Precure film edited;
Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne—!! & Tokyo Magnitude
8.0 episodes not re-run
Several anime with
disaster scenes or themes face changes after the March 11 earthquake (Tōhoku
Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin) and tsunami.
• Precure All-Stars
DX3 Mirai ni Todoke! Sekai o Tsunagu Niji-Iro no Hana, Takashi Otsuka's third
film to combine the casts of all the Pretty Cure (Precure) magical girl
television series to date, is still slated to open in Japan this Saturday,
March 19. However, part of the film is being edited out since a tsunami scene
or scenes "are reminiscent of the disaster."
• The anime
television channel AT-X announced on Monday that it is cancelling its re-runs
of the 10th episode of the Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara
ne—!! anime "at the request of the rights holder." However, AT-X will
still run the rest of the series, from the 11th episode onward, as planned
starting on March 25. The 10th episode already aired on broadcast television on
March 12 with a scene of characters being swept away by a giant wave — during
the time that television stations were superimposing a graphic of tsunami
warnings over all programming.
• Another anime
television channel, Animax, is replacing the rest of its re-run of Tokyo
Magnitude 8.0 with other programming "due to circumstances." For
example, instead of running the seventh episode of this anime (which recounts a
hypothetical quake in Tokyo) on March 15 and 16, Animax will run selected
episodes from the best of Lupin III and Kiteretsu Daihyakka.
Other media are
affected in Japan as well. The game maker Yeti announced that it will refrain
from publicizing Root Double, the latest adventure game from Never7 -the end of
infinity- director Takumi Nakazawa, due to the earthquake. The story of the
game deals with the meltdown of a nuclear reactor.
The Japanese release
of Feng Xiaogang's live-action Aftershock film about the 1976 Tangshan
earthquake is being delayed from March 26 to an unspecified date. The release
was already delayed from March 7 due to the February 22 earthquake in New
Zealand. Manga creator Tomonori Inoue did report on Twitter on early Monday
morning that he would be meeting with his publisher about what to do with the
future of his post-apocalyptic action manga Coppelion. However, he assured his
readers later that day that the meeting would be about the way that the manga
will be published and distributed in the future — and not about the ending of
the series of some had feared.
News: Tokyo International Anime Fair
2011 Cancelled posted on 2011-03-16 01:19 EDT
March 24-27 event
cancelled in wake of March 11 earthquake, tsunami
The official website
of the Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) 2011 event confirmed on Wednesday
that the event has been cancelled in the wake of the March 11 earthquake
(Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin) and tsunami. According to the announcement,
the event's executive committee decided to cancel in consideration of the safety
of the participants and attendees with uncertain power supplies and traffic
accessibility. The event's staff apologized for the inconvenience caused by the
decision. TAF takes place annually at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center on
Odaiba island at Tokyo Bay. According to the official website for the cancelled
Hakurei Jinja Reitaisai 8 event (which centers around the Touhou self-published
game franchise), Tokyo Big Sight suffered unspecified damage during the
earthquake. TAF 2011 was originally scheduled to hold industry-only days on
March 24-25, and general public days on March 26-27.
This year's event
became part of a controversy due to Tokyo Metropolitan Government's amendment
to its Youth Healthy Development Ordinance. The amendment is expanding the
number of manga and anime that fall under "harmful publications," the
legal category of works that must not be sold or rented to people under the age
of 18. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara is a major advocate of the amended
Healthy Development Ordinance and the head of the executive committee for the
Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF). The media company Kadokawa Shoten was the
first to publicly cancel its TAF display, followed by boycott by Shueisha,
Shogakukan, Kodansha, and other major manga publishers. Several anime and manga
companies worked together to establish a new convention, the Anime Contents
Expo, which was set to take place the same weekend at the time of this writing.
The Los Angeles Times newspaper reports that many airlines are offering refunds
or waived ticket change fees for those whose travel plans have already been
disrupted by the earthquake, or those who planned to travel through March 18. Update: Voice actor Junichi Suwabe
reported on Wednesday that the Anime Contents Expo (ACE) event has been
cancelled. The organizers of the March 26-27 event have not made an official
announcement. Suwabe was slated to record an episode of the radio program for
the Starry Sky franchise on March 27 at ACE in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo.
News: Anime Contents Expo 2011 Cancelled
(Updated) posted on 2011-03-17 00:03 EDT
March 26-27 event,
intended to counter Tokyo Anime Fair, cancelled after March 11 quake
The official website
of the Anime Contents Expo (ACE) 2011 event confirmed on Thursday that the
event has been cancelled in the wake of the March 11 earthquake (Tōhoku Chihō
Taiheiyō-oki Jishin) and tsunami. A FES, the anime song event that would have
taken place during the same March 26-27 weekend and in the same Makuhari Messe
convention center as ACE, was already cancelled. ACE cited the soil
liquefaction in the Makuhari district, the planned power blackouts, the current
disorder in the transportation systems, and the accident at the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Station as the primary reasons why it cannot ensure the
safety of everyone who attends. ACE added that there is also the possibility of
additional aftershocks and earthquakes. ACE noted that it pre-sold 40,000
tickets to the event in less than three months, and it listed ways that people
can obtain refunds. A group of anime and manga companies created ACE in
response to the controversy surrounding the Tokyo International Anime Fair
(TAF) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's amendment to Tokyo's Youth
Healthy Development Ordinance. The amendment will expand the number of manga
and anime that fall under "harmful publications," the legal category
of works that must not be sold or rented to people under the age of 18.
Among others, 10
major manga publishers were planning to boycott TAF 2011 because of the amended
ordinance, although not all of them would have formally exhibited at TAF or
ACE. TAF had announced the cancellation of its own 2011 event on Wednesday. The
Los Angeles Times newspaper reports that many airlines are offering refunds or
waived ticket change fees for those whose travel plans have already been
disrupted by the earthquake, or those who planned to travel in March. ACE would
have taken place in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo.
Voice actor Junichi
Suwabe had reported in a Twitter post on Wednesday that ACE was cancelled, but
he later deleted the post. Suwabe was slated to record an episode of the radio
program for the Starry Sky franchise on March 27 at ACE.
Update 2: The
official Twitter account for ACE reported that the organizers explored the
possibility of delaying the event, but had to cancel instead. In response to
suggestions that proceeds from pre-sale tickets should be donated to charity,
the Twitter account said that ACE considered this, but decided that it would be
best for the individuals to donate after receiving their refunds.
News: Hakuryū Legend Manga's Nuclear Power-Themed
Arc Dropped from Mag posted on 2011-03-17 06:55 EDT
Yakuza manga's
storyline about unsafe nuclear industry suspended from Manga Goraku magazine
The publisher
Nihonbungeisha has announced on Thursday that, in light of the damage caused by
the March 11 earthquake (Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin), the Hakuryū Legend
yakuza manga has been suspended from the Weekly Manga Goraku magazine. The
manga's current Genshiryoku Mafia (Nuclear Power Mafia) story arc will not run
in the magazine's 2,256th issue on Friday. The current storyline by writer Dai
Tennōji and artist Michio Watanabe began last month and focuses on the
"dark side of the nuclear power industry." In particular, the
characters deal with the danger of a "Chernobyl-level nuclear
accident" at facilities run by "Tōto Denryoku." The real-life
Tokyo Denryoku (Tokyo Electric Power Company or TEPCO) runs the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Station; the workers there are attempting to prevent the
reactor fuel rods from melting after the cooling systems were damaged on March
11. Fukushima Daiichi's containment system is designed to prevent a nuclear
accident from reaching the proportions of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl
plant in the former Soviet Union.
News: Macross II Producer Hiroshi Kakoi
Passes Away in Quake posted on 2011-03-18 01:46 EDT
Animator also worked on 1st Macross, 1980
Astro Boy, Moldiver at Artland, AIC
ANN confirmed with
Jan Scott Frazier, a close friend of the deceased, and other anime industry
members that producer and animator Hiroshi Kakoi passed away during the March
11 earthquake (Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin) and tsunami. Kakoi's wife
Kumiko survived the disaster.
Among other
projects, Kakoi was a producer on The Super Dimension Fortress Macross II:
Lovers, Again and Moldiver original video anime series. He also worked as a key
animator at the anime studio Artland on the first Macross series (from the first
episode onward) and on the 1980 version of Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom). He served
as a production manager at Artland and the anime studio AIC.
News: Kodansha USA to Publish Sailor Moon,
Sailor V Manga posted on 2011-03-18 15:05 EDT
September return of
Naoko Takeuchi's magical girl series after 6 years out of print
Kodansha USA
Publishing announced on Friday that its Kodansha Comics imprint will publish
Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon magical girl manga and its two-volume prequel
Codename: Sailor V starting this September. The former has been condensed into
12 bi-monthly "deluxe-edition" volumes (from its original 18), and
two more volumes of short stories have been added.
The new edition —
with "new cover art, retouched interior art and dialogue along with extensive
bonus material from Takeuchi" — is based on the 2003 Japanese re-release
of the manga. The 1991 manga Codename: Sailor V revolves around middle schooler
Minako Aino, a magical girl and crime fighter. In the more well-known 1992
Sailor Moon series, Minako Aino is the side character "Sailor V"
while Usagi Tsukino ("Bunny" in the previous English-language manga
edition and "Serena" in the English version of the television anime
adaptation) takes the lead role, the titular Sailor Moon. Mixx Entertainment
(now called Tokyopop) licensed the manga for English release in North America,
but the series has been out of print for six years. Codename: Sailor V has
never had an official English-language release in North America. In 1992, Toei
Animation premiered a television anime adaptation that would run through 1997,
and then be dubbed into Italian, Spanish, German, English, Tagalog, and other
languages. The anime has seen a resurgence of interest in recent months,
including an upcoming Italian videogame for the Nintendo DS and a relicensing
by m4e in Germany (PDF).
News: DMI Acquires 1st 487 Licenses for
Digital Manga Guild posted on 2011-03-21 23:49 EDT
The North American
manga publisher Digital Manga, Inc. (DMI) announced on Monday that it acquired
the first 487 manga licenses for its Digital Manga Guild program.
DMI revealed plans
for the Guild last summer. The guild program allows fans to translate, edit,
and letter works legally, with the permission of the original Japanese owners.
Under the announced plan, the guild members are then credited and paid
royalties through online purchases, and the works may be published in print if
they prove popular.
News: Downloaded Sora no Otoshimono Copy
Shown at Funimation Studio posted on 2011-03-22 23:27 EDT
"Unofficial"
Heaven's Lost Property copy on America's Greatest Otaku reality show
A downloaded copy of
a Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property) anime episode appears in footage
taken at the North American anime distributor Funimation's dubbing studio for a
reality web television series. The second episode of Tokyopop's America's
Greatest Otaku series shows the monitors at Funimation's studio during the
English dubbing of the third episode of Heaven's Lost Property. The episode
footage on the monitors has subtitles whose text and fonts match a BitTorrent
release by a group that extracts and re-styles subtitles from the streaming
website Crunchyroll.
Funimation had not
offered an official comment at press time. However, a source at the company who
wished to remain anonymous said that the company occasionally uses
"unofficial" copies during the dubbing process if the acquisition of
the original source material is delayed. The source said that Funimation's
license makes the use of the content legal, even with a third party's
unauthorized changes. In January, Funimation filed a lawsuit against 1,337
"John Does" for allegedly downloading and distributing an episode of
the One Piece television anime series. In February, Senior United States
District Judge Royal Furgeson removed defendants 2 through 1,337 from the suit
and said that Funimation had to file individual, separate lawsuits for each
defendant because the accused were not "acting in concert."
News: Tomohiro Katō Sentenced to Death
for Akihabara Killings (Updated) posted on 2011-03-24 04:40 EDT
Katō convicted for killing 7, injuring
10 in hit-and-run, stabbings in Tokyo in 2008
On Thursday, the Tokyo District Court
sentenced 28-year-old Tomohiro Katō to death for killing seven and injuring 10
in a hit-and-run and stabbing rampage in Tokyo's otaku shopping district of
Akihabara (Akiba) in 2008.
Katō struck five individuals with a
truck at an intersection near the main Japan Railways station of Akihabara at
around 12:35 p.m. on June 8, 2008. He then proceeded to leave the vehicle and
stab 12 people on the streets. Police apprehended the suspect on a side street
shortly after the incident. As a result of Katō's actions, Akihabara halted
"Pedestrian Paradise" — the tradition of zoning the main street of
the shopping district as pedestrian-only. The tradition was just restored in
January, although it has been put on hold again for the past two Sundays after
the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of March 11.
News: CLAMP, I.G to Collaborate on
Blood-C Original Anime posted on 2011-03-24 05:17 EDT
CLAMP to create story, designs for
latest Blood anime from Production I.G; manga also planned
The May issue of Kadokawa Shoten's
Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine is announcing on Saturday that the anime studio
Production I.G and the manga creator quartet CLAMP are collaborating on a new
Blood original anime called Blood-C, which will launch this July. CLAMP is
creating the story and original character designs, and Production I.G is
handling the animation.
In addition, Ranmaru Kotone (Diasta of
Ultima Thule, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo -Tokikake-) will adapt the project into a
manga, which will launch in the July issue of Shōnen Ace on May 26. The
official website for the project will open at the www.blood-c.jp address, which
was registered by Aniplex.
The Blood vampire anime franchise began
with Hiroyuki Kitakubo and Production I.G's Blood: The Last Vampire film, in
which Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers) and Kenji Kamiyama
(Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East) created the story
and screenplay. The film inspired Jun'ichi Fujisaku's Blood+ television series,
Chris Nahon's live-action film remake, and several manga spinoffs.
News: Howl's Moving Castle's Diana Wynne
Jones Passes Away posted on 2011-03-26 18:01 EDT
The official fan site of British author
Diana Wynne Jones announced that Jones passed away on March 26 after a long
struggle with cancer. She was 76. Jones wrote over 40 books and plays for both
children and adults, and director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli adapted one
of the books, Howl's Moving Castle, into an Oscar-nominated anime film in 2004.
Jones was born in London in August of
1934, and she began studying at St. Anne's College in the University of Oxford
in 1953. She met her future husband, John A. Burrow, at Oxford, and the two
married in 1956.
Jones became one of the most acclaimed
British fantasy authors and was widely praised for her sharp wit and
intelligence. She published her first novel, Changeover, in 1970, and she
followed that with her first children's novel, Wilkins' Tooth (Witch's Business
in North America), in 1973. She published Howl's Moving Castle in 1986 and
continued the story with Castle in the Air (1990) and House of Many Ways
(2008). Her other books include the Dalemark Quartet, the Chrestomanci Cycle,
and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (1996). She received the World Fantasy Award
for lifetime achievement in 2007.
Her death was announced on twitter by
fellow fantasy author Neil Gaiman, who wrote: 'Rest in Peace, Diana Wynne
Jones. You shone like a star. The funniest, wisest, writer & the finest
friend. I miss you.'
Jones is survived by her husband and
three sons.
News: NTV Chair/Anime Film Producer
Seiichiro Ujiie Passes Away (Updated) posted on 2011-03-28 00:40 EDT
Producer of most Ghibli, Detective
Conan, Inuyasha, Death Note films
NTV Chairperson Seiichiro Ujiie passed
away on Monday, March 28 in a Tokyo hospital due to multiple organ failure. He
was 84. Ujiie produced most of the projects from Studio Ghibli, including
almost all of the films and television specials from 1993's Umi ga Kikoeru
(Ocean Waves) to 2008's Ponyo. He also produced most of the Detective Conan
films from 2002's Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street to 2010's
Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in The Sky. His other productions include the
Inuyasha films, the live-action Death Note films, two Lupin III films, the 2005
Black Jack: The Two Doctors Of Darkness anime film, the 1990s live-action
special-effects Gamera films, and the first two live-action film adaptations of
the Sanchōme no Yūhi - Yūyake no Uta (Always: Sunset on Third Street) manga.
Update: Ujiie
also served as the head of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, which held
exhibits devoted to the works of background artist Kazuo Oga, production
designer Yohei Taneda, and other Ghibli creators. Ujiie was a former
chairperson of the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan.
Ujiie joined Yomiuri Shimbun-sha, the
newspaper publisher and the parent company of NTV, in 1951 after graduating
from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics. He rose through the ranks
to become the president of NTV in 1992, and then started his first tenture as its
chairperson in 2001.
News: Leiji Matsumoto Works on Anime of
Hayabusa Space Probe posted on 2011-03-29 12:43 EDT
Yamato/Harlock/Galaxy Express 999
creator supervises piece for TV special with SMAP
Manga/anime creator Leiji Matsumoto
(Space Battleship Yamato, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999)
supervised what Fuji TV describes as the "first animated adaptation"
of the Japanese space probe Hayabusa for an April 3 television special. Fuji TV
Yume Special: Tamori x SMAP Bokura wa Mirai o Shinjiyō! ~Uchū e no Chōsen to
Kiseki no Monogatari~ will also feature the comedian Tamori, the music group
SMAP, and other cast members to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first
human spaceflight. SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi will narrate Matsumoto's animated
segment.
Last year, Hayabusa became the first
spacecraft to bring material from an asteroid to Earth. Public interest in the
mission surged throughout Japan; according to BIGLOBE, Hayabusa was the #5 most
Tweeted word in Japan from March 30 to October 2 of last year — between #4's
K-ON! and #6's iPad.
Besides the animated Hayabusa segment,
Fuji TV plans a live studio appearance by the second person to walk on the
moon, Buzz Aldrin. Japanese astronaut Sōichi Noguchi will relate his stories of
friendship with William McCool, a crew member on the ill-fated final voyage of
the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Matsumoto has been a major proponent of
space exploration in general and Japan's JAXA space agency in particular.
Matsumoto chairs the Young Astronauts Club (YAC) of Japan, and he gave Naoko
Yamazaki — YAC vice-chairperson, astronaut, and Rocket Girls guest actress — a
wristwatch he designed himself to commemorate her astronaut candidacy. The
Yamato anime inspired both Yamazaki and Noguchi to join the space program.
Three 3D Galaxy Express 999 anime film
shorts debuted on IMAX screens in 2007 to educate viewers about space and other
scientific topics. Another Galaxy Express 999 short debuted in 2009 to promote
tourism in Kagoshima Prefecture, the home of Japan's main space launch
facility. The Japanese studio Toei Animation revealed last March that it was
planning a computer-animated version of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, and it
showed a pilot video during Tokyo International Anime Fair later that month. A
live-action film remake of Yamato opened last December, and Matsumoto is
planning his new Zero Desigze anime for release this year.
News: TV Tokyo, Nihon Ad Terminate Yu-Gi-Oh! Deal, Sue
4Kids posted on 2011-03-29 13:07 EDT
Accuse 4Kids of underpayments &
conspiring with Funimation to defraud
On March 24, TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad
Systems filed a joint lawsuit against North American media distributor 4Kids
Entertainment, accusing the company of "underpayments, wrongful
deductions, and unmet obligations" and stating that 4Kids now owes the
companies US$4,792,460.36. The Hollywood Reporter website also states that the
two companies have terminated their deal with 4Kids.
According to the documents filed by the
plaintiffs, the companies conducted an audit on 4Kids' Yu-Gi-Oh! business per
their licensing agreement. This audit allegedly uncovered the aforementioned
underpayments, as well as a "secret" agreement with Funimation,
allowing them to "exploit" the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise via home video and
hide the added income from the plaintiffs. By hiding this income, TV Tokyo and
Nihon Ad Systems allege that 4Kids was able to pay them a smaller share than
would otherwise have been owed to them. The complaint further alleges that
4Kids attempted to hide the secret deal rather than disclosing it as required
by their licensing agreement. Funimation is not listed as a defendant in the
complaint.
Update:
According to TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems, the terms of their agreement with
4Kids were such that they would be paid 50% of 4Kids' gross income derived from
the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The agreement also allowed 4Kids to enter into
licensing agreements for the home video rights for the franchise, provided that
they use "customary forms of license agreements." The plaintiffs
allege that 4Kids entered into an agreement with Funimation on March 1, 2002,
which granted Funimation "broad right to exploit" the franchise and
would pay 4Kids a royalty of 20% of its gross receipts. The plaintiffs then
allege that on the same day, the two North American companies entered into a
"secret" second agreement for Yu-Gi-Oh! and other titles, under which
Funimation undertook the majority of the work releasing home video products and
paid 4Kids a US$1.3 million advance and a "service fee" for each
sale.
According to the complaint, this
service fee added up to US$3.934 million and was not reported as income in 4Kids'
quarterly reports. As such, the Japanese companies were not paid royalties from
this "kick back."
The complaint further alleges that
4Kids entered into a similar deal with Majesco Entertainment to create
Yu-Gi-Oh! videos to be played on Nintendo's Gameboy Advanced portable videogame
console. Under this deal, 4Kids paid royalties on the US$366,667 advance paid
by Majesco, but reported its $1 kick back per video sold as a service fee, not
as income, and did not pay royalties on it.
News: Code Geass Manga Artist Plans to Sue Blogger posted
on 2011-03-30 04:00 EDT
Tomomasa Takuma considers suit against
blogger who wrote about Shikkoku no Renya manga
Manga artist Tomomasa Takuma reported
on Twitter on Monday that he talked with the publisher Kadokawa Shoten and a
lawyer about a lawsuit against a blogger who criticized Takuma and Goro
Taniguchi's Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya manga.
Taniguchi, the director and story
co-creator of the original Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion television
anime series, created the manga spinoff's story concepts and is scripting the
story. The manga is set in the same official Code Geass history as the anime,
but in Japan's historical Edo era. The story begins when Renya, a 17-year-old
boy with a mechanical left arm and shuriken-throwing skills, encounters a
mysterious, perpetually young woman named "Reifū C.C."
The "Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya
no Tōyō to Settei Machigai ni Tsukkomu Blog" wrote several complaints
about the Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya manga. The most significant complaint
that the blog makes is that the manga plagiarized Yagyū Reppūken Renya, a
historical manga that Takashi Noguchi serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen
Jump magazine in 1992.
The Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya manga
is currently on hiatus, but Takuma said that the hiatus is unrelated to the
blog. Takuma said that the hiatus is due to a private matter with his staff, so
he can not disclose the reason.
On Tuesday, Takuma reported that he
made arrangements and completed the paperwork with the lawyer for legal action.
As of early Wednesday, he added that he will stop using Twitter for an
indefinite period.
Besides Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya,
Takuma also drew the Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally and Kurogane
Communication manga. He launched Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya in Kadokawa
Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Ace magazine.
News: Kodansha President Sawako Noma
Passes Away posted on 2011-03-30 07:44 EDT
Served as head of publishing giant for
24 years & as Akira executive producer
Sawako Noma, the executive who served
as the president of the publishing giant Kodansha for 24 years, passed away on
Wednesday, March 30 due to heart failure. She was 67. She is survived by her
oldest son, Yoshinobu, who was slated to replace his mother as Kodansha's president
next month.
In addition to running the company that
produced many of the manga in Japan, she served as an executive producer on
Katsuhiro Otomo's animated film adaptation of his Akira manga.
News: 4Kids Files Shareholders' Report
on Yu-Gi-Oh! Lawsuit posted on 2011-03-31 13:07 EDT
4Kids disputes suit, license withdrawal
but is prepared to enter bankruptcy protection
On Wednesday, the North American media
distributor 4Kids Entertainment filed a Form 8-K report to the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to address TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad
Systems' (NAS') recent lawsuit against 4Kids and their letter of termination
for 4Kids' Yu-Gi-Oh! licensing. The two Japanese licensors accused 4Kids of
underpaying them and of conspiring with anime distributor Funimation to defraud
them. The lawsuit cited information from a recent audit conducted on 4Kids'
Yu-Gi-Oh! business. As a publicly traded company, 4Kids is required to file a
Form 8-K to inform its shareholders of major events.
In the report, 4Kids stated that on
March 27, it informed the two licensors that their letter of termination
"did not comply with the 10 business day notice and cure provision"
written in the agreement, and states that it has rejected the termination letter
"as wrongful and devoid of any factual and legal basis." 4Kids
further reported that the licensors reiterated their intent to terminate on
March 30, and that the American company intends to "vigorously
oppose" said termination.
The report also said that 4Kids received
a request for payment from TV Tokyo and NAS on March 4. 4Kids said that it made
a US$1 million payment "as a show of good faith" in order to earn a
March 18 meeting to resolve the claims in the audit. However, the licensors
moved forward with the lawsuit filed on March 24.
While 4Kids maintained throughout the
document that the termination of its Yu-Gi-Oh! license is invalid, it
acknowledges that should the lawsuit move forward and the termination be found
valid, the American company will do whatever is necessary to maintain its
business, "including the potential filing" of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy
petition, and that it will seek to recover damages to its business caused by
the licensors' actions.
The federal government's court document
system shows no new filings on the case since ANN's previous report.
News: 4Kids Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (Updated)
posted on 2011-04-06 16:34 EDT
Distributor's report for shareholders
had suggested bankruptcy as possibility in wake of Yu-Gi-Oh! lawsuit
Yahoo! Finance is currently reporting
that North American media distributor 4Kids Entertainment has filed for
protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Companies who file
under Chapter 11 are able to maintain business assets, which may or may not
include licenses, in order to attempt to reorganize. By contrast, companies who
file under Chapter 7 (as Central Park Media did in 2009) cease to function as a
business. The publicly-traded company had previously stated that it might file
for bankruptcy protection after TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems (NAS) filed a
lawsuit over its Yu-Gi-Oh! anime license. The lawsuit accused 4Kids of
underpaying the Japanese licensors and of conspiring with North American anime
distributor FUNimation Entertainment to hide income from the sale of Yu-Gi-Oh!
DVDs in order to avoid paying royalties.
In 2010, 4Kids Entertainment announced
that an unnamed third party company was interested in acquiring the company.
The company was potentially on the brink of being sold. However, shortly
thereafter the company announced a US$3.5 million loss in its first quarter of
2010, and the New York Stock Exchange began the process of delisting the
company. No further mention of the potential sale has been made since. Two
months later, after more losses in the company's third quarter of 2010, the
company's Chairman and CEO, Alfred R. Kahn, resigned from the position. 4Kids
currently runs the "Toonzai on CW 4Kids" programming block on
Saturday mornings in the United States, and it launched the Toonzai
video-streaming website last September.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Planning Video
Game Posted 3 days ago - By Stephen Johnson
When Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California,
the ex-musclehead wasn't particularly kind to games: The govenator signed the
anti-gaming law that's currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. But now that
Ahh-nald is getting back into the entertainment game, he's planning on
releasing a video game. The hypocrisy! According to Entertainment Weekly,
Schwarzenegger is engineering a comeback, and his recent remarks at the Cannes
film festival laid out the plan. “First will come comic books, then a [cartoon]
TV series and after that we will develop the games and then a movie," the
action star said.
He then debuted a short trailer for the
Governator cartoon, which is being developed by Stan Lee along with Andy and
Amy Heyward. In the trailer, Arnold fights evil robots and global warming, as
well as taking a question from recuring character Larry King.
New Superman flying into Chicago &
maybe Plano – By Luis Arroyave & Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune March 28, 2011
Faster than a speeding bullet came word
that the next Superman movie would film in Chicago. And Monday the Chicago Film
Office confirmed that production on director Zack Snyder's franchise reboot,
"Superman: Man of Steel," will take place in the Chicago area. No
additional details, including filming locations and a start date, were given.
Earlier in the day Robert Hausler,
mayor of Plano, a little more than 50 miles southwest of Chicago, said he
expected there to be an announcement soon regarding a Warner Bros. film — which
he declined to name — shooting there this summer. "There's been quite a
bit of talk about it," said Hausler, addressing the buzz in his city since
a report Sunday tabbed it as a potential stand-in for Clark Kent's rural
boyhood home. "It would be huge economically for our city."
"Superman: Man of Steel" will
star Henry Cavill as Superman, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as his adoptive
parents, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. The movie will be the first film in the
long-running franchise since 2006's "Superman Returns." "Man of
Steel" is scheduled to hit theaters in December 2012. But the "Man of
Steel" news comes at a time when it appears Chicago has lost out on
another superhero production, the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight
Rises." Chicago played the role of Gotham City in director Christopher
Nolan's "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight," but the
action reportedly moves away from Gotham in the third installment. Nolan is
producing "Man of Steel." Chicago has seen several other big films
shoot in the city of late, including "Transformers: Dark of the
Moon," "Contagion," "The Dilemma" and "Public
Enemies."
Batman flies away from Chicago for 'Dark
Knight Rises' By Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune April 05, 2011
The Caped Crusader is headed to
Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, producer and director Christopher Nolan confirmed what
many in the local film industry had suspected over the past few months, that
the next installment in his Batman franchise, "The Dark Knight
Rises," will not be returning to Chicago to shoot. It is a blow for the
city, but, "Based on the information we were getting from Warner Bros.
through back channels, this doesn't come as an entire surprise," said Richard
Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office. "They would have given us an
indication by this point if they were coming. We're certainly disappointed, but
also so appreciative of everything Chris brought us in terms of the two
previous Batman pictures."
Both 2005's "Batman Begins"
and 2008's "The Dark Knight" shot on location in downtown Chicago
(standing in for Gotham), and Moskal estimates that the films spent in excess
of $50 million combined when they were here — on crews, vendors and hotels,
among other expenses. The economic boost was important, Moskal said, but he
also cited the prestige factor associated with the films."I think Chicago
shared in their notoriety and that helped us generate a great deal of
excitement and interest from other filmmakers about shooting in Chicago,"
he said. "The shoots were complicated and spectacular in terms of stunts
and special effects. 'The Dark Knight' in particular raised the bar in terms of
the types of things that we have done in Chicago, and I think that also let
people know we can accommodate pictures like this." "The Dark Knight
Rises" will shoot in Pittsburgh this summer (other locations rumored
before today's announcement included Romania, India and New Orleans). At
roughly the same time, "Superman: Man of Steel" (another Warner Bros.
property) will be filming in the Chicago area. Moskal said that might have been
a factor in the Batman decision, particularly because Nolan is producing both
films."Two pictures of that size shooting simultaneously in the same
location? I think the studio would have said it's just too much in one
place," Moskal said. "It would have been challenging for the
filmmakers, let alone the city. Chris Nolan might be making sure he's not sort
of stepping his on his own toes by having both pictures here." Illinois
does have a slightly more lucrative tax credit program for film productions
than the one offered in Pennsylvania — 30 percent back versus 25 percent — but
in the case of "The Dark Knight Rises," Moskal said he doesn't think
that desparity was a concern. "Clearly they're looking for financial
incentives, but I think the producers had an interest in keeping the franchise
fresh and interesting, and I can certainly understand pursuing new places to
represent Gotham. They may have felt they exhausted their locations in
Chicago." This isn't the first time Chicago and Pittsburgh have found
themselves competing for a project. The Steel City also was seriously
considered as a location for the upcoming Kelsey Grammer Starz series
"Boss" — about a Chicago mayor, no less. Ultimately Chicago won out,
and the TV series will start shooting here later this month.
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