Description
GKIDS is an American film distributor based in New York with, according to the Los Angeles Times, a focus on "sophisticated, indie" animation. GKIDS releases critically acclaimed, mostly hand-drawn, international films—such as the works of the independent Japanese anime studio Studio Ghibli—to North American audiences. GKIDS also distributes computer animated and stop-motion films in addition to hand-drawn ones, as well as American films by independent filmmakers. The name is said to be an acronym for "Guerrilla Kids International Distribution Syndicate".
History
GKIDS was founded in 2008 by Eric Beckman, who previously co-founded and ran the New York International Children's Film Festival with his partner, Emily Shapiro. Their first general release was Azur & Asmar, a French film dubbed in English for British and Irish audiences.
The company attained national recognition with the 2010 release of The Secret of Kells, the debut film by Irish animator Tomm Moore, which received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards. This surprise nomination was followed by two more Best Animated Feature nominations at the 84th Academy Awards, Spanish-language Chico and Rita and French-language A Cat in Paris. Both nominations were considered highly surprising by film insiders, beating out such notables as The Adventures of Tintin and Cars 2—the first eligible Pixar film not to be nominated since the category's founding. This marked the first time that an independent distributor had two films in the Best Animated Feature category in the same year, a decision which Puss in Boots director Chris Miller said indicated the academy's "respect for diversity."
In September 2011, GKIDS announced the acquisition of the North American theatrical distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli library, that were previously held by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, however, retained the home media distribution rights in Asia (including Southeast Asia such as China and Taiwan, and Pony Canyon's subsidiary in Japan). GKIDS has since also managed the North American distribution of three new Studio Ghibli films, From Up on Poppy Hill in 2013, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya in 2014, and When Marnie Was There in 2015 as well as the first-time North American releases of Only Yesterday and Ocean Waves in 2016. On July 17, 2017, it was announced that the North American home media rights to the Ghibli library (with the exception of Grave of the Fireflies and The Wind Rises) had transitioned from Disney to GKIDS (The Wind Rises being reissued on September 22, 2020), with the distributor announcing plans to begin re-issuing the films beginning in October. Beginning with these releases, Shout! Factory became GKIDS' new home video distributor, taking over from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (whose contract with GKIDS expired in late-2018) and Cinedigm (whose contract with GKIDS expired in late-2013).
Founder Eric Beckman received the Mifa & Variety Animation Personality of the Year Award at Annecy in June 2017.
In 2020, partnering with TMS Entertainment, GKIDS will be handling the American and Canadian release of Lupin III: The First, a 3DCG film adaptation of Monkey Punch's (Kazuhiko Kato) Lupin the Third franchise.
In October 2020, GKIDS announced their license to the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, as well as the films, Death (True)2 and The End of Evangelion for a release in 2021. This marks the first Blu-ray release of the anime in North America.
In February 2022, GKIDS and Tubi announced that they had entered a content partnership deal, while the National Film Board of Canada and Crunchyroll (Funimation's successor after rebranding, for example Human Lost, Deep Insanity: The Lost Child and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, whose contract with GKIDS expired in late-2021) signed its distribution and a partnership deal, after a six-month negotiations.
In March 2022, GKIDS announced their license to Makoto Shinkai's earlier works, Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters per Second, and Children Who Chase Lost Voices, and will release them on home video in later 2022.
