Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1991, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyroll Ltd. since 2022, while its U.S. branch was absorbed into Starz Inc. (now owned by

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

). Despite its name, the company's principal business was the distribution of

rather than

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

, although they have published some manga (such as '' Crying Freeman'') under the Manga Books imprint.

History

Manga Entertainment (formerly Island World Communications) was founded in London in 1991 by

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...

and Andy Frain as a subsidiary of

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

' Island World Group. IWC took over the company number for Golden Square Music, but had no relationship to IWC or Manga. Manga Entertainment expanded into North America in 1993 with the purchase of L.A. Hero, forming Manga U.S. while Manga UK entered the Australian market in late 1993 and began releasing titles in January 1994 in conjunction with the Australian division of Island's parent company, PolyGram (through PolyGram Video) and local independent distributor Siren Entertainment. On May 13, 2004, IDT Entertainment, a division of IDT Corporation announced they would purchase Manga U.S., becoming a subsidiary of IDT Entertainment. In 2005, Manga UK and Manga U.S. began to operate independently from each other, but still remain under the same ownership.

Liberty Media Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in the Formula One Group, S ...

would then purchase IDT Entertainment in 2006 and would be renamed as Starz Media. In 2011, Manga U.S. ceased licensing new products after the release of ''

Redline The redline is the maximum engine speed at which an internal combustion engine or traction motor and its components are designed to operate without causing damage to the components themselves or other parts of the engine. The redline of an eng ...

'' and was absorbed into Starz Media. On August 8, 2012, Liberty Media announced that it would spin-off Starz Media into a separate publicly traded company. The spin-off of Starz Inc. was completed on January 15, 2013 which included all subsidiaries.

2015–present

On February 26, 2015, the UK branch was acquired from Starz Media, alongside its parent Anchor Bay UK, by managing director Colin Lomax. Anchor Bay UK was renamed to Platform Entertainment and went on to have exclusive rights to the Manga Entertainment branding and catalog in the UK and Ireland. In June 2016,

announced they would acquire Starz Inc. which would eventually be completed in December 2016, placing Manga U.S. under Lionsgate Home Entertainment. In the same month, Kaleidoscope Film Distribution announced they had purchased Platform Entertainment and confirmed that they would split Manga UK off to become separately operated. After Platform Entertainment stopped distributing Manga titles, they went on to having their titles released in the UK by Spirit Entertainment. In 2017, Lionsgate Home Entertainment relaunched Manga U.S.' website and its

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

pages, and confirmed a relaunch in the near future. Lionsgate currently licenses the Manga Entertainment brand-name from

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

. In the following year, the CEO Colin Lomax had died, between Christmas 2017 and New Years Day 2018. As of September 2023, the relaunch did not happen as of yet, with some of Manga's titles like ''Ghost in the Shell'' being rereleased under the main Lionsgate banner.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 establishments in England 1991 establishments in California 2011 disestablishments in California 2021 disestablishments in England American companies disestablished in 2011 American companies established in 1991 Anime companies British companies disestablished in 2021 British companies established in 1987 Defunct entertainment companies Defunct mass media companies of the United States Former Liberty Media subsidiaries Mass media companies established in 1987 Mass media companies established in 1991 Starz Entertainment

History

2015–present

See also

References

External links