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FUNimation Entertainment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| FUNimation Entertainment | |
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| Type | A wholly owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation |
| Founded | Early 1990s |
| Headquarters | Fort Worth |
| Key people | Gen Fukunaga Daniel Cocanougher |
| Industry | Licensing and distribution for television and film properties |
| Products | anime and other entertainment properties |
| Website | http://www.funimation.com |
FUNimation Entertainment (previously known as FUNimation Productions) is an American entertainment company formed by Gen Fukunaga in the early 1990s to produce, merchandise, and distribute anime and other entertainment properties in the United States and international markets. On May 11, 2005, FUNimation was acquired by Navarre Corporation[1] (NASDAQ: NAVR) and is now a subsidiary business unit. FUNimation is currently headquartered in Flower Mound, Texas[2].
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FUNimation rose to prominence by acquiring the rights to the popular anime title Dragon Ball Z (1999-2003), its prequel series Dragon Ball (2001-2002) and its sequel series Dragon Ball GT (2003-2005). By 1999, they were able to get widespread television exposure via Cartoon Network and the Dragon Ball phenomenon quickly grew in the United States as it had elsewhere. (Two previous attempts by FUNimation to release Dragon Ball to network television had previously been canceled, before the series and the company found success on Cartoon Network.)
FUNimation does not directly release its properties in non-U.S. (English language-speaking) markets, instead sublicensing to other companies such as Revelation films in the United Kingdom and Madman Entertainment in Australia.
Towards the end of 2005, Fullmetal Alchemist (along with Beez Entertainment's Wolf's Rain) became one of the flagship programs on the relaunch of satellite channel Rapture TV and had only one edit, that of changing the opening to "Ready, Steady, Go!!" (the second opening), instead of the few minor edits the show received for its Adult Swim airings. Yu Yu Hakusho has also been acquired for television broadcast in the UK. However, it has not been announced who has picked it up and who the intended audience is.
FUNimation has launched the "FUNimation Channel", the second 24 hour anime digital cable network in North America, (the first being A.D. Vision's The Anime Network) OlympuSAT is the exclusive distributor and the FUNimation Channel is now available to video service providers.
In 2005, FUNimation's legal department began to pursue a more aggressive approach toward protecting their licensed properties, and started sending "cease and desist" (C&D) letters to sites offering links to fansub BitTorrent of anime they distributed. This move was similar to that taken by ADV Films several years before with several of the major torrent sites.
FUNimation's legal department served C&D letters for series that had not yet been advertised or announced as licensed, including Tsubasa Chronicle, Black Cat (manga), and Solty Rei, with a few known series also mentioned in the letter[3]. FUNimation repeated this method of "announcing license via Cease and Desist" letters on 2006-10-06 when it sent letters to torrent sites demanding that distribution of xxxHolic's TV series, Mushishi, Ragnarok the Animation and other series cease. [4]
- ^ "Navarre Corporation Acquires FUNimation, and Provides Financial Update and Guidance", May 11, 2005 Navarre press release. Accessed July 8, 2006.
- ^ "Funimation moving headquarters to Flower Mound", June 07, 2007, Fort-Worth Star Telegram. Accessed June 7, 2007.
- ^ Funimation Enforces Intellectual Property Rights (ANN). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
- ^ Funimation Sends out Cease & Desist Letters For Multiple Anime (ANN). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.