ADV, Funimation & Geneon Form Joint Venture
At MIPCOM, the three largest producers and distributors of anime in America -- ADV Films Inc., Funimation Prods. and Geneon Ent. (USA) Inc. -- announced plans to form a joint venture for the development and marketing of anime. They 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% of the anime homevideo market in the U.S.
Geneon Ent. (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'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 POKEMON and AKIRA.
FUNimation (www.funimation.com) is a leading brand management company for anime content and one of the nation's largest independent homevideo entertainment companies. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the company is best known for creating the blockbuster franchise DRAGONBALL Z in the U.S.
ADV Films (www.advfilms.com) is a leading producer-distributor of Japanese animation for the North American market and has also developed a leadership position in the U.K. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, 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.