New York, NY (July 10, 2006) - Leading North American anime publisher Central Park Media announced today that its highly anticipated computer-generated monster movie Negadon: The Monster From Mars along with Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek and Cat Soup, two additional award-winning Central Park Media films, will play for a limited theatrical run at the Alamo Mason Park Cinema in the Houston suburb of Katy at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, July 12, 2006.

“We’ve seen a very positive response to the films’ run thus far, and we’re delighted to expand Negadon, Kakurenbo, and Cat Soup to additional cities,” Director of Business Development Newton Grant said.  “We hope that all the anime, animation, and independent film fans will take this opportunity to witness three of Japan’s most stunning animations during this limited engagement at the Alamo Mason Park Cinema.”

Fans should visit www.alamodrafthouse.com for more information.

About Negadon: The Monster From Mars:
Directed by Jun Awazu from his original script and rendered in staggeringly realistic computer graphics, Negadon: The Monster From Mars pays homage to a wide variety of 1950's and 60's Japanese monster movies such as Godzilla, Mothra, and other classics which first brought global attention to Japan's then-emerging post-war feature film industry. Negadon, the world's first completely computer-generated monster movie, was in production for almost three years and required the invention of special rendering algorithms to reproduce a 1950's style look. Unleashed in Japan in October 2005, Negadon won the Outstanding Production Award at the 2006 Digital Contents Grand Prix and was named a Jury Recommended Work at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival. Central Park Media will be releasing Negadon this summer on DVD.  Run time: 26 minutes.

For more information about Negadon, visit www.negadonattacks.com.  In addition, visit www.negadonattacks.com/gallery.html for downloadable artwork and www.negadonattacks.com/press/ for the Negadon electronic press kit.

About Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek:
The first film from the studio YAMATOWORKS, Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is a revolutionary computer-generated horror film with the look and feel of traditional, hand drawn animation.  Kakurenbo tells the story of a taboo game of hide & seek between children and monsters and a boy, Hikora, who plays this forbidden game to find his sister.  Kakurenbo won the Outstanding Production Award at the 2005 Tokyo Anime Fair and Best Short Film at the 2005 Fantasia Film Festival.  For more on Kakurenbo, visit www.centralparkmedia.com/kakurenbo. Run time: 25 minutes.

About Cat Soup:
When little kitten Nyaako’s soul is stolen by Death, she and her brother Nyatta embark on a bizarre journey to reclaim it. In the surreal dreamscape of the Other Side, they encounter fantastic characters and remarkable, often disturbing adventures. From a hallucinatory sea voyage to a rambunctious carnival, the two kittens travel far from home and discover just how strange life and death can be.  Cat Soup won the Excellence Award at the 2001 Japan Media Arts Festival and Best Short Film at the 2001 Fantasia Film Festival.  For more on Cat Soup, visit www.centralparkmedia.com/catsoup. Run time: 34 minutes.

About Central Park Media:
Central Park Media is a 16-year-old Manhattan-based independent video and book publisher focused on Japanese and Korean animation and graphic novels.  Central Park Media has been a leading supplier of anime in the United States since 1990, and a major publisher of manga since 1994.  The company currently manufactures and distributes animated video programming under several label names, including US Manga Corps, Be Beautiful, Software Sculptors and Central Park Media, as well as live-action Asian feature films under its Asia Pulp Cinema label. 
 

With exclusive rights to hundreds of graphic novels, the company has become a leading North American publisher of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa.  Among CPM's fan-favorite graphic novel titles are Lee Hyun Se's Nambul (the best-selling manhwa in Korean publishing history), and Kia Asamiya's Dark Angel.  Under its Be Beautiful imprint, the company also publishes popular yaoi manga such as the best-selling Kizuna: Bonds of Love (the best-selling yaoi title in Japanese publishing history).  Visit www.centralparkmedia.com, www.cpmpress.com and www.bebeautifulmanga.com for more information.