Skybound Entertainment

Skybound Entertainment is an American multiplatform entertainment company founded by Robert Kirkman and David Alpert.[1][2]

Skybound Entertainment
StatusActive
Founded2010 (2010)
FounderRobert Kirkman
David Alpert
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationBeverly Hills, California
DistributionWorldwide
Key peopleRobert Kirkman (Chairman)
David Alpert (CEO)
Catherine Winder (CEO, Skybound North)
Jon Goldman (Managing Partner)
Publication typesComics, games, books, TV, movies
Owner(s)Robert Kirkman, LLC.
Official websitewww.skybound.com

History

Skybound Entertainment is the company behind the long-running comic, The Walking Dead,[3] created by Robert Kirkman. Since the company’s founding in 2010, Skybound has developed properties in traditional and new media, including comics, gaming, television, film, and digital media series. The company has since launched into the virtual reality space, and in 2017, created an in-house digital studio for online content.[4]

In 2016, Skybound Entertainment expanded internationally with the opening of Skybound North, led by former Lucasfilm Animation executive Catherine Winder.

In 2018, Skybound created Skybound Games to develop video games based on its intellectual property, and Skybound Stories, a joint venture with Sky plc.[5][6]

Comics
Robert Kirkman signing at Skybound's booth during 2016 San Diego Comic Con

In addition to the Eisner Award-winning comic book series, The Walking Dead, Kirkman’s other titles include long-running superhero comic Invincible, Outcast, Super Dinosaur, and Oblivion Song.

With a creator-owned driven platform, Skybound has also created other popular comic book titles that include fantasy adventure comic Birthright, by Josh Williamson, and the historical fiction comic, Manifest Destiny by Chris Dingess.

In 2017, Skybound released the revenge comic, Extremity, by creator Daniel Warren Johnson, and their first vampire horror comic, Redneck, by Donny Cates. Kill the Minotaur by writers Christian Cantamessa and Chris Pasetto, and artist Lukas Ketner is set to hit comic shops on June 14, 2017. Recently, they have also started "Skyward" from the writer of the TV show Lucifer.

Television and film

After Alpert and Kirkman's success with AMC’s The Walking Dead, the duo announced their second television adaptation for Kirkman's comic, Outcast. This was announced in June 2014 and received a series pickup on Cinemax.[2] Outcast centers on protagonist, Kyle Barnes, played by Patrick Fugit, fighting a demon that has plagued his small Virginia town for decades. The series lineup includes Philip Glenister, Brent Spiner, Reg E. Cathey, and Wrenn Schmidt. The first season of Outcast premiered on June 3, 2016 and was renewed for a second season.

Skybound partnered with Viki to develop Korean pre-apocalyptic drama Five Year. The series will be shot in Korea as a K-drama with a local cast and crew, and the parties plan to distribute the first 16-episode season on Korean television. The series, based on an original story by Kirkman, centers on a family facing an impending apocalypse within the next five years. In 2017, Skybound announced a partnership with 360 Powwow to produce Five Year in various Latin American markets.

Skybound produced Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics. This six-part docuseries explores a wide range of topics from the history and world of comic books and premiered on AMC on November 12, 2017.

In 2018 it was announced that an animated series based on Kirkman's second longest running comic Invincible was being developed for Amazon Prime Video set to be released in 2020. The series to be executive produced by Krikman, who wrote the pilot and the season finale, Simon Racioppa, David Alpert, and Catherine Winder. The company's other film projects include the feature film AIR, starring The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus and Academy Award-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou. That same year, it was announced that Spin Master Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons would make an animated television series based on Super Dinosaur, a comic that Kirkman created alongside Jason Howard in 2011. The show launched in 2018.

In 2019, it was announced that Universal Pictures was developing a film based on the character Renfield based off a pitch by Robert Kirkman, with Dexter Fletcher set to direct and Ryan Ridley set to pen the screenplay. The film will also be produced by Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst in a joint-venture between Skybound and Universal.

Digital

In 2015, Skybound released the first-ever narrative virtual reality series, Gone, for Samsung's Milk VR platform. Gone surrounds the disappearance of a young girl from a playground, and the family's journey in learning what happened. The series was filmed in 360 degrees and includes shifting perspectives with "hotspots." "Hotspots" are used as clues, offering a fully immersive experience. Gone was directed by J.T. Petty

Skybound CEO, David Alpert, at Skybound's Live Stream during 2016 San Diego Comic Con

As of 2016, Skybound is set to produce a horror VR series, Lies Within, the first project out of Skybound’s partnership with interactive theatrical company Delusion.

In 2017, Skybound opened an in-house studio to create and expand original digital content. Since the opening of the space, Skybound developed a Live.me series focusing on diversity in TV and media hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown. Other original content filmed in the studio include the weekly series Skybound’s Happy Hour. Happy Hour features special guests every week to create The Walking Dead inspired cocktails. Former guests have included Ross Marquand and Michael Traynor.

Skybound Games

In April 2018, Skybound announced the formation of Skybound Games, a publishing division focused on indie games.[7] Coinciding with the announcement, the company also signed publishing deals for console versions of the games Slime Rancher and The Long Dark.[7]

In October 2018, due to the collapse of Telltale Games, Skybound Games announced they would be working on finishing up the final two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, "Broken Toys" and "Take Us Back", to end the game adaption of their series.[8] In addition to continued digital release, Skybound Games also released physical editions of the game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.[9]

In February 2019, Skybound Games announced plans to release the remastered versions of six classic Dungeon & Dragons games: Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights, developed for modern computers by Beamdog, as console versions (both as retail and digital) later in the year.[10]

License and merchandise

Skybound's party game, Superfight, kickstarted in 2013. Superfight is a game where players battle made up superheroes against each other, in ridiculous, and often heated, hypothetical arguments. In 2014 Darin Ross partnered with Skybound to publish the game. Superfight has 19 expansion packs to date.

In 2017, Skybound signed a deal with Druid City Games for release of its game The Grimm Forest, which raised over $400,000 on Kickstarter.

Titles
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
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References
  1. Gardner, Eriq (4 April 2016). "Robert Kirkman Seeks to Stop a "Hijack" of 'The Walking Dead'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  2. "THE WALKING DEAD Trademark of TWD Productions LLC - Registration Number 4429084 - Serial Number 85030452 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  3. Crecente, Brian (17 October 2018). "'The Walking Dead' Video Games: An Oral History". Variety. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  4. Gaudiosi, John (26 November 2012). "Skybound Entertainment Founder Robert Kirkman Talks Comics, Video Games And The Walking Dead". Forbes. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  5. Jacka, Sally (13 September 2018). "Announcing: Skybound Stories - A Mobile Narrative Platform". skybound.com. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  6. Lanier, Liz (13 September 2018). "New Venture Skybound Stories Will Create Mobile Narrative Experiences". variety.com. Penske Business Media, LLC.
  7. Sarkar, Samit (4 April 2018). "Skybound gets into the indie game publishing business". Polygon. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  8. Liptak, Andrew (October 7, 2018). "Skybound Games will finish the final season of Telltale's The Walking Dead". The Verge. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  9. Wales, Matt (February 4, 2019). "The Walking Dead: The Final Season's last episode gets a confirmed March release date". Eurogamer. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  10. Takahashi, Dean (February 7, 2019). "Walking Dead creator Skybound Games will publish Beamdog's classic RPGs to consoles". Venture Beat. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  11. Pepose, David (August 22, 2016). "Best Shots Reviews: SUPERGIRL: REBIRTH #1, POWER MAN & IRON FIST #7, DEMONIC #1". Newsarama. Purch Group.
  12. Bloomfield, Chelsy (December 19, 2018). "Hardcore #1 Had Potential but Failed to Live Up To Its Namesake". Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press.
  13. Pitts, Lan (May 29, 2018). "BRET BLEVINS Returns To Co-Pilot IMAGE's STELLAR With JOE KEATINGE". Newsarama. Purch Group.
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