Spaceport has struck a licensing deal with Toei Animation (One Piece, Dragon Ball) for the storied Japanese studio’s latest feature film project, Hypergalactic. The partnership aims to stake out new territory for fan engagement by integrating the movie IP into user-generated content (UGC) platforms including Roblox and Fortnite. Spaceport’s technology allows owners to license IP to multiple game developers and content creators simultaneously, and at scale; the expansive ecosystems of Roblox and Fortnite serve more than 80 million users.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Toei Animation on Hypergalactic to merge anime with cutting-edge virtual worlds,” said Spaceport Founder & CEO Le Zhang. “This partnership is more than just bringing new content to Roblox and Fortnite; it’s about empowering communities to organically create a limitless amount of deep and personal interactive experiences that resonate with fans and unlock new revenue streams for IP owners. For new IP like Hypergalactic, this is a chance to build the kind of fanbase and cultural impact that Toei achieved with Dragon Ball, One Piece and Digimon.”
Yoshi Izekawa, Head of International Co-Production at Toei Animation, commented, “This partnership with Spaceport is a significant milestone for Toei Animation. By leveraging Spaceport’s technology, we aim to bring Hypergalactic to life in ways that will engage and inspire our fans. We are pleased to share our latest feature and work directly with users to develop our new IP to the next level. This collaboration shows the vast potential of UGC platforms to revolutionize entertainment and fan engagement.”
Hypergalactic was announced ahead of its sales launch at the European Film Market in Berlin early this year. Izekawa told The Hollywood Reporter at the time:
“It’s a project that we have been working on for a little over seven years. We’re trying to bring [anime] aesthetics into the movie so that our anime audience enjoys it, and also those who’ve never experienced Japanese anime. For the characters, we teamed up with the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog [Naoto Ohshima]. He’s a big contributor to this project, bringing all his expertise, experience and skills. The story is after Earth is invaded by aliens, a 12- or 13-year-old girl and her baby brother are separated from their parents. To search for them, they need the help of a mysterious sentinel called the Ocon, which is very mischievous and untrustworthy.”
