Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Popular Are American Movies In Japan?
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Animechic420
 Posts: 1727 Location: A Cave Filled With Riches |
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{I am sorry, but one-liners are not allowed. ~nobahn}
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GATSU
Posts: 15296 |
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In terms of superhero movies, Iron Man seems to be the most popular, and has become a gateway title for casual Japanese fans into the whole Marvel 'expanded universe'. So if you read those comics, and you're able to make friends over there who enjoy the same characters, then thank those movies for that.
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KH91
Posts: 6176 |
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The great Hideo Kojima, whose body is made up of 70% movies, has seen Mad Max: Fury Road in theaters once in english, then at least twice in Japanese theaters. He chose to stop watching his marathon of The Killing because he couldn't resist seeing Fury Road again. He then bought and watched the Japanese Blu-ray of Fury Road.
What was the question again? |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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And not just Japan, but Asian countries in general--
Just look at the way studios are now kow-towing to China (no Imperial pun intended), and its love of Big American Movies That Go Boom Or Have Funny Non-Cultural CGI Animals, which may be greater than our own jaded, studio-cynical tastes. (Do you think Fox still makes Ice Age sequels because WE watch them??) When Disney bragged "Pirates 4 made one bil-lion dollars! (Dr. Evil finger-bite)", everyone thought, "Wait, didn't it, like, get horrible reviews and tank, and stuff?  " Well, yes, it did--In the US. Where we're used to stuff like this, don't think that big blockbuster effects are that much of a hoo-hah, and are pre-disposed to think that the more big effects a movie has, the less intelligent it is. In Europe or Asia, where they often didn't have as big a budget, big-boom Hollywood movies, where there's more big money-scenes to look at and less script to translate, are as big an international novelty as...well, anime is with us.
Which not only explains why studios now brag about all the money their movies made....WORLDWIDE! (  ), but is also why most action sequels will immediately be moved to Paris or London, for the "home crowd" that still goes to see them, and studios are now forced to put token Chinese actors--or just kiss the whole danged movie up to them, like Transformers 4--just so that Beijing will show it.
As for Japan, though, their CGI may not technically be as good, but they've at least established enough of their own commercial film industry to make Attack on Titan where we couldn't. Samurai epics were popular in the 60's because they could be filmed on low budgets with a few sets, some period costumes and a stable of studio-contract actors, but there's very little "art" left to say on a big budget, at least that's universal enough to be exported or that Kurosawa hasn't handled already. |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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I don't think Marvel is all that popular over there. You cite Iron Man as popular, but it only made 8 million in Japan and ranked #57 for 2008. I mean wow, The Happening made more money than Iron Man in Japan. Even Avengers barely cracked the top 10 and made less money than Les Miserables. If you look at the box office numbers it seems they're more into sci-fi and fantasy like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and ofc Disney and Pixar stuff. If you need anymore proof of that looking at the 2008 list I notice The Golden Compass made more than double what the Dark Knight did. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Hmm, that makes sense. Science fiction and fantasy don't have any real-world settings for the most part, so they can transcend cultural boundaries easier than stories set in particular real-world locations, where concepts can fly over the heads of people who don't live there.
I heard that superhero movies don't do that well in Japan compared to most other parts of the world, however, because the campy Adam West stuff (along with Japanese Spider-Man) has become deeply ingrained into the populace and seeing something dark and serious like most modern Hollywood superhero movies is jarring to them. Is this true? |
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CallumKeyblade
Posts: 536 |
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Biggest surprise for me is that Ted was at #4 in 2013! (Assuming it is the Ted I'm thinking of) |
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GATSU
Posts: 15296 |
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Lili: The third one made $25 million. And Avengers made $45 million. Those are pretty high numbers, by Japanese box office standards. As for Marvel, I didn't say it's popular, but that Iron Man is popular, and helping to engage the interest of people who normally avoided Marvel there in the past. Why do you think there was a Attack on Titan/Avengers crossover?
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Well, there's the "Do the Japanese really understand caped crusaders?" question that comes up whenever fans ask why the Marvel Anime is always so crappy and off-book, and it's a good question. Few people over here knew who Iron Man, Thor, Ant-man or the Guardians of the Galaxy were, so the Marvel Studios movies had to explain Basic Marvel 101 from scratch to new audiences that had never read the comics in their lives, but still had some overall basic idea of what Batman or Captain America did for a living. In Japan, that second grounding is a bit missing, so a hero in tech armor, or a vampire hunter with a sword, is a lot easier to understand than a government-persecuted school for mutants, one with metal claws and an amnesiac past, or a high-schooler who swings around the city in his spare time. When you get to the question of CGI movies, Dreamworks usually does better in overseas countries, but foreign countries didn't warm to Megamind or Monsters vs. Aliens--Two movies whose humor depended on being steeped in the US pop-cult value of sci-fi drive-in movies or Adam West superhero camp....But oh, they loved those Madagascar critters and that big dopey panda. In Asian countries, we see Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates, Tolkien, Avatar and Frozen take off because it's general nondescript domain for story territory, but show them a hero in red-white-and-blue who fights because he has to, and it runs up against social cultural ideas about minding your own business. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Things I've read in the past (not that I've read much, mind you) about the state of Japanese cinema aren't as rosy as the answer seems to suggest. The rise of Chinese & South Korean cinema over the last couple decades has had a negative impact on Japan's ability to sell its films regionally. The result is budgets have shrunk & the focus has shifted much more towards the domestic market.
Hence, as you say, all the movies based on already popular TV dramas, manga etc. The quality of the acting has, frankly, also tanked as more & more actors aren't professional but are all round entertainers for whom acting is just one string to their bow, so to speak. Same with the directing & cinematography, really. I noted in reporting on the most recent Cannes that there was some excitement that it was the first time in a while that anything from Japan had got any positive attention (Journey to the Shore & Our Little Sister, specifically). Maybe that's a good sign for the future. I sure do hope so. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13550 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Sales wise, Frozen is among the best-selling animated movie on DVD/BD there. When you look ANN stories of the best-selling DVD/BD for a particular week, Western movies are often on there.
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I imagine American superheroes have had at least some impact on Japanese geek culture based on manga like One Punch Man and Hero Academia, as just two very recent examples. But American superheroes and various tropes there of have showed up in anime and manga for decades. Others have mentioned the Batman and Spider-Man manga, but I don't think its a coincidence that Goku is revealed to basically have Superman's backstory in Dragon Ball Z.
I didn't realize that Japanese independent (I assume) art films have been in decline. Are there more art films coming out of China and South Korea, or are art indies becoming more rare all over Asia? |
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Ushio
Posts: 630 |
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Pirates 4 was the 5th highest grossing USA domestic film in 2011 hardly tanking. Worldwide is shouted because the USA alone isn't big enough to pay for the ridiculous budget's of films today. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Terminator Ginseng would be a better recent example of a film that did well financially despite doing poorly (relative to its costs) in the USA.
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5914 |
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Intentional snark?
Even when you make a movie on a relatively modest sized budget like say 45 million and still factor in the worldwide numbers it can still bomb just look at what happened to Dredd. |
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