 Current logo, featuring a silhouette ofVoltron | |
| World Events Productions | |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | 1980; 46 years ago (1980) |
| Headquarters | St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
Key people | Ted Koplar Peter Keefe[1] |
| Products | Anime, cartoons |
| Subsidiaries | Calico Entertainment |
| Website | wep voltron |
WEP LLC,doing business asWorld Events Productions, is an Americananimation and distribution company inSt. Louis, Missouri, best known for releasing the anime titlesVoltron, Defender of the Universe andSaber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, as well as producing the original animated seriesDenver, the Last Dinosaur.[2][3]
Founded in 1980 by Ted Koplar, son of St. Louis businessman andKPLR-TV founderHarold Koplar, World Events Productions, Ltd. started out as a "current events" program on the TV station titledWorld Events.
In 1982, Koplar teamed with Jack Galmiche and Frank Babcock to produce three nationally syndicated shows featuring Kickboxing. The shows were produced and distributed nationally from St Louis, Las Vegas, and New York's Madison Square Garden.
In 1983, while attending a science fiction convention, Ted Koplar discovered the anime seriesBeast King GoLion and saw a potential in distributing it on U.S. television. WEP licensed the series fromToei Animation and released it in 1984 in an edited and English-dubbed form asVoltron. The show was met with high ratings nationwide. After airing all episodes ofGoLion, WEP adaptedArmored Fleet Dairugger XV into the second season ofVoltron. The second season lacked the ratings of the first season, as viewers were more used to theGoLion team. In response, WEP commissioned Toei Animation to produce 20 more episodes of theGoLion-basedVoltron.[4]
In 1987, WEP licensedStar Musketeer Bismark fromStudio Pierrot and released it asSaber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. The series was rewritten with several episodes rearranged or omitted; in addition, six new episodes were animated for the U.S. version. Despite lacking the popularity ofVoltron,Saber Rider has received a cult fan following throughout the years; most prominently inGermany.[5]
After years of licensing and broadcasting anime, WEP ventured to original animated works. In 1988, the company releasedDenver, the Last Dinosaur, which was met with positive feedback from parents' groups and was recommended by the National Education Association.Vytor: The Starfire Champion was released in 1989. Despite being an International Film and Video Festival and a New York Festival Award winner,[6] the show's run on television was short-lived.
In 1998, WEP revisited theVoltron franchise with an all-new TV series.Voltron: The Third Dimension was the 3-D animated sequel to the original series, featuring some of the original voice cast plus actorsClancy Brown andTim Curry. Despite winning a DaytimeEmmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing, the series received mixed responses from critics and fans of the original series.
In 2008, World Events licensed the originalGoLion andDairugger XV in the U.S.
In 2010, Classic Media (nowDreamWorks Classics) acquired distribution rights for theVoltron franchise.[citation needed]
WEP, Kickstart Productions and Classic Media released an all-new animatedVoltron series titledVoltron Force in June 2011. The series takes place sometime after events in the original series and aired onNicktoons.
World Events Productions settled a legal dispute withToei Animation in 2010 over copyright infringements of a potential live-actionVoltron movie. In the past, both companies disputed whenVoltron: The Third Dimension was released. The previous dispute was settled in 2000, with WEP acquiring the animated propertiesVoltron andGoLion, as well as 'Vehicle Force Voltron' and 'Dairugger'. The most recent legal issues between the two companies focus on WEP's right to adapt the anime into live-action and possibly marketing it in Japan. As a result of this dispute,20th Century Fox andNew Regency Productions pulled out of the live-action project.[7][8]
In July 2009,Atlas Entertainment acquired the live-action film rights.[9] This prompted film producers James Young, Ford Oelman and Mark Costa to file a lawsuit against World Events Productions, claiming that their companies - Animus Films and NHO Entertainment - have held exclusive live-action rights toVoltron since 2004.[10] The live-action project was eventually scrapped in June 2010 in favor of a newVoltron television series.[11] On November 4, 2016, three months after the completion ofNBCUniversal's acquisition of Classic Media's parent company,DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion,[12][13] it was announced thatUniversal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation will make the film withDavid Hayter writing the script.[14]
