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NEWS: Saint Seiya Manga's Live-Action Knights of the Zodiac Film Earns US$535,000 in U.S. Opening We

Glordit wrote:

Also, DBE had Dragonball in the title so people knew what they were getting. Calling this Knights of the Zodiac wasn't the wisest choice,

Except looking at it’s name in other regions that’s essentially what it was called in other parts of the world outside of the U.S. though in some instances the title was combined.

I am unsure if we got it a few years ago when it was on Netflix, I know its on Crunchyroll under Saint Seiya.

Engineering Nerd wrote:

HMMM....that is really bad right? Since I am pretty sure Dragon Ball Evolution, another horribly-received live action adaptation got higher box office than this, not to mention inflation. Who greenlit this project? Does the producers really believe such half-assed effort can make Saint Seiya a main stream hit in the west? (To be fair, Saint seiya franchise is huge in the Latin region so cultural barrier is no excuse) Or is the whole thing a money-laundering scheme? People claim the latest Fast and Furious would be THE flop of the year, but I do believe this one takes the cake.

Surprisingly DBE made a profit. According to this at least: https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Dragonball-Evolution

Also, DBE had Dragonball in the title so people knew what they were getting. Calling this Knights of the Zodiac wasn't the wisest choice, unless you know of the animated series or manga, you'd just think this yet another 'action hero film'.

Seems like no one here from the comments saw it ? ^^

I wonder why they did not release the movie at the same time in every countries.

I, on the other hand, I think this and the other modern adaptations are aimed towards the US more than a vague "international market". It's as if Toei or whoever was behind this said "Look, Seiya and his friends are superheroes, like the Avengers. People they love superheroes, so we SHOULD be earwing a lot of money with Seiya!"
And they forgot what made Saint Seiya so popular all over the world.

Seiya0890 wrote:

Seems like no one here from the comments saw it ? ^^ I wonder why they did not release the movie at the same time in every countries.

It's largely because they have to deal with dozens of theatre chains and local film distributors worldwide where the best weekend to open a film in each country will vary depending on what other movies are playing that weekend and the number of screens available, plus different countries have different holidays where it might be more advantageous to open a film during a holiday weekend (or not to open a film, if it's the sort of holiday where film attendance goes down).

It's also just money. Disney has the money to brute force a tentpole Marvel or Star Wars movie onto a maximum number of screens worldwide at roughly the same time and Toei does not. But even Disney often staggers the release window of their biggest films between different countries, sometimes even opening films overseas a weekend or two before the American release possibly because they're using certain smaller overseas markets as a test market to decide how many screens to book domestically in the United States (and Canada, which is considered "domestic" for the purposes of international box office) and also, if the film does particularly well overseas, for advertising purposes in the United States ("see the number one movie worldwide this weekend!").