May 4, 2007 

 

Behold The Immortal – As You’ve Never Seen Him Before! HIGHLANDER: THE SEARCH FOR VENGEANCE PREMIERES ON DVD FROM MANGA ENTERTAINMENT  Connor MacLeod Turns Anime in an All-New Animated Feature-Length Epic! 

 

CHICAGO, IL – The Highlander series enters a new dimension June 5^th, when Manga Entertainment and Starz Home Entertainment release the animated Highlander: The Search for Vengeance on DVD.  In the tradition of “Vampire Hunter D” and “Ninja Scroll”, anime wizard Yoshiaki Kawajiri brings his unique visual bravura to the immortal Highlander franchise. Highlander: The Search for Vengeance has an SRP of $19.98, with a pre-book date of April 25, 2007.  

In this gripping new adventure, lone warrior Colin MacLeod travels across a desolate landscape searching for the immortal despot Marcus Octavius, who long ago murdered his beloved Moya.   Together with his companion, the wise-cracking ghost Amergan, MacLeod discovers New York in ruins, with one monolith fortress dominating a city ravaged by a deadly virus.   

MacLeod can save the survivors, but his sword hungers for the blood of one man.  He soon discovers the monolith is controlled by the one person he has spent an eternity chasing: Marcus Octavius!  Can he finish what he started centuries ago and stop Octavius? Will MacLeod lead New York to freedom or be consumed by insatiable hate? The answer may lie with the beautiful and tough Dahlia, who has a mysterious connection to the departed Moya. 

Featuring voiceover talents Scott McNeil (Full Metal Alchemist, Inuyasha, X-Men) and Jim Byrnes (Highlander –TV series), Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is produced by Imagi Animation Studios (TMNT) and Davis-Panzer (Highlander movies and series).  Manga Entertainment and Starz Home Entertainment are backing the DVD release with a multi-tiered marketing campaign featuring online and print advertising, along with a grassroots publicity push.  The DVD release coincides with the 20th Anniversary of the Highlander franchise and will be followed by other Highlander live-action productions, including a theatrical release in September 2007. 

 

The DVD features the song “Sacrament” from Gold artist H.I.M.  Bonus features include:  

·         Widescreen presentation (1.78:1), enhanced for 16×9 TVs·         East Meets West Part #1·         Interview with Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri·         Photo Montage·         Original Teaser by Madhouse 

 

HIGHLANDER:  THE SEARCH FOR VENGEANCEPre-Book Date: April 25, 2007    Street Date: June 5, 2007Cat. #:  ISBN: 0 1313 85043-9 5Running Time: 85 minutes    SRP: $19.98 

 

Manga Entertainment Ltd. is an entertainment company specializing in the production, marketing and distribution of Japanese animation for theatrical, television, Internet, DVD and home video release worldwide.  The Manga film library is marketed and distributed in the U.S. through Starz Home Entertainment.  The company is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in London and Tokyo.  Manga is a division of Starz Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Group. Starz Media, LLC, is a programming production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming — including theatrical films — and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group, www.starz.com. 

Peter Davis and William Panzer formed their production company in 1975 with the production of their first film, “Death Collector” starring Joe Pesci.  Since that time they have produced films for directors Sam Peckinpah (Robert Ludlum’s “The Osterman Weekend”) and Abel Ferrara (Elmore Leonard’s “Cat Chaser”) among many others.  In 1986, they produced “Highlander”, directed by the ground breaking Russell Mulcahy, which became an instant world wide cult classic and formed the basis for an extraordinary successful franchise.  Davis / Panzer expanded Highlander’s film success into television (2 series; 7 seasons; 141 episodes), animation, 5 feature films, video games (SCI – Eidos), and an award winning merchandising program (Echo Award for best world wide consumer catalog).  

Imagi Animation Studios was established in 2000 when Imagi International Holdings Limited, a listed company (stock code 585) on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, entered the animation business. Subsequently a creative development and production facility was set up in Los Angeles as well as a satellite office in Tokyo. The company produces major animated movies for global audiences, including the recent release TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). www.imagi.com.hk