Geneon Entertainment USA

History

In 1980, Pioneer formed its own American distribution arm, Pioneer Video, which specialized in laserdiscs, and initially released music titles under the Pioneer Artists imprint. In an effort to get into the American business, Pioneer LDC established a subsidiary, Laserdisc Corporation of America, in an effort to consolidate the Pioneer Video and Pioneer Audio units in December 1985. The subsidiary maintained the Pioneer Artists imprint, which was initially based near New Jersey, following the introduction of a combined CD/laserdisc player.

In 1988, LaserDisc's headquarters were moved to Long Beach, California, where Pioneer's American headquarters were based at the time. Also that year, the company started out the Pioneer Special Interests imprint to release educational and informational titles on laserdisc, which could be used at either schools or homes. The label also shifted away from just music to release movies, and secured deals with Paramount Home Entertainment, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video and Live Entertainment, among others, to compete with Image Entertainment.

In 1989, to reflect its change of its parent company to Pioneer LDC, its North American division was renamed to Pioneer LDCA. In 1991, the company expanded by launching a line of movies, called Pioneer Special Editions, which was devoted to reissuing classic movies on laserdisc under license from various studios.

In 1993, Pioneer LDCA, in an effort to boost stronger laserdisc sales, launched two new imprints Pioneer Classics and Pioneer Animation; the former devoted to releasing titles with classical music, such as Othello, and the latter devoted to releasing anime with Japanese and English soundtracks and closed-captioned titles, with Tenchi Muyo! being one of the first anime titles released under the latter imprint. Pioneer LDCA was later renamed again to Pioneer Entertainment in 1995, in an effort to expand to VHS, karaoke, audio and (eventually) DVD rights. Pioneer soon shifted away to focus on its anime business at the start of the early 2000s.

On July 21, 2003, after Pioneer LDC was acquired by Japanese advertising and marketing firm Dentsu and renamed to Geneon Entertainment, Pioneer Entertainment was renamed to Geneon Entertainment (USA), Inc.. After the acquisition, the company set up the Geneon/Pioneer Signature Series line to reissue the catalog titles; the Pioneer name was later dropped from the branding.

Viz Media (then known as Viz Video) made a deal with Geneon (then known as Pioneer) to release Viz's properties to DVD, such as Ranma ½ before Viz began producing their own DVDs. Pioneer also worked with Bandai Entertainment before they started to produce their own DVDs.

On November 11, 2004, they signed a deal with Toei Animation to distribute some of their titles into the North American market. Launching titles included Air Master, Interlude, and Slam Dunk. However, on September 18, 2006, the deal ended and all of the released titles went out of print. In 2006, they were named "Best Anime Company" by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation. On March 5, 2007, they became the exclusive North American distributor for Bandai Visual USA.

Four months later, on August 29, 2007, Geneon and ADV Films a strategic alliance deal where ADV would take over the distribution, marketing, and sales of their properties in the United States, starting October 1, 2007 with Geneon in turn laid off their entire marketing and sales team in preparation for the deal. According to the announcement, they would continue to acquire, license, and produce English subs and dubs of anime for release in North America. However, the deal was canceled in September before it was implemented, with neither company giving details as to why beyond stating they were "unable to reach a mutual agreement".

On September 26, 2007, they announced that they would close distribution operations, with titles solicited through November 5 shipped. Titles that were in mid-release or licensed but unreleased were left in limbo. The Bandai Visual USA titles that were being distributed by Geneon were not affected by this closure, though some were delayed while Bandai Visual found a new distributor. Another North American anime company, Funimation, began negotiating with them to distribute some of the company's licensed titles. In July 2008, a formal arrangement was announced and Funimation acquired the rights to distribute various Geneon anime and live-action titles.

Releases

1998

Catalog number	Title	Country of origin	Original year	Length	Version	MPAA rating	Film format	Tape count	Tape break placement (if applicable)	Color	Released	Format	Note(s)
PEAV-001	The Pandora Project	USA	1998	90 min	TBD	NR	Academy	1	N/A	Color	1998	VHS

Duplicators

• Deluxe Media Services, Carson, CA
• MediaCopy, Beverly Hills, CA
• MediaCopy, San Leandro, CA
• West Coast Video Duplicating, Brisbane, CA
• West Coast Video Duplicating, Culver City, CA