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Around this time last year, boutique animation distributor GKIDS was riding an Oscars high.
This year, GKIDS is sitting the Academy Awards season out, though not for lack of trying.
Those are two films that I wouldve loved to have.
Really experimental is how he characterizes GKIDSs first year in the wake of the Toho acquisition.
Hes almost positive GKIDS would never make its own niche streaming service, though.
Youve found a lot of success without owning your own streaming platform like competitors Crunchyroll or Sentais HiDive do.
At the end of the day, its really about just trying to get the films seen.
So theres a couple of different ways we interact with streaming services.
Were executive producers onWolfwalkers, which was a streaming original for Apple with Cartoon Saloon.
That was a sale that originated in Japan.
Youre competing against some of these other services for licenses.
Now everything is back to being globalized, so streamers are de facto studios.
Did your desire to get involved at a global level play into the Toho acquisition?Yeah.
We wanted to find a partner that we felt like could help support us in those global ambitions.
Before that purchase, you had something in common with Toho.
This is something that we run into quite a bit.
Japan has very specific holdback structures for their content that are just different from Americas.
In Japan, the theatrical release is still very dominant.
They just keep playing in theaters.
Compare that to America: Post-COVID, especially, that window is getting shorter and shorter.
So 18 days, 30 days, 60 days.
Im used to saying, Okay, I know this one was opening in theaters.
And thats just not the case for Japanese films, especially big popular anime films.
So we sort of have to operate on this different timetable, and it can be a little frustrating.
Often, you sort of split the difference.
How will your new subsidiary relationship to Toho affect your future licensing and streaming partnerships?
We continue to work really well with a lot of partners.
Weve been thoroughly disabused of the notion that consumers want another streaming service.
Were now as responsive to the programming needs of the buyers as much as imperatives from our side.
Everything is so fast-moving in the third-party licensing space because its become hollowed out in a way.
Those are obviously going to have their pick of potential streaming partners.
In a 2017 interview, you said that GKIDS was unlikely to make serious plays into TV.
We didnt own a streaming platform, and so there were limited ways that we could be involved.
Since then, a couple of things have happened.
Thats good business for us.
Those are great titles for our library and also really important to us as fans ourselves.
People who work at the company are all really motivated by that.
You have the ability to find an audience across multiple channels.
Theres never say never, but that ones one I would almost say never on.
Theres really just so many markets.
We just have to kind of wait and see what that process looks like.
It plays the same role that anime conventions have played for years in terms of building buzz.
So I view it as an incredible additive experience for streaming, and not competition at all.
Thats true for Toho as well.
As the animation business gets increasingly globalized, a lot of these boundaries are starting to shift.
Theres a lot of exchange of animation talent, especially as Japan hits various production crunches.
But even beyond that, Europe remains really important, and Latin America and China.
Those are two films that I wouldve loved to have.
In the scheme of things, its actually really healthy that we have competitors take on titles.
That really helps grow the market in exciting ways.
Did you take a stab at licenseFloworMemoir of a Snail?
Did you pitch for them?Uhhhh.
You know, its complicated.
Were used to competing for a number of titles now.
These are all really great things.
There should be no reason that were the sole company chasing any of these films.
And were not, definitely not anymore.
What does the future of the international animation space look like to you?
Here in the States, Miyazakis Oscar win felt massive.Flowfeels like its having its own moment.
We started our Los Angeles film festival Animation Is Film as a declarative statement several years ago.
But the younger audience has shown that theyre really open to animation of all types and all stories.
So it feels really positive.
I obviously have concerns over the production ecology of the world at large.
Generative AI obviously is a big thing that hits animation and illustration pretty hard.
Theres a lot of doom and gloom out there.
