Japanese animation studio Sunrise is changing its name to Bandai Namco Filmworks, following a corporate reorganization that integrates all three businesses under Bandai Namco Holdings. This also includes BANDAI NAMCO Arts Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Rights Marketing Inc. The reorganization is part of the shifts in their IP Production Unit.
The press release also noted that the music subsidiaries of NAMCO BANDAI Arts, BANDAI NAMCO Live Creative Inc., and Sunrise Music Inc. will be integrated under one umbrella company called BANDAI NAMCO Music Live Inc. The merger was announced on October 19, 2021. All changes will take effect on April 1, 2022, on the first day of the Japanese tax year.
The company stated that the change was in order to ‘connect with the world with the pictures they produce’, built upon the studio’s 40 years of producing various anime series, films, and other media.
We will continue to grow the individuality of Sunrise, which has been refined over 40 years, as our most important brand, and we will continue to build on what Namco Bandai Arts has cultivated with its various partners. What Namco Bandai Arts has cultivated will be further expanded in a flexible manner, and what Namco Bandai Rights Marketing has steadily pushed through will be applied to the know-hows of the new company.
Bandai Namco Holdings statement on the company reorganization (via press release, )
Sunrise was founded in 1972 by former members of Mushi Production, and is one of the most prominent Japanese animation studios, producing popular anime titles such as Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Crush Gear Turbo, Space Runaway Ideon, and more. Bandai Namco is a holdings company established in 2005 through a management integration of toymaker Bandai and video game developer Namco.
Source: Sunrise Press Release
©SUNRISE INC., Bandai Namco