Message #56 From:
NewsBot Date: October 17, 2006 01:00:00 AM
GNPI News Genius Products and World Wrestling Entertainment Form New Tag Team
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Genius Products, LLC. has entered into a multi-year agreement with World
Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), to be the exclusive home
entertainment distributor of all WWE DVD titles, effective November 1,
2006, a partnership that lays the foundation for a “Smackdown”
on the entertainment industry.
The announcement was made today by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairmen
of The Weinstein Company, the majority owner of Genius Products, and
Vince McMahon, WWE’s Chairman, along with
Genius Products’ Trevor Drinkwater, President
and CEO, Genius Products’ Stephen K. Bannon,
Chairman, and WWE’s Shane McMahon, Executive
Vice President, Global Media, and Donna Goldsmith, Executive Vice
President, Consumer Products.
“Home entertainment is a major part of the WWE’s
business, and we believe we have found in Genius a company that
understands our brand and will help us continue to drive our company’s
growth,” said Vince McMahon. “Bob
and Harvey Weinstein have a tremendous track record. We’re
excited about this partnership and its long-term potential.”
WWE has successfully used its core businesses of live events,
pay-per-view, and producing television content for broadcast and cable
networks to establish a vibrant global brand with a presence in more
than 130 countries. The company has significantly expanded its line of
popular licensed consumer products, such as video games, toys, books and
magazines, to territories around the world. WWE is focused on spreading
its sports entertainment content to new media platforms, and has
experienced success with subscription video on demand, broadband and
mobile services, online advertising and ecommerce. It also has created a
film division focused on the production of feature films, and other film
and television projects.
Bob Weinstein noted, “WWE is not simply a
brand; it is an American Icon. Harvey and I very much relate to Vince
McMahon’s entrepreneurial style and
entertainment philosophy. We love what Vince has done in making WWE the
leading sports entertainment franchise in the world, and we are very
interested in expanding our relationship beyond DVD distribution to
other facets of WWE’s global entertainment
empire. We view our relationship with WWE as a major alliance with great
growth potential.”
Shane McMahon added, “The entrepreneurial
spirit of our two organizations is very similar. We look forward to the
potential of working together on a wide array of future projects to
include a line of co-produced direct-to-video movies.”
WWE has seen particular success in offering its content in the DVD
format, and its home entertainment business has successfully bucked the
industry trend of flattening DVD sales. In 2006, 10 of WWE’s
DVD releases achieved the No. 1 position on the Sports DVD charts,
according to Nielsen VideoScan. WRESTLEMANIA®
22 debuted at No. 5 among all DVD releases in the U.S. and is now the
No. 1 best-selling WWE DVD of all-time. Home entertainment revenue
accounted for $42 million, or 10 percent, of WWE’s
revenues for fiscal year 2006, more than double from the prior fiscal
year.
Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Genius will be the
exclusive U.S. distributor for all WWE DVDs. New releases will include
content from WWE’s 90,000-hour video library,
the largest of its kind in the world, featuring content from RAW®,
SmackDown!® and ECW®
(Extreme Championship Wrestling™),
pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania, and past and present
Superstar profiles, among others. The deal was negotiated by Trevor
Drinkwater and Mitchell Budin, EVP Sales for Genius, and Joel Satin,
Senior Director, Home Entertainment and Publishing, for WWE.
Genius assumes distribution for WWE’s titles
on November 1, 2006. The first title to be distributed features one of
WWE’s greatest legends, BORN TO CONTROVERSY:
THE RODDY PIPER™ STORY (November 14, 2006,
street date). This will be followed by THE SPECTACULAR LEGACY OF THE AWA®
(November 21, 2006, street date) and the RAW brand’s
pay-per-view, WWE CYBER SUNDAY™ 2006
(December 5, 2006, street date). Genius will release a minimum of 25 new
titles in 2007, with additional plans to exploit WWE’s
DVD catalog of more than 100 titles.
In making the announcement, Drinkwater noted, “The
WWE has transformed sports entertainment into a cultural phenomenon
through broadcasting, live events and the Superstar icons they create,
which are brands unto themselves. We are honored to be associated with a
global brand such as WWE. The company continues to expand its presence
in the marketplace through creative programming and brand-building,
which, in turn, helps provide for unique, high-quality DVD programs.”
Added Donna Goldsmith, “Our DVD titles
continue to dominate the sports category and to grow in popularity. With
Genius and its team of savvy, experienced industry veterans, we will
continue this track record of performance and expand upon it.”
The momentum behind the WWE further strengthens Genius’
rapidly growing library of sports and entertainment content. Over the
past year, Genius has been strategically expanding its position in the
industry through the introduction of new brands and strategic content
provider partnerships across key power alleys such as Sports and Fitness
and Lifestyle, now complemented by WWE and ESPN.
Steve Bannon added, “Our partnership with WWE
validates our thesis of building a company with major studio
infrastructure/supply chain and independent studio attitude and
aggressiveness. WWE has demonstrated its confidence in Genius’
ability to achieve broad retail distribution with a ‘best
in class’ philosophy. Partnerships with this
caliber of company will enable Genius to deliver long-term shareholder
value.”
About Genius Products
Genius Products, Inc. (OTCBB:GNPI), along with The Weinstein Company,
jointly own Genius Products, LLC, a leading independent
home-entertainment distribution company that produces, licenses, and
distributes a valuable library of motion pictures, television
programming, family, lifestyle and trend entertainment on DVD and other
emerging platforms through its expansive network of retailers throughout
the U.S. Genius handles the distribution, marketing and sales for such
brands as Asia ExtremeTM, Baby Genius®,
Dragon Dynasty™, Dimension Films, ESPN®,
IFC®, NBC News®,
Sundance Channel Home Entertainment®,
Wellspring™ and The Weinstein Company®.
Genius Products, Inc. is the managing member of Genius Products, LLC, in
which it holds a 30% equity interest.
About World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE), is an integrated media
and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices
in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Additional
information on the company can be found at wwe.com (http://wwe.com/)
and corporate.wwe.com (http://corporate.wwe.com/)
.
All World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. programming, talent names,
images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, and logos are the
exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. ECW is a
trademark owned by WWE Libraries, Inc. All other trademarks, logos and
copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical matters contained herein, the matters discussed in
this press release are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking
statements reflect assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that
may affect Genius Products’ and WWE’s
business, forecasts, projections and prospects, and cause actual results
to differ materially from those in these forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the
anticipated number of releases, timing and financial performance of
releases from WWE, including, but not limited, to titles such as “Born
to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story,”“The
Spectacular Legacy of the AWA,”“WWE
Cyber Sunday 2006,”“WrestleMania
21,” and “WrestleMania
22,” and any other statements relating to new
or potential releases that are not historical statements of fact and
Genius’ ability to successfully position
itself as a leading home entertainment distributor. Actual results could
vary for many reasons, including, but not limited to, the
unpredictability of audience demand, the effect of technological change
and the availability of alternative forms of entertainment and the
ability to acquire and keep valuable content or expand the number of
distribution partnerships. Other risks and uncertainties include matters
described in Genius Products Inc.’s and WWE’s
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither Genius
Products Inc. nor WWE assumes any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring
after the date of this press release.
