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Speaking of the Answerfan question, I'd say this bilingual blog entry of mine two years ago pretty much explained everything. Is it necessary to retype and resubmit the entire article? Wink

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which leads to stupid rumors like that Zac Efron is going to play Light Yagami in Death Note

It's not a rumour as much of a suggestion.

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Just off the top of my head, here's all the "upcoming" anime or manga-based movies under Hollywood's auspices:

Where'd you hear that Hollywood wanted to do a Mushishi movie? You sure you're not confused with the live-action Otomo version?

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Of those, Dragon Ball and Astro Boy are finished and are coming up later this year, while the rest are either in heavy pre-production, or mired in development hell.

Don't forget Blood.

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"Oldboy" for example is something that'll definitely get made, since both Will Smith and Steven Spielberg have their collective stamps of approval on it, "Ghost in the Shell" is also being produced by Spielberg...and "Akira" belongs to Leonardo DiCaprio's production company (who hired a really interesting choice as the director, actually - check out his award-winning CGI short film, "Fifty Percent Grey" on YouTube), so those are a long ways away from happening but work is definitely progressing on them, albeit slowly. Ditto with "Cowboy Bebop," now that Keanu Reeves is involved in it. Sadly

Spielberg has his name on a lot of stuff, so don't bet on it. Remember that he had up the Astroboy remake rights once, too. And there were a lot of people attached to Speed Racer for 20 years, too, so I doubt Akira, GITS, and Bebop will happen soon. If it took this long for Watchmen to become a reality, especially with its current legal problems, the anime stuff is going to be on a lower priority to get finished.

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plus it's a contemporary thriller that doesn't require millions of dollars worth of CGI and whatnot.

Marty's remake of Infernal Affairs didn't require a big budget, and it still cost over $100 million.

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Also, the complete collapse of the credit market means that studios are being much more cautious about which upcoming films are being greenlit into production, and at a time when even something bankable like The Chronicles of Narnia are getting passed over by Hollywood,

Narnia's bankable, but Disney blew the ad campaign and release date on the second flick.

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something not family-friendly like "Ghost in the Shell" is just as likely to get scuttled away into Dreamworks' back pocket.

Well, if they're willing to green-light Eurocrap, I don't see why they'd have a problem with GITS.

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And really, I haven't even mentioned the 800-pound gorilla in the room here, which is "Speed Racer"'s dismal box-office failure.

It's not a failure, just a disappointment. It probably

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"Dragon Ball" will likely suck ten pounds of crap through a tube, and "Astro Boy" will most likely end up being a disposable, unmemorable kiddie cartoon,

Agree with you on DB, not Astro Boy. If that trailer's any indication, it'll probably be this year's Iron Giant, story-wise-but hopefully not box-office wise.

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Much as I loved the Wachowski's "Speed Racer," it was an expensive disaster that the Hollywood bigwigs aren't likely to soon forget.

Actually, it was cheap, at least compared to Superman Returns. And DB proves they already forgot about it. Wink

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"Speed Racer" was supposed to be the movie that would change the way Hollywood perceived anime and manga in regards to film adaptations,

I thought it was supposed to be another live-action cartoon cash-in which just happened to have an anime origin.

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A million shames on Bandai's completely bungled release of that film and their financial inability to set up screenings and hand out screeners for awards consideration!

It's possible they submitted it, but it was rejected, but we haven't verified anything about that situation.

AirCooled: The more details given about the story, the less anyone likes the film.

penguin:

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To be fair to Speed Racer, it's everything a movie about Speed Racer should be.

Except fun. Rolling Eyes

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Did anyone remember that Speed Racer was just sort of a lame, unremarkable cartoon to begin? If anything, the movie improved it in some ways.

Yes, the movie upgraded the show to "Slow Racer". Laughing

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I still can't believe that a forty four year old man is going to be playing a twenty-seven year old man in the Cowboy Bebop live-action movie. I mean, it's bad enough Keanu can't act, but they want him to play a guy almost twenty years his junior?

What was that Ecchi Attack forum joke about anime and manga having 20-somethings who look like they're in junior high?

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Except fun. Rolling Eyes

Except that it was extremely fun. Moreso than a lot of films this year.

Props to Theron for mentioning the Akira OST. Although I have to guiltily admit that I listen to my Symphonic Suite Akira soundtrack all the time, without the movie. It's surprisingly addictive music, considering it's mostly "RASSERA" repeated a million times.

Last edited by v1cious on Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:22 am; edited 3 times in total

i'm sure petty much everyone is in agreement that Dragon Ball Evolution is gonna be horrible... but what makes you say that Astro Boy will be a "unmemorable kiddie movie?". there has been no evidence to suggest that so far.

penguin: Yeah, that half hour of the car factory owners talking business just really flew by! Rolling Eyes

v1cious: It's probably bias against the original series.

penguintruth wrote:

Did anyone remember that Speed Racer was just sort of a lame, unremarkable cartoon to begin? If anything, the movie improved it in some ways.

Did you also remember that there were no psychedelic bullcrap in the original series as well?

penguintruth wrote:

GATSU wrote:

Except fun. Rolling Eyes

Except that it was extremely fun. Moreso than a lot of films this year.

So what drugs were you on exactly when you watched the film? Be specific about the dosages and what color those "Happy Little Pills" were exactly.

He really has a wide vocabulary, this new Answerman!
Oh, I really agree with that Answerfans reply about Princess Tutu using the music as storytelling.
So that news about Zac Efron playing Light Yagami is not true? Thank goodness! If ever death Note was going to be made into a Hollywood movie, I'm betting on someone older to play Light, say Johnny Depp?

You know, looks-wise, Zac Efron would make an excellent Light Yagami. Too bad he has no good acting skills to speak of and that his biggest claim to fame has been winning the adulation of "tweenage" girls. I would be surprised if he could make a passable evil chuckle or smirk, and I just cannot see him explaining with an intelligent sounding voice his latest Xanatos Gambit. Not without coming across as a total poser.

But the hair, it's just so perfect. Anyone want to attack and scalp him? It'd be for the greater good you know; you'd be a hero(ine) in the eyes of all the Death Note fans out there. Any takers?

While I still maintain my position of the movie, some of my Japanese anime fan friends do think that DB will fail. I didn't even go watch Speed Racer, wasn't interested.

I had a look at both the encyclopaedia entry and the official site of Kiddy Grade 2 as I read the article and I was going to point out that detail about it being 25 May 2007, but I see dormcat has beaten me to the punch. Oh well.

A great article, Mr Brian. I love your vocabulary and I love your general writing style. You have restored Hey Answerman! to its previous status of my favourite column on ANN.

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I own an actual purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi and I named him Einstein. Just like from Cowboy Bebop. Yes, I am a dork.

Firstly, dorky or not, that is so awesome.

Secondly, dorky is a relative thing. I have one cat named "Clancer" in reference to an incredibly obscure (but incredibly awesome) Nintendo 64 game and you can probably figure out what my other cat is named in reference to this.

Awww I missed the soundtrack question too.

Aside from the Pillows and FLCL, and Yoko Kanno, who has delivered on every anime she's worked on, my favorite is the soundtrack(s) from the original Hellsing series by Yasushi Ishii. The songs are really varied and have a lot of great hooks in them. It's instrumental (ahem) in adding mood to the show, and really made the series for me. The show would have been lesser without it.

Is Animation Kobe of the same calibre as the Tokyo Awards? An ANN article claims awards from the former are "among the most prestigious industry accolades in Japanese animation".

Re: anime --> Hollywood adaptions

Yay Answerman, you're awesome!! \o/

Anyone have any other examples (aside from Blood) that Brian might have skipped? I know I can't think of any =)

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