Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, under a new business unit headed by Tony Ishizuka, is set to distribute four anime series produced by Japanese animation studio Madhouse. The series will be aired in Japan on the anime network Animax of which Sony Pictures Entertainment is the parent company of and then distributed worldwide. The series is set to feature “re-imagined” versions of Marvel characters.
At a panel at Comic-Con 09 hosted by Warren Ellis, fans were given a sneak peek of what Wolverine and Iron Man versions of these characters would look like. Maruyama-san (Chief Creative Office of Madhouse) stated:
“If people liked what they saw today, we will work hard to finish up the series as quickly as possible.”
Initial reaction was extremely positive which was crucial for success of the anime. As Comic-Con can make or literally break a property(i.e. Tron Legacy), the feedback boded well for it’s success. After looking at both trailers you can truly get a feel for the direction they are going:
IRONMAN
WOLVERINE
Ever since reading Kia Asamiya’s Child of Dreams, I had always hoped that a collaboration like this would happen, and I think it’s only going increase awareness of both anime and comics. As there are such rich stories that can be told given the source material, it’s easy to imagine how this could become lucrative for both Madhouse and Sony.
What remains to be seen is how the recent Disney acquisition of Marvel could affect any future distribution scenarios.
