VIZ Media has partnered with The Gotham Group to develop film and television adaptations based on its original intellectual property, including the VIZ Originals graphic novel line and the RWBY franchise, according to Deadline.

The deal brings together two names that sit at different points in the adaptation chain. VIZ Media, led by President and CEO Brad Woods, is the company behind some of the most recognised anime brands in the world — One Piece, Demon Slayer, Naruto, and Jujutsu Kaisen. The Gotham Group, founded and run by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, is a talent management and production company whose credits span Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Maze Runner franchise, The Search for WondLa, Washington Black, and the Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.

At the centre of the announcement sits RWBY, an animated series created by the late Monty Oum that debuted in 2013 and has since amassed more than 350 million views globally. RWBY holds a particular distinction in the medium: it is described as the first anime series produced in the United States and the first Western-produced anime to be dubbed and distributed in Japan. VIZ Media acquired the series, and RWBY Volume 9 was released on 24 March 2026, with Volume 10 now officially underway.

The franchise has already grown well beyond its original web series roots. RWBY has expanded into publishing, video games, consumer products, and spinoffs including RWBY: Ice Queendom and two Justice League x RWBY animated crossover films. VIZ Media had also planned to screen the first three episodes of the series at San Diego Comic Con 2026.

The VIZ Originals graphic novel line gives the partnership a second pipeline of material. The imprint features works from creators including Rem and Bikkuri (Devil's Candy), Rainbow Rowell (Fangirl), Sam Sattin (Lynx), and Acky Bright (Galaxic Baseball League) — a mix that spans manga-influenced fantasy, literary adaptation, and original genre storytelling.

For fans, this pairing means stories they already know could reach new audiences in a different format. For the creators and crews behind these titles, it opens a path from page and screen to live-action and animated film and television — though no specific projects, timelines, or networks have been named yet. The announcement covers development, which is the stage before a formal green-light; most projects that enter development do not reach production.

What gives the deal its weight is the combined track record. VIZ Media brings properties with proven audiences in the hundreds of millions. The Gotham Group brings experience steering book and comic properties through the studio system and onto screens. Whether that combination results in a series, a film, or several of each is a question for the next announcement.