The story
The company was founded by Ko Mori in 1997.
In 2008, it has been partnered with Funimation to distribute Love and Honor (2006) in the United States. It also sold Man, Woman and the Wall to TLA Releasing for distribution in the United States and United Kingdom. In 2009, Eleven Arts acquired distribution rights to Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. In 2012, the company partnered with Edlead to produce and distribute several films a year for international audiences.
The company releases Japanese anime films on home video in the United States market, though it has struggled with sales due to the prevalence of illegal downloads. It also filed in 2013 a lawsuit against a DVD distributor for distributing inferior copies of anime films based on poor sales numbers. And in response to piracy, Eleven Arts sought to release anime films in the United States before it is released on home video in Japan. For instance, The company released Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale in the United States three weeks after it was released in Japan.
On August 11, 2018, it was announced at Otakon 2018 that Eleven Arts had partnered with Right Stuf Inc. to become the exclusive distributor for select Eleven Arts titles on home video. On October 3, 2018, it was announced Eleven Arts and Shout! Factory had signed a distribution deal, whereby Shout! Factory would distribute Eleven Arts' titles for home video. Eleven Arts also clarified that this deal would not affect their partnership with Right Stuf.
From Wikipedia’s article on Eleven Arts, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4