EXCLUSIVE: Ash Avildsen’s Sumerian Records & Films, which seeks to increase its film and television footprint, has acquired independence cartoon book publisher and gaming company Behemoth Entertainment.
In their first year, Behemoth sold more than 500,000 books and is currently number eight in the overall market share among English speakers cartoon the book publishers in generated revenue. Their title You promised me darkness # 1 is the best-selling black and white debut issue since 2013 Batman: Black and White # 1.
On the film side, the company released cartoon for the acclaimed Iranian vampire romance film A girl goes home alone at night which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. It also published cartoon series for Netflix’s French-Japanese animated sci-fi title MFKZand in collaboration with Ubisoft released the Behemoth series Watch Dogs: Legion based on the video game.
Behemoth has cartoon distribution through both Lunar and Diamond, as well as Simon & Schuster for books. The company also has partnerships with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony in place for upcoming video games.
Sumerian Records is known as an indie label for rock, alternative and metal with several recent Grammy nominations. They are distributed by Virgin Music and Universal Music Group as well as a front-line partnership with Capitol Records. The brand’s artists include Asking Alexandria, Black Veil Brides, Smashing Pumpkins, Meg Myers and Lilith Czar.
Entertainment arm Sumerian Films’ feature American Satan was distributed by Miramax and Showtime. Their first scripted episode series is the musical drama for young adults Paradise City (with Andy Biersack, Bella Thorne, Drea de Matteo, Olivia Culpo, Fairuza Balk and the late Cameron Boyce), which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi and IMDB TV in the US and Pluto in the UK. The company now plans to produce three to five original features each year as well as drive more into TV production.
Avildsen instructed American Satan and is the son of Oscar-winning filmmaker John G. Avildsen Rocky fame.
Said Ash Avildsen, Sumerian founder / CEO: “Nathan and Ryan have built Behemoth so quickly and independently with such an amazing original IP range of characters, worlds and history. It was an easy decision to team up with these very talented young mavericks , when the opportunity arose.They have good taste! To have a diligent, proven team in cartoons, graphic novels and games are paramount to Sumerian as we continue our passion for storytelling across all audio and visual spectrum. We will always discover, create or develop IP for books, episode series, feature films, animation and more. “
Added Nathan Yocum, co-founder of Behemoth: “After 15+ years of pushing the boundaries of what an independent record label can achieve, it’s an incredible reward for us to join the Sumerian family today. Although we are proud of what we have achieved over the last few years, Ryan and I could not pass on the opportunity to bring visions in line with Ash and go into this incredible next chapter with endless possibilities and growth as Sumerian Comicals & games. The power and weight of the Sumerian name is real, and the future of Sumerian has never looked so positive. “