Weinstein Buys 25% of Manga Ent. Parent Starz Media

[WTK]

via ANN

News: Weinstein Buys 25% of Manga Ent. Parent Starz Media
posted on 2011-01-05 21:03 EST

Manga Entertainment's British arm revealed on its Twitter account on Wednesday that the Los Angeles-based Weinstein Company has acquired a 25% minority stake in Starz Media, the parent company of Manga Entertainment and Anchor Bay. According to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, the deal also includes a five-year distribution deal under which Starz Media will handle DVD and digital distribution for the film company. The Weinstein Company paid an undisclosed amount for the stake.

In North America, Manga Entertainment holds the license to a variety of anime titles such as Ghost in the Shell, and it handles digital releases and other forms of distribution for a variety of titles, including Bandai Entertainment's Gurren Lagann. Sibling company and distributor Anchor Bay has also listed such licenses as First Squad - The Moment Of Truth and Redline.

Earlier this year, Starz LLC announced that it was putting Starz Media up for sale.

[Talyn]

While I dont see this as a major turn around for anime studios.... it won't mean it's death from Manga Ent. Just more of the same...sadly.

[reionpremente]

Originally Posted by Talyn

While I dont see this as a major turn around for anime studios.... it won't mean it's death from Manga Ent. Just more of the same...sadly.

I dunno... Weinstein is a pretty respectable group. Who knows, if they REALLY get involved with Manga, it might actually shape up into a great company... okay, maybe not, but at least its one thing in the right direction. I still loved Macross Plus and II, BOTH of which we never would have had without them. And don't forget about GiTS. But I do admit that some of Manga's stuff was pretty bad.

The LAST good thing I saw come out of Manga was the GiTS 2.0 and yes, it DID have problems, but it was a very good transfer to Blu... it's just too bad they didn't have a fresher remaster of the original film.

[Astrael]

Has there been any more talk about the live action Noir they mentioned last year?

[reionpremente]

Originally Posted by Astrael

Has there been any more talk about the live action Noir they mentioned last year?

You might have to talk to Funi. I think they might have the rights to it since ADV lost it. I hadn't heard that Manga had any interest in it. Did I miss something?

It's being made in Japan but I don't know who has it at the moment. Maybe it's still up in the air?

[Tratious]

Originally Posted by reionpremente

You might have to talk to Funi. I think they might have the rights to it since ADV lost it. I hadn't heard that Manga had any interest in it. Did I miss something?

It's being made in Japan but I don't know who has it at the moment. Maybe it's still up in the air?

Starz Develops Live-Action Remake of Noir Action Anime