.png) ADV Films' logo | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Multimedia entertainment |
| Founded | August 17, 1992 (formal)[1] June 30, 1994 (legal) |
| Founders | |
| Defunct | September 1, 2009 (operations) |
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Successors |
|
| Headquarters | Houston, Texas, United States |
Area served | North America and Europe[2] |
| Products | |
| Owner | Sojitz (20% equity) (2006–2009) |
| Website | www.advfilms.com |
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Greenfield and David Williams. The company specialized in home video production and distribution, theatrical film distribution, merchandising, original productions, magazine and comic book publishing. They also ran Anime Network, a television channel devoted to airing the company's titles. Some of their titles were Neon Genesis Evangelion, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, RahXephon, Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, Elfen Lied, Gantz, Red Garden, and Le Chevalier D'Eon.
The company maintained offices in North America, Europe and Asia. In addition to North America, ADV Films distributed their home media releases in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany. The company was also involved in various lawsuits with other companies, though none of them made it to court.
With declining fortunes in the mid-2000s due to low sales, ADV ceased all of its operations and eventually liquidated their assets in 2009. Sentai Holdings, owner of Section23 Films, Sentai Filmworks, AEsir Holdings, Valkyrie Media Partners, and Seraphim Digital, took over the ADV brand name and still uses it on some of their releases. Most of ADV's former titles have been re-released by other companies. Sentai was subsequently acquired by AMC Networks in 2022.[3] As of 2024, ADV exists as a domiciled shell corporation.[4]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Houston Presswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "A.D. Vision, Inc". ADVFilms.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2007. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
- ^ "AMC Networks Acquires Anime Specialist Sentai Holdings". Deadline Hollywood. January 5, 2022.
- ^ "A.D. VISION HOLDINGS, INC. :: Texas (US) :: OpenCorporates".