[GIF: 电影公社 China Movie]
Earlier this month in Beijing, a Chinese movie company announced an upcoming feature film called Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman. The CG movie stars robots, a dragon, and Japan’s most famous hero, Ultraman. Make that, a rip-off version of the superhero.
Here is the trailer for Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman. Besides shoddy CG work, it also features scenes from past Ultraman films and silly scenes from licensed commercials.
“Our company is not at all connected [to this],” Tsuburaya Productions, the Tokyo company that created and owns the character, is quoted as saying by AV Watch. “The motion picture in question was made without our consent or supervision.”
According to Japanese site Sports Hoichi, Tsuburaya Productions is also quoted as saying it’s determined to take legal measures over the film. That apparently includes the enterprise that announced the movie as well as those who made it. The company claims that even the press conference caused damage to the Ultraman brand.
Chinese media covered the Dragon Force press conference, which had a goofy-looking Ultraman in body paint and went something like this:
[GIF: Yes娛樂]
And this.
[GIF: Yes娛樂]
As evident in this photo from iRead, the fake Ultraman even did the character’s famous “beam pose.”
[Image: iRead]
Eiji Tsuburaya, the genius behind the 1954 Godzilla‘s special effects, founded Tsuburaya Productions as a visual effects house in 1963. In the mid-1960s, the company created Ultraman, one of Japan’s most iconic and influential superheroes. Tsuburaya Productions continues to produce Ultraman television shows and movies. It does not sound happy about Dragon Force.
Comments
4 responses to “Japan’s Biggest Superhero Ripped Off In New Film ”
As soon as I read the article title I knew it’d be China. They have such extremely lax copyright laws there that they almost seem the embodiment of the “I made this. You made this? I made this.” Meme.
This was explained to me as a cultural thing. Apparently the Chinese feel that the original creator (of anything they copy) should be flattered enough that they were copied and “improved” upon and this is acceptable to them.
Seems like theft to me, but what do I know.
If anything it’s a clear indication of humanity’s greed in a sense.
i made this therefore i deserve all recognition and royalties.
i’m not saying what china’s doing is acceptable but it’s just human nature these days to protect an idea rather than share it.
You are missing the fact that the greedier one is the one who, lacking ideas, stole another person’s for profit. In many cases, too, the one ripping off is the one making most money while the original creator starves.