U.S. Anime Heavyweights Form Joint Production Venture
CANNES, FRANCE October 5, 2004 - The three largest producers and distributors of Anime in America - ADV Films, Inc., FUNimation Productions, LTD. and Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. - announced plans to form a joint venture for the development and marketing of Anime. The announcement was made here today at MIPCOM by John Ledford, CEO and President, ADV Films, Kevin Corcoran, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer, ADV Films; Gen Fukunaga, President, FUNimation Productions, LTD., Daniel Cocanougher, Vice President; FUNimation Productions, LTD.; Yosuke Kobayashi, President and CEO, Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. and Hideki Gotō, Vice President, Business Development, Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc.
The new joint venture will focus on developing high quality entertainment series primarily targeted to children and young adults, where the team can best maximize their respective resources, talent and expertise.
The synergy of these companies is impressive as together they reach 70 percent of the Anime home video market in the United States.
Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc. (www.Geneon-ent.com) is a full-service producer and distributor of entertainment content including film, music, animation and television shows on VHS, DVD and CD. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Geneon Entertainment's parent company is Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu Inc. and the company is best known as the distributor of the well-known Anime hits Pokémon and Akira.
Funimation (www.funimation.com) is a leading brand management company for Anime content and one of the nation's largest independent home video entertainment companies. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the company is best known for creating the blockbuster franchise "Dragon Ball Z" in the U.S.
ADV Films is a leading producer-distributor of Japanese animation ("anime") for the North American market and has also developed a leadership position in the UK. Headquartered in Houston, the company has also launched The Anime Network, first cable channel in North America dedicated to anime with access to thousand of hours of exciting, eye-catching serialized programming.
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