Post
by xzero » Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:30 pm
In terms of U.S. Copyright law, EX is correct regarding the rights for production vs. distribution of the episodes; he's also correct about the artificial demand notion. I'd just like to expound upon that a bit, as well as address a question posed on the first page.
Toei has every right to rescind the rights of DB from Lionsgate, but they honestly have no reason to do so in the absence of a petition from Funimation requesting that those rights be rescinded so that Funi can engage in exclusive domestic distribution. Funi could also pay for the rights themselves insofar as they could purchase them from Lionsgate, but it is very likely that:
(a) they are too cheap to do so (less likely)
(b) Lionsgate wants an unreasonable amount for the distribution rights (possible); or
(c) Lionsgate is unwilling to part with them for whatever reason (highly likely, though painfully illogical since they do them absolutely no good)
As for the first movie, as most of us know, the Madman release was the Kidmark edited version. It's likely that since Funimation never owned the distribution rights for that movie, and it, unlike the actual series, was never important in terms of being shown on television for the sake of continuity, there was no reason to purchase the rights to it from Toei, much less redub it. Madman is an Austrailian distributer, and Funi is an American company. I would speculate that their logic was simply that for the sake of a complete release, they would include the movie in their Austrailian release, but since there is no domestic release, it is unnecessary.
If Funi does indeed release boxsets (as it seems they will after Z and GT), it would be imperitive for them to acquire the distribution rights to both that movie and the 'Saga of Goku,' as that and the Tournament Saga would likely be their "Season One." They seem adament about getting those movies released, and Movies 2 & 3 need a redub anyway, so that would be the time to go after those pieces of the DB puzzle and put everything together. By releasing Z and GT first, both of which they own the complete rights obviously, fans would be willing to wait until those series and the DBZ movies are finished releasing before asking for a DB re-release, and I would presume that Funi is hoping to wait out Lionsgate's ownership of those distribution rights before attempting to release those episodes and dub that movie.
This is, of course, purely logical speculation, so feel free to pick my post apart or poke holes in my theory.
