Ultraman
The Ultra Series, also known as Ultraman, is a Japanese science fiction media franchise owned and produced by Tsuburaya Productions, which began with the television series Ultra Q in 1966. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, films, comic books, and other media publications, becoming one of the most prominent productions in the Japanese tokusatsu and kaiju genres and pioneering the Kyodai Hero subgenre. The Ultraman series is centered on a fictional alien race of superheroes who often combat kaiju or other aliens.
In Japan, the Ultraman brand generated $7.4 billion US dollars in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987. This makes it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. References to Ultraman are abundant in Japanese popular culture, much like references to Superman in Western culture.
The Ultras
The franchise is centered on the "Ultras", a collective term for the fictional extraterrestrial races spread across its multiverse, with multiple origins given for them. The warriors of these continuities gather at a planet within the M78 nebula, —also called the Land of Light. Of the 18 billion populating it, 1 million are part of the Inter Galactic Defence Force who maintain peace in the universe from alien invaders and monsters. The Ultras that are sent to other worlds are given Color Timers, or "warning lights", which blink with increasing frequency if an Ultra's energy dwindles. They can thus remain active for only a limited span of minutes before its energy is depleted, although it can be replenished afterwards. The main protagonists of each installment end up on Earth and bond with humans or have a human incarnation, their hosts using devices to summon their Ultra's unique power.The Ultraman phenomenon
The show Ultraman was followed by many other series. Successors during the Shōwa era are: Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Leo and Ultraman 80. A second generation began during the Heisei era in 1996 with Ultraman Tiga, and the franchise continued, on and off, until its current generation. This began with Ultraman Ginga in 2013.English-language productions include the 1987 animated movie Ultraman: The Adventure Begins which was produced by Hanna-Barbera; 1990 TV series Ultraman: Towards the Future which was filmed in Australia; 1993 TV series Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero which was filmed in the United States; and 2024 animated film Ultraman: Rising which was produced by Netflix.
In 1993, Tsuburaya Productions and Toei Company co-produced Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider, a crossover with the original Ultraman and Toei's Kamen Rider. This direct-to-video feature is co-copyrighted by both Toei and Tsuburaya Productions.
, Tsuburaya Productions accepts 51 Ultras as official. In 2013, the Ultra Series was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the record-holder for the most spin-off shows. The Ultraman brand generated $7.4 billion in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987, equivalent to more than adjusted for inflation. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia.
The Ultraman manga, which began in 2011, has sold more than 2.8million copies as of 2018. At the Tokyo Comic Con on 7 December 2017, Tsuburaya Productions revealed that an anime adaptation of the manga was planned for release in 2019. It was released by Netflix.
Ultraman content, products and services have been distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide,as of 2018. Tsuburaya has officially made their Ultraman and non-Ultraman content widely available on their YouTube channel, even simulcasting several of their series with English subtitles, the channel has reached over 2 million subscribers. In China, an Ultraman television series received views on over-the-top media services between July 2017 and March 2018.
The manga author Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, cited Ultraman as a formative influence on his work. Peyton Reed, the director of the Ant-Man films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, said that Ant-Man's costume design was influenced by Ultraman along with Inframan, another tokusatsu superhero from China. Video game designer Hideki Kamiya said he loved Godzilla and Ultraman as a child.
It was announced in November 2019 that Marvel Comics has partnered with Tsuburaya Productions to publish Ultraman comic books in 2020., Bandai Namco has sold Ultraman soft figures since 1983, while Bandai Namco Arts has sold Ultraman home video units between January 1988 and March 2021.
Controversies
Licensing rights dispute
Ultraman's licensing rights outside Japan have been the subject of a prolonged legal dispute between Tsuburaya Productions and Chaiyo Productions based in Thailand. Tsuburaya had previously collaborated with Chaiyo on the production of two movies, The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant—the latter of which featured another Tsuburaya superhero, Jumborg Ace—in 1974. Sompote Saengduenchai, founder/president of Chaiyo Productions, claimed and maintained that, in 1976, Noboru Tsuburaya, the son of the late Eiji Tsuburaya, had given him and his company a contract which had given him rights to everything Ultraman outside Japanese territories.In spite of the fact that the document failed to state clearly and specifically exactly what had been given to Tsuburaya in exchange for these rights, Japanese and Thai courts accepted this contract as real and binding because of the supposed hanko of the late Noboru Tsuburaya, who had died in 1995, in the document. Tsuburaya Productions insisted and maintained that the contract was a forgery and repeatedly contested the issue.
After an eight-year battle in the courts of both countries, Sompote Saengduenchai was awarded a favorable decision in 2004. Though the Supreme Court of Japan ruled that he owned the international rights to the first six instalments, he would later create three new Ultras: Ultraman Millennium, Dark Ultraman and Ultraman Elite. On 23 August 2006, Tsuburaya Productions filed a new lawsuit against Chaiyo for copyright infringement and plagiarism, and the court case was taken to China. The Chinese courts in Beijing opened "The Ultraman Copyright Study Group" in response to the lawsuit. In April 2007, the Thailand Intellectual Property Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions, ordering Chaiyo to cease and desist making commercial profits from them. The defendants were also fined THB 15,000,000 plus interest and attorneys' fees.
On 5 February 2008, Thailand's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions of Japan after they made an appeal to the initial ruling. The ruling ended the long legal battle by finding Sompote Saengduenchai was not a co-creator of Ultraman. The decision ended Sompote's bid to continue his enterprise, and the court gave Sompote 30 days to stop profiteering from Ultraman. The final ruling saw Tsuburaya Productions as the sole copyright owner. Sompote was also required to pay THB 10,700,000 plus interest at the rate of 7.5 percent a year starting from 16 December 1997, when the original lawsuit was filed.
In 2009, the Thai Intellectual Property Court and the Tokyo District Court both ruled in favour of the Thai company. This led to the Tokyo District Court on 30 September 2010, ordering Tsuburaya Productions Co. of Japan to pay damages of 16.36 million yen to Sompote Saengduenchai of Thailand for violating his overseas copyrights on the Ultraman characters.
After the announcement of the film Dragon Force: So Long, Ultraman in July 2017, the dispute on the ownership of the franchise has escalated. But on 20 November 2017, through a Los Angeles court ruling by Judge Andre Birotte Jr., Tsuburaya won the lawsuit against Chaiyo and affiliate groups on the rights of the series after the jury concluded that the supposed agreement between Noboru Tsuburaya and Chaiyo was "not authentic". Despite UM Corporation and Chaiyo filing a counter-dispute, in April 2018, the legal court came to a definite close where a final judgement states that the dispute and the document was deemed invalid, forbidding UMC to use the Ultra Series and all its related characters and forced them to pay Tsubaraya damages for its infringement of its rights.
With the release of the sequel film Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman, issues between UMC, Bluearc and Tsubaraya had reignited and the company took legal actions against the two companies again. On 10 December 2019, it was confirmed by Tsuburaya that the court has rejected UMC and Bluearc's appeal for a retrial, stating the court's first verdict of regarding the rights and ownership of Ultraman to Tsuburaya is still legitimate and final, and that any future appeals by UMC and Bluearc will likely be rejected. As UMC and Bluearc failed to file a further appeal by 4 March 2020, they were to pay US$4,000,000 in compensatory damages, as well as other various court fees. The resulting victory has reached Thailand as well and the Thai Supreme Court ordered a ruling in favor Tsuburaya Productions as the legitimate copyright owner of the shows listed in the License Granting Agreement alongside ownership over Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman and Jumborg Ace & Giant. Sompote had made an appeal to the court over the decision, but was dismissed. Sompote believes the decision would affect the former two movies' status as national heritage items, and has appealed to both the Supreme Court and Ministry of Culture on that front.
The legal battles with Chaiyo are likely to come to an end, as Sompote Saengduenchai died on 26 August 2021.