The shopping spree continues for IDT Ent. The company today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Manga Ent., a film company specializing in the production, distribution and worldwide marketing of anime for home video releases, theatrical and television broadcast. The news comes just one day after the announcement that IDT Ent. will work with Todd McFarlane to produce animated properties including a new Spawn series (https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/article.php?article_id=2475).
Established in 1991, London-based Manga Entertainment is one of the largest distributors of Japanese animation outside of Asia, with rights to more than 300 titles. The company gained international acclaim with its co-production of the sci-fi thriller Ghost in the Shell, the first and only Japanese animated film to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Top Video Sales Chart. DreamWorks’ Go Fish arm will release the sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, in theaters Sept. 17 and Cartoon Network will air a new related television series late in the third quarter of the year.
In addition to exploiting the rich Manga library, IDT will use the acquisition develop and co-produce new anime titles for worldwide broadcast and distribution through recently acquired home video company Anchor Bay.
Last week, IDT Ent. acquired a minority equity interest in Stan Lee’s POW! Ent. In March 2003, its animation unit, Digital Production Solutions, acquired rights to the Gene Roddenberry creations Starpoint Academy and Char. Two months later, the company acquired a controlling interest in Film Roman Inc., the animation house behind The Simpsons and King of the Hill. In July 2003, IDT acquired a minority equity interest in U.K. 3D producer Vanguard Animation LLC., which is now working on Disney’s WWII pigeon tale, Valliant, and is under contract to turn out more features for the post-Pixar Mouse House. IDT then acquired a controlling interest in Vancouver-based CG farm Mainframe Ent. in December 2003.
