UPDATE 8/28: One of the two headliners is out. Guillermo del Toro says he is not attending the forum — “Not me. No voy.” — four days after Crunchyroll announced him.
Crunchyroll has filled out the lineup for its first Anime Future Forum, the invite-only industry summit set for Wednesday, October 7 at New York’s Javits Center, one day before New York Comic Con opens there October 8-11.
Guillermo del Toro, James Gunn, and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse directors Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson headline the speaker list, Variety reports, with Amber Glenn, Big Sean and Jordan Howlett representing the fan side.
Gunn’s booking is a story of its own. He is coming to the Javits for anime, not Man of Tomorrow.
Who’s In The Room
The day is built around four tracks under the theme “Designing for Anime’s Future”: fandom, technology, storytelling and IP protection.
Japan’s top studios will be represented by Toho film producer and executive officer Taichi Ueda, MAPPA president and CEO Manabu Otsuka, and Aniplex’s Atsuhiro Iwakami.
Sony is sending its top brass.
Sony Group president and CEO Hiroki Totoki will deliver remarks, as will Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Ravi Ahuja. Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini closes the day with what the company describes as observations and news.
Why Sony Is Putting Its Weight Behind It
Sony bought Crunchyroll from AT&T for $1.18 billion and merged it with Funimation in 2021.
The combined service had roughly 3 million subscribers at the time. It passed 21 million in May, the same day the forum was first announced.
The theatrical side is what changed the math.
Last year’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle grossed more than $740 million worldwide, the highest-grossing Japanese film ever, with Sony Pictures distributing outside Japan, Aniplex co-producing with Ufotable, and Crunchyroll co-distributing.
Purini has called that cross-Sony setup the model for the company’s IP strategy.
The forum’s speaker list makes the point.
Totoki, Purini and Aniplex’s Atsuhiro Iwakami first shared a stage at CES in January 2025 to declare anime a central Sony priority, and all three are back in October.
Jefferies projects the global anime market at $60.1 billion by 2030, up from $22 billion in 2023.
Purini calls it “the first and only” industry event outside Japan with anime front and center, built to pull “potential new partners and allies” into Sony’s anime ecosystem.
It runs on what has become NYCC’s pro day, the Wednesday before the show opens, with anime carrying into the convention proper: the Crunchyroll and Toei One Piece dub panel Friday, Gundam and One-Punch Man on the Main Stage, and Tokyo Revengers closing the show Sunday.
