Interesting Article About ADV

[Classic Speedy]

Read it here: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,1134596,00.html

An otaku waking Ledford up in the middle of the night to rant about Eva? Easy, boy.

[Rasputin]

Hmm...how big is $650 million compared to the rest of the DVD market? In fact...never mind that...how many anime fans ARE there in the states? Is there enough of them to make a profit on a $120 million Eva flick?

I dunno...I feel it kind of defeats the point to make so much money on animation and then make something that isn't animated...

...still, good luck to 'em, I say!

Interesting article, even if it sometimes devolves into stereotype.

[Karl Olson]

650 mil isn't a big piece of the overall market, but it's still very considerable. More notable is that ADV captures nearly 1/4 (atleast 1/5) of that market. That's pretty good considering they don't have nearly as much in the way of TV airings to boost sales of series (compared to Funimation, Viz, Bandai and Geneon.)

Meanwhile, a big budget Eva flick is geared around two things though:

-Global Appeal - ADV knows that at that level of outlay, you've got to then get it out on the world stage. You're dead in the water otherwise.

-Getting Outside of the Otakudom - They are really hoping the Eva movie is something that can break out beyond the boundaries of the standard fanbase.

[bigddan11]

To me it's no surprise that ADV would capture more considering they released more anime in 2004 than most of the other companies. I expect that number to decline though in the next few years as Viz Media will probably gain the most.

[Karl Olson]

Well, the thing is they released a lot of stuff but they had no clear winner - it's not like Tokyopop is with manga (Fruits Basket blows away everything else in their stable) or Geneon is with anime (their top end titles blow away everything they've got.) In a sense, that's why ADV's ended up taking back so much back stock, but on the other side of it, they've worked out to a science the balance which allows them to make shows profitable enough to buy more shows.

However, they are beginning to recognize they can be both a low-margin, high-volume-through-variety business, and a business that focuses on certain series more to build hype around them. The way they've handled Princess Tutu is the best example of this - rather than just throwing it out on the market, they are taking their time. Unlike with everything else they've sent out to Toon Zone, ADV's followed on with Volume 2 of Princess Tutu, and I've got to say that alone is a great move, because by continuing to send out the screener DVDs (a relatively cheap means of promotion all things considered) they are building a ground swell of interest -- that maybe why everyone else in the industry TZ deals with already tends to send more than just volume (in the case of 13 episode series, usually the whole show turns up eventually.) ADV's recognizing you can build up a bit more margin with that.

They also took a page out of Funimation's playbook, and really took their time getting everything right with the release itself - easily some of their best dub and sub work, easily some of their best authoring and it's loaded with special features too. If ADV makes Tutu - both in promotion and handing - their standard for future releases, they'll either grab a much bigger slice of the of that 650 Million, or they'll grow the industry by atleast 25 million.

[Rasputin]

-Global Appeal - ADV knows that at that level of outlay, you've got to then get it out on the world stage. You're dead in the water otherwise.

-Getting Outside of the Otakudom - They are really hoping the Eva movie is something that can break out beyond the boundaries of the standard fanbase.
If that's the case, then one has to wonder how much of that $120 million is dedicated to marketing...

Hmm...I wonder when anime fandom will get big enough to constitute a voting block? The mind boggles...

[Go-chin]

$10 says that all of the promotion the Eva movie gets will be because of phrases like "FROM THE STUDIO BEHIND LORD OF THE RINGS."

[Karl Olson]

$10 says that all of the promotion the Eva movie gets will be because of phrases like "FROM THE STUDIO BEHIND LORD OF THE RINGS."

Don't forget "Based off the hit Adult Swim series."

*=hit being a relative term... atleast in the eyes of marketers.

[Rasputin]

I am suspicious of the marketing power of otaku myself. Although, truth be told, the on-campus anime club is suspiciously popular...

I'll take the $10 and raise $20 that it will say: "One of the best films ever!" - obscureanimereviewsite.com

[j32885]

Good article about ADV in Fortune. :cool:

[Dark Fact]

Just how much money is ADV investing into this movie project...for real? Should the movie finally get made and flop, how is it going to impact ADV's earnings and investments?

[Brent Long]

Just how much money is ADV investing into this movie project...for real? Should the movie finally get made and flop, how is it going to impact ADV's earnings and investments?

100,000,000-120,000,000 dollars is what they plan on investing.

[Rasputin]

The article said that ADV had raised half of the $120 million needed. What that seems to suggest is that ADV has set up a seperate "NGE fund" where it sends its profits, since it's taken 2 years to get that far. That would provide damage limitation in case the film flops, since all the money lost would have been in a seperate fund anyway.

I HOPE that's what ADV is doing, since doing it any other way would kill the company if the film flops.

Hopefully this won't be a repeat of Manga Entertainment's "Ghost in the Shell" release. Even though it only cost 1/10th of what this monstrosity is going to sink...