Classic Hanna-Barbera on Blu-ray

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by milojthatch

Maybe, but it was Sony who released the DVD's in the 2000's.

Sony distributed Classic Media at the time. Universal owns Classic Media now but they no longer appear to have the rights to HB's Godzilla.

I wonder who has the rights to the Toei/RankinBass King Kong cartoon. Universal seems to have the RB stuff Classic Media held, yet they told me they didn't have Kong.

[milojthatch]

Originally Posted by starsteam

Sony distributed Classic Media at the time. Universal owns Classic Media now but they no longer appear to have the rights to HB's Godzilla.

I wonder who has the rights to the Toei/RankinBass King Kong cartoon. Universal seems to have the RB stuff Classic Media held, yet they told me they didn't have Kong.

Gotcha. Then that is the question, who actually hold the rights? That's probably what's holding this up, but I'm guessing Warner has nothing to do with this one.

If somehow Universal did still hold the right, I'd hope that maybe Kino Lorber or another third party that Universal has worked with might work on this one.

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by milojthatch

Gotcha. Then that is the question, who actually hold the rights? That's probably what's holding this up, but I'm guessing Warner has nothing to do with this one.

If somehow Universal did still hold the right, I'd hope that maybe Kino Lorber or another third party that Universal has worked with might work on this one.

Toho Kingdom did a interview with Chris Mowry and Lora Cohn, who handles the Godzilla license for Toho in the US. He asked them about the HB cartoon but their answer was fairy nondescript.

Mirjahangir: Well even the Hanna-Barbera (70’s animated Godzilla series), which is been shown on the Official Toho YouTube channel. Could that actually have a physical release?

Cohn: I don’t think so.

Mirjahangir: No? Back to eBay and bootlegs.

Mowry: I would say never say never.

Cohn: Yeah you never know.

Mowry: I would say this with all truthfulness we’re working on it.

Bounces between a "no" and a "maybe". To be honest who really knows at this point. Toho might release the show to disc in Japan (they're releasing their Youtube series Gojiban to Blu-ray) and then maybe offer it for licensing.

[Guy LeDouche]

Originally Posted by milojthatch

Gotcha. Then that is the question, who actually hold the rights? That's probably what's holding this up, but I'm guessing Warner has nothing to do with this one.

If somehow Universal did still hold the right, I'd hope that maybe Kino Lorber or another third party that Universal has worked with might work on this one.

This was said back in 2006 by Keith Aiken.

...Warner’s rights to the GODZILLA cartoon expired in 2003. Ownership of the series reverted to Toho, who licensed the program to Classic Media last year.

Source. - https://www.scifijapan.com/dvd-blu-r...a-comes-to-dvd

The YouTube videos also states "TM & © TOHO CO., LTD." in the description. - Toho are the only one's holding this back from a release.