Sony And Universal Pictures Interested In Buying Funimation To Acquire Dragon Ball Franchise
May 7th, 2017: With the recent success of movies that were inspired by famous anime and manga stories, Hollywood plans to capitalize on this by buying more intellectual property.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Sony Pictures and Universal studios are interested in buying Funimation studios. The studio has been making millions in terms of Anime DVD sales and it is also behind the distribution of many iconic anime movies like "Your name".
Funimation is also the owner of anything related to the Dragon ball series. The show is a hugely profitable global franchise with shows running till this date.
Funimation studios replied with the following statement when asked about the sudden interest by Hollywood studios.
"The Funimation management team is more immediately focused on continuing to create compelling experiences for anime fans through physical, digital/streaming and theatrical efforts with goals of continuing to expand globally and maximizing shareholder value"
Although the sale of Funimation might prove profitable to Sony Pictures and Universal studios, fans, on the other hand, are not at all happy about the move.
Many feel that Hollywood is inadequate in adapting manga and anime to real life feature films unlike Funimation, due to the horrible backlash faced by previous anime attempts like the live action Dragon Ball movie, released a few years ago.
The move to acquire Funimation comes after a recent report that claims that manga and animes have surpassed U.S comic book sales in America.
Funimation is a well-established brand that has a lot going in favor of it, including hugely popular shows and long-running anime and manga stories.
Funimation has worked hard towards building such a prominent brand in the market of Anime and Manga and should think twice before selling of the Studios to Sony Pictures and Universal studios.