Forum - View topicNEWS: Hollywood Reporter: Live-Action Akira Film's Production Shut Down
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Charred Knight
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The average anime fan has never even read the Akira manga. |
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GhostShell
Posts: 1009 Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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They can either check out the source material, or not. If they do check it out and 'think it sucks', then that's their opinion after actually having looked at the source. If they 'think it sucks' without having looked at the source, well then they've formed an opinion based on supposition. Keeping an open mind can be beneficial. |
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mrsatan
 Posts: 909 Location: Olympia, WA, USA |
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2012 is looking up and up!
Seriously, I'd love Answerman to answer WHY Hollywood won't give up on this terrible idea, especially when there are apparently all kinds of obstacles in its production and the chance of financial success are so low? It seems like the wise thing to do would be to cut their losses and move on to a current anime trend. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15306 |
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mrsatan: Ask John already did it.
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hitokiriizo
 Posts: 68 |
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i just don't understand why american directors (or whoever does the casting) seem to refuse to put asians in an obviously asian film ex. db:e,the last air bender, speed racer.....seriously who names their caucasion son goku or sokka?
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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Well, technically Goku is an alien, not Japanese... Goku is his adopted name. His original name is named based on a carrot. and the Avatar movie actually pronounced the names by their true Asian pronunciation where as the cartoon pronounced them like some bad Saturday morning anime dub on the Kids WB would. Just saying. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15306 |
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Titan:
Yeah, and Superman is an alien, too. But how well did that work out for Steel?
And the Avatar movie made the one token Asian kid the bad guy. Just saying. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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This is probably for the better, not for reasons ya guys are thinking, but because if this movie was going to be done, it has to be done on an A-budget, not on a B-budget.
Look at the many Japanese live-action films that, for financial reasons, have to be done on even worse budgets. They look cheezy. If Akira had been done in Japan's live-action, it would look cheezy. It can't be done in that kind of budget.
Y'mean classic manga. The movie would be based on the manga, not the anime. The anime made changes to the manga. Did that ruin the manga? The Oldboy movie made changes to the manga. Did that ruin the manga? Heck, the cheezy Death Note, sanitized Gantz, and laughable Negima movies were mediocre - did those ruin the manga for everyone else? 
We don't know for sure if those Japanese names would've survived into the movie. Everything was very preliminary. It hasn't even gotten all the way to the dreaded marketing department yet - y'know, the type of people who changes rice balls into donuts.
Oh no, George Lucas. 
Yes, the movie successes of Harry Potter, et al. have been credited to bringing back kids to reading. Maybe not all of them would try out other books, but some of them definitely would. And since the movies became successes, there becomes a high number of initial interested parties - thus even if just a fraction of that high number continue reading other books, it would still yield quite a significant number. And as for American comics, even the lack of success of Watchmen and Scott Pilgrim still drove their books to the top of the charts. Particularly Watchmen, whose expensive $20 softcover and $40 hardcover books, were #1 in all graphic novels (including manga) for months and months after the movie - not bad for a 2-1/2-decade-old franchise.
Lest we forget, the anime and manga boom of the early 2000s was sparked by the success of anime on US national TV. Obviously, such success directly led to finding more and more anime and manga in shops.
If things remain in status quo, the industry would not get any better. Ya guys wanna know why Japan still intends to join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) despite protestations from many in the anime/manga/doujin/cosplay industry? Because Japan has been in a status quo for 2 decades now - their "Lost Decade" has now become 2 decades and going on 3. If they don't do anything, they will continue to not grow while everyone else around them catches up (like South Korea is doing) or passes them by (like China already did). They can't afford to do the same old, same old.
Yep, and the average non-anime fan would not have wanted to read the Akira manga in the first place anyways, so a lack of successful movie would not have affected that at all.
Ah, someone else who actually watched the Avatar movie?
In their defense, even most of us here probably couldn't pronounce the Chinese names the way Chinese actually pronounce them neither. (Chinese names make up most of the significant characters' names.) Also, Speed Racer is based on the Americanization, not the original Japanese version; so no, it's not an Asian film anymore by this point. |
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Mike Hazama
 Posts: 45 |
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Manga and American comics are an entirely different format. You can do a Superman or Batman story in 2 hours just fine since the comics have no real overall plot and have been doing that stuff for over sixty years. Manga tends to be much more linear and story driven. No way you can tell Dragonball's story in 2 hours, but a Superman VS Lex Luthor one would fit. Plus superheroes are easy to do since they always take place in modern American cities. Dragonball was a fantasy world with lots of creatures and wacky stuff. |
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Lightning Leo
Posts: 311 Location: Earth |
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Y'know, it's kinda funny. When I first heard the story synopsis for the Akira anime movie I thought "wow, this sounds like a really neat movie, it has psychics and motorcycles". When I finally saw the film and its tripped-out bizarre ending, spoiler[with a giant mutant baby and an exploding universe], I was totally confused and disappointed. Then I saw a collection of the manga omnibus on sale at Half-Price, and remembering the bizarre animated film decided to pass on it. Later when I volunteer worked part-time at a local comic studio, the guys there told me that the manga is REALLY different from the film, and the ending makes much more sense. It's kinda ironic. I feel bad about it, too, because those big books were selling at scandalously low prices (like, $3 a pop). I guess it goes to show, you should never judge a manga by its anime! (or vice versa)
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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No, the TPP does absolutely nothing for them that is not possible now. It's all due to political pressure. If cables between Japan and US were revealed/leaked I bet that's what it would absolutely indicate, similar to Spain. And Korea and China didn't need any such kind of trade agreements either (they're not even part of the TPP). In fact such "free trade" agreements are an oxymoron to begin with. Anyways, the entire "lost decade" is a larger economic matter outside of the anime market itself. In terms of anime, manga, pop culture, it is still Japan's domain and they still retain soft-power none of the other countries approach.
And yet this was cited as one reason beneficial to the anime/manga biz. So why worry if it's not going to affect it one way or another? Personally, I don't think so for everyone. Many people might not check out the original, but there will be some who are potentially interested. After all you just mentioned:
So like Lightning Leo mentioned with his experience, a bad adaptation can kill what potential interest there is. It also kills further interest in adaptations for Hollywood. But really, the whole idea about worrying about growth is unfounded because there's a plethora--I mean just TONS and TONS of material to choose from for adaptations that keeps on growing, much more that also lends itself to lower budgets (less risk) and easier adaptations. A lot obscure yes, but again, if you're marketing to an audience that supposedly doesn't care, then it shouldn't matter anyways. Japanese mangaka or writers don't have to do anything nor should they try to cater to Hollywood in any special way. Having them rely on Hollywood to grow is a BAD economic sign.
Well, there's been no evidence that they were planning on changing the names of the characters nor the title. The casting calls have all kept the original names and descriptions so far. I hope they do though, because that is certainly the biggest stumbling block IMO. You'll note that adaptations of manga to foreign settings make corresponding character changes, like in Asian dramas, which again, are the most successful kinds of adaptations. Last edited by configspace on Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Banden
 Posts: 140 |
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I understand that completely, which is exactly why I cited the Transformers example you quoted when you replied just now, but that isn't the argument Tempest and Surrender Artist are making here. People in this thread, including yourself, are tossing this implication around that the success of these Hollywood film adventures translate into hope for the anime & manga industry at a broad macro level. My point is, based on the performance of the anime adaptations that have already been done, and the nature of the Hollywood beast in general, I don't see any indication of truth in that implication? If the big screen adaptation of Astro Boy, Dragonball and Speed Racer helped boost sales for the respective anime & manga publishers and put a few extra dollars in their pocket, that's great, I'm genuinely happy for them. But boosting sales for the sake of boosting sales, as an end unto itself, obviously isn't a primary concern of mine as a consumer and fan. Meeting and/or exceeding sales targets is the job the producers/publishers make their money from their respective companies to be responsible for. They are primarily concerned with their own firm and propert(ies) finding success, whereas my interest is seeing the industry as a whole and the artform finding success; and in the long run, I'm just not seeing any correlation. Astro Boy, Dragonball and Speed Racer maybe profitable, but in spite of whatever sales boosts they achieved, the anime & manga industry in the US appears to be continuing unchecked in its downward spiral, shedding companies and jobs like those at Tokyopop & Bandai, and going deeper into the red and offering fans less variety year after year after year. I think that ship has sailed. I don't think history is telling us that movie adaptations are going to save anime & manga in the US. In fact, given budget constraints of the intellectual property owners, in some cases these film adaptations could be creating competition against the genuine article. If a company like Funimation or Dark Horse Comics makes an investment in co-promoting themselves with a live action film project, if their budget is limited as most anime & manga companies are these days, is it very likely that they would be as willing to invest again, a second time, if another proposal came their way, to produce new manga or animation for the same property? Maybe, maybe not. This is complete speculation on my part, but I don't see how you can rule out the possibility. Look no farther than the Asian Horror phenomenon, and how badly most of the domestic remakes have worked out for Hollywood since The Ring. Sure, in most cases the original films have made it to our shores together with the remakes, but they have to compete for sales against the generally poor image of their own offspring, and it hasn't exactly managed to spark an "Asian Horror boom" in the same sense as the anime and manga boom of the 2000's. |
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TitanXL
Posts: 4036 |
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The thing is the "boosting sales" thing is only temporary. Sure, Watchmen and Scott Pilgrim got a bump, but that bump is gone. Also, only those two got bumps, the Scott Pilgrim movie didn't suddenly make a bunch of comics sell more. Boosting the sales of one series isn't really going to help the industry as a whole.
Same with Harry Potter. You can't cite it as 'getting kids back to reading' when all they're reading is Harry Potter. It's not really the same thing. Also that really only applies to short series.. Marvel and DC movies don't really give them a bump in sales at all. So it's not like it always happens.
Personally the thing I like about anime is they actually have animated movies. One Piece can have 10 animated movies, Naruto can have 8, Pocket Monsters can have 14 and so forth. All tied into the series itself no less, and not some 'remake' or 'reimagining' (Well, aside from that Alabasta and Drum Island movies, but still, you know what I mean) I wouldn't trade animated movies for some live-action Hollywood stuff. I think that's the biggest strength of anime, the movies they do have actually have some effort put into them and tie into the series itself. |
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Dakaran
 Posts: 347 |
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I am not against the movies but against bad choices for casting the roles and scripts choices. The scenes have to be where it seems believable and related to the original work as much as possible. Look at LOTRO it did so well because they stuck to the books so the same goes for manga/anime adaptations.
Akira should be a lot darker and apocalyptic than what was shown. It should not be a walk in the park and if anything else a science-fiction, action and horror movie with dazzling and flashy story and effects packed with a solid script written to bring out the world live that keeps you on the tip of your toes during the movie. Something, a movie, that will put you into a trance watching it and in a way you assimilate the information about what is AKIRA, that's how I feel. |
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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So instead of catering to Hollywood (i.e mainstream) they should instead cater to Japanese otaku? |
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