4Kids
4Kids Entertainment (commonly known as 4Kids) was an American movie and television production company. They specialized in the creation and distribution of children's entertainment around the world. The company is most well known for the large number of Anime and animated television series it has provided to television stations. These series included Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sonic the Hedgehog. 4Kids Entertainment dubbed Pokémon until 2006. The company was first created in 1970 as Leisure Concepts, Inc.
 | |
| Public (NYSE: KDE) | |
| Industry | TV production, licensing |
| Founded | 1970 (as Leisure Concepts, Inc.) |
| Defunct | 2012 |
| Headquarters | New York City |
Key people | T.C. Ross, Alfred R. Kahn |
| Products | 4Sight Licensing Solutions, Inc 4Kids Productions |
| Revenue | $7.9 million USD (2006) |
Number of employees | 325 (2007) |
| Website | www.4kidsentertainment.com (defunct) |
4Kids Entertainment has provided a number of series for the Fox television network. These series have been shown on the network using the name 4Kids TV.
4Kids Entertainment filed for bankruptcy twice. They first filed for bankruptcy in 2011,[1] and again in 2016.[2]
History
In 1970, the company was originally called Leisure Concepts, Inc. It was created by Mike Germakian and Stan Weston. It was later called 4Licensing Corporation
During the mid-1980s, Ted Wolf came up with the idea of catlike humanoid superheroes. He told his friend Stan Weston, who pitched it to Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment. Both Arthur Rankin Jr and Jules Bass were impressed with the idea. They approved of it and "ThunderCats" started.
During the early development stage, Mike Germakian designed much of the ThunderCats' characters, vehicles and locations. He was also responsible for creating the now iconic ThunderCats logo, featuring a stylized black panther head on a red circle.[3]
Criticism
4Kids Entertainment gets most of its Anime series from Japan. Before showing the series in the United States and United Kingdom, the series are edited. This editing includes changing the words from Japanese to English. It may also include changing other things which could be thought to be bad. For example, cigarette smoking is often removed before being shown in the United States. Changing the names of items from Japanese items to American items is also often done. This is done so the person watching can understand the show more easily.
Many times the story of an episode is changed completely to make it better for children. Some people believe all the changes to the Anime is a bad thing. They say that the series should be shown exactly the same as it was originally created. They feel 4Kids made "Americanized kiddy version" of the original series and that it is not right to do this.
4Kids Media
Creative Commons "Attribution-Share Alike" license icon.
Other websites
- 4Kids Corporate Archived 2012-07-20 at Archive.today
- 4Kids Home Video Archived 2008-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Defunct website
References
- ↑ "4Kids Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy". Anime News Network. May 30, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- ↑ "4Licensing Corporation Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. 22 September 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- ↑ "Mike Germakian, a Father of the ThunderCats – nn memorium — ThunderCats Lair". Thundercatslair.org. September 29, 2008. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.