Warner Bros. Discovery is making a big anime push by expanding its investment and production of Japanese anime through its studio in Japan. They are seeing a lot of success with their anime projects and they want more. This news comes as they are planning to release its DC anime series Suicide Squad ISEKAI.
James Gibbons, WBD president of Asia-Pacific said in a statement: “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.”
The anime studio launched in 2011 and since then they’ve produced over 80 projects that include a mix of high-quality anime, live-action series and movies. Some of these projects include JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Record of Ragnarok, and Batman Ninja.
Gibbons went on to explain: “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.”
He continued: “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.”
A studio spokesperson added: “We see strong growth for the genre, increasing reach and relevance not only for Asian audiences but globally.”
Some great anime projects have come out of this studio and it’ll be interesting to see what future anime projects come from the studio after the Suicide Squad ISEKAI is released.
Source: Variety
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