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NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan

Japanese entertainment company

Summary

Japanese entertainment company

Field	Value
name	NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan LLC
NBCユニバーサル・エンターテイメントジャパン合同会社
native_name	NBCユニバーサル・エンターテイメントジャパン合同会社
native_name_lang	ja
romanized_name	EnubīshīYunibāsaru Entāteimento Japan gōdō gaisha
logo	NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan 2021.svg
logo_size	250px
logo_caption	Logo used as of 2021
image	Atago_Green_Hills_Mori_Tower.jpg
image_caption	Headquarters at Atago Green Hills in Atago, Minato, Tokyo
former_names	LaserDisc Corporation (1981–1989)
Pioneer LDC, Inc. (1989–2003)
Geneon Entertainment Inc. (2003–2009)
Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, LLC. (2009–2013)
type	Subsidiary
foundation
founder	Pioneer Corporation
location	Atago
location_city	Minato, Tokyo
location_country	Japan
key_people	Shoji Doyama (CEO and president)
area_served	Japan
industry	Mass media
owner	NBCUniversal
(Comcast)
parent
services
products
homepage

NBCユニバーサル・エンターテイメントジャパン合同会社 Pioneer LDC, Inc. (1989–2003) Geneon Entertainment Inc. (2003–2009) Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, LLC. (2009–2013) (Comcast)

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan LLC (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.

The company was founded in March 1981 by Pioneer Corporation as LaserDisc Corporation, a LaserDisc player production company. In 1989, the company was renamed Pioneer LDC, Inc. as it branched into the anime, music, and film industries, and later Geneon Entertainment Inc. (after being acquired by Dentsu in 2003). In 2008, Geneon merged with Universal Pictures Japan to form Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, LLC; in 2013, the company changed its name to the current NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan. Some of the well-known anime series the company has produced are A Certain Magical Index, The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Danganronpa: The Animation, Golden Kamuy, Seraph of the End, and Is the Order a Rabbit? among many others.

Despite the name, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan does not distribute Universal Pictures films theatrically in Japan; Toho (through Toho-Towa) exclusively distributes them for Japanese theaters.

History

Founding

Pioneer Corporation founded the LaserDisc Corporation in March 1981 to produce LaserDisc players in Japan. The LaserDisc Corporation changed its name to Pioneer LDC, Inc. in 1989 as part of an attempt to branch off into the anime, film, and music industries.

In December 1985, Pioneer LDC made an effort to expand into the North American business, by establishing a subsidiary in the region named LaserDisc Corporation of America in an effort to consolidate the Pioneer Video and Pioneer Audio units, who maintained the Pioneer Artists label, which was initially based near New Jersey, following the introduction of a combined CD/laserdisc player.

In late 1991, Pioneer LDC established a European division, Pioneer LDCE (short for LaserDisc Corporation of Europe), hoping to revive interest of Laserdiscs in the European market after Philips' Laserdisc players flopped in Europe. Around the same time, the company begin licensing titles from Guild Film Distribution to release 140 films to Laserdisc for the United Kingdom market, and additionally licensed titles from VCL Communications/Carolco Pictures to release 20 titles to the German market.

In 1992, LaserDisc released their first anime title Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki.

Former logo for Geneon Entertainment from October 2003 to February 1, 2009

On July 21, 2003, the company was acquired by Japanese advertising and marketing company firm Dentsu and renamed to Geneon Entertainment Inc., while its North American division, Pioneer Entertainment, was renamed Geneon USA.

Sale to NBC Universal

Logo of Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, featuring the [[Universal Pictures]] logo (used from 1996 to 2011), used from 2009 to 2013

On November 12, 2008, Dentsu announced that it was selling 80.1% of its ownership in the company to NBC Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE), who planned to merge the company with its Universal Pictures Japan division—which had no longer theatrically distributed Universal Pictures films in Japan, having delegated its theatrical distribution tasks to Toho subsidiary Toho-Towa since the dissolution of United International Pictures Japan in 2007—to form a new company. The merger later closed, with the new company known as Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan, LLC.. On December 9, 2013, the company once again changed its name to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan LLC.

On February 17, 2013, they made a partnership with Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to distribute their anime titles directly in Australia and New Zealand.

Purchase of Paramount Japan

On January 1, 2016, Paramount Japan was purchased by NBCUniversal and dissolved shortly afterwards. This was due to Paramount Pictures establishing a joint-venture with Toho-Towa named Towa Pictures Company Limited, which would distribute Paramount's films in Japan.

On July 12, 2017, they announced a partnership with Crunchyroll to co-produce anime with "international appeal".

References

(2009-01-14). "Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years". Anime News Network.
"Magical Girl Pretty Samy Part 2: In the Julyhelm [Japan Import]".
"Tenchi Muyou! Rensa Hitsuyou [Japan Import]".
"serial experiments lain [Japan Import]".
Seideman, Tony. (January 11, 1986). "Laser Players, Disks Carve Market Niche".
Clark-Meads, Jeff. (February 22, 1992). "Pioneer Pushing Laserdiscs In Europe".
Dean, Peter. (March 7, 1992). "Pioneer Laserdisc Europe Filling Film Void".
(2003-07-21). "Dentsu acquires Pioneer - News". Anime News Network.
(September 26, 2003). "Pioneer Entertainment Inc. to Become Geneon".
(2008-11-12). "ジェネオンエンタテインメント㈱一部株式のUPIEへの譲渡とジェネオンエンタテインメント㈱とUPIE子会社との合併について". Dentsu.
(2008-11-12). "Geneon to Merge with Universal Pictures Japan - News". Anime News Network.
"Geneon Universal Entertainment". Geneonuniversal.jp.
(2013-12-09). "Geneon Universal Ent. Japan is Now Known as NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan". NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan.
(February 17, 2013). "Universal Sony Home Pictures to Release Anime in Australia".
link. Paramount Japan. (January 1, 2016)
(2015-10-07). "Paramount Titles to Distribute Through Toho-Towa in Japan". [[Variety (Magazine).
(July 12, 2017). "Crunchyroll Partners With NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan to Co-Develop Anime".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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