Central Park Media Goes Bankrupt

by dtshyk
Apr 28, 2009 9:23 PM | 34 Comments

Central Park Media Corp. filed for Chapter 7 and went bankrupt on April 27th. The amount of debt is $1.2 million. Central Park Media was established by John O'Donnell in 1990 and it's one of the oldest Japanese anime distributors in US. The company sold "Mobile Police Patlabor", "Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight", "Revolutionary Girl Utena" etc. and is one of the pioneers in "Yaoi" manga retail in US.

The business of Central Park Media declined in 2006 and it's been cutting down the scale of the production since then.

Sources:
Crain's New York Business.com
Anime!Anime!

20 of 34 Comments Recent Comments

Ohh thats a shame:(
Fox is a big company with a small base on anime, wonder if they'll buy any of the rights off them.
My knowledge on media ain't big so don't shout at me for anything....
x

May 6, 2009 1:41 PM by TiamatBunny

oh well.
less licensing means more fansubbing.

May 6, 2009 7:25 AM by Sohei

mitamaking said:
Sad to see this, but they haven't released anything in a few years.

I actually expect ADV to go after some of their stuff for Anime Network(it already has Utena coming this summer).

Just have to wait and see(come on Project A-ko rescue)

Not to toot my own horn but...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-05-05/adv-adds-grave-of-the-fireflies-now-and-then-here-and-there

May 5, 2009 6:57 PM by mitamaking

CCZilla said:
*prays to every religion's deities that Now and Then, Here and There will be license-rescued*

*prays to every religion's deities that Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos will be license-rescued*

Apr 30, 2009 7:13 AM by llxwarbirdxll

*prays to every religion's deities that Now and Then, Here and There will be license-rescued*

Apr 29, 2009 2:04 PM by CCZilla

That just sucks

Apr 29, 2009 11:36 AM by BlackAssassin

That's disappointing.

Apr 29, 2009 11:15 AM by Penguin-chan

Serves them right for never realesing the final volume of the Slayers manga

Apr 29, 2009 11:11 AM by Hamel

Jacut said:

H3ctor said:

Ruby_Moon said:
surprised yet not so surprising. I wonder just how many anime/manga companies can pull through this recession?

Took the words out of my mouth.

In the US? Only FUNimation. All the others are basically on the verge of bankruptcy anyways, and that's the same in Europe.

4kids too, unfortunately. And Viz has Bleach and Naruto, so they're set for the next hundred years.

Least shocking news ever. I didn't know CPM was even around anymore. :/

Apr 29, 2009 10:52 AM by Anomalous

Negi said:
I have waited for these news ever since they stopped releasing new dvds and their entire catalogue slowly went OOP. Sad to have it set in stone now but it's good in a way that they wont just sit and hold onto their licenses without producing any products now. I really hope that someone rescues Utena, Loddoss War and Now and Then, Here and There. Not likely though since the whole anime-business is is in a dire state at the moment.

Dozer said:
Just who did they sell the rights to Utena to?

No one? I don't think that Utena is a desirable license as it is now despite being a truly great and deserving series... or have I missed that they actually have sold off some of their licenses to other companies (in connection with this bankruptcy that is)? Funimation would be my bet then since they also rescued Slayers from CPM and that was an Enoki Films-title as well so I guess that would ease the negotiations.

Oh, now I reread the OP. They sold it, as in the products. Sorry, I was just misgided due to poor phraising.

Apr 29, 2009 10:37 AM by Dozer

Sad to see this, but they haven't released anything in a few years.

I actually expect ADV to go after some of their stuff for Anime Network(it already has Utena coming this summer).

Just have to wait and see(come on Project A-ko rescue)

Apr 29, 2009 10:10 AM by mitamaking

Jacut said:

H3ctor said:

Ruby_Moon said:
surprised yet not so surprising. I wonder just how many anime/manga companies can pull through this recession?

Took the words out of my mouth.

In the US? Only FUNimation. All the others are basically on the verge of bankruptcy anyways, and that's the same in Europe.

Bandai doesn't seem to be having that many troubles.

Apr 29, 2009 9:57 AM by Avoidea

I have waited for these news ever since they stopped releasing new dvds and their entire catalogue slowly went OOP. Sad to have it set in stone now but it's good in a way that they wont just sit and hold onto their licenses without producing any products now. I really hope that someone rescues Utena, Loddoss War and Now and Then, Here and There. Not likely though since the whole anime-business is is in a dire state at the moment.

Dozer said:
Just who did they sell the rights to Utena to?

Apr 29, 2009 8:39 AM by HimboBaggins

H3ctor said:

Ruby_Moon said:
surprised yet not so surprising. I wonder just how many anime/manga companies can pull through this recession?

Took the words out of my mouth.

In the US? Only FUNimation. All the others are basically on the verge of bankruptcy anyways, and that's the same in Europe.

Apr 29, 2009 7:40 AM by Jacut

Just who did they sell the rights to Utena to?

Apr 29, 2009 7:15 AM by Dozer

saka said:
i doubt it will be the last distributer to fall either.... they are trying to get more creative, but very few actually understand that there is almost no control anymore. Pretty soon it will be an industry dominated by companies like Hulu, Crunchyroll, and YouTube where the money is advertising...

There will still be box sets, but they'll be catering only to those of us otaku who like to horde things. I don't think any but the the classic/mainstream titles will make any money there.

Pretty much this. We're turning into a electronic data storage society, no more wasteful physical stuff taking up space in our cramped apartments. I think even Bluray will turn into betamax before people can realise they've wasted their money on hundreds of discs, because we'll just end up storing our movies on hard drives, whether they're online or offline.

Apr 29, 2009 7:07 AM by Beatnik

PeanutSteak said:
Damn, that sucks, I really want to see Lodoss War but now it's going to be even harder to find outside of ebay.

rah-rah said:
Who's next, Urban Vision or someone?

It seems the last time they released was almost a year ago so I wouldn't doubt it.

I saw the whole Lodoss series and OVA.... you can see them from Netflix if you don't have the ability to buy them if and your in the US. I rent a lot of Anime's from Netflix. It's ashame they had to go bank rupt. I hope the other companies can make it threw....

Apr 29, 2009 6:36 AM by windeen-windy

Damnit
> o <

Apr 29, 2009 6:31 AM by Cookie-chan-

Rest In Pieces .

Apr 29, 2009 3:07 AM by DarknessAngel

saka said:

There will still be box sets, but they'll be catering only to those of us otaku who like to horde things. I don't think any but the the classic/mainstream titles will make any money there.

idk, i watch a lot on the net but i'd buy a heck of a lot more if they'd just drop the price to something comparable to cost of a domestic TV series. as it is they usually cost 3-4 times as much, and idc how much i love it i'm not over paying to that extent. and the mainstream stuff ur talking about is mostly crap i wouldn't buy for $5 even if i was getting the entire series. but the distributors will probably agree with you instead of taking a risk and trying to expand the fan base with a wider array of reasonably priced choices.

Apr 29, 2009 2:35 AM by jacobpaige

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