Central Park Media
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | multimedia entertainment |
| Genre | anime, East Asian films, hentai, manga, manwha, yaoi |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | John O'Donnell |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
Area served | United States |
| Owner | John O'Donnell |
| Divisions | US Manga Corps, Software Sculptors, Asia Pulp Cinema, CPM Press, Adult 18 |
| Website | http://www.centralparkmedia.com |
Central Park Media is an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York that is active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga, and manwha titles in North America.
History
Central Park Media was founded in 1990 by John O'Donnell as an anime supplier, and branched out into manga and manwha publications in 1994.
Recent financial problems
On May 26, 2006, Central Park Media laid off many of its employees, and rumors erupted that the company was planning to declare bankruptcy, supported by a statement from a representative at the Anime Boston convention. The following Monday the company's managing director issued a statement acknowledging the lay-offs and attributing the cost-cutting to creditor problems following the January bankruptcy of the Musicland group[1]. Currently, the company has continued to set release dates for new titles, and appears to have no plans to file for bankruptcy.
The previous year, in 2005, CPM discontinued their CPM Manga and CPM Manhwa line, also due to monetary problems. But CPM representatives have said that they have now relaunched their Manga and Manhwa lines as of January 2006.[2]
On March 19, 2007, Japanese Yaoi Publisher Libre posted a notice on its website saying that CPM's Be Beautiful division was illegally translating and selling their properties. The titles in question were originally licensed to CPM by Japanese publisher Biblos which was bought out by Libre in 2006 after a bankruptcy.[3]
As of 2008 Central Park Media is in "hibernation", they have not released or re-released a DVD sense early 2007. [4]. Officialy they have plans to re-release some older titles in the future. [5] Currently Central Park Media still licenses it's anime for American television and VOD, and many of it's shows are available through itunes. [6] Recently some anime series and OVA's licensed by Central Park Media have aired on the Sci-Fi Channel. [7]
Divisions
Asia Pulp Cinema
East-Asian film distribution division.
US Manga Corps
US Manga Corps is the anime distribution division for Central Park Media, and one of the older North American anime distributors. The USMC mascot is MD Geist, a popular anime from the 90s.
Software Sculptors
Another anime distribution division.
CPM Press
- For a list of titles distributed by CPM Press, browse the CPM Press category
Formerly CPM Comics, this is the manga and manhwa publication division. Manga titles are published under the label CPM Manga, and manhwa under CPM Manhwa. CPM also had an adult division under CPM Press known as Bear Bare Press which largely published Americanized versions of some of their Anime 18 releases such as La Blue Girl. This division started in 1996 and folded the same year releasing only La Blue Girl and Demon Beast Invasion.[citation needed]
Anime 18
- For a list of titles distributed by Anime 18, browse the Anime 18 category
Anime 18, A18 for short, is Central Park Media's hentai distribution division. A18 releases its titles under several labels, with the main label, Anime 18, used for hentai anime, Manga 18, for manga and manwha hentai, and Be Beautiful Manga for yaoi manga. Some A18 titles are also being re-released under the Anime HotShots label.
See also
References
External links
- Official website
- Central Park Media ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia