ADV Films and Geneon Ent., leading providers of anime content for the U.S. market, have inked a new distribution agreement that will make ADV the exclusive distributor for all Geneon releases. Starting Oct. 1, ADV will handle all sales and distribution duties for the companies’ combined catalogue, and will also fulfill certain marketing functions.
A subsidiary of Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu Inc., Geneon helped launch such influential anime titles as Pokemon, Appleseed and Akira on home video in North America. More recent releases include the best-selling franchises Hellsing, Ergo Proxy and Black Lagoon.
‘This is a great alliance,” says Geneon president and CEO Eiji Orii. ‘The efficiencies we’ll achieve ultimately will mean more anime for the fans to enjoy.”
ADV co-founder and president John Ledford adds, ‘Anime as an entertainment category is in competition with every other form of entertainment, and our partnership with Geneon gives us the scale to help widen the anime market in North America.’
Geneon, a full-service producer and distributor, says its publishing plans will stay on course as ADV works with distribution partners to make the transition as smooth as possible. ADV has been in operation for 15 years and has one of the largest English-language anime libraries in the world. Top sellers include Neon Genesis Evangelion, RahXephon, Robotech, Full Metal Panic, Hello Kitty and Azumanga Daioh. The library also includes popular live-action science-fiction shows including The Jim Henson Co.’s Farscape, as well as Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and Mutant X. In addition, parent company A.D. Vision Inc. operates the video-on-demand channel Anime Network.
