Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

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JohnnyCashKami
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Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

Post by JohnnyCashKami » Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:35 pm

I love how much care and thought FUNimation put into the Dragon Box Z but at the same time it's disappointing they didn't also release Dragon Ball: Dragon Box and Dragon Ball GT: Dragon Box. Those would've been awesome too.

Even though TOEI has remastered the DB and DBZ movies in high definition, I'd not say no to buying a FUNimation edition of Dragon Box: The Movies but.. that's not happening, either.

Shame we only got Z but at least they did that. :)

The packaging, Dragon Books, disc art and the quality content from the discs is all around well worth paying $60.

By the way, the leaflet included with the Dragon Boxes Z didn't state they were only available for a limited time but that they were made in limited quantities in Japan. Nonetheless, they clearly were a limited time product.

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Re: Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

Post by ABED » Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:37 pm

They probably don't think there's a big enough market for any of the other series.
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Re: Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

Post by JohnnyCashKami » Wed Jan 30, 2019 4:48 pm

ABED wrote:They probably don't think there's a big enough market for any of the other series.
Suppose you're right, FUNimation never bothered releasing Dragon Ball Movies 1-4 on Blu-ray even though they remastered them in HD.

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Re: Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Wed Jan 30, 2019 5:06 pm

My guess is that after Dragon Box Z Funimation wanted to focus on Z on Blu-Ray and Kai feeling both would sell better, and somewhere down the line thought the ship had sailed on original DB and GT Dragon Boxes.

Sad too they gave up, it would have been nice to have the full set of all three series.
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Re: Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:39 am

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote:My guess is that after Dragon Box Z Funimation wanted to focus on Z on Blu-Ray and Kai feeling both would sell better, and somewhere down the line thought the ship had sailed on original DB and GT Dragon Boxes.

Sad too they gave up, it would have been nice to have the full set of all three series.
I'm glad they at least did Z in the Dragon Box format, it was definitely good after the Orange Brick debacle that those who were clamoring for a good 4:3 release finally had their prayers answered with it being heads and shoulders above most of FUNimation's previous DBZ releases.

Though as far as GT goes, the original single discs are sort of a Dragon Box in that they do have the proper complete presentation for the Japanese version. In fact it appears from what i have heard and seen that what was used for those releases was basically the same exact set of masters that Toei later used for the GT Dragon Box and subsequent individual DVDs which had been given to FUNi in 2002 or 2003 although in a much earlier stage before the actual remastering by Pony Canyon was done. Those are likely to remain the closest thing to a Dragon Box for GT that we will ever have here, because i personally don't see them putting out a release that includes everything from what those original discs had.
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Re: Why did FUNimation only release the Dragon Box Z?

Post by laserkid » Thu Jan 31, 2019 1:04 am

Licensing, licensing, licensing.

Basically, they only got to license the Dragon Ball Z Dragonboxes (and initially claimed to have licensed the movies, though they never responded to followup comment on that), and after that they didn't feel the need to license the others - or re-license the DBZ ones once those expired.

I am guessing they found it either cheaper to use their own remasters, or found the Dragon Box licensing cost (which is on top of their license for the shows to begin with) to be too high, or perhaps some combination of the two.

We'll probably never know for sure why they cut and ran from the dragon boxes, but the simple matter is - whatever the factors, it wasn't worth it to them.
-Laserkid

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