Madman Entertainment
Encyclopedia
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime
and manga
in Australia
and New Zealand
. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited (listed on the ASX
) and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual turnover of around A$50 million. Its headquarters is in the Collingwood
suburb and in the Langridge Ward of the City of Yarra
, Victoria
.
Madman has secured the local release rights to popular titles including One Piece
, Dragon Ball Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira
, and almost all of Studio Ghibli
's catalogue. In addition to DVD sales, Madman manages the theatrical release of some of their titles, particularly the Studio Ghibli movies. According to market research, Madman accounts for 97% of the total anime DVD market in Australia.
Australia along with Polygram
and Siren Entertainment. Later on in 1997, Madman started to distribute anime from ADV Films along with Siren Entertainment. Madman now sublicenses anime from ADV Films, Funimation, Harmony Gold
, Viz Media
, Bandai Entertainment, Media Blasters
, formerly Geneon
, & recently Sentai Filmworks, although Siren Visual
licenses the majority of their English-dubbed titles (9 as of now while Madman licenses only 3 as of now, excluding Geneon license rescues. However, the remaining number (6) of Sentai's English dubbed titles are yet to be licensed & distributed in Australia & New Zealand), and distributes anime from Manga Entertainment
. As of 2008, only some of Manga Entertainment Australia's titles from the 1990s have been distributed by Madman. Battle Angel Alita was to be released in Australia by Manga and Madman in 2001, but this was canceled because ADV Films had the rights to the OVAs in North America and tried to market it in Australia with a new dub, while Manga UK and Madman Entertainment had the rights in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Some of their DVD releases have been jointly mastered with Britain's MVM Films
or Revelation Films
to save costs, and are therefore dual-region (Region 2 and Region 4). A few DVD titles from Madman, such as the Oh My Goddess!
OVAs, are all-region or multi-region DVDs in the NTSC
format, imported from the US and repackaged for sale in Australia and New Zealand (which normally use PAL
colour).
A growing selection of manga titles translated by TOKYOPOP
in the United States
and Chuang Yi
in Singapore
are being imported and distributed through Madman Entertainment. In February 2008, Madman announced that they would also be distributing manga titles from Viz Media
.
Madman launched in 1996 solely as an anime distribution company, but has since expanded. They manage the distribution of live-action titles through their labels Madman Films, Directors Suite, Madman Sports, Madman Laughs, Madman Television, Bollywood Masala and Eastern Eye and also children's entertainment through their Planet Mad and Mad4Kids labels. Madman also has a theatrical distribution arm called Madman Cinema. In addition, the company distributes original series produced by Australia's Special Broadcasting Service
on DVD
.
In 2007, Madman began a licensing agreement to release original Cartoon Network
and Adult Swim
series on DVD in Australia
and New Zealand
. Madman also programmed Adult Swim
's anime block in the two countries until Cartoon Network Australia
dropped its entire Adult Swim
lineup on 1 January 2008.
Madman Entertainment released the complete series of M.A.S.K.
over two DVD collections for the first time in Australia and New Zealand. Collection One was released in November 2006 and contains episodes 1 - 38, Collection Two was released in March 2007 and contains episodes 39 - 65 as well as all ten episodes of the racing series.
At the 2008 Supanova Pop Culture Expo
, Madman announced plans to explore new distribution methods. The company now offers online streaming
of selected anime episodes, beginning with the first episode of School Rumble
. Madman now has a sub-page, Madman Scereening Room, dedicated to video streaming. Madman has also begun releasing Blu-ray Disc
titles, starting with The Transformers: The Movie
in June 2009.
In April 2008, the company announced a collaboration with British company Warp Films
. Warp and Madman plan to make "at least two films together over the next three years, starting with Tyrannosaur
."
, as well as Madman's own logo.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited (listed on the ASX
Australian Stock Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
) and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual turnover of around A$50 million. Its headquarters is in the Collingwood
Collingwood, Victoria
Collingwood is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
suburb and in the Langridge Ward of the City of Yarra
City of Yarra
The City of Yarra is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 19.5 square kilometres, and at the 2006 census it had a population of 69,330...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
.
Madman has secured the local release rights to popular titles including One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
, Dragon Ball Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
, and almost all of Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
's catalogue. In addition to DVD sales, Madman manages the theatrical release of some of their titles, particularly the Studio Ghibli movies. According to market research, Madman accounts for 97% of the total anime DVD market in Australia.
History
Madman Entertainment was founded in 1996 to distribute anime from Manga EntertainmentManga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
Australia along with Polygram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
and Siren Entertainment. Later on in 1997, Madman started to distribute anime from ADV Films along with Siren Entertainment. Madman now sublicenses anime from ADV Films, Funimation, Harmony Gold
Harmony Gold USA
Harmony Gold is a television production and distribution company established in 1983. It is best known as the “creator” and main distributor of the anime series Robotech. It also partially dubbed the Dragon Ball series in the late 1980s....
, Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
, Bandai Entertainment, Media Blasters
Media Blasters
Media Blasters is an entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. They are in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga compilations and anime and live-action movies and television series to home-video...
, formerly Geneon
Geneon
is a Japanese music, anime and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Geneon has been involved in the production and distribution of several anime in Japan...
, & recently Sentai Filmworks, although Siren Visual
Siren Visual
Siren Visual is an Australian company which specialises in the distribution of Japanese anime, documentaries and off-beat cinema in Australia and New Zealand....
licenses the majority of their English-dubbed titles (9 as of now while Madman licenses only 3 as of now, excluding Geneon license rescues. However, the remaining number (6) of Sentai's English dubbed titles are yet to be licensed & distributed in Australia & New Zealand), and distributes anime from Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
. As of 2008, only some of Manga Entertainment Australia's titles from the 1990s have been distributed by Madman. Battle Angel Alita was to be released in Australia by Manga and Madman in 2001, but this was canceled because ADV Films had the rights to the OVAs in North America and tried to market it in Australia with a new dub, while Manga UK and Madman Entertainment had the rights in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Some of their DVD releases have been jointly mastered with Britain's MVM Films
MVM Films
MVM Films is a British distributor of Japanese animation. The company sublicenses anime titles from US Anime companies such as Media Blasters, Geneon, Nozomi Entertainment, Urban Vision, AnimEigo, and US Manga Corps, which do not have a UK presence, and releases them on Region 2 DVD...
or Revelation Films
Revelation Films
Revelation Films is a British distributor of entertainment programmes on DVD.It was perhaps most well known as the company through which as of November 2006, the American anime company FUNimation Entertainment has launched its titles in the United Kingdom on region 2 DVD...
to save costs, and are therefore dual-region (Region 2 and Region 4). A few DVD titles from Madman, such as the Oh My Goddess!
Oh My Goddess!
, also known as Ah! My Goddess!, is a Japanese seinen manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It premiered in the November 1988 issue of Afternoon where it is still being serialized. Every few months, the most recent chapters are published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha...
OVAs, are all-region or multi-region DVDs in the NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
format, imported from the US and repackaged for sale in Australia and New Zealand (which normally use PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
colour).
A growing selection of manga titles translated by TOKYOPOP
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Chuang Yi
Chuang Yi
Chuang Yi Publishing Pte Ltd. is a publishing company based in Singapore that specializes in producing domestic and imported comics and comics-related merchandise, in English and simplified Chinese. Chuang Yi distributes all or some of its products in Singapore, Malaysia, India, and the Philippines...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
are being imported and distributed through Madman Entertainment. In February 2008, Madman announced that they would also be distributing manga titles from Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
.
Madman launched in 1996 solely as an anime distribution company, but has since expanded. They manage the distribution of live-action titles through their labels Madman Films, Directors Suite, Madman Sports, Madman Laughs, Madman Television, Bollywood Masala and Eastern Eye and also children's entertainment through their Planet Mad and Mad4Kids labels. Madman also has a theatrical distribution arm called Madman Cinema. In addition, the company distributes original series produced by Australia's Special Broadcasting Service
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
In 2007, Madman began a licensing agreement to release original Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
and Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
series on DVD in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Madman also programmed Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
's anime block in the two countries until Cartoon Network Australia
Cartoon Network (Australia)
Cartoon Network is a cable and satellite television channel created by Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner which primarily shows animated programming.The Australian version is available on Pay TV...
dropped its entire Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
lineup on 1 January 2008.
Madman Entertainment released the complete series of M.A.S.K.
M.A.S.K.
M.A.S.K. is an animated television series directed by several uncredited Japanese studios, KK C&D Asia, Studio Juno, Studio World, Ashi Production , and produced by the French-American DIC Enterprises, Inc and also the toyline of the same name sold by Kenner.-History:A total of 75...
over two DVD collections for the first time in Australia and New Zealand. Collection One was released in November 2006 and contains episodes 1 - 38, Collection Two was released in March 2007 and contains episodes 39 - 65 as well as all ten episodes of the racing series.
At the 2008 Supanova Pop Culture Expo
Supanova Pop Culture Expo
Supanova Pop Culture Expo is a fan convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy film and TV, comic books, anime, gaming and collectables. It is held annually in the Australian cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne....
, Madman announced plans to explore new distribution methods. The company now offers online streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
of selected anime episodes, beginning with the first episode of School Rumble
School Rumble
is a Japanese Shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Jin Kobayashi. First serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from October 22, 2002 to July 23, 2008, all 345 chapters were later collected in 22 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. Shōnen Magazine Special published a sequel, School Rumble Z,...
. Madman now has a sub-page, Madman Scereening Room, dedicated to video streaming. Madman has also begun releasing Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
titles, starting with The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986....
in June 2009.
In April 2008, the company announced a collaboration with British company Warp Films
Warp Films
Warp is one of the foremost and most respected creative independent companies, now composed of Warp Records, Warp Films and Warp Music Videos & Commercials. It is based in London, England and Sheffield, with a further office now in Melbourne, Australia...
. Warp and Madman plan to make "at least two films together over the next three years, starting with Tyrannosaur
Tyrannosaur (film)
Tyrannosaur is a 2011 British drama film written and directed by actor Paddy Considine .The film depicts an environment similar to what Considine witnessed growing up on a council estate in the Midlands, although the film is in no way autobiographical...
."
Sponsorship
As of 2010, Madman Ent, is the sponsor for New Zealand and possible Australian Manga/Anime events.Merchandise
Madman Entertainment has its own apparel and merchandise that incorporates features of anime series, such as the Hidden Leaf Sign from NarutoNaruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
, as well as Madman's own logo.