More speculation regarding Trimark/Kidmark

ignition · Post by **ignition** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 10:50 am

Alright, we all know the story behind the frist 13 episodes of Dragonball and how Trimark's being a douche.

Now, Kidmark is a division of Trimark, something easy to put together since both their names are on the product.

My question now is, what the hell ever happened to Trimark? I did a quick google search, and the first hit was for Lion's Gate Films. Now, a while ago Lion's Gate bought a lot of rights to films coming from various libraries like Artisan and subsequently started releasing old shows like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on DVD. This piqued my interest then, and I couldn't find a website for Trimark. I then tried to see if they had filed any statements with the SEC recently, just to make sure they don't exist. Well guess what? According to the SEC their last filing was in 2000.

Now, unfortunately I have a contracts exam this afternoon and I can't spend lots of time "Scoobying" around with figuring out who bought them or what happened to them, but maybe someone with a little knowledge of financial statements can root around the filings from Lion's Gate around this time and figure out who the hell owns the license to these 13 little gems![/url]

YouTube · Post by **Hujio** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:41 pm

Here's what I found:

Los Angeles, October 6, 2000. . . Trimark Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TMRK) announced today that the final exchange ratio has been determined in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement between Trimark and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (TSE and AMEX: LGF). Upon completion of the merger, shareholders of Trimark common stock will be entitled to receive 2.018 shares (rather than 2 shares) of Lions Gate common stock...

The companies anticipate that the merger will be consummated on October 13, 2000, following approval by the shareholders of Trimark at its shareholder meeting scheduled for October 12, 2000. Shareholders of Lions Gate approved the merger on September 26, 2000.

SEC EDGAR Filing Information: Form 425 -- Prospectuses and communications, business combinations

At the end of the document it lists Trimark Home Entertainments website (http://www.trimarkpictures.com), but if you go there, it automatically redirects you to Lions Gate Films (http://www.lionsgatefilms.com). So there we have it... we can assume that Lions Gate Films owns the rights to the first 13 episodes of DragonBall.

lost in thought · Post by **lost in thought** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 4:48 am

I'll attest to what Hujio said. I've been hearing for awhile that Lions Gate bought the company, and literally just uses it as a label these days for what meager home video/dvd releases that they've published.

One can only guess why, since other than getting a few properties, I don't think Trimark/Kidmark has ANY products left on the market, short of the 13 episodes of DB, which I doubt is making them much at all.

One thing this topic brings to mind, is I wonder what sort of filings Lionsgate is doing now that they've owned (or atleast merged with) the company for almost 5 and a half years, in regards to DragonBall. For all we know it could be LionsGate thatis unwilling to release the rights to the product right now, in hopes of still making a profit.

ignition · Post by **ignition** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 12:16 pm

Well, I'm only sorta wondering if Lion's Gate even knows they own the freakin' things. There're so few episodes that it's possible they don't even realize they own the damn things.

gogetaSS · Post by **gogetaSS** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:57 pm

You've got a point there, they'll probably find out one day and tell FUNi they could of done whatever the hell they wanted to with them. Besides, shouldn't FUNi be able to re-release them anyway? I always thought that they kind of "owned" DB in the US. However, not being from the US, I wouldn't know.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 4:01 pm

ignition wrote:Well, I'm only sorta wondering if Lion's Gate even knows they own the freakin' things. There're so few episodes that it's possible they don't even realize they own the damn things.

"Back in the day", FUNimation didn't have the kind of money to front home distribution of their own material. They sub-licensed the rights to release the home versions of DB (episodes 1-13, movie 1) to KidMark/TriMark/Lion'sGate. The same thing happened with DBZ seasons 1 & 2 and movies 1-3; they sub-licensed the home distribution to Pioneer (now Geneon); *that* sub-contract expired in August 2003, though. It was made rather public, and seemed to be within FUNimation's control. This one with Lion's Gate seems to be *wildly* out of their control.

Slickmasterfunk · Post by **Slickmasterfunk** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:01 pm

VegettoEX wrote:
ignition wrote:Well, I'm only sorta wondering if Lion's Gate even knows they own the freakin' things. There're so few episodes that it's possible they don't even realize they own the damn things.
"Back in the day", FUNimation didn't have the kind of money to front home distribution of their own material. They sub-licensed the rights to release the home versions of DB (episodes 1-13, movie 1) to KidMark/TriMark/Lion'sGate. The same thing happened with DBZ seasons 1 & 2 and movies 1-3; they sub-licensed the home distribution to Pioneer (now Geneon); *that* sub-contract expired in August 2003, though. It was made rather public, and seemed to be within FUNimation's control. This one with Lion's Gate seems to be *wildly* out of their control.

Well now that FUNimation actually has a lot of money couldn't they just buy the rights back? I'm sure if they did and got the release rights back they would still make a generous profit with the DVD sales of episodes 1-3 and movie 1. They could at least do it me. I want that footage in its orginal Japanese with subtitles!

Post by **VegettoEX** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:27 pm

Slickmasterfunk wrote:Well now that FUNimation actually has a lot of money couldn't they just buy the rights back?

Not if that sub-license holder doesn't want to *sell* them back, which is quite possibly the case. DB still sells, and those "Saga of Goku" sets can still potentially bring in a bit of cash for a company like that.

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:49 pm

VegettoEX wrote:
Slickmasterfunk wrote:Well now that FUNimation actually has a lot of money couldn't they just buy the rights back?
Not if that sub-license holder doesn't want to *sell* them back, which is quite possibly the case. DB still sells, and those "Saga of Goku" sets can still potentially bring in a bit of cash for a company like that.

Knowing FUNi has the money now, it's probable that Trimark is waiting until FUNi gives them a better offer.

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:53 pm

Well now that FUNimation actually has a lot of money couldn't they just buy the rights back? I'm sure if they did and got the release rights back they would still make a generous profit with the DVD sales of episodes 1-3 and movie 1. They could at least do it me. I want that footage in its orginal Japanese with subtitles!

Yeah, no kidding, eversince FUNi got it's hands on popular properties like Fullmetal Alchemist and Tenchi Muyo! they've been rolling in money.
I've never seen DB Movie 1, and I really wish I could...eventually...Didn't Trimark edit a lot of it?

Eclipse · Post by **Eclipse** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:45 pm

Yeah, no kidding, eversince FUNi got it's hands on popular properties like Fullmetal Alchemist and Tenchi Muyo! they've been rolling in money.
I've never seen DB Movie 1, and I really wish I could...eventually...Didn't Trimark edit a lot of it?

If I remember, they cut a lot of it and added Movie 2 so it would be one huge movie.......

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:49 pm

If I remember, they cut a lot of it and added Movie 2 so it would be one huge movie.......

That sucks...Trimark only released movie 1 and 2, right?

Off-Topic question: Aren't all the DB movies basically another version of the beginning of DB?

El_Diablo · Post by **El_Diablo** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:58 pm

You're thinking of Harmony Gold with movies 1 and 3.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:42 pm

As noted, Harmony Gold in the late 1980s was the company that spliced together DB movies 1 & 3 to form one very large feature presentation.

FUNimation's dub of DB movie 1 was pretty heavily edited, and had some footage from the TV episodes spliced in at points to beef up the running time after those edits. The rights to home distribution of this movie currently resides with KidMark/TriMark/Lion'sGate.

FUNimation's dub of DB movie 2 (back in 1999) was the first thing they did on their own, in-house, post-Saban and TV syndication with DBZ (seasons 1 & 2). They've owned it this entire time, but never never released it on DVD for whatever reason (though the edited & uncut VHS releases have been available since 1999).

Movies 1 & 4 (the 10th anniversary movie) are essentially re-tellings of how DB began. Movie 2 is its own story (much like all the DBZ movies), and takes place around the time of Goku & Kuririn's training with Kame-Sen'nin. Movie 3 is like a combination of the Red Ribbon Army & 22nd Budokai arcs, but as a re-telling.

Kanzenshuu

More speculation regarding Trimark/Kidmark

More speculation regarding Trimark/Kidmark

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