New leadership, fresh programs, and a robust entertainment slate position the retail pioneer and its distribution arm for continued growth as it celebrates three decades in the business.
A new leader has taken the helm as CEO at Entertainment Earth.
John Louie is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience in consumer products and licensing, spanning roles at Warner Bros., Mattel, and The Walt Disney Co., and, most recently, Funko. Throughout his career, he’s seen fandom evolve.
“I have been fortunate to be around powerful brands and consumer products throughout my career,” Louie says. “Along the way, I’ve been through a variety of roles across different companies that have helped me build new skills and establish some wonderful relationships. That’s brought me to Entertainment Earth, which is the perfect confluence of all of these things together.”
Louie enters the company as it celebrates its milestone 30th anniversary. On April 1, 1996, brothers Aaron and Jason Labowitz flipped the switch on an e-commerce website sparked by Kenner’s relaunch of Star Wars at retail. Despite the date, the business they built is no joke.
“It is an exciting time for the company and industry,” Louie says. “I’ve been familiar with Entertainment Earth for quite a while, both as a fan and on the business side. I know that our roots have been in celebrating and promoting fandom, which is its strong foundation. Early on, I still feel like there’s room for further growth and opportunity by celebrating fans and fandoms. So much has changed in the past 30 years: the way that fandoms have evolved, the way that we receive and ingest content, and the way we buy and express our passions. I think Entertainment Earth remains poised to be at the forefront of that fandom evolution, and I’m excited to help us lead into this new era.”
Entertainment Earth is celebrating 30 years in the industry with a two-pronged approach that honors both fans and partners. The company is cracking open its vault to give away some of the most iconic Entertainment Earth-exclusive merchandise from the past, including many items that are now holy grail finds for collectors. On the B2B side, Entertainment Earth’s EE Distribution arm is launching a new award program for its retail partners, recognizing the best stores in the West, Midwest, South, and Northeast, as well as the best new brick-and-mortar stores, online shops, and its oldest partners.
Our retail, manufacturing, and vendor partners are so important and integral to Entertainment Earth’s success and continued growth. This 30th anniversary is a prime opportunity for us to reinforce those partnerships across the entire industry.”
As the company heads into the anniversary year, it’s also expanding into the B2B trading card space. Trading cards have been a hot category in the past few years, with growth even during times of economic uncertainty.
“We’ve started tapping into trading cards, particularly with a great relationship with Pokémon,” Louie explains. “We’ve seen that services not only an important fandom, but also a lot of the retail partners that we already service by helping them expand their customer base, and get to more fans in a deeper way. We are strategically looking to add some partners to build that out. I think there’s more opportunity here.”
Retailers can soon look to EE Distribution for new products from Topps, Kayou, and others.
This year’s massive entertainment slate powers plenty of options across the company’s core collectibles business, including products timed to the biggest streaming and theatrical releases.
“What an embarrassment of riches this year,” says Elizabeth Ing, Director of Marketing at Entertainment Earth. “We’re starting with Maul: Shadow Lord, then going into The Mandalorian & Grogu. We’re also going to have Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. Masters of the Universe is also this year. We have the live-action One Piece season two. There’s just so much. I really feel there’s so much to be excited about this year as a fan.”
Appropriately tying back to Entertainment Earth’s roots, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu, in particular, has an expansive licensing program packed with toys, collectibles, and other products for all ages.
“Disney’s done a wonderful job with the Star Wars franchise, taking care to make sure that it respects and honors the original fans as well as reaches and resonates with new consumers,” Louie says. “That’s a very, very difficult thing to balance, especially experimenting with different media platforms. But we are really excited for the next stages of Star Wars, and the content we’ve seen so far in the trailers, along with what we’ve been able to see behind the curtain, has made us salivate.”
Entertainment Earth partners with top merch makers to bring exclusive collectibles to retail. | Source: Entertainment Earth
Entertainment Earth partners with top merch makers to bring exclusive collectibles to retail. | Source: Entertainment Earth
Entertainment Earth partners with top merch makers to bring exclusive collectibles to retail. | Source: Entertainment Earth
Entertainment Earth is sharing all the details on its plans for this year at its new location at Toy Fair New York, Booth No. 675 on the main floor.
“I love that convention,” Louie says. “I love the opportunity to meet all of our partners face-to-face. There’s only so much that [a] Zoom [call] can do. I think for us, figuring out what our friends and fans and partners are excited about and listening to that more carefully will help us be better partners to them.”
The collector marketplace looks nothing like it did in 1996, yet the fundamentals remain: fandom drives the business, retail powers the channel, and entertainment keeps the machine fed. With Louie at the helm and a milestone year ahead, Entertainment Earth is leaning in and betting that the next era of growth belongs to the companies that treat fandom as both culture and commerce.
Calling all Retailers:
EE Distribution, a division of Entertainment Earth, is a one-stop wholesale distributor serving independent specialty retailers. The company stocks thousands of toys, games, collectibles, trading cards, and gift items from hundreds of manufacturers. With low minimum order requirements and expert sales reps, EE Distribution has the tools to help retailers succeed and grow their businesses.
- Low $250 minimum first order.
- Volume discounts.
- Personalized onboarding.
- Official distributor for major brands.
- Exclusive merchandise.
Email: [email protected]
Call: 1-818-255-0095
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A version of this feature first appeared in the 2026 edition of The BIG Toy Book. Read the full issue here!
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source toybook.com ’
