Support NeoGAF

[bitbydeath]

There seems to be some confusion.

Funimation doesn't own ANY of those licenses. They're only distributor.

Sony doesn't magically get rights to Dragon Ball etc... to make movies out of.

Who does own the rights for DB movies?

 

[Ridley327]

Who does own the rights for DB movies?

It would have to be negotiated with Bird Studio and Shueisha.

 

[Imperial Bishop]

I don't think this will mess with the Crunchyroll/Funimation partnership.

Sony Television could potentially gain access to a bigger library since Funi is now dubbing CR shows.

 

[neoanarch]

The price I was not expecting. Wow.

 

[zulux21]

They own the rights to the dubs they make and distribution rights. In terms of full on properties, not much, but they probably do have some stake in the ownership of shows like dimension w where they were part of the production committee

actually there is a good chance that funimation don't own the rights to the dub. From what I know a lot of times the people you license the show from also obtain the rights to the dub, you just can sell the product in the country you licensed it for with the dub you made. if you let the rights expire they can license your dub to someone else.

that is why funimation has released stuff with the old ADV dubs that they saved and why skip beat will have the dub in the EU release even though pied pipper had nothing to do with the EU release.

but in general I doubt this will effect the crunchy/funi alliance as it benefits both companies quite a bit.
if sony still owns the rights to blood+ perhaps we will finally see a proper new release of it.

 

[Sponge]

Uh oh

 

[Linkark07]

Doubt it.

There's other companies in other parts of the world like Europe and Australia picking up the licenses and I dunno if they'd want to expand their business outside of NA. We'll see though.

Surprisingly, everybody ignores LatAm. Funimation could expand at least here, and yet they ignore us. So, yeah, besides Crunchyroll, we don't have anything else.

That said, I remember we had Animax in Latin America, which belonged to Sony. So there is a possibility Sony will not forget us.

Spoiler

Please, don't forget us Sony

 

[Strimei]

actually there is a good chance that funimation don't own the rights to the dub. From what I know a lot of times the people you license the show from also obtain the rights to the dub, you just can sell the product in the country you licensed it for with the dub you made. if you let the rights expire they can license your dub to someone else.

that is why funimation has released stuff with the old ADV dubs that they saved and why skip beat will have the dub in the EU release even though pied pipper had nothing to do with the EU release.

but in general I doubt this will effect the crunchy/funi alliance as it benefits both companies quite a bit.
if sony still owns the rights to blood+ perhaps we will finally see a proper new release of it.

Similarly, shows that FUNi lost, such as many Aniplex shows (i.e. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), have had the dubs go along with it.

 

[_Ryo_]

I dont know if this is good or bad tbh. Does Funimation have any game studios like Adult Swim has? Could there be potential Sony exclusve anime games?

Also I thought Sony Pictures were tanking. Are they doing this out of desperation?

 

[dracula_x]

Hopefully Sony can use its influence to bring One Piece to Europe. It's ridiculous that there is no legal way to stream that show here.

Yep.

Oh God, they ARE making an Emoji anime...

more like Breaking Bad and The Get Down

 

[kaskade]

Hopefully Sony, kind of just leaves them alone or just gives them more money to do what they want to do. Funimation being the place for dubs and Crunchyroll being the place for subs is a good setup. I'm not a huge Anime guy but I've had a Funimation sub and I'm enjoying their content.

Spoiler

Probably makes me an anime guy now

 

[killer rin]

Fuck! I wanted Funimation to get closer to Crunchyroll, not further away.

I'm calling it now, Sony is going to use this as an excuse to move further apart, maybe not renew the deal they currently have to jointly bid on titles and share a library and force us back into a situation where we'll need to subscribe to yet another service once again. $10 if they also follow along on the trend of screwing over Canada by purchasing entire North American Licenses and not releasing it in the fucking region.

 

[jstripes]

Change the name, Sony.

Funimation sounds like a company that produces cartoons for little kids.

 

[MikeHattsu]

I dont know if this is good or bad tbh. Does Funimation have any game studios like Adult Swim has? Could there be potential Sony exclusve anime games?

They don't have any rights to produce any games, movies, or what have you (in most cases). They (in most cases) only have rights to distribute the anime in the US and make dubs for those animes.

 

[Ridley327]

Change the name, Sony.

Funimation sounds like a company that produces cartoons for little kids.

Like Dragon Ball?

I don't see how or why changing their name benefits anyone. Funimation has been a top brand for anime distribution for over 20 years. Why throw that away?

 

[jstripes]

Like Dragon Ball?

I don't see how or why changing their name benefits anyone. Funimation has been a top brand for anime distribution for over 20 years. Why throw that away?

Like Attack on Titan?

I've hated the name for 20 years.

 

[- J - D -]

Hope this results in improvements to the Funimation mobile app.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Any chance Adult Swim/Toonami loses DBS and Kai?

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

actually there is a good chance that funimation don't own the rights to the dub. From what I know a lot of times the people you license the show from also obtain the rights to the dub, you just can sell the product in the country you licensed it for with the dub you made. if you let the rights expire they can license your dub to someone else.

that is why funimation has released stuff with the old ADV dubs that they saved and why skip beat will have the dub in the EU release even though pied pipper had nothing to do with the EU release.

but in general I doubt this will effect the crunchy/funi alliance as it benefits both companies quite a bit.
if sony still owns the rights to blood+ perhaps we will finally see a proper new release of it.

Basically how it works is that the Distributor (in this case Funimation) will negotiate with the parent compant to license the series for ____ amount of years. This usual entails getting the rights to dub, stream, tv broadcast, etc.

Once the license is up for renewal, the Parent Company and Distributor will have to renegotiate a new licensing term.

• In some cases, the Parent Company will choose not to allow a renewal, which is why Funimation lost all those Aniplex titles like Baccano and FullMetal Alchemist, because Aniplex decided to start handling their own home video releases internally.
• In other cases, you have licenses that go into limbo because the Distributor went out of business like ADV, and another Distributor scoops up those rights.
• Or you get the Distributor who decides not to renew because they found the IP not to be profitable enough so they let it go (like Sentai seems to be doing with Gintama).

 

[AAMARMO]

Looks like we getting a Knack Anime right?

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

I wonder how this'll effect VRV and Funimation's partneship with Crunchyroll.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

Any chance Adult Swim/Toonami loses DBS and Kai?

In order to move them...where?

 

[BlackLagoon]

Hopefully this works out better for Sony than Navarre. Also maybe Funimation will stop ignoring Europe now.

 

[black070]

Y'all already got your Dragon Ball Z movie.

 

[zulux21]

Any chance Adult Swim/Toonami loses DBS and Kai?

about the same chance that adult swim loses the venture bros and rick and morty?

I mean they have contracts in place, and there really isn't another place to move them.
plus there is a good chance the contract with toonami is through toei not funimation as if it was funimation's choice they would have put both on there a long time ago.

 

[Nappuccino]

If Sony were a competent studio, I might be excited for another Cowboy Bebop movie.

 

[Hellsing321]

I hope this doesn't fuck with VRV.

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

Also, another misconception to clear up: Funimation is now owned by Sony's Television Branch, not their Motion Picture one. So stuff like The Emoji movie sucking has absolutely no baring on this.

 

[zulux21]

If Sony were a competent studio, I might be excited for another Cowboy Bebop movie.

again buying of funimation has no effect on what shows or movies will be created.
funimation doesn't own any IPs they license the shows for release only.

 

[GabeTheGrouch76]

That may be significant.

https://twitter.com/nemalki/status/892152739630919680

In the initial announcement, it's telling that Sony Pictures Television are including Funimation in the same breath as ANIMAX & Kids Station
6:39 PM - 31 Jul 2017

If that means SPE is going to run Funimation like they do with Animax (which they co-founded / co-own / holds shares in); I can't see that being good.

For the uninitiated--Animax is an international streaming and television network that is entirely dedicated to broadcasting anime and is available worldwide. Which on the surface is pretty cool, but in reality Animax can't manage any of its international networks outside Asia to save its soul (there is a reason Animax has an entire section dedicated to them in TV Tropes' Network Decay -- Total Abandonment page).

 

[FinaruDensetsu]

Since Aniplex Bluray discs are crazy expensive and they were owned by Sony does that mean Funimation Bluray sets will be $200+ now too?

 

[Ridley327]

Since Aniplex Bluray discs are crazy expensive and they were owned by Sony does that mean Funimation Bluray sets will be $200+ now too?

Probably not. Aniplex targets a more specific nice in the anime community with their releases, while Funimation has always been about keeping their releases mainstream-friendly. Funimation is the kind of company that Walmart is happy to carry at their stores.

 

[LaNaranja]

Please don't fuck with Funimation or raise the price for a subscription.

 

[FinaruDensetsu]

Probably not. Aniplex targets a more specific nice in the anime community with their releases, while Funimation has always been about keeping their releases mainstream-friendly. Funimation is the kind of company that Walmart is happy to carry at their stores.

Ah I hope you're right.

 

[Gitaroo]

I hope this means US getting UHD version of Kimi no na wa and soon.

 

[geomon]

Sony, please fix Funimation's apps, PLEASE!!!

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

If that means SPE is going to run Funimation like they do with Animax (which they co-founded / co-own / holds shares in); I can't see that being good.

For the uninitiated--Animax is an international streaming and television network that is entirely dedicated to broadcasting anime and is available worldwide. Which on the surface is pretty cool, but in reality Animax can't manage any of its international networks outside Asia to save its soul (there is a reason Animax has an entire section dedicated to them in TV Tropes' Network Decay -- Total Abandonment page).

Funimation doesn't really have a TV network - they're streaming, DVD/BDs, and a little film distribution - so I can't see the same things that happened to Animax LA/Spain/Hungary described there in terms of shifting focus away from anime to live action happening to Funimation.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Hopefully this makes it easier for me to watch certain animes.

 

[Ridley327]

Funimation doesn't really have a TV network - they're streaming, DVD/BDs, and a little film distribution - so I can't see the same things that happened to Animax LA/Spain/Hungary described there in terms of shifting focus away from anime to live action happening to Funimation.

I imagine that a major selling point for Funi has been the fact that they're rather self-sufficient, so the amount of resources that a company buying them would need to spend on top of the sale price are rather minimal. I expect that it's going to be largely business as usual, outside of what Sony has in mind for the future of their digital offerings once their contracts expire with whomever they had been working with.

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

I imagine that a major selling point for Funi has been the fact that they're rather self-sufficient, so the amount of resources that a company buying them would need to spend on top of the sale price are rather minimal. I expect that it's going to be largely business as usual, outside of what Sony has in mind for the future of their digital offerings once their contracts expire with whomever they had been working with.

Sony was actually the company that Funimation was partnering with for their Streaming.

 

[Boke1879]

Man seeing some of these comments and some don't know how this works.

If anything I can see them offering a lot of this on Vue. Or maybe Sony wants a bit of the cut off DVD/Blu Ray/streaming sales.

 

[Ridley327]

Sony was actually the company that Funimation was partnering with for their Streaming.

I knew that, but more about how they're going to go about it once everything is under wraps. As I mentioned, they would be a rather attractive addition to their Vue offerings, since they really don't have anything like it in any of their packages.

 

[AudioEppa]

Looks like we getting a Knack Anime right?

Hopefully!

 

[zulux21]

I knew that, but more about how they're going to go about it once everything is under wraps. As I mentioned, they would be a rather attractive addition to their Vue offerings, since they really don't have anything like it in any of their packages.

yeah, personally I was expecting them to push funimation stuff to vue, and maybe up their presence on the psn video store.

beyond that I can't imagine them doing to much to change funimation stuff.

if anything it will likely be a good thing. I know funimation was looking to build a second dubbing studio in california to be able to include that vocal talent in their dubs easier and increase how fast they were making dubs as well as the quantity. Perhaps sony will help fund that.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

There seems to be some confusion.

Funimation doesn't own ANY of those licenses. They're only distributor.

Sony doesn't magically get rights to Dragon Ball etc... to make movies out of.

That's exactly right. Those distribution/licensing deals can also be gone when it's up for bidding. If funimation owned all those IPs, the purchase price would not have been 143MM.

I think this is a decent purchase for Sony though, once again the TV side is the only decent side of SPE.

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

yeah, personally I was expecting them to push funimation stuff to vue, and maybe up their presence on the psn video store.

beyond that I can't imagine them doing to much to change funimation stuff.

if anything it will likely be a good thing. I know funimation was looking to build a second dubbing studio in california to be able to include that vocal talent in their dubs easier and increase how fast they were making dubs as well as the quantity. Perhaps sony will help fund that.

That'd be awesome, especially with their shonen series like Super and MHA about to have a massive increase in new characters in their later arcs.

 

[vinnygambini]

Who does own the rights for DB movies?

If I'm not mistaken 20th Century Fox & Toei Animation (on behalf of Shueisha and Bird Studio)

https://www.funimation.com/blog/201...-acquisition-of-dragon-ball-z-resurrection-f/

 

[zulux21]

That'd be awesome, especially with their shonen series like Super and MHA about to have a massive increase in new characters in their later arcs.

yeah it would be, especially since some of their old voice actors are in LA now and some older series are getting new seasons (such as FMP)

that being said I haven't seen anything more about a new recording studio since I heard about it from one of their voice actors at a con I was at last year.

but rumors of them being bought out have been going on for months (sony has been rumored since at least may and others before that) so that likely would have stalled a major purchase such as a new studio.

 

[Imperial Bishop]

Sony, please fix Funimation's apps, PLEASE!!!

Prepare for a bunch of stability updates.

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

Funimation released their official statement on their blog:

Founder Gen Fukunaga started Funimation with a vision and a mission to make anime as accessible as possible to fans across the world. In the 23 years since we began, we have been committed to creating anime experiences fans love: from bringing Dragon Ball to the U.S., to bringing the best anime to home video and theaters, to SimulDubs that bring episodes in English to fans within two weeks after they air in Japan, to the world’s largest dubbed streaming catalog on FunimationNow.

Today, we announced that Funimation has agreed to sell a substantial majority stake to Sony Pictures Television Networks (SPTN). SPTN is one of the preeminent names in entertainment, and shares our vision to deliver anime to fans globally across all screens and platforms.

We know you have questions and we’ve answered some of them below. We encourage you to read these answers and thank you for your support and for watching!


Will the Funimation team change?
Currently, our plan is for Funimation to operate as it has to date. Gen will remain CEO, and the team will continue to deliver the best anime experiences we can to you.

Is this a partnership, merger, or an acquisition?
Funimation has agreed to sell a substantial majority stake to Sony Pictures Television Networks.

How is this acquisition related to Aniplex?
This transaction does not involve Aniplex.

What does this mean for your products and services?
Funimation remains committed to making our physical and digital products as accessible to fans as possible and we have no plans to change pricing and placement of our physical or digital product. FunimationNow will remain the same price and will be available in all of its current territories.

Will this delay the release of any content?
There will be no impact to our SimulDub, home video release or theatrical schedules.

Will this affect the production or quality of dubs coming from Funimation?
Funimation will always strive to honor the intent of the Japanese creators in our productions. There will be no changes to our translation, script writing, voice actors or production staff. We will be keeping our production facilities in Texas so we can continue to bring SimulDubs to you within two weeks of the Japanese broadcast date.

Does this mean Funimation will be buying more or less anime?
Funimation remains committed to bringing you the biggest and best English dubbed anime library, along with new seasons of SimulDubs within two weeks of their broadcast in Japan.

How does this affect my FunimationNow subscription?
The FunimationNow service remains the same – there will be no change in your subscription terms, pricing or content availability.

Does this mean Funimation content will be available on Crackle or Playstation Vue?
We have always tried to make our content accessible as widely as possible for our fans and will continue to do so. This does not change the FunimationNow service.

What does this mean for fans outside of the U.S.?
We are already delivering anime to fans in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand through FunimationNow. Service to these regions will not change because of this deal.

tl;dr: a whole lot of business as usual, nothing is immediately changing.