Name: Anonymous 2005-04-25 14:34
Anime movies tend to be shown in US theaters in limited distribution. Usually these are "art houses" that show more independant films. Advertising and distribution is so limited that these films are often overlooked by the general public, to the point of unawareness. For example:
On Princess Mononoke's opening weekend, the most popular movie was "What Lies Beneath."
On Jin-Ro's opening weekend, Kung-Pow was more widely watched.
Recent anime films include Escaflowne the movie, Ghost in the Shell 2, and Steamboy. The only movies NOT to be shoved in with "independant films" are mainstream anime kids shows turned into movies (Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh).
The question is, why can't anime films be shown and advertised to mainstream theaters? Why can't they find a large production company to back up their advertising? Disney has helped bring Miyazaki's films to the US, but even they have limited distribution and advertising.
From a business perspective, a company doesn't want to put tons of cash into someting that it feels won't make a lot of money. But if it puts too little in the first place, how can the movie succeed at all? It's not necessarily "anime films don't do well in theaters," it's "who the hell is aware that this movie is in theaters?" Ask your average person on the street if they knew Ghost in the Shell 2 was playing in theaters, or Princess Mononoke when it came out. People simply aren't aware other than an occasional newspaper ad that tells them nothing about the movie if they don't know anything about it yet.
There's no hype, no tv and theater commercials, no "this summer, prepare for the epic blah blah," no, instead these films are simply overlooked because "normal" theaters only carry "normal" movies, and people pick whatever happens to be playing at that theater because it's convenient. They might watch a crappy mainstream movie just because it's the only thing that's playing.
Meanwhile, people who want to see these films have to be dedicated enough to hunt down the specific theater they're playing at at the specific time and date, which is usually short. What the Hell?
On Princess Mononoke's opening weekend, the most popular movie was "What Lies Beneath."
On Jin-Ro's opening weekend, Kung-Pow was more widely watched.
Recent anime films include Escaflowne the movie, Ghost in the Shell 2, and Steamboy. The only movies NOT to be shoved in with "independant films" are mainstream anime kids shows turned into movies (Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh).
The question is, why can't anime films be shown and advertised to mainstream theaters? Why can't they find a large production company to back up their advertising? Disney has helped bring Miyazaki's films to the US, but even they have limited distribution and advertising.
From a business perspective, a company doesn't want to put tons of cash into someting that it feels won't make a lot of money. But if it puts too little in the first place, how can the movie succeed at all? It's not necessarily "anime films don't do well in theaters," it's "who the hell is aware that this movie is in theaters?" Ask your average person on the street if they knew Ghost in the Shell 2 was playing in theaters, or Princess Mononoke when it came out. People simply aren't aware other than an occasional newspaper ad that tells them nothing about the movie if they don't know anything about it yet.
There's no hype, no tv and theater commercials, no "this summer, prepare for the epic blah blah," no, instead these films are simply overlooked because "normal" theaters only carry "normal" movies, and people pick whatever happens to be playing at that theater because it's convenient. They might watch a crappy mainstream movie just because it's the only thing that's playing.
Meanwhile, people who want to see these films have to be dedicated enough to hunt down the specific theater they're playing at at the specific time and date, which is usually short. What the Hell?