Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Entertainment |
Founded | 4 August 1996 |
Founders | Tim Anderson Paul Wiegard |
Headquarters | , Australia |
Area served | Australia and New Zealand |
Key people |
|
Products | |
Owner | Five V Capital |
Number of employees | 90 [1] |
Divisions | Third Man Films |
Subsidiaries | DocPlay Garage Entertainment Madman Interactive |
Website | www |
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatrical and home entertainment formats in Australia and New Zealand.
Madman Entertainment was founded in 1996 by Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard as a mail order business specialising in imported anime titles, after following the success of Manga Entertainment in the United States and the United Kingdom. [2] Originally selling titles on VHS, the company became the second Australian distributor to author DVDs in-house, with the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell being their first DVD release. In 1998, Madman began airing anime on television, with Neon Genesis Evangelion airing on SBS TV.
Madman manages the distribution of live-action titles through its labels Madman Films, Directors Suite, Madman Sports, Madman Laughs, Madman Television, Bollywood Masala and Eastern Eye as well as children's entertainment through its Planet Mad and Mad4Kids labels. Madman also has a theatrical distribution arm called Madman Cinema. In addition, the company distributes programmes acquired or produced by Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (and newly, titles from WWE in Australasia, thus replacing Shock Entertainment [3] ) on DVD and Blu-ray. [4] Until 2005, Madman was also the distributor for film distributor Umbrella Entertainment. [5]
On 1 May 2006, Madman Group was purchased by Funtastic Limited for A$34.5 million, in order to acquire the media rights to titles for which Funtastic held the toy rights. Madman founders Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard also signed an employment agreement upon the acquisition, remaining on Madman's board of directors. [6]
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 January 1, 2008. [7]
On 23 February 2008, Madman announced that it had reached a distribution deal with Viz Media to distribute Viz Media's manga titles in Australia and New Zealand. [8] The distribution deal ended in April 2016, with Simon & Schuster taking over distribution of Viz's catalogue, and Madman Entertainment ceasing distribution of all manga titles. [9]
At the 2008 Supanova Pop Culture Expo, Madman announced plans to explore new distribution methods. Madman launched the Madman Screening Room, a video on demand streaming service, with School Rumble being the first title on the platform. [10] Madman also began releasing Blu-ray Disc titles, starting with The Transformers: The Movie in June 2009. [11] On 1 June 2009, Madman Entertainment produced an English adaption of Tamagotchi: The Movie , a 2007 film based on the Tamagotchi digital pets from Bandai and WiZ. Madman also intended to dub the film's sequel, Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe! , but the dub was cancelled for unknown reasons.
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." [12]
On 4 March 2014, Funtastic Limited announced its intention to sell Madman Entertainment due to Madman's market value being half of its carrying value. [13] On 31 July 2014, original founders Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard, along with a small group of investors, purchased Madman Entertainment from Funtastic for A$21 million. [14] [15]
In April 2017, Madman Media Group announced it had purchased Garage Entertainment from SurfStitch Group for "a nominal cash consideration", acquiring Garage Entertainment Pty. Ltd. and TMG Media Pty. Ltd., with Madman and SurfStitch agreeing to negotiate a strategic partnership for content development and advertising services. [16]
On 17 February 2018, Madman co-founder & CEO Tim Anderson confirmed that on 15 November 2017, Sony Music Entertainment Japan subsidiary Aniplex had become a minority shareholder in Madman's anime business, Madman Anime Group, and was issued an undisclosed number of shares. [17]
On 23 May 2018, it was revealed that investors Adrian MacKenzie, Brett Chenoweth, and Charbel Nader were examining options to sell the Madman Media business, or bring in another investor, after PwC Australia conducted a strategic review, with Madman being valued around A$50 million. [18]
On 6 February 2019, Madman Entertainment sold Madman Anime to Aniplex for A$35 million. [15] [19]
On 13 February 2020, it was announced that Madman Entertainment, Curzon, and Cinéart partnered to launch a US$1.6 million film development fund for three years. The partnership provides the companies first look options for distribution, and is expected to back 16 projects. [20] The Curzon CM Development Fund is operated from Curzon's London offices, and its first projects include Swimming Home, Sweet Maddie Stone, and The Ballad of a Small Player. [21]
On 11 July 2023, APRA AMCOS filed a lawsuit against Madman streaming services DocPlay and Garage Entertainment, claiming the two services had failed to pay for licences for the use of music on platforms' titles. [22] [23]
Type of site | Subscription video on demand |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Area served | Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom |
Owner | Madman Entertainment |
URL | docplay |
Registration | Required |
Launched | 1 December 2016 |
Current status | Active |
DocPlay is a video-on-demand streaming service dedicated to streaming documentaries. The serviced was launched by Madman Entertainment on 1 December 2016 as a subscription-only service, and included 130 documentary titles, with 20 Australian titles. [24]
On 29 November 2016, it was announced that Madman Entertainment were the recipients of Screen Australia's Enterprise funding program, with Madman launching DocPlay to allow for a revenue-sharing model for filmmakers of documentaries on the platform. The funding also allowed for DocPlay to acquire and stream Australian documentaries on the service. [25]
On 23 July 2019, DocPlay reached a content agreement with ABC Commercial to expand DocPlay's content by adding 180 hours of factual content from ABC's library onto the service. The deal included locally produced content, as well as content from New Zealand and the United Kingdom. [26]
Funimation is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service is one of the leading distributors of anime and other foreign entertainment properties in North America. It has streamed popular series, such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, Black Clover, Fruits Basket, Assassination Classroom and Tokyo Ghoul among many others.
NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan LLC is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.
Mushishi (蟲師) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Afternoon Season Zōkan from 1999 to 2002, and in Monthly Afternoon from December 2002 to August 2008. The individual chapters were collected and released into ten tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. Those volumes were localized to North America by Del Rey between January 2007 and August 2010. The series follows Ginko, a man who dedicates himself to keeping people protected from supernatural creatures called Mushi.
Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects.
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced by East Asian media, including Japanese anime, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with the Japanese branch located in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The fourth season of the Naruto: Shippuden anime series is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo. They are based on Part II for Masashi Kishimoto's manga series. The season follows Shikamaru Nara attempting to avenge Asuma's death. The fourth season aired from August to December 2008 on TV Tokyo. It was also released on four DVDs in Japan by Aniplex between January 14 and May 13, 2009. The season was referred to by these DVDs as the chapter of Immortal Devastators — Hidan and Kakuzu.
The fifth season of the Naruto: Shippuden anime series is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo. They are based on Part II for Masashi Kishimoto's manga series. The fifth season aired from December 2008 to June 2009 on TV Tokyo. It is also referred to by its Japanese DVDs as the chapter of The Three-Tailed Demon Turtle. A total of six volumes were published by Aniplex between June 3, 2009 and November 4, 2011. This season follows the leaf ninjas including Naruto Uzumaki, attempting to stop the Three-Tails, and help a boy named Yukimaru.
The eighth season of the Naruto: Shippuden anime series is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. The eighth season aired from March to August 2010. The season follows the Akatsuki leader Pain invading the Leaf Village and attempting to kidnap Naruto Uzumaki. It is referred to by its DVDs as the chapter of Two Saviors. Aniplex released the six volumes between October 7, 2010 and March 2, 2011. While the volumes contains all the episodes, episodes 170 and 171 were skipped to the sixth volume.
The episodes for the tenth season of the anime series Naruto: Shippuden are based on Part II for Masashi Kishimoto's manga series. The episodes are directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. Released on DVD under the name The Gathering of the Five Kage, the season follows the assemblance of the Kage, the five village leaders attempting to stop Sasuke Uchiha and the remaining members of the Akatsuki. The season aired from February to July 2011. Its first Japanese DVD volume was released by Aniplex on September 7, 2011.
Crunchyroll EMEA, formerly known as Viz Media Europe, is a European anime distributor. Established as Viz Media Europe, it was Viz Media's European sister company until 2019. It holds partnerships with TV channels, DVD distributors, and manga publishers. The company was once headquartered in Amsterdam, before the company opened its current Paris operations on January 15, 2007. The division is made up of two subsidiaries, Crunchyroll SAS based in Paris, France, and Crunchyroll SA based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Crunchyroll EMEA is run by Sony through Crunchyroll, LLC, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex, with Shogakukan, Shueisha and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (ShoPro) retaining full ownership of the former Viz Media Europe's Publishing/Licensing Business for manga publishing in the region.
Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese anime television series loosely adapted from the original manga series of the same name by Hiromu Arakawa. Comprising 51 episodes, it was produced by the animation studio Bones for Mainichi Broadcasting System and Aniplex, and directed by Seiji Mizushima. It was broadcast on MBS in Japan from October 2003 to October 2004.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series of the same name and is a spin-off of and sequel to Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. It is produced by Pierrot and broadcast on TV Tokyo. The anime is directed by Noriyuki Abe (#1–104), and Hiroyuki Yamashita (#1–66) and is written by Makoto Uezu (#1–66). Former manga writer Ukyō Kodachi supervised the story until episode 216.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series of the same name and is a spin-off of and sequel to Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. It is produced by Pierrot and broadcast on TV Tokyo. The anime is directed by Noriyuki Abe (#1–104), Hiroyuki Yamashita (#1–66), and Toshirō Fujii (#67–104) and is written by Makoto Uezu (#1–66) and Masaya Honda (#67–). Former manga writer Ukyō Kodachi supervised the story until episode 216.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series of the same name and is a spin-off of and sequel to Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. It is produced by Pierrot and broadcast on TV Tokyo. The anime is directed by Masayuki Kōda (#105–281) and is written by Masaya Honda (#67–). Former manga writer Ukyō Kodachi supervised the story until episode 216.
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga series of the same title written and illustrated by Shinobu Ohtaka. Produced by A-1 Pictures, it began airing in Japan on October 7, 2012. It also debuted in North America on October 10 on Crunchyroll and Hulu. The series is licensed by Aniplex of America in North America, by Viz Media Europe in Europe and by Madman Entertainment in Australia. From episodes 1-12, the opening theme song is "V.I.P." by SID and the ending theme song is "Yubi Bōenkyō" by Nogizaka46. From episode 13 onwards, the opening song is "Matataku Hoshi no Shita de" by Porno Graffitti and the ending is "The Bravery" by Supercell.
Crunchyroll Pty. Ltd., trading as Crunchyroll Store Australia, and previously known as Madman Anime, is an Australian distribution company focused on anime and Japanese media. The company handles licensing and distribution of anime in Australia and New Zealand. Originally part of independent film distributor Madman Entertainment, the company is now operated as a division of Crunchyroll LLC, run by Sony through Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex.
Crunchyroll, LLC, d/b/a Crunchyroll, is an American entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas, focused on the distribution and licensing of anime, films, and television series. The company, then known as Funimation Productions, was founded in May 1994, by Gen Fukunaga and his wife Cindy in Silicon Valley, with funding by Daniel Cocanougher and his family, who became investors in the company, which then relocated to North Richland Hills and later Flower Mound, Texas.