Does Funimation Really Have the Dragon Box Master For Movies

[TheBlackPaladin]

I must also clarify that I don't know for a fact how well (or how poorly) the Dragon Boxes sold, which is why it was merely a guess on my part, I don't know for sure. For what it's worth, here's what I'm basing my guess on.

Firstly, I can't help but think that if the Dragon Boxes really sold that well, that FUNimation would continue to print them. There are other explanations, of course. As I recall, FUNimation mentioned that it was quite the hassle to get Toei to approve the release of the Dragon Boxes because they wanted them to be exclusive to Japan. It could be that Toei flat-out told them only to sell the U.S. Dragon Boxes for a limited time. Given how much Toei has been milking the franchise, though, I can't help but think that if the Dragon Boxes were really making them a decent amount of money that they'd give FUNimation permission to keep printing them.

It's also worth noting that the Dragon Boxes were definitely marketed towards people who prefer the Japanese version (while I can't pin down the source, I recall Mike saying at one point that FUNimation including the 5.1 dub track on the Dragon Boxes was an "afterthought"). Nothing wrong with the Japanese version, but as far as mainstream audiences/buyers are concerned, the dub is the version they remember, and the reason they buy any DBZ home video release. The casual buyer, who just wants to listen to the dub with the Bruce Faulconer score at an affordable price, has no real reason to want the Dragon Boxes.

Let's not forget, that while we think the Dragon Boxes are great, Anime News Network reviewed them and said that there was no reason to get them if you already had the "Orange Bricks." I'm not saying that we can definitely take that as exactly what every mainstream buyer will think, but if it's even evidence towards what the mainstream buyer is thinking, then we have a relatively strong suggestion of how they've been perceived...and by extension, how well they have sold. Maybe not poorly, but from what I've observed, perhaps not enough to justify releasing the movies (if they even have them).

[penguintruth]

I think Funimation fully intended to make the Dragon Boxes a limited, premium release for a niche of the North American fans, the fans of the actual (Japanese) show. They sold their limited number and took whatever profit they assumed they'd make on it from the people they targeted.

I think that with the movies, they could probably do a less limited run, since it's less of a commitment to get involved with the movies compared to 291 episodes of the TV series.

[TheGreatness25]

You see, I don't think that was the plan. They hyped up the Dragon Boxes pretty hard. The had commercials for them, they revealed the sets with a lot of excitement, etc. They never once said anything about a limited release. What they probably did was release a small amount of them to test the waters and that few amount barely sold, so they felt that they didn't need to release any more. That's what I believe happened.

For example, I plan on continuously releasing something. But in the first wave of releases, I decide to release 20 of them and 18 of them sell. Why would I release any more?

That's what I think happened. I think that because nobody ever mentioned anything about a limited release. That's why people started getting shocked when the prices started skyrocketing. Then, of course, if I was a company, instead of saying, "We planned to release more, but they didn't sell like expected," I would also say, "They sold enough (for the first sample wave that was released), but they are a limited edition."

[Levlik]

For example, I plan on continuously releasing something. But in the first wave of releases, I decide to release 20 of them and 18 of them sell. Why would I release any more?

Because several products in that first wave of releases on the second hand market are now going for several times more than their initial retail price? If nothing was stopping FUNi from reproducing the sets, I'm sure they'd have jumped on the bandwagon by now. Surely they must realize how much lost profit that is to them. You have to think of it from a business perspective. If something you produced is now going for practically 300% markup used, you, as the product distributor, wouldn't go "Well, it was a limited release!" to mock those who hadn't purchased it before; you'd be producing more as soon as demand increased as much as it did.

Remember when the steelbooks started getting expensive (Especially the Coola one) and FUNi almost immediately started reproducing the double features in cheaper packaging? There has to be something keeping FUNi from doing the same kind of thing with the Dragon Box.

[MarcFBR]

You have to think of it from a business perspective. If something you produced is now going for practically 300% markup used, you, as the product distributor, wouldn't go "Well, it was a limited release!" to mock those who hadn't purchased it before; you'd be producing more as soon as demand increased as much as it did.

You aren't really thinking of it from a business perspective, you are thinking of it from a fans perspective.

I have no idea how many they made, but lets just 'say' its 5000 and pretend they only made one set.

They sell 5000 sets at 50 dollars.

They then see 20 sets a month sell on eBay for 300 dollars each.

So they reasonably decide, that's because of the artificial high cost on ebay, they could sell 100 a month at their original 50 dollar cost (because there is no doubt more demand than on eBay, it's just the cost keeping people from getting them.)

How much does it cost for them to make the disks since they can't really make them at high numbers where it becomes cheaper to produce them? Do they pre-print enough for 2 or 3 years to hit that benchmark so they can get lower costs? Where do they store all these disks until stores want them? What if demand runs out? Is there a 'drop' date for these masters where they legally aren't allowed to use them past a certain date because it's considered a different license than their normal DBZ releases? Should they market this re-release, and at what cost?

When you start piling on the reasonable questions, it becomes very easy to see why they wouldn't do it (not saying they never would mind you, just showing the reasons why they may not.)

[ABED]

as soon as demand increased as much as it did

How did demand increase?