In an exclusive report released last week on Variety, Warner Bros. Discovery has revealed plans to significantly expand its investment and production of Japanese animation, aiming to produce at least 10 new titles per year through its existing animation studio in Japan.
WBD Asia-Pacific president James Gibbons said that the company has access to its own Japanese animation studio, which has produced “five or ten animated films a year, over the past few years.” ” and his team has “approved an expansion to take that number to more than ten series per year.”
Gibbon points to the success of existing titles on third-party platforms, and series such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Ragnarok Ranking strongly on Netflix's global weekly top 10 list . “Anime is one of the best ways to reach the 18- to 30-year-old audience, which is extremely elusive,” he added. Globally, although not in every market, but certainly in the United States, parts of Europe and Latin America, we have a strong anime audience.”
Warner Bros. Japan's upcoming Suicide Squad ISEKAI release is a recent example of an anime adaptation based on an existing series. Regarding this issue, Gibbons stated:
There are Japanese anime that come from the original IP. But there are also anime from other places. And we looked at our DC universe and said, 'Can we take these characters and recreate them in [một thế giới] anime no', this is not simple because you have to do it properly. You have to work with the right studio to make it happen and build your fan base.
The group also expressed its desire to play an active role in content categories in Asia, such as Korean drama series, Chinese content and Japanese scripted media to a certain extent. determined. Their first step is to bring the Max streaming service into East Asia, where the HBO Go service is temporarily live.
Warner Bros. animation unit. Japan was first established in 2011 under the direction of Warner Bros. Discovery and has participated in several anime works such as Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Food Fight! Shokugeki no Soma and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure among many other titles. The studio has also made Western animated series such as RWBY, Tom and Jerry as well as several works in the DC Universe.
Besides Suicide Squad ISEKAI, Warner Bros. Japan is also continuing work on the upcoming new Fist of the North Star anime adaptation.
Sources: Variety (Patrick Frater), Brew Cartoons (Jamie Lang)