Illumitoon Entertainment, Ltd., a new anime releasing company formed by former FUNimation execs, announced that it will be utilizing Westlake Entertainment Inc. for home video distribution.  Westlake, which used to produce and distribute public domain titles, is under new management and has moved aggressively to acquire first-run independent features, urban and Latino projects, and now anime.  Tony Vandeveerdonk, the new VP of Sales for Westlake, worked for Pioneer (now Geneon) in the past and has a solid knowledge of the anime market.

The Anime on DVD Website has also revealed that Illumitoon will launch a third series in addition to Beet the Vandel Buster (see 'Beet the Vandel Buster') and Get Ride! AM Driver (see 'Illumitoon Licenses a Second Series').  Beat B'tx, a 25 -episode science fiction series from 1996 that features a mechanical horse and a mecha-filled sci-fi plot, will debut in January along with the first volume of Beet the Vandel Buster (Get Ride! AM Driver is slated to premier in February).