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Warner Bros. Japan to Produce Over Ten Anime Per Year As Company's Japanese studio Output Doubles; DEETs Inside
Warner Bros. Discovery president of Asia-Pacific James Gibbons stated that the company's Japanese anime studio will produce more than 10 titles per year.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been involved with the making of some anime series, like Record of Ragnarok and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, through their Japanese studio. So far they have more than 80 anime titles under their belt, and because they’re seeing plenty of success, Warner Bros. Discovery wants to up the amount of anime it makes.
Warner Bros. Japan will be producing 10 anime per year
During an interview with Variety on Friday, 22nd March, Warner Bros. Discovery president of Asia-Pacific James Gibbons stated that the company's Japanese anime studio will produce more than 10 titles per year as opposed to its output of five to 10 titles in past years.
Gibbons said, “We have a Japanese anime studio, which has been producing five or ten anime series per year, over the last few years. We’ve approved expansion to take that to more than ten series per year.”
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He continued, “We’ve sold them to third parties. That has been one of the metrics. And they are doing very well. And, so, because we see the appeal of the category, we are expanding it. Anime is one of the best ways to reach the 18 to 30-year-old audience, which is incredibly elusive. Globally, albeit not in every market, but certainly in the U.S., parts of Europe and Latin America, we’ve got strong anime audiences.”
The company's anime studio launched in 2011 and has produced over 80 titles including JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Record of Ragnarok, and SPY x FAMILY.
Gibbons further added, "There is Japanese anime that comes from original IP. But there’s also anime that comes from elsewhere. And we’ve looked at our DC universe and said, ‘Can we take these characters and reinvent them in world of world of anime,’ which is not straightforward because you have to do it the right way. You have to work with the right studios to make it happen and to build your fan base."
Warner Bros. Japan, a production company under Warner Bros. Discovery, is involved in anime properties like Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It also handles live-action film productions of Japanese properties like Godzilla, Rurouni Kenshin, Gintama, and Death Note. Warner Bros.
Japan recently announced a new anime adaptation of Fist of the North Star and is currently producing the original Suicide Squad ISEKAI anime with Wit Studio.
Warner Bros. Japan and WIT Studio are preparing to release Suicide Squad ISEKAI, an original anime series based on the DC characters. Directed by Osada Eri and written by Nagatsuki Tappei, the series will release in Japan in July, with international markets expected closer to the year end.
The story sees Amanda Waller, the head of A.R.G.U.S., assemble a group of notorious DC criminals Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface and King Shark for a mission into an otherworldly realm full of swords and magic and where orcs rampage and dragons rule the skies.
"We see strong growth for the genre, increasing reach and relevance not only for Asian audiences but globally,” a WBD spokesman said.
Aside from anime, James Gibbons stated that the group is interested in collaborating with other Asian content categories including Japanese scripted content, Korean drama series, and Chinese-language content.
explained that Korean series are a known quantity with “very well-defined pricing” for the rights. “[Korean content is a very important category, a really important part of streaming in APAC and, increasingly, around the world [..] but it is a mature market. So, the way that we access that will be different compared to, for example, Chinese content, which is a much newer category. [Chinese shows account for] a smaller percentage of consumption in APAC right now. But it certain markets it is growing pretty fast.”
The conglomerate has plans to finally bring its Max streaming product into East Asia, where a stopgap HBO Go service continues to operate. Gibbons also said that Max will provide content and operational improvements.
"For Southeast Asia, we will be launching with a much broader content proposition. Even though we have HBO Go now doesn’t mean we’ve made the entire library available. So, first, there’ll be much deeper access to what we already have. In addition, the entire factual side of the business will come online. That’s not there at all [on HBO Go]."
He further added, "We’ll also expand the kids part of it. And in addition, we’re going to take a strategic, defined approach on the Asian content side. So, when you add all that together, plus a dramatically improved tech stack, I think that we’ll have a brand new service.”
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