Forum - View topicNEWS: Dragonball Evolution Opens at #8 with US$4.8 Million
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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Vok: You don't seem to get that we're in a crappy economy, and anime production and manga consumption is down across the board. And while it's true DB's already got broad appeal, it doesn't hurt to see if it can't reach more people.
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TheVok
Posts: 613 Location: North York, Ontario, Canada |
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A crappy economy isn't hurting the box office. It won't hurt anime, either.
Anime is a Japanese industry and the fans there are, by and large, still willing to pay for content. If the industry is shrinking at all, it's only a cyclical phase following an unneeded glutting of the market. On this side of the pond (North America), it really doesn't matter. If the North American 'anime industry' is hurting (and if it is, it probably has more to do with fansubs than with the economy, given manga is still selling very well), that isn't a problem that will be fixed with live-action adaptations. After all, the producers of Dragonball don't need Funimation; it's Funimation that needs Dragonball. Someone cited the example of Marvel and its live-action movies. While those may have steered Marvel as a corporation in a different direction, I really don't see how they help us as customers. Wider awareness of, say, Iron Man does not lead to better Iron Man comics. Nor does greater awareness of Dragonball help out any of the Dragonball fans. Also, I never said it 'hurt', either. As I specifically said, anime doesn't need the live-action adaptations; they can exist or not exist, it really doesn't make a difference. |
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mrgetalife
 Posts: 60 |
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Well hopefully by the time it hits the shelves on DVD for the fall it'll get closer to breaking even. Its a long long way from doing that. Still needs at least $20 million more. Usually the international release makes it back. But it was released internationally before the domestic. So the American audience heard the universal translation of "it sucks" and really didn't go.
As far as Dragonball and Funimation goes. Dragonball is a licensing machine now. Other than games. Not much new has come out from it from japan. The only thing Funimation would of gotten out of this movie is if it was a hit and people bought the anime or manga because of it. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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It indirectly has hurt the box office, since there's lower attendance, which is why they're hoping people are stupid enough to pay $5 a ticket more for 3-d. Last year was good in spite of the economy, but actual film production and investment is down. Anime's actually suffering from lower production and sales, though. And the fanbase over there is shrinking in favor of video games.
As for fansubs, yeah, they're being blamed for lower sales. But the real problem is that anime's expansion has peaked, and so more customers are needed to keep it going here. Moving on to the Marvel movies, well... Considering the company fell for that collectible cover scam the hardest, and considering that the whole comic industry pretty much crashed as a result, those movies are pretty much the only reason Marvel's still around today. As customers, whether or not you get better stories, you get a company able to continue publishing stories, period. And while I'm not sure if a better movie would specifically help DB fans, it would help expand awareness for the medium in general, which is good for everyone. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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You can't expect everything to be American now, do you? Things are and will continue to be expensive in Japan, so you'll have to get used to that. If you ever decide to make the trip yourself that is... |
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TheVok
Posts: 613 Location: North York, Ontario, Canada |
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Wrong. Attendance is up in 2009 versus 2008. In tough times, people turn to entertainment..
Marvel's no gift. They put out a lot of crap. And if they somehow died off completely, someone else could figure out a way to do reprints and even continuations. Some of the properties that Comico published in the 1980s, for example, were later picked up by Dark Horse. Every company needs to be able to adapt to the times. Comics went from mainstream to niche and it didn't actually eradicate any of the bigger publishers. Marvel got bought by a toy company, is all. It still kept going.
No, it's neither good nor bad. Why do you folks keep praising 'awareness'? It already exists. People understand that anime is out there. They've heard of titles like Dragonball. But by and large, most North Americans simply DO NOT CARE. And that's okay. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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Yeah, attendance is up, compared to 2008, but it was already down for a while now. So the only real difference is more people paying higher ticket prices for specific tent-pole films, not more people actually showing up across the board.
And Marvel's part of the reason that we're here on this board today, since they were the first company to take a chance on Akira-anything. So if they go under, I doubt anyone else can negotiate a cheap asking price for their properties. Plus, there's no money in their toys, if no one cares about the characters. As for whether or not North Americans are that aware or care, well, Watchmen's been around for ages, and yet the movie is pretty much the first time non-fans showed interest in the product. |
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Dust2
Posts: 28 |
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It made $42.8 mil thus far worldwide
source http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dragonball.htm |
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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But it still costs $150 million, or if Wong is to be believed, $60+/- million in P+A. And it's only making the money it is because of the number of markets it's in, not because of actual demand for the film.
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tygerchickchibi
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I finally saw it.
I think I just walked out of the theater with my mind going blank. I don't really know how to feel about it actually, I'm mixed. And now, Ben10 Alien Force, live action wooo. |
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TheVok
Posts: 613 Location: North York, Ontario, Canada |
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Wrong again. The past few months have been breaking records with a broad base of hits, not just a few predictable blockbusters. Consider, for example, Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood's biggest box office take EVER), Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Madea Goes To Jail, The Haunting in Connecticut (which sat on the shelf for a year or two), Taken, Coraline and of course Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. None of these were any studios' tentpole films. But they've all been surprisingly big hits during what's usually a slower time of year.
Interesting point about Epic's importing of Akira. Due credit to 'em (though note that Marvel no longer has an imprint like Epic). But anime was already that successful in North America even if manga wasn't yet.
Wrong too. The movie has certainly been an effective trailer for the book, but one of the reasons DC still owns the property (rather than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) is that year after year, demand remains sufficiently steady that it never goes out of print. It sold well when it was first released. It piqued the interest of plenty of 'non-fans' after Time Magazine named it one of the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time, which happened in 2005. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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Gran Torino made money, because it's as close to a Dirty Harry sequel as movie-goers are going to get. And his highest grossing movie was Million Dollar Baby. Paul Blart is still a studio film, even if it's a bigger hit than expected. And Madea Goes to Jail makes money, because audiences like Tyler Perry in drag. The Haunting in Connecticut did well, because it was another Sixth Sense/Exorcist-wannabe. And Taken had the Liam Neeson factor. Coraline's about the only low-profile film you can cite as a hit, but if Gaiman wasn't attached to it, then no one would show up. Though I you could also argue that Coraline's another Hollywood Miyazaki rip-off, which is really why it did well.
But try selling State of Play or Duplicity to that same crowd, and it'll bomb.
No, it wasn't successful. Voltron was as big as it got back then. Everything else was niche.
DC keeps its grip on the book, because it likes screwing Alan Moore out of royalties for related Watchmen merchandise, not because it cares whether or not people still read it.
And Time and DC are owned by the same company. |
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TheVok
Posts: 613 Location: North York, Ontario, Canada |
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Uh, so? None of that makes any of those 'tentpole' films. They're not Fast And Furious. They're not Watchmen. They weren't expected to do so well ... none of them.
I didn't say it was 'successful' as in non-niche, I said anime on TV was just as successful as Epic's reprints of Akira were in print.
Again, so what? That doesn't contradict anything I said.
And a final so what? It's just proof that corporate synergy works. I didn't say it DESERVED to be named one of the greatest novels, I just said that doing so helped the book reach a non-fan readership in a big way. DC wouldn't keep it in print if it didn't sell. Merchandising is expensive ... and there's not been a lot of spinoff cash to be had from that property. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15338 |
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Vok:
But they're not niche, either.
Except it wasn't successful on tv, just recognized.
It does, because Watchmen basically reached a certain audience and then peaked. [Up until the movie, anyway.] But rather than giving the rights back to Alan Moore, the company kept trying to milk the audience out of tie-ins which Moore did not authorize.
No one who reads TIME reads it for comic book rankings. It's just a total wank-fest for DC to pat itself on the back for Moore's work.
You do know why the American comic book industry crashed in the early 90s, right? Because it made limited prints out of everything and kept trying to game the value of issues in the same way people tried to game the value out of housing, and people just got bored, and stopped buying comics entirely. Now there are a bunch of leftovers in dust bins, because they didn't sell the first time. |
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Dust2
Posts: 28 |
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DBE cost $150 mil? LOL. Have you EVEN SEEN IT? It looks like a $30-40 mil movie at best. Wong stated that it cost $45 mil and this number have been mentioned in several news article. Whatever its cost, it will not be profitable even after DVD sales. Box Office will take in at most around $60-65 mil. A movie needs to make twice its budget in box office in order break-even. |
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