Does Funimation Really Have the Dragon Box Master For Movies

[rs_chaosmaster]

I Know when they announced acquiring the dragon boxes back in 2009 that they also said they have the movie masters. But this raises serious questions why would Funimation pay for the licensing rights and not release them. Their is no way this was cheap and I find it hard to believe that a company this business oriented would waste such money. Anyone think that they are saving them for one their is a dragon ball drought of content and they need something to release from their cash cow franchise?? Or do you now think it's not going to happen. Keep in mind Blu-Ray is an option

[Zestanor]

My optimistic and trusting assumption is that they don't want to release the Z movies without the DB movies, and so they are holding out. Honestly, I would rather have a complete movie Dragon Box than one for Z and never have the DB movies see the light of day. If they are thinking like me, then that's why they haven't released it. But do they think like me? ... I don't think it's the case that they were deceptive about having the movies, though.

[RocktheDragon]

Well I didn't even know/am not sure they even have the Dragon Box master for the movies? If someone could clarify this claim that'd be great because I remember there being questions to whether Funimation even has the Dragon Ball masters to work from.

If they did/do have the movie masters then I'd hope they'd be waiting for a BD release, or that's something I would want at the least. I have no knowledge about Funimation's releases for DBZ movies so I need to look into that a bit more in detail.

[rs_chaosmaster]

Original Funimation Announcement Post:

Produced From THE Original Dragon Ball Z Masters, Available on DVD in November


Flower Mound, TX – July 18, 2009 -- FUNimation Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, today announces that it has acquired the original masters for the entire Dragon Ball Z anime series, episodes and films, and will release all as the Dragon Box for the first time in the U.S. The first of seven Dragon Boxes will be available at major retailers nationwide this Fall.

The Dragon Box will be produced from the original Dragon Box masters after a frame by frame restoration and will span the entire 291 episode television series and all 13 of its movies.
This definitive DVD box release begins with Dragon Box One which includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, on 6 discs.

[TheBlackPaladin]

My guess is that they have the masters, but that the Dragon Boxes for the TV series haven't sold enough to warrant releasing the movie sets.

[superrayman3]

My guess is that they have the masters, but that the Dragon Boxes for the TV series haven't sold enough to warrant releasing the movie sets.

As it's been pointed out in the past FUNimation has never released any sales numbers for the Dragon Box's so we can't really say for certain that the DBOX's didn't sell well, but when you consider the amount of demand the DBOX's still have, one could make the assumption that the DBOX's actually sold relatively well, or at least to FUNimations expectations, my guess is FUNimation's waiting for an announcement of them acquiring BOG (whenever that may be) to release the movie DBOX.

[rs_chaosmaster]

Logical Thought and that would make sense

[Big Momma]

Yeah I still don't understand why people are saying they didn't sell "well enough". I mean, I guess we don't/may never know for sure...but it definitely doesn't seem that way.

I'm with Zest on this, though. They may just be waiting for the DB-movies for a more complete collection. However, I'd personally be fine if they only ever released the Z movies. I already have the FUNimation collection of the DB-movies anyway.

[MarcFBR]

Them having the masters sort of doesn't matter if they aren't releasing it to be honest.

[Gotham22]

My bet is Funimation is waiting and trying to get the masters of the films from the original series and the rights to Battle of Gods.

[kei17]

Whether or not they have access to the masters, it's already 2014. The value and meaning of a movie DBox release are getting less and less. I wouldn't buy a DVD release of movies on 35mm film just for better audio and the original titles and credits. We're living in the HD era.

[sangofe]

My guess is that they have the masters, but that the Dragon Boxes for the TV series haven't sold enough to warrant releasing the movie sets.

Sold enough? Wait, what? But they were limited editions that weren't produced in large enough scale...

[MarcFBR]

Sold enough? Wait, what? But they were limited editions that weren't produced in large enough scale...

The fact you can still find ANY of them at this point, 2 and a half years after the last one was done, generally says they made enough.

[dbboxkaifan]

Whether or not they have access to the masters, it's already 2014. The value and meaning of a movie DBox release are getting less and less. I wouldn't buy a DVD release of movies on 35mm film just for better audio and the original titles and credits. We're living in the HD era.

If FUNimation released the films on Blu-ray in 4x3 AR that would be spectacular but they've already done it once and it was widescreen so the only option really are their DBZ Movie Singles on DVD for it. I know that 4x3 AR wasn't the intended aspect ratio for the films but I just like seeing it with the whole picture uncropped.

I'd still buy US Dragon Box: The Movies (a 2-pack release?) day one if they were to publish it.

[ABED]

As it's been pointed out in the past FUNimation has never released any sales numbers for the Dragon Box's so we can't really say for certain that the DBOX's didn't sell well, but when you consider the amount of demand the DBOX's still have,

Demand is willingness to pay, not just want. I don't know if that's what you mean, but just wanted to make it clear.

[One-time_at-bandcamp]

What about the last release of the movies FUNi did? Where they DBox masters or "remastered'? I haven't watched these particular DVDs, so I'm not sure.

[VegettoEX]

What about the last release of the movies FUNi did? Where they DBox masters or "remastered'? I haven't watched these particular DVDs, so I'm not sure.

The box sets of the movie DVDs were the same FUNimation internal remaster as the double-feature/steelbook release DVDs/Blu-rays. There have only been the single DVD releases and the double-features in terms of numbers of video sources.

[sangofe]

Sold enough? Wait, what? But they were limited editions that weren't produced in large enough scale...

The fact you can still find ANY of them at this point, 2 and a half years after the last one was done, generally says they made enough.

You, as all others, know that certain boxes were not produced in large enough quantity. For what other reasons would they be impossible to find new and insanely overpriced on the second hand market?

[TheGreatness25]

Maybe they're working on a Blu-ray release of them. Like instead of upscaling their film to Blu-ray, they're working on that for the Dragon Box masters? At this point, it wouldn't be feasible to release the Dragon Box movies on DVD. There are way too many versions of the movies out already. The appeal of the series was that it was like, "finally we have a great release of Z that looks great and is uncropped!" They don't have that leverage with the films.

They probably acquired these as part of their purchase of the series in one big bundle. I don't think they ever cared enough to buy the movies themselves.

[MarcFBR]

Sold enough? Wait, what? But they were limited editions that weren't produced in large enough scale...

The fact you can still find ANY of them at this point, 2 and a half years after the last one was done, generally says they made enough.

You, as all others, know that certain boxes were not produced in large enough quantity. For what other reasons would they be impossible to find new and insanely overpriced on the second hand market?

Let me clarify, when I say 'any' I don't mean all, I mean that you can still find at least one of them now.

With a product with a deemed rareness you should at best be able to stumble into a local store and see one for sale and be like 'oh wow, I didn't know any of these were still out there.' In the case of the Dboxes, you could still find most of them for an extended period of time for retail or below.

It's not on the level of some of Bandai's LEs still being findable despite the company being gone for a few years at this point (I mean, how much did they overprint those Haruhi LEs? You can still find MOST of them) but at this point.

And insanely overpriced on the second hand market is based on a handful of fans being willing to pay those prices. If a small handful of people didn't pay those prices, the sets wouldn't go for that much.