Funimation to distribute Geneon titles
Hellsing Ultimate will be first release in North American deal
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 7/3/2008
JULY 3 | Navarre Corp.’s anime label Funimation Entertainment has signed on to exclusively release select Geneon Entertainment titles in North America.
Funimation will be overseeing the manufacturing, sales and distribution of the selected Geneon titles, the first of which will be the special-edition release of Hellsing Ultimate. Street dates and pricing haven’t been specified.
Other upcoming Funimation-steered Geneon releases are Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Karin, Kyo Kara Maoh Season 2 and Lyrical Nanoha.
“Geneon is a strong producer, known for excellent production and quality of its anime series,” said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of Funimation. “We are pleased to partner with them, and we are committed to the successful release of these series.”
Yushin Soga, president and CEO of Geneon, added, “We are sure this partnership will only grow the prominence of our portfolio.”
Last year, Geneon unsuccessfully tried to distribute titles through anime specialist ADV Films. That pact would have gone into effect in October, but ADV called off the distribution agreement in September because the two companies couldn’t come to terms, according to an ADV spokesman.
