Valiant Entertainment Partners With DMG: Chinese Entertainment Company Invests Nine Figures For Film, Multimedia
Valiant Entertainment, the once shuttered comic brand that was brought back from bankruptcy, announced tonight a partnership with Chinese juggernaut DMG Entertainment to score nine figure financing deal to bring characters from the Valiant universe to film, and across all multimedia platforms, reports Kiel Phegley of Comic Book Resources.
DMG has co-financed a number of films here in the United States, perhaps having tested the waters of the American action/sci-fi market with the 2012 Bruce Willis time-travel movie Looper, as well as Marvel’s 2013 Iron Man 3. In becoming an investing partner in Valiant, DMG acquires a valuable roster of fresh comic book based characters and mythology, of which DMG CEO Dan Mintz called “the last independent massive comic universe.”
“Comic superheroes are the most lucrative and sought after IP for movie franchises, so taking a stake in the last independent massive comic universe is a strategic investment for DMG that will produce movies and TV that are both appealing and relevant to a global audience,. We are excited by the opportunity to bring these incredibly engaging characters and their stories to the big screen.”
The Hollywood Reporter‘s Graeme McMillan reports that projects are already in development for Valiant properties Archer and Armstrong and Shadowman.
The Valiant Entertainment storyline is, in itself, a story to be told.
Valiant Entertainment began as Valiant Comics, an offshoot of Voyager Communications, founded by former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter and former Marvel writer/editor Bob Layton in 1989. In 1994, the company was sold to video game developer Acclaim Entertainment, who bankrupted in 2003. In 2005, Valiant Comics fanboys Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari raised the funds to buy the trademarks out of bankruptcy, and after several years of hard fought legal battles, relaunched the brand in 2012 as an independent comic book publisher, bringing back to life many of Valiant’s more popular characters. In just a few short years, Valiant’s sales numbers grew to eventually compete amongst the top independent comic labels on the market, often outselling many titles from such players as Dark Horse and Image.
Current Valiant Entertainment CEO and CCO Shamdasani lauded the deal as the natural next step in the evolution of restoring the life of the characters of the Valiant universe.
“Today marks one of Valiant’s biggest milestones yet with a huge step towards bringing the Valiant characters to the big screen and forging the foundation of the first truly international cinematic universe. By bringing Valiant’s biggest heroes to theaters around the world in concert with our new partners at DMG, we look forward to making Valiant not only an iconic name in comics, but global entertainment as well.”
