LOS ANGELES -- VIZ Media, a San Francisco-based publisher of Japanese manga and graphic novels, has formed a production company to exploit its huge content catalog.
Based in Hollywood, VIZ Prods. will be run by Jason Hoffs, a former production exec at Amblin and DreamWorks, who most recently had his own producing deal at Sony.
The company's parents are Japan-based publishing houses Shogakukan, Shueisha and Hakusensha, entities that Hoffs said publish nearly half of all the manga titles that reach the U.S. Titles include "Naruto," "Bleach," "Death Note," "Inuyasha" and "Naoki Urasawa's Monster."
Hoffs will serve as a liaison between Japanese creative licensors and Hollywood, and the company will develop to produce some of the titles inhouse.
VIZ effort is another recent example of publishers, from the New York Times to vidgame companies such Capcom, becoming proactive in exploiting film projects hatched from their content.
"Properties like Naruto,' Bleach,' Death Note,' Vampire Knight' and Monster' are just a few properties that show the massive appeal of manga to many different demographics, and we have an almost endless pool of titles to draw from," Hoffs said.
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