In an exclusive being reported by THR, Tsuburaya has just tapped Jeff Gomez and his Starlight Runner Entertainment along with LA based The Licensing Group to rebrand and reboot the Ultraman franchise across multiple platforms for markets outside Japan. This is massive news for a number of reasons, but THR has a great exclusive breakdown of what this all means as well.
U.S. transmedia producer Starlight Runner Entertainment has been tapped by Tokyo-based Tsuburaya Productions to build out the Ultraman mythology for the digital age outside of Japan, to include a possible live action streaming TV series. The original live action Ultra Q and Ultramanseries that launched in 1966 featured a high-tech police force and their silver superhero Ultraman battling to save the Earth from invading aliens and giant monsters.
Dozens of sequel TV series, movies, video games and other spinoff content followed, including recent movies like Ultraman X the Movie in 2016, Ultraman Orb the Movie last year and Ultraman Geed the Movie in 2018, the 29th installment of the franchise.
As Tsuburaya looks to restore Ultraman’s profile outside Japan, Starlight Runner will team with The Licensing Group to reboot the superhero property across multiple platforms, with story-driven licensing and merchandising programs for the U.S. and international markets.
The Ultraman licensing program will be supported by new content distributed on cable, streaming and SVOD platforms. “Ultraman is one of my greatest childhood heroes. We’re honored to be embarking on this mission to bring this family of characters back to the world stage,” Starlight Runner CEO Jeff Gomez said in a statement.
So, how exciting is this? Seeing one of the oldest and most beloved Tokusatsu franchises in the world, stepping into the modern day in an entirely new fashion. SHare your thoughts on the subject by visiting our discussion thread on the topic, just click “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” at the bottom of this post.
Exclusively revealed by THR:
U.S. transmedia producer Starlight Runner Entertainment has been tapped by Tokyo-based Tsuburaya Productions to build out the Ultraman mythology for the digital age outside of Japan, to include a possible live action streaming TV series. The original live action Ultra Q and Ultraman series that launched in 1966 featured a high-tech police force and their silver superhero Ultraman battling to save the Earth from invading aliens and giant monsters.
Dozens of sequel TV series, movies, video games and other spinoff content followed, including recent movies like Ultraman X the Movie in 2016, Ultraman Orb the Movie last year and Ultraman Geed the Movie in 2018, the 29th installment of the franchise.
As Tsuburaya looks to restore Ultraman's profile outside Japan, Starlight Runner will team with The Licensing Group to reboot the superhero property across multiple platforms, with story-driven licensing and merchandising programs for the U.S. and international markets.
The Ultraman licensing program will be supported by new content distributed on cable, streaming and SVOD platforms. "Ultraman is one of my greatest childhood heroes. We’re honored to be embarking on this mission to bring this family of characters back to the world stage," Starlight Runner CEO Jeff Gomez said in a statement.
Starlight Runner earlier worked on digital spinoffs for movie and TV brands like Men in Black, Avatar, Halo, Pirates of the Caribbean and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In Japan, the Ultraman series continues to this day, generating over $50 million per year in toys and merchandise in Japan
Los Angeles-based The Licensing Group has worked on movie properties like Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Rambo, Mortal Kombat and Baywatch. The reboot deal was brokered for Starlight Runner by Brent Weinstein of United Talent Agency.
I have no idea what they want to announce here.
"Rebooting the superhero property across multiple platforms, with story-driven licensing and merchandising programs for the U.S. and international markets."
Like, what's that even supposed to mean?
Do they want to give us a licensed way to buy Ultra-shows on home media? Because, yes please.
Or do they want to pull a Power Rangers move and make western-exclusive Ultraman shows? Because that would be… well, awful.
I may be wrong but I assume how popular the Ultra franchise on crunchyroll was and the announcement of the anime being on Netflix helped them decide this was a good time to do this. Among other factors of course. I remember they were toying with the idea of doing virtual sets so other countries could but more native actors into the roles but that didn't really go any where.
Yeah, this could be pretty neat, If I could actually parse what they're talking about
Getting everything on one no-geo-restrictions platform would be nice.
Yay! Glad it finally went through.
Settling that case dispute finally opened this door!
Lots of great things to come! This is awesome!
Been waiting to hear if that green light was going to come through or not.
Based on the wording of this article, I'm almost picturing a DC Universe style ecosystem: a streaming service with a big, new, Western series supplemented by a legacy library of titles.
While there are some big things that can come out of this that are really exciting.
The main thing that excites me right now is the fact we could finally get one of those 3 foot tall figures of ultraman like we've gotten for batman, superman, and power rangers. xD
An actual to scale ultraman figure compared to 1:18th or lego or mega construx minifigs. That'd be epic to have.
Don't look at me funny. Sometimes I have really weird life goals.
The main thing that excites me right now is the fact we could finally get one of those 3 foot tall figures of ultraman like we've gotten for batman, superman, and power rangers. xD
An actual to scale ultraman figure compared to 1:18th or lego or mega construx minifigs. That'd be epic to have.
Don't look at me funny. Sometimes I have really weird life goals.
That's what sucks about being a fan of Toku in America. The fandom is too niche and they would probably have supported the official releases for them if they didn't already have fan subs for them. Not to mention, Japanese special effects don't appeal to many people.
The 31 inch figures that are made of thicker Sofubi type materials.
Like Godzilla had a premium one of. There are slightly cheaper ones done for Batman, Superman, and SMF Red Ranger. With lower articulation. No clue what company it was that made them.
One of my personal goals has been to get Ultraman like that, and also Ben 10's Way Big. As well as maybe someday the monsters from Inhumanoids. And now, also a premium one of SSSS.Gridman and Gridknight that's as articulated as the Godzilla one was.
But this new initiative provides even better opportunities too, and gives Tsuburaya potentially even bigger reach to do that very thing in catering new material to audiences for wider potential. Because the audience is there if it's packaged right as Gridman shows, as well as other material has proven. But sticking it on platforms that cater to the wrong kind of audience doesn't help. CrunchyRoll is hit or miss in that regard. Netflix is a bit better because of broader audience reach, but this new positioning for market reach provides much larger possibilities. The market for Kaiju & toku material is here, but it's a matter of finding ways to get that material to the right audience.
Keep reading: Multi-Platform Reboot of the Ultraman Brand Coming to US & International Markets - Page 2
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