STACK #262 August 2026

MOVIE FEATURE

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STACK ’S TOP 20 MADMAN PICKS

YEARS OF MADNESS!

1. Seven Samurai 2. Kenny 3. Chopper 4. Leon the Professional 5. Parasite 6. Pig 7. Power Ballad 8. Nightcrawler 9. Hunt for the Wilderpeople 10. Paris, Texas 11. Pike River 12. The Zone of Interest 13. Anatomy of a Fall 14. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie 15. Memoir of a Snail 16. Stop Making Sense 17. The Trip

Celebrating 30 years of Madman Entertainment, co-founder and CEO Paul Wiegard reflects on a legacy built alongside film lovers, STACK, and JB Hi-Fi. Words Glenn Cochrane F or 30 years, Madman Entertainment has been one of the driving forces

MADMAN Format milestones:

First VHS: Bubblegum Crisis First DVD: Ghost in the Shell (anime) & The Bank (live action) First Blu-Ray: Transformers: The Movie First 4K: Weathering with You

”I feel like we're having a renaissance period. There's a much greater interest in collectible editions now.” Whether it's the recent restoration of Crocodile Dundee or

behind Australia's home entertainment industry, introducing audiences to everything from cult anime and arthouse cinema to Oscar winners and home-grown classics. Along the way, the company has forged a decades long partnership with JB Hi-Fi and STACK , helping bring those

18. Tina 19. Sirat 20. Flow

upcoming re-releases of Kenny , Animal Kingdom, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople , Madman continues to champion film preservation while reinforcing the enduring

CEO of Madman Entertainment, Paul Wiegard

Asked which releases he's proudest of, Wiegard admits it's almost impossible to choose. ” Parasite has to be one. We've had a long running association with Bong Joon Ho since The Host , and to participate in Parasite was incredible.” He also singles out Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah . ”It has so much to say. The beauty and the tragedy, and Warwick's cinematography is just sublime.” Another standout is That Sugar Film , whose impact continues to be felt in classrooms around the country. ”Damon Gameau's work is still a reference in so many secondary schools. His ability to raise awareness around health was incredibly successful, and that's an in-house production I'm really proud of.” Other personal favourites include What We Do in the Shadows and The Zone of Interest , but it's The Australian Dream that carries particular significance. ”This is Adam Goodes' story, but it's not just his story,” says Wiegard. ”Helping to produce that film and seeing it open the Melbourne International Film Festival, then resonate with audiences across Australia, was incredible. Everything came together, from the story to the artwork. It was just an incredible execution.” Thirty years on, Madman continues to evolve, but its mission remains unchanged: championing great storytelling, supporting filmmakers, and ensuring audiences can discover, revisit, and collect the films that matter. The Australian Dream

stories into homes across the country. ”Our first ever DVD release was Robert Connolly's film The Bank , and JB helped grow the format throughout Australia through its huge

appeal of physical media. ”It's been fantastic going full circle back to films we released ten or 20 years ago,” says Wiegard. ”The restoration work is incredible. We couldn't do it to the degree we're doing now even ten years ago.” Madman's evolution also saw the company

expansion of stores, so we were fortunate,” says Wiegard. ”We were one of their major suppliers and have been ever since. So that in itself is almost 25 years.” Madman has come a long way since distributing

Parasite

become a significant force in Australian production, backing emerging filmmakers while nurturing long-term creative partnerships. Among

manga and anime on VHS. Today, the company spans production, theatrical distribution, digital streaming, and physical media, with Wiegard pointing to the transition from VHS to DVD, Blu ray, and 4K UHD as defining milestones. ”We established a print packaging company back in 2003, which, funnily enough, is the same year JB Hi-Fi went public. Then we established a post-production authoring suite. That gave us the ability to invest more into the products we were distributing.

its notable productions are Animal Kingdom, High Ground, Gold, Pike River, and its enduring collaboration with Academy Award-winning animator Adam Elliot, from Harvie Krumpet through to last year's acclaimed Memoir of a Snail . ”Establishing our own theatrical distribution arm gave us the ability to manage all the rights,” Wiegard explains. ”We've invested in well over half of our productions at the script level, giving us a long-term relationship with those films and filmmakers.”

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The first year of Madman (1996-1997) Every journey starts somewhere, and for Madman it began with the anime Bubblegum Crisis , the company's first VHS release. It soon expanded its horizons

with Terry Zwigoff's acclaimed documentary Crumb and Tony Gatlif's Latcho Drom , its first scripted feature under licence from Potential Films. Then came a defining moment: Neon Genesis Evangelion broke into the mainstream when SBS broadcast the landmark anime immediately after the cultural phenomenon South Park , introducing a whole new generation of Australians to Japanese animation.

12 AUGUST 2026

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