Last week brought news that sent movie poster fans in a spiral with word that Funko had laid off key members of the Mondo staff including its co-founders. The news also came with reports that future plans for poster releases by the brand were being reconsidered as well, though their toy and vinyl releases would reportedly continue. Naturally this news, which came less than a year after Funko acquired the Mondo brand, was met with derision by fans of the company and the artists that had cultivated working relationships with the team at Mondo. Funko’s CEO Brian Mariotti has now released a statement on Mondo’s future, confirming poster prints are still part of their plans.
Published on Twitter, Mariotti’s statement notes that “The Mondo posters business will continue, period.” He then reveals that one of the factors of Mondo’s business model that will be changing moving forward is the size of the print runs. According to Mariotti, the “extremely limited runs of posters” offered by Mondo “limits access to fans unfairly” and was largely fueled by a secondary market. As a result, Funko says Mondo posters in the future will “make larger edition size runs (limited but not ultra-limited) that allow more fans to participate.”
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Funko’s statement that “most” Mondo print runs were “150 pieces or under” only partially rings true however, a number reflected largely by variant posters released by the company. Most Mondo print runs are in the 200 to 300 range, with timed exclusives also becoming more and more common place for some of their more popular prints. This has allowed interested fans the ability to order a Mondo print without worrying about being close to a computer to snag one before they’re gone.
Mariotti continues in his press release speaking about Funko’s plans for investing heavily in Mondo’s vinyl soundtrack releases. According to the CEO, the company have plans “to build an almost 70,000 square-foot record pressing factory meets record store of the future meets live music event space in San Diego.” This space will also house a “4000-square-foot dedicated Mondo art gallery.”
He continues, “Funko is also going to great lengths to invest heavily in some of the most amazing licenses around to build out the portfolio of pop culture for Mondo’s high-end collectibles division. These are dream licenses that Mondo has wanted to work with for a long time but was unable to due to financial restrictions before we acquired them. We are 100% committed to providing all the support we possibly can for the folks at Mondo, so they can continue to make amazing products that reach a larger and more diverse Fanbase through expanded licenses, better distribution, and a better overall experience for their fans.”
Many Mondo fans however seemed to draw a line in the sand with news that the key creative minds at the company would no longer be part of the decision making moving forward. Though it seems likely many will welcome the news of Mondo posters that have bigger print runs with open arms, others may sit it out, especially if their favorite artists no longer participate in making new posts.
