Toei Developing New CG Harlock & Gaiking Movies

The Nikkei Newspaper reports that Toei Animation is planning new CG anime feature films in the Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Demon King of the Heavens Gaiking franchises. Both films will be big budget productions released globally in 2012 or later.

The Nikkei News explains that the move toward globally distributed CG anime is an effort to expand the audience for anime in response to declining anime DVD sales in Japan and a gradual decrease in television anime productions. Production I.G, in collaboration with Singapore based Storm Lion Pictures, is similarly developing the CG anime film Titan Rain with international distribution in mind.

I’m all for new Harlock and Gaiking anime, and I can understand the reasons for declines in DVD sales. However, I’m still not convinced of the impending demise of television anime. The number of annual TV productions has been decreasing marginally, but not dramatically. Did Japan’s anime industry actually think that the number of annual TV anime productions was just going to continue increasing perpetually?

Source: Anime News Network