Business Wire: Manga Entertainment Poised To Sizzle the Big Screen with Three New Japanese Animated

CHICAGO--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Aug. 18, 1999--

Manga Entertainment, the largest distributor of Japanese animation outside of Asia, blasted onto the international scene in 1996 with Mamoru Oshii's anime masterpiece, "Ghost in the Shell" and has been dubbed "The Disney of Japanimation" by the Boston Globe. After "Ghost in the Shell"'s successful worldwide theatrical run, Manga Entertainment released two video versions as well as a critically acclaimed DVD release with combined sales nearing 500,000 units.

Continuing its tradition of presenting the best quality Japanese animation, "anime," films for the big screen, Manga Entertainment is set to present three groundbreaking anime films: Satoshi Kon's petrifying thriller, "Perfect Blue"; Osamu Desaki's suspenseful medical drama based on the best-selling manga, "Blackjack"; and the highly anticipated sci-fi fantasy, "X" from the team of female animators at CLAMP Studios in Japan.

"Perfect Blue" will hit theatres nationwide beginning in New York on August 20th. "Perfect Blue" breaks the mold for anime - a psychological thriller set in the present that more closely resembles Dario Argento in look and scope than Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira." Interestingly, Otomo served as a consultant on "Perfect Blue" urging Satoshi Kon to direct this brilliant project. Roger Corman enthused "If Alfred Hitchcock partnered with Walt Disney, they'd make a picture like this." (www.perfectblue.com)

"Blackjack," based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka, the father of Japanese animation and creator of such popular characters as 'Astro Boy' and 'Kimba the White Lion'. A paperback sensation, the manga of "Blackjack" presently has 10,000,000 copies in print with 35 million copies aggregate published to date. The film version remains true to the book - with direction and animation & character design by two of Tezuka's disciples, Osamu Desaki and Akio Sugino, respectively. "Blackjack" is in limited release around the country.

Finally, in the first quarter of 2000, Manga Entertainment will unveil CLAMP Studio's "X," a film based upon one of Japan's top 10 selling manga, about the destruction of earth and one man's fight to save the universe. The film has already be hailed by Protoculture Addicts Magazine: "the animation is superb...and the backgrounds the best we have ever seen."

Last year, a record setting four animation films grossed over $100 million at the box office ("Mulan," "A Bug's Life," "The Rugrats Movie," "The Prince of Egypt"). With Dimension's upcoming anime release of "Princess Mononoke," the hugely popular TV shows 'Pokemon' and 'Sailor Moon' and the proliferation of animation sites online and animated television programs, the animation craze has become a bonanza. Anchored at the forefront of the animation tidal wave that has hit North America, Manga Entertainment continues its reign as the source for the finest international animation anywhere.

Manga's plans for the year 2000 include the theatrical release of the three Evangelion films and a series of groundbreaking direct to video releases including: the newly remastered "Castle of Cagliostro" directed by Miyazaki ("Princess Mononoke"), Tezuka's "Astro Boy," and "Rayearth" and Masami Obari's "Virus."

Manga Entertainment is the international animation label of Palm Pictures, Chris Blackwell's audio/visual entertainment company. Palm is actively involved in the acquisition, production and distribution of music and independent film projects with a particular focus on the DVD format.