Gantz Creator Says a Hollywood Contract Is Blocking a New Anime

Hollywood hasn't kept its interest in anime a secret for years now. Despite its sour history with the medium, anime continues to pique interest with big movie studios given its ever-growing popularity. As anime continues to rake in cash worldwide, these studios want in on the action, so dozens of titles have been optioned in the West. But according to the creator of Gantz, the deal he signed is keeping him from expanding the series.

The update comes from a recent interview done by Crunchyroll. The site was able to speak with Hiroya Oku about their legacy and work on Gantz. It was there the creator opened up about the story being optioned by Hollywood, and fans are surprised to see how restrictive the whole thing is.

"Yeah, I can't talk about all the details on that subject, but a Hollywood company does have the rights to adapt Gantz at the moment, and unless they return us the rights, we won't be able to make either an anime or live-action adaptation of the manga. That's the Hollywood type of contract; they own all the adaptations including anime and live-action, except for manga," Oku explained.

The creator went on to call the whole ordeal a "pain" and rightly so. Oku said Gantz has a spin-off being published right now, and that is fine since it is a manga series. But despite his interest in adapting it for an anime, that is not permissible by the contract. Oku went on to say he believed the story would be adapted quickly when the deal was struck in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic has scrambled that timeline.

"I haven't been updated about how the Hollywood adaptation is going or whether it will actually be made. It's likely COVID-19 has paused a lot of new projects over there, and Gantz is probably one of them. If that's the case, I'd like to have the rights back," he shared.

As you can see, Oku has some regrets about Gantz and its live-action goals. Hollywood still has rights to the story for four more years, and there is no promise an adaptation will be made. In the meanwhile, Oku and his team are limited in how they can bring the hit series to fans. So if you were hoping for Gantz to debut a new anime soon, well - we're sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

What do you think about this contract spat? Do you think Gantz will ever be adapted by Hollywood? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.