Forum - View topicNEWS: IMAGI's Astro Boy Film Opens at #6 with US$7 Million
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GATSU
Posts: 15368 |
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It's weird, 'cus the place I saw it at was packed, so maybe that group therapy monster movie finally bored those little buggers into moving on to this flick?
 And the kids seemed to applaud at the end at my screening, so maybe there's hope for home video. Plus, the merchandise might at least guarantee they'll break even.
Either way, I don't think it's entirely a disaster for IMAGI, 'cus if I were a movie investor, I'd say that's a lot of good production value for half the price of a Pixar or a Dreamworks movie. No, AB didn't take off(no pun intended) like TMNT, but I can see a lot of the crew involved getting new offers after this. That animation is way too smooth to let those poor artists go unemployed. As for the chances of Gatchaman happening, that might be put off for a while; but it'll probably still be in the pipeline one of these days, 'cus it's too good to pass up with those FX. |
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StudioToledo
 Posts: 847 Location: Toledo, U.S.A. |
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I usually don't think much of the holiday myself, but some studios don't usually go out of their way for a Halloween flick unless you're making an umpteenth Halloween/Friday the 13th flick (or remaking them).
Some people just don't know when to get it out.
It was nice, and they did give him one or two lines as well.
Acetylene Lamp and Hamegg are technically two different people (also this Hamegg appears a bit more portly than he should be). Acetylene Lamp is characterized much different from Hamegg, especially the slight dip in the back of his head that often shows a candle in place.
He should've had a bigger one here. He also often plays the detective in these things so they could have found some cleverness in the character wanting to know what happened to Toby and all.
It's more a pig/gourd-shape thing, but Wiki has info on that anyway so I don't have to say much more than that.
That part of the story I wasn't too big on however (thinking of other films I saw before that went that route).
I'd rather you netflix it if you dare. I also want to see Imagi just fail again and again.
Those people can die. 
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4624 |
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I probably won't get around to seeing this in theaters, but I still feel like it's worth a watch at some point down the line, just to see exactly what Imagi did with the source material. Regarding the box-office performance, I definitely agree that the presence of other heavy-hitter children's films right now was definitely a detriment, but I also have to wonder if perhaps the film's advertising, relatively widespread though it was, didn't play up the nostalgia factor enough. I read part of an interview with the film's director in which he mentioned the conscious choice not to re-use the classic opening theme song from the original 60s series, which to me seems like a bit of a mistake. My parents were young children at that time and have some memories of watching the series, and one of the things they still remember the most is the opening song...hell, my mom can still sing a verse or two.
 Using an audio trigger like that may have made more parents sit up and take notice.
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Tascar
Posts: 18 |
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"Astro Boy" frustrated me in the same way that IMAGI's earlier film "TMNT" did. There are a lot of great things going on in this film. I can sort of see that on some level, these guys have seen the original anime or manga and paid some homage to Tezuka. The animation is pretty good. The voice work is pretty good. There are a decent amount of nice, well-done scenes. Yet, everything that is good about both of these movies are almost completely canceled out by the lack of a good plot. If IMAGI had a Lasseter or Miyazaki or some sort of strong creative leader with a vision, they really could be doing incredible work.
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Otaku_X
 Posts: 298 |
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The TMNT film is one of the few things making me want to see the new Astro Boy. I LOVED TMNT.
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Maruna
 Posts: 36 Location: Boston |
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When I left the theater this weekend, I had an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. It was everything I expected, and I was not let down. There was some Americanization, that shouldn't be anything surprising, but at the same time, for a long time Astro Boy fan like myself, it was clear that they truly respected the source material when writing and designing this film.
Not to say it was flawless. I lolled fairly hard at "Red and Blue Engergy" and some jokes were just awful. I could cite the original manga, though, and claim that that was a nod to the original. Some of Tezuka's plotlines were equally silly and he had a knack for inserting hilariously poorly timed, unfunny jokes. I know that wasn't their intent, though. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Bah, I couldn't decide wether or not to see this movie back on Friday and I ended up seeing Zombieland instead (which I liked). I'll still redbox
Astro, but in the case of this movie, it seems more important to hear how it was from the point of view of anime fans and not movie critics and I'm glad you guys seemed to find it at least worth watching. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4474 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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That practically never happens except in either very extraordinary circumstances or when a movie opens limited and slowly expands (like Paranormal Activity). And, in this specific instance, ALL children's movies are going to flatline next weekend because Hallowe'en falls on a Saturday, which is the biggest day of the weekend for movies, especially children's movies. |
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siradix
 Posts: 62 Location: USA |
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Probably the best time for this movie to be released should have been Thanksgiving. Halloween is more about monsters and spooky things, Where the Wild Things are, fit this category. Not to mention more people who grew up reading the book wanted to see the movie. It seems like A Christmas Carol has Christmas covered.
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Tenchi
Posts: 4474 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Eh, it'd be going up against a big studio animated feature at Thanksgiving, Fox's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, plus there are also A Christmas Carol and Planet 51 being released in November. Astro Boy would have had just as much trouble breaking out then. That's why I suggested February or March, much less competition.
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siradix
Posts: 62 Location: USA |
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I didn't realized that A Christmas Carol wasn't a December release. For me, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a terrible stop motion animation, the characters look so stiff and the fur moves on its own every so often. I almost completely forgot about Planet 51, looks pretty interesting.
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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It's the mistake of letting Hollywood work on a great title like Astro Boy that is the main reason it flopped opening weekend. If Hollywood tried to get a live-action version of this or a CGI/live-action version of a darker and more mature manga title, then I suspect that might have faired better at opening weekend.
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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Well red and blue pill are Matrix references so the audience will have some color familiarity. 
That depends on your area. Some areas don't celebrate Halloween on 10/31. It's also not an all day affair depending on your area. Besides there are people that don't celebrate that holiday at all. |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Odds are they'll recoup all their money with overseas releases. I'm not too worried. But yeah, I think it would have done a bit better with a more kid friendly release date of like August before most of the target audience went back to school. Like Tenchi said its a bit rough releasing a movie during October that's out of season. Most audiences are only open to horror or comedy during this time of year.
I thought the movie was okay. Your average kids movie that I'm sure alot of younger kids will love and remember for all of its flying, fights, and butt guns. Plus I'm an Astro Boy virgin so I didn't have any kind of bias before hand either. Although I never got a chance to see the Blood movie, and as long you don't watch with the "oh the original is the only way to go" mindset, I can't see you hating this movie. Nothing that will blow you away or use it as the poster boy of anime adaptions but its by far the best of the recent string of adapations. Makes me hopeful for Gatchaman. Although I'm hoping they keep a G-Force or Battle of the Planets (for the Planets?) subtext so older fans realize what the movie is. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4474 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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If you look at box office statistics, kids movies fall hard when Hallowe'en falls on a weekend (Friday through Sunday). Obviously, I'm not saying no kid anywhere in North America ever goes to the movies on October 31st, but Hallowe'en is still one of the worst holidays for children's movies since most kids in most parts of the country have other things on their mind. |
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