Manga Entertainment

History

Manga Entertainment (formerly Island World Communications) was founded in London in 1991 by Chris Blackwell and Andy Frain, with Laurence Guinness in a key role, as a subsidiary of Island Records' 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 would then purchase IDT Entertainment in 2006, which would be renamed Starz Media.

In 2011, Manga U.S. ceased licensing new products after the release of Redline 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, Lionsgate 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 and Twitter pages, and confirmed a relaunch in the near future. Lionsgate currently licenses the Manga Entertainment brand-name from Crunchyroll. 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

References

1. "About Us".
2. "Funimation Acquires UK Anime Distributor Manga Entertainment".
3. (2019-05-29). "FUNIMATION ACQUIRES UK ANIME DISTRIBUTOR MANGA ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED - Funimation - Blog!". Funimation - Blog!.
4. Shirow, Masamune. (1995). "Appleseed Volume One: The Promethean Challenge". Manga Publishing.
5. Hoad, Phil. (July 10, 2013). "Akira: The future-Tokyo story that brought anime west". The Guardian.
6. . (6 May 2024). ["Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'"](https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/selling-ghost-in-the-shell).
7. Segall, Mark. (1 August 1996). "Manga Entertainment: Taking Anime To The Next Stage".
8. Kissane, Kevin. (20 June 2023). "A History of Manga Entertainment (Part 1)".
9. "MANGA ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)".
10. "Answerman - Whatever Happened to Manga Entertainment?". Anime News Network.
11. "Akira: The story behind the film". Empire Online.
12. (2001). "Chapter 4: The Development of the Japanese Animation Audience in the UK and France by Helen McCarthy". Amazon Books Online.
13. (2025-11-13). "Answerman - Whatever Happened To Manga Entertainment?".
14. (May 13, 2004). "IDT Entertainment Acquires Manga Entertainment; Company Gains Extensive Library of Japanese Animation Programming".
15. (May 13, 2004). "IDT Acquires Manga Entertainment".
16. (May 13, 2004). "IDT Acquiring Anime Giant Manga Ent".
17. (May 16, 2006). "Liberty Media to Acquire IDT Entertainment; Starz's Top Premium Television Service to Join With IDT's Animation and Live Action Production and Home Entertainment Distribution Business".
18. "New York Deadline" [https://deadline.com/2012/08/liberty-media-starz-spin-off-315388/ Liberty Media Says It Will Spin Off Starz] {{Webarchive. link. (February 28, 2023 deadline.com, Retrieved on August 8, 2012)
19. "Yahoo Finance" [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/liberty-media-spins-off-starz-135852048.html Liberty Media Spins-off Starz] {{Webarchive. link. (August 14, 2021 finance.yahoo.com Zacks Equity Research, Retrieved on January 24, 2013)
20. (February 26, 2015). "Starz Sells Manga Entertainment". [[Anime News Network]].
21. "UK Anime Network - Starz sells Manga Entertainment UK".
22. (2025-11-13). "Answerman - Whatever Happened to Manga Entertainment? (PART TWO: UK Edition)".
23. "Colin Lomax, former Anchor Bay UK chief, dies aged 56". Screen.
24. Lieberman, David. (June 30, 2016). "Lionsgate Agrees To Buy Starz For $4.4 Billion In Cash And Stock". Deadline Hollywood.
25. Schwindt, Oriana. (December 8, 2016). "Lionsgate, Starz Close $4.4 Billion Acquisition". Variety.
26. "Kaleidoscope buys distributor Platform Entertainment".
27. "Manga".
28. (January 3, 2018). "Manga Entertainment CEO Colin Lomax Passes Away".