Ask John: Will Hollywood Ever Make a Big Budget Anime Adaptation?
Question:
Movies based on American comic book characters (Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Hulk, Batman) have made many billions. But lots of money was invested into making them. They weren’t made on cheap budgets. Do you think we’ll ever see Japan/Hollywood figure out how to translate anime/manga characters into such enormous movie adaptation franchises? So far with whining like, “well, it’d cost too much money to make an awesome Cowboy Bebop movie,” it sounds like they’re afraid to invest much and take any chances because no anime/manga based live-action movie has ever made much money, thus creating an endless cycle of lackluster DB Evolution budget-limiting approaches and a fear of being willing to risk money developing something truly amazing like the rejected Cowboy Bebop movie script is said to be.
Answer:
Speaking broadly, the probability of one day seeing a big budget Hollywood produced anime adaptation seems remote but not impossible. A Warner Bros. funded Akira film franchise helmed by the Hughes brothers may have some chance of securing a sizable production budget. A live action Battle Angel (Gunnm) film from James Cameron or a Ghost in the Shell movie from Steven Spielberg would almost certainly enjoy a substantial production budget. But absolutely no one knows whether those projects will ever transition into active production.
Two points should be considered when predicting the probability of eventual big budget American anime or manga film adaptations. First, Hollywood periodically secures adaptation rights, in part, because adaptation rights are presumably relatively inexpensive, at least by Hollywood standards. Popular manga and anime franchises already have an established audience likely to watch an American adaptation either to praise or revile it. While manga and anime titles may be tremendously successful in Japan, they’re frequently not as well known in America and consequently not as desirable to Hollywood studios. So Hollywood studios have the powerful option to negotiate favorable rights acquisition deals. In other words, part of the reason why Hollywood is announcing manga and anime adaptation films is specifically because such films are relatively inexpensive to mount while still having a sizable potential audience. The concept of a big budget anime adaptation is the antithesis of what makes anime most attractive to Hollywood.
Furthermore, viewers should remember that a bigger budget doesn’t necessarily ensure a better film. Arguably the finest American produced manga adaptation movie is the 1995 Crying Freeman film, which was made with a small budget. By comparison, director Michael Bay’s Transformers movies had massive budgets but were terrible films. Certainly a small budget impacted the quality of the Dragon Ball Evolution feature. But that film’s weaknesses were not entirely or even primarily caused by insufficient funding. Getting a Hollywood adaptation written and directed by people who are actually very familiar with the narrative and cinematic characteristics of anime may contribute much more significantly to a commendable adapted feature than merely a big budget will.
Batman, Iron Man, X-Men, Harry Potter, and Twilight have all earned big budget American film adaptations because their source material has proven tremendously successful in America. Practically no anime or manga franchises have achieved that degree of mainstream success in America, thus no manga or anime franchises have earned the right to a big budget American film adaptation. American critics can easily accuse Hollywood of being safe and conservative, investing heavily only in properties assured of big returns. However, is it fair for anime fans to blame Hollywood for not investing heavily into an anime adaptation film? Franchises like Batman and The X-Men have been popular and successful in America for decades. Harry Potter and Twilight have proven themselves wildly successful in America. Investing heavily in these proven franchises isn’t especially risky. No teen or young adult anime or manga franchise has ever become iconic in America. No teen or young adult anime or manga title is a relatively sure bet for success in America. American anime fans expect Hollywood to produce a faithful adaptation of a cult hit franchise. Hollywood responded to that demand with Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, yet the very fans that demanded a faithful adaptation of a cult comic property didn’t support the film. If Scott Pilgrim was specifically created for Americans, a franchise not originally created for Americans seems like an even bigger risk.
Eventually a powerful and visionary Hollywood director may demand a big budget to produce a live action anime film – one with more contemporary market appeal than the Wachowski’s Speed Racer. If that eventual film becomes a smash hit, the film may encourage further big budget anime adaptations. However, so far no live action anime film has established itself as tremendously successful, nor has the American market demonstrated that a live action anime feature from Hollywood even has the potential to become a blockbuster. In a sort of catch-22, Hollywood won’t seriously considering funding a big budget anime film until the American market shows signs of being willing to support such a film, and the American market seems unwilling to buy tickets for live action anime films until a breakthrough big budget adaptation suddenly explodes into theaters.
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Um, Speed Racer *was* big-buget. Yes, by Hollywood standards, it was cheap, but not by what it cost the studio. And of course the irony of that comment is that the first X-Men actually cost less than Speed Racer. Also, being based on an American franchise, which might have more recognition, does not necessarily justify the budget for a film, either. We had two Hulks in the last ten years, none of which scored big. Still, if FUNi is being accurate about Eva still making money for them,[How much of it is profit and not just going back to whatever Gainax demanded for it, though?] then I can imagine a major studio finally stepping up to the plate on it. Dreamworks still wants to give HALO consideration, after all.
As for Akira, its budget is gonna depend on how many locations they’ll go for and who will be in the cast. I can’t imagine GITS being on the fast-track after Surrogates bombing, however. Hell, Stevie seems more intent on cashing in on the robot cock-fighting boom than anything else at the moment. Battle Angel should just be given away like Spider-Man, ‘cus Jimmy’s never going to get to it at this rate.
“In other words, part of the reason why Hollywood is announcing manga and anime adaptation films is specifically because such films are relatively inexpensive to mount while still having a sizable potential audience.”
But when you think about it, the production companies in Japan are short-changing themselves by not demanding more money for the rights. Toei was smart enough to hold out on Battle Royale, and who the hell thinks that would make money here, when a wannabe like Gamer bombed? Meanwhile, Aronofsky’s gonna get Oscar glory from only paying 60 grand for remaking Perfect Blue twice, while Toriyama has to get out of retirement just to wash away the bad taste of DB:E from people’s mouths. Di$ney was insane to pay billions for Marvel, but if that company could shake ’em down for that kind of dough, then more power to ’em. That’s what the Japanese end needs to do more of for properties it believes in, because it keeps shoveling in its mediocre crap with licensing deals, and they end up being devalued in the long run with lower sales across the board.
“Arguably the finest American produced manga adaptation movie is the 1995 Crying Freeman film, which was made with a small budget. ”
Have yet to see it, because Uni has yet to fulfill its promise of an R1 release, but Mark has his own Twitter @mark_dacascos, and autograph info @ http://www.dacascos.com/connect.php , while Avary will eventually be leaving the pen. I liked his take on Silent Hill, though.
“No teen or young adult anime or manga franchise has ever become iconic in America. ”
I disagree there, but I guess you could argue that, say, DBZ and Akira, are probably on the same level as Alan Moore’s stuff, which is that it has a reasonable following, but isn’t huge enough to be profitable as a film just yet.
“Hollywood responded to that demand with Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, yet the very fans that demanded a faithful adaptation of a cult comic property didn’t support the film.”
That is part of the problem. You can’t expect these things to work if you’re torrenting ’em.
yeah, there’s no anime beyond DBZ or Speed Racer that is a vaguely compelling mainstream property. _Maybe_ a Ghibli movie would make an eye-catching Hollywood adaptation.
It feels like if any big-budget Hollywood adaptation of anime were to happen, it would be from semi-auteur blockbuster directors like Cameron (Battle Angel) or Speilberg (GitS). Speed Racer, despite being a recognizable property to begin with, was one of those– a very weird blockbuster from some semi-auteurs who were genuinely interested in 2D animation.
It feels like those director-less projects like Akira, Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop are never going to get made, because the studios will make the calculation that anime is generally not recognized by the mainstream and therefore won’t help an expensive blockbuster adaptation break even.
For now, nobody should ever get hyped over things that are merely in development. Assume the most we’ll ever see of GitS live-action are the overt homages in The Matrix and The Fifth Element.
This will happen, but we have to accept it may not be soon. Twilight I will not comment on. Harry Potter was a success worldwide not just American so an adaptation was very very little risk of failure. Even if funds could not be recouped in American, they had all of Europe as a backup plan.
Other series like Superman, Batman, or any other comic adaptation had 3 generations of fans to feed on so to speak. They had the modern audience (12 to 20), my generation (20 to 38ish), and my parents that all grew up with them in some form. This something anime does not have yet. But note that the more it thrives here, the bigger the fan base, the more distribution, and the more little it is to happen. I consider myself part of the first generation of American anime fans (I am 26 and have watched since late 80’s). We are currently working on our second generation as people from my gen. are literally raising their kids with anime. We have gone from several dozen small distributors, to near death, to a few large distributors, American company backings, etc. We have gone from a few VHS tapes you order online or rent the 4 Blockbuster carried to an online rental service with hundreds of anime titles (thanks Animenation.com), a massive library on Amazon, Crunchroll, etc.
I think we can expect a “big budget” anime adaptation in the next 10 years. I can see an older movie title like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, or a huge series like Cowyboy Bebop or Naruto being used for this. It will be marketed well to capitalize on the sell of toys, licenses to McD’s, manga, etc. to the upcoming third generation of anime fans. That is where the money is and what will need to happen for Hollywood to take the first real risk with an anime adaptation. Marketing to a new generation they can raise on this material is what will allow them to justify a huge advertisement campaign, big budget, etc.