GKIDS, whose “The Boy and the Heron” won the Academy Award for best animated feature film earlier this year, has been acquired by Japan’s Los Angeles-based Toho International entertainment company, it was announced Tuesday.
Toho said it reached an agreement to acquire a 100% equity share of the animation distributor, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles. Financial terms were not disclosed.
GKIDS will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Toho International. The companies said GKIDS founder Eric Beckman will remain as chief executive and Dave Jesteadt will remain as president of the company.
The two have run GKIDS together since the company first released the Academy Award-nominated film “The Secret of Kells” as a two-person company in 2009.
GKIDS has become a force in the U.S. animation scene, amassing 13 best animated feature nominations at the Academy Awards, and this year’s win in March for writer/director Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.”
Toho is also the Japanese domestic distributor for many of the same properties handled by GKIDS in North America, including the works of Studio Ghibli, Mamoru Hosoda, Makoto Shinkai, and many more.