Anchor Bay Films revs up with acquisition of "REDLINE"

ANCHOR BAY FILMS WINS WITH ITS ACQUISITION OF KATSUHITO ISHII’S EXHILARATING ANIMATED RACING FILM "REDLINE"

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- Anchor Bay Films announced today the acquisition of Katsuhito Ishii’s REDLINE with all rights in North America, the U.K. as well as Australia and New Zealand.  The film will be released under Anchor Bay’s Manga brand this fall.   Written by Katsuhito Ishii (director of The Taste of Tea, Funky Forest, Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl and the anime segment of Kill Bill Vol.1) and directed by the up-and-coming Takeshi Koike, who participated in the “World Record” segment of Animatrix (2003), REDLINE was seven years in the making and proudly demonstrates the new possibilities of 2D animation, amidst the current prominence of 3D animation.  Bill Clark, President of Anchor Bay Entertainment, made the announcement. 

Additionally, REDLINE has received rave reviews even from those admittedly not anime fans.  From its premiere at Fantastic Fest, Harry Knowles said “REDLINE should not be missed, everyone came out smiling and happy. FANTASTIC!”  He called it the “…coolest Speed Racer ever…and that counts the Wachowski film.”  AnimeNewsNetwork.com called it “… the most insanely exciting, visually exhilarating anime film you've seen in decades. Incredible fun!”

REDLINE is a racing film created by studio Madhouse (Paprika, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars). REDLINE is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car - all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee - but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race?

About Anchor Bay Films
Anchor Bay Films is unique in that it offers the creative community a fully integrated distribution capability on all platforms and an international solution extending beyond the U.S.  Anchor Bay Films is a division of Anchor Bay Entertainment and is on the ground providing quality distribution with operations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, as well as distribution capabilities in other key territories. The company focuses on a platform release strategy for its films with an eye toward maximizing their potential across all ancillary distribution platforms. The company recently released Kill the Irishman starring Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer and Vincent D’Onofrio and Meet Monica Velour with Kim Cattrall.  Also in its library is the critically acclaimed comedy City Island starring Andy Garcia and Solitary Man starring Michael Douglas.  Soon to be in theatres is Toronto International Film Festival award-winner Beautiful Boy with Maria Bello and Michael Sheen.  Anchor Bay Entertainment is a subsidiary of Starz Media, LLC (www.starzmedia.com) which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group.