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NEWS: Crackle to Stream Robotech TV Series, Film


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SWAnimefan



Joined: 10 Oct 2014
Posts: 634
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 3:39 am Reply with quote
EricJ2 wrote:
SWAnimefan wrote:
It's ironic that I grew up in the age of Robotech and never really saw it beyond the models friends had (it never aired on the stations where I lived). So I respect old school fan dedication. But after watching the REAL Macross Saga from the original Macross to Macross 7, Plus, 0, Frontier, and now Delta, I can understand the hatred for Harmony Gold and what they did to the real series.


Even worse, HG's marketing in the trailer knows the words to use, and is deliberately trying to kiss up royally to the last sentimental bastion of 80's Age-of-Robotech survivors who won't watch Macross because it "doesn't sound" like what they remember:
"It wasn't like anything else on TV at the time! It had a story, and people got really-killed, and it wasn't like other 80's action series!"
Fortunately, it's even THOSE last remaining survivors who have learned enough to hate HG.


What troubles me more is that how is this Robotech movie and this Streaming not violating that original contract that HG clings to like glue? Wasn't it supposed to be North America only? Now the movie is world-wide (except Japan) and best to my knowledge, Crackle is world-wide as well (owned by Sony). That's what's getting my goat, feels like they are overstepping their bounds and the Japanese aren't fighting for their property. That troubles me.

enurtsol wrote:
SWAnimefan wrote:

I really find it despicable Harmony Gold making a profit off the original like they are. Could you imagine if they took Star Trek, renamed it something else, and had Kirk and Spock voiced over as alien hunters?


Do ya know why they had to do it that way with Robotech?


Licensing issues and Americanizing the story. Like what Saban did with the Power Rangers out of the Sentai shows.

Quote:
SWAnimefan wrote:

Harmony Gold should let go of Macross, let it be its own self again. Then they can do whatever they want with the Robotech franchise (minus the Macross elements). But instead, they tightened their greedy fists in making a movie that's going to make everyone think the Japanese creators ripped off Robotech. And that's not right. I just wish Nue and Shōji Kawamori put more of a legal fight, so they get the money they rightfully deserve.


Good luck with that since they signed that contract that made sense at the time.
Kinda like Marvel signing that Spiderman contract with Sony that kinda made sense for them at the time.
And kinda like the new deal that now allows Spiderman to be used by both Marvel and Sony, pretty much the fastest way Macross can be used by both sides outside Japan is for both sides to play nice and shake hands on a deal that mutually benefit together.
Spiderman rightfully belongs to Marvel, but Sony still wants to make monies and has contract law on their side. So either they keep things unchanged for decades more, or they can work it out. So they worked it out.
There's a lesson there.


Like I said above, that contract was supposed to be North America ONLY. Am I correct? So making a movie that's going to be distributed world-wide (except Japan) and streaming the Anime with global audience, doesn't that violate that contract?

See the agreement with Spiderman occurred long before Marvel-made films became blockbusters, but Robotech / Macross is a different ball game. And I have not seen any evidence of the original Macross creators making a deal regarding the movie or adjusting their license. Only thing close is the story of Kawamori may be involved with the movie (no absolute confirmation).

But it would find it a fair deal if we learn that the creators are involved and will get a fair piece of the pie. The movie ends up being called Macross outside of the US, and Robotech in the US. HG gets their share of the profits from the North American theaters, while REAL Macross owners get their share from world-wide profits. After all it is their story, their Vertitech fighters, their Macross, their characters.

That is fair, instead of HG capitalizing on the movie and "stealing" from the original creators.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 5:49 am Reply with quote
SWAnimefan wrote:
enurtsol wrote:

Do ya know why they had to do it that way with Robotech?

Licensing issues and Americanizing the story. Like what Saban did with the Power Rangers out of the Sentai shows.


65
That's the number ya have to remember. Back in the 1980s during the heydays of syndication, in order to increase the chances of selling shows to network stations for TV syndication, it tremendously helped to have 65 episodes (5 days a week for 13 weeks = 65 eps). Ya won't be able to sell Macross by itself, Southern Cross by itself, or Mospeada by itself. And now ya know why the Robotech story was created by morphing the 3 separate series into a single series.


SWAnimefan wrote:

Like I said above, that contract was supposed to be North America ONLY. Am I correct?


Tatsunoko had international rights (outside Japan), and that's what they sold to Harmony Gold.


SWAnimefan wrote:

See the agreement with Spiderman occurred long before Marvel-made films became blockbusters, but Robotech / Macross is a different ball game.


Marvel was going bankrupt, so they would had taken any big influx of money since their IP would be useless to them if they go out of business. Since they were not in the position of power, they signed that deal with Sony.

Tatsunoko was not in financial trouble then but any money from overseas was big money for them, and at the time, anime was not yet big in the West (and Macross was new) so they never thought about how the contract was going to affect them years and decades down the road. All it was to them was extra money and didn't much care what happens internationally.


SWAnimefan wrote:

But it would find it a fair deal if we learn that the creators are involved and will get a fair piece of the pie. The movie ends up being called Macross outside of the US, and Robotech in the US. HG gets their share of the profits from the North American theaters, while REAL Macross owners get their share from world-wide profits. After all it is their story, their Vertitech fighters, their Macross, their characters.

That is fair, instead of HG capitalizing on the movie and "stealing" from the original creators.


In business, it's less about fairness and more about "what's in it for us." A deal could be fair but first it has to be making the business more money. Again, like that Sony-Marvel deal, it's fair to both sides but more importantly, it's making more money for both sides. If Sony wouldn't be making more money out of a deal, then there won't be a deal, fair or not.

HG already doesn't have to share revenues with the Macross owners, so any deal where they'd be sharing could actually make them less money. So in order for there to be a deal, yes it has to be fair for both sides but more importantly it has to make them more money. So an offer on the table has to be where all sides would stand to make more money - for the Macross owners, it'd be obvious just by simply getting a new deal like Marvel getting that new deal with Sony; for HG it's less obvious what offer can entice them that they can't refuse. So think how would make them more money and less about fairness; that's how businesses deal.
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