Funimation Has Not Licensed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Film

FUNimation Entertainment told ANN on Friday that it does not have the rights for Mamoru Hosoda's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time anime film. The title was listed in Funimation's online store but it has since been removed.

The company later went on to explain statement that was a mistake by the web team and simply human error and we do not have rights to this title. We are excited to be distributing ... “The Boy and The Beast” and we hope to continue to grow our relationship with Hosoda and Studio Chizu.​

Hosoda and Madhouse Studios' award-winning The Girl Who Leapt Through Time film opened in Japan in 2006. Bandai Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray and DVD in North America before closing its North American distribution in 2012.​

The film is in turn based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1967 original novel. The book has been adapted into multiple live-action works.​

Funimation has licensed The Boy and The Beast and plans to release the film in theaters nationwide early this year. Funimation also released Hosoda's Wolf Children and Summer Wars films in North America.​

 

I don't really understand why it's necessary to license it in the first place. It's already been dubbed

 

They are probably looking to earn more money if you have a license from any big companythat and you are garanteed that your rights are protected for your work