GKIDS Partners with Anime Ltd. for Home Entertainment Release of ARCANE

GKIDS Partners with Anime Ltd. & Plaion Pictures, Plain Archive, Shout! Factory, and Sugoi Co for International Home Entertainment Release of ARCANE

First Season of the Emmy® Award-Winning Series from Riot Games to be Released for Home Entertainment Platforms Worldwide in 2024

NEW YORK (July 9, 2024) – GKIDS, the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation, announced partnerships with Anime Ltd. & Plaion Pictures, Plain Archive, Shout! Factory, and Sugoi, to release the first season of ARCANE, the globally beloved hit series from Riot Games, on digital download-to-own and physical home media in international markets in 2024.

ARCANE will be released on digital download-to-own and physical home entertainment in Europe, South Korea, and Australia/New Zealand by Anime Ltd. & Plaion Pictures, Plain Archive, and Sugoi respectively. It will be released on digital download-to-own platforms in Latin America by Shout! Factory, who will additionally handle physical product distribution for North America alongside GKIDS.

Earlier this month, out of the Annecy International Film Festival, GKIDS previously announced it had acquired worldwide (excluding China) videogram and digital transactional rights to the first season of the internationally acclaimed series.

Fans can look forward to a full product array to be announced soon, ranging from digital to premium editions, including a 4K version exclusive to the home entertainment release.

ARCANE is set in the universe of the massively popular video game League of Legends, made by Riot Games and Fortiche Productions for Netflix. The series is co-created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, and follows the origins of iconic League champions Vi and Jinx, as they become caught in the power struggle between the utopian city of Piltover and the oppressed underground city of Zaun. 

The series debuted in November 2021 to rave reviews, garnering widespread praise for its striking animation, emotionally complicated characters, thrilling music, and overall production quality. It has been praised by critics as one of the best video game adaptations ever created. The series went on to win four primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program, as well as nine Annie Awards, including Best Mature Animated Television Broadcast Production.

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About GKIDS

GKIDS is the Academy Award-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation from around the world. After an astounding 13 Best Animated Feature nominations, the company took home the Oscar in 2024 for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed feature, The Boy and the Heron. The company’s previous nominations include The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016, My Life as a Zucchini in 2017, The Breadwinner in 2018, Mirai in 2019, Wolfwalkers in 2021, and The Boy and the Heron in 2024. For more than a decade, GKIDS’ influence on cinema has redefined the perception of animation as an artistic medium on par with live-action film through its stewardship of the Studio Ghibli catalog and by introducing American audiences to the critically-acclaimed films of other master filmmakers from around the world such as Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, Belle), Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers), Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine), Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You), Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner), Alberto Vázquez (Unicorn Wars) and Masaaki Yuasa (Inu-Oh, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl), among countless others. Also, GKIDS is the founder and host of ANIMATION IS FILM, the annual LA-based film festival which embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form, and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of the medium to its fullest range of artistic expressions. www.gkids.com

About Riot Games

Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, Riot released its debut title, League of Legends, which has gone on to be one of the most-played PC games in the world. In the years that followed, Riot released VALORANT, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and League of Legends: Wild Rift. Riot’s titles have led to the creation of some of the most-watched and widely recognized esports in the world, culminating in events like the League of Legends World Championship and VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT), which are watched by millions of fans each year. Riot has also expanded its IP through multimedia projects across music, comic books, board games, and Arcane, its Emmy-winning animated series.

About Anime Ltd.

Founded in 2012, Glasgow-based Anime Limited is a subsidiary of PLAION PICTURES and represents Japanese animation interests in the UK, France, and beyond. With a thoughtfully curated lineup of films, series, and soundtracks, Anime Limited has earned its title of Europe’s favourite anime distributor. Whether through fan-centric cinema runs, beautifully packaged collector’s editions, or sharing the best of anime music on vinyl, We offer bespoke experiences for all fans for titles such as Attack on Titan, BELLE, Cowboy Bebop, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece Film: RED, Spy x Family CODE: White, Your Name, and Weathering with You.

About Plaion Pictures

PLAION PICTURES is one of Europe’s leading independent film labels with headquarters just at the gates of Munich. We offer tailor-made marketing solutions for films and series on all channels, from cinema to TV and home entertainment to innovative digital offers.
Our goal is to entertain people with exciting, moving or humorous content – anytime and anywhere. Our unique and wide-ranging portfolio also includes a large number of renowned art house productions, numerous successful and award-winning theatrical releases and a library of over 1,600 titles. Moreover, movie fans also appreciate our high-quality special editions, which turn classics into new film experiences.
Plaion is headquartered in Planegg near Munich and has branches in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, the United States, Japan and Hong Kong. For more information, visit www.plaion.com

About Plain Archive

Plain Archive was founded in 2013 as an independent publisher of physical media. In 2016, Plain Archive released Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy in Blu-ray, featuring its first original documentary film Old Days. In 2019, the official screenplay and storyboard of Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite was published, becoming an instant bestseller. Plain Archive has worked with exceptional Korean filmmakers, as well as other internationally renowned directors such as Kore-eda Hirokazu, Jim Jarmusch, Denis Villeneuve, and Kogonada to craft compelling home video releases and books. www.plainarchive.com

About Shout! Studios

Shout! Studios is a multiplatform media company specializing in film and TV distribution, development, and production. The company has evolved with the changing entertainment landscape to excel in all forms of content distribution, including theatrical, digital streaming, broadcast and in-flight licensing, physical media, and more. Shout! Studios owns and manages a large portfolio of feature films, series, animation, and documentaries. The company’s creative acquisition mandate has established it as a leading independent distributor, with partners and properties including Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit, Shaun The Sheep), GKIDS and Studio Ghibli (including the latest Academy Award® -winning masterpiece from Miyazaki, The Boy And The Heron), LAIKA Studios (Coraline, ParaNorman), as well as Mystery Science Theater 3000 (in partnership with creator Joel Hodgson), alongside many others. Shout! Kids focuses on live-action and animated kids and family properties plus anime, and the company releases genre and horror films and television shows under the Scream Factory imprint. Shout! Studios also operates the acclaimed streaming service Shout! TV and its family of FAST channels. The company produces, acquires, and distributes new films, including Shout! Studios’ original Old Henry (Tim Blake Nelson), Linoleum (Jim Gaffigan, Rhea Seehorn), What’s Love Got To Do With It (Lily James, Emma Thompson, Shazad Latif), The Kill Room (Uma Thurman, Joe Manganiello, Samuel L. Jackson), Drugstore June (Esther Povitsky), and the Viggo Mortensen-directed western The Dead Don’t Hurt (Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen). Shout! Studios is based in Los Angeles, California. For more on Shout! Studios, visit ShoutStudios.com

About Sugoi Co

Sugoi Co is a leading distributor of high-quality animation film in Australia and New Zealand and is dedicated to bringing content to fans in the most engaging and exciting ways possible. Led by Tim Anderson, co-founder and former CEO of Madman Entertainment, our team brings a wealth of industry knowledge and a deep understanding of the Australian entertainment distribution landscape. Sugoi Co has recently released “The First Slam Dunk” and “Godzilla Minus One” in Australia and continues to flex its skills in licensing, distribution, and merchandising of quality content and licensed properties.

Press Contact:
42West for GKIDS
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