Forum - View topicNEWS: Bandai Visual USA new licenses and distribution deal
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Malintex Terek
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Ahh, now I've got a grasp of the situation. I believe this to be a bad move for anime fans but a good one for Geneon; such a synergy only looks to consolidate contracts and keep cash flow away from small companies like this "Image Entertainment"; it's a strengthening of barriers to entry in the anime market and another step toward a pronounced oligopoly. Yargh.
Last edited by Malintex Terek on Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Whearn9999
Posts: 211 Location: Texas City TX |
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Interesting. I wonder if Bandai is in worse shape than they are letting on. I guess it is part f their streamlining they announced previously. Ah well, as long as the shows keep coming, I'll be happy.
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LightYagami
 Posts: 257 Location: around the midwest |
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What does this mean for present and future licenses of Bandai? I'm still pretty confused on what this means for the industry as a whole.
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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Just keep in mind that Bandai Visual USA and Bandai Entertainment are two different companies. Yeah, it's kind of complicated, but this refers *only* to Bandai Visual licenses (Gunbuster and such), not to anything licensed by Bandai itself.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1685 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Image Entertainment a "small company"? You really have absolutely no clue what you're talking about, do you? Image is the parent company to Home Vision Entertainment and Criterion Collection. The trouble is, they're not that into Asian stuff, let alone animation. So Bandai saught out those that know the market. Simple as that. |
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Reikon
 Posts: 36 |
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Just because you probably never heard of them doesn't mean Image Entertainment is small. According to IMDB, they have nearly 1300 DVD releases and Wikipedia says they're a major distributor. |
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J Dude
Posts: 11 |
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So..... wait.... Galaxy Angel Rune gets licensed? Where the heck is Bandai with Galaxy Angel AA and Galaxy Angel X? I'd much rather be getting those before Rune or whatever, especially since they haven't said anything about releasing the rest in over a year now I think.
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Hooray for for Freedom and Wing of Rean, two titles that I am extremely looking forward to. Also I can only imagine that this deal will be good on everyone behave, since I find it easier to find Geneon Products, then Bandai Visual.
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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I hope I don't have to pay $60-$80 for Freedom. Most I'm willing to go for is $45, especially since it's just a fancy Cup O' Noodles infomercial.
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10468 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Market Cap, $66m, revenue: $111m ? It's not exactly a large company either, in fact it's just over the threshold of "mid-market". But Geneon USA is a small company, with annual sales somewhere around $35~50 million (sorry for the huge discrepancy, estimating annual DVD sales income was easy, estimating licensing income was a stab in the dark.). So Malintex Terek got it backwards, BVUSA left a mid-size company to work with a small company. -t |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6235 Location: Houston, TX |
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it makes sense that Freedom would get licensed, i didn't think it would be this soon though.
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Deltakiral
Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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I don't mind if there is a $60 Limited edition version available for Freedom, but at least make it so that there is standard release for $25. |
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Malintex Terek
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Nope. I was a bit surprised I couldn't find much information before-hand, but I had to take a position, even if incorrect. Thanks for the hotlink!
Apologies, I've gone beyond my fields of knowledge. However, if what jsevakis says is correct, my "consolidation" argument still stands to some extent; "Image Entertainment" is an outsider to the anime industry, so while the corporation itself might be considered larger than Geneon, it's got a lot less soft power than Geneon (like 4Kids & Disney being a "general entertainment" companies that dub anime); so, taking into account that "Image Entertainment" is a larger company doesn't mean it's a larger anime company. I still do not fully understand this business with Bandai Visual USA and Bandai Entertainment being different companies, though; will someone elaborate? As in, are both of those American subsidiary of Namco-Bandai holdings? If so, why wouldn't Bandai license out to a sister corporation? |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1685 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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True enough. Bandai Visual has their reasons. The only part I can really share is that it's quite public knowledge that Image is not the most stable of distributors these days. Lionsgate attempted a hostile takeover a few months ago, but I don't think it went through. I've dealt with all of the companies involved, and I honestly think Bandai Visual absolutely made a good choice here -- in a non-anime specialized distribution system, the titles were getting lost. Geneon USA has some of the nicest people in the world, and truly cares about the content. That's something Bandai Visual has in common with them.
Politics. The way I understand it, it works something like this: Bandai (now Bandai Namco Holdings) was a toy company. They helped launch Bandai Visual back in the early 80's as a separate company to work on anime, rights, licensing, and all that good stuff that really has nothing to do directly with toys, but world work well in partnership WITH toys. So Bandai Namco owns stock in Bandai Visual, but they are a separate company. Bandai Entertainment (USA) was started in the mid 90's as a little pocket division of Bandai the toy company, and is owned by Bandai Namco Holdings outright. Bandai Visual has, in fact, been working with Bandai Entertainment as a US distributor for many titles for years. Since they share corporate identities and franchises, they even share booth space at cons. But Bandai Entertainment had to pay licensing fees, just like anyone else. Despite the name, they are separate companies; it's only fair. Last year, Bandai Visual thought it made sense for them to try the US market themselves. But the whole home video distribution and sales thing is pretty daunting, and little indie guys routinely get screwed over by big struggling retailers (see: Musicland bankruptcy), so it makes sense to join up with a big gun that's intimidating enough to ensure that they always get paid. They chose Image. Now they're seeing if Geneon USA might be a better fit. That's pretty much all there is to it. Now that wasn't confusing at all, was it? Egh. Don't answer that. Last edited by jsevakis on Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:13 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Wtf? I would rather have Galaxy Angel AA or X... This really came out of nowhere and surprised me... I suppose I am happy about it though. But I'm still more happy about the Higurashi license.
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