Just under a year after acquiring high-end movie poster business Mondo, Funko shut it down and “unceremoniously” laid off several employees, including Mondo’s co-founders Mitch Putnam AND Rob Jonesas well as senior creative director of Mondo Eric Garza.
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Mark Hamill and his Return of the Jedi helix lightsaber reunite in Pop Culture Quest Clip
They also shut down The Lab, which was a division created for cutting-edge experiences and products. The lab was run by Mondo’s co-founder Rob Jonesalso fired.
As a collector of poster art and collectible figures, this is quite a coup. Mondo was always making amazing, quality products! I have bought several posters from them over the years of various artists including Olly Moss, Shepard Fairey, Ken Taylor AND Kevin Tong. This truly is the end of an era!
Mondo is based in Austin, Texas and was founded in 2004. It was formerly a subsidiary of the Alamo Drafthouse chain of independent theaters before Funko made a deal to buy it last year for $14 million and there’s no point in it being happened so fast. Over the years, Mondo has gained a loyal following of collectors and I’m sure something new will come of it.
According to The Wrap, Sources said Mondo’s “vinyl record and collectibles businesses are intact,” and an insider said “the poster line may continue.” But the entire creative team behind it is gone, which is so ridiculous! Mondo is not Mondo without its creative team!
In response to the news, actor Elijah Wood he tweeted: “This really awful news. I am shocked. What did you do @OriginalFunko?
Artist Daniel Danger said in a tweet: “Funko effectively decimated WORLD by firing the creative old guard of Rob Jones, Mitch Putnam and Eric Garza among others is a fucking parody and pure idiocracy. End of an era, but I’m with them for whatever they want to do next, and I imagine every artist in Mondo will follow.”
He told Gizmodo, “Don’t they understand that they just lost their entire artist base? I want to work with Rob, Mitch and [senior creative director] Eric [Garza]. I am World. If they’re not there, it’s just Funko.
Another anonymous artist said, “I’d love to continue working with Mondo, but if they become a pale imitation of what they used to be, I’m sure many of us artists in the scene will migrate to wherever the creative staff relocate in the future.”
There were future projects that were actively being worked on and discussed, but those are projects that are now “dead in the water.”
It’s a shame and it all feels so wrong. This is madness and everything about it saddens me. Who would have thought that Funko could be the villain of the story!?
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
