Universal starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie and slated for release in March 2008. Virtually all of Top Cow's other properties are in development as feature films, live action television, animation or video games. Top Cow has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games and role playing games.
According to analysis of Nielsen VideoScan data after its September 25th release date, Witchblade volume 1 is the #1 best selling anime series launch of the year based on first week sales.
Nielsen VideoScan collects sell-through POS (consumer purchase) sales data weekly from traditional channels of video distribution including mass merchants, audio/video and video specialty retailers, electronics outlets, grocery stores, drug stores, and some Internet sites. Nielsen VideoScan maintains this weekly POS data in one of the largest databases of VHS and DVD products in the country.
From the renowned anime studio GONZO, Witchblade is the saga of a woman who must bear the burden of a terrible force of destruction known as the Witchblade. Based on the comic book series from Top Cow Productions, the anime series goes into the future to tell the tale of a new bearer of the Witchblade and the conspiracy that surrounds her burden. Witchblade is the first U.S. comic book property to be made into an anime.
FUNimation will release Witchblade volume 2 on November 6th. DVD packaging features exclusive covers from Top Cow Productions artists.
About FUNimation Entertainment
FUNimation® Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Navarre Corporation, is the nation's leading home video entertainment company for Japanese animation. The company has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights with its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, Internet, home video sales and distribution. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and its brands, please visit www.funimation.com.
About Top Cow Productions
Top Cow was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri who also co-founded Image Comics in the same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and 2 licensed) in the industry's Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades. Its flagship franchise Witchblade was TNT's #1 original film of 2000 and the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga by Studio GONZO in 2006. Top Cow's other flagship property, The Darkness, was developed into a major next generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and was released to critical and commercial success in June 2007. Wanted is currently in production as a major motion picture from Universal starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie and slated for release in March 2008. Virtually all of Top Cow's other properties are in development as feature films, live action television, animation or video games. Top Cow has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games and role playing games.
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