Madman Entertainment - History

History

Madman Entertainment was founded in 1996 to distribute anime from Manga Entertainment 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 currently distributes manga from Viz Media, Dark Horse Comics, Tokyopop, and recently from Yen Press with the 2012 release of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

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."