Steamboy hits North America

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
Beginning what is a spate of Steamboy related news; the LA Times have recently posted an article about the film and have included an interview with its acclaimed director, Katsuhiro Otomo. This detailed piece also features comments from Otomo's executive producer, Shigeru Watanabe.

Having opened in limited US cinemas over the weekend, Steamboy has returned with modest takings at the North American box office, specifically raking in around $150,000. While these figures certainly aren't spectacular, the ways in which anime is theatrically advertised and eventually released in the West often leaves a lot to be desired.

In all the hype surrounding the US theatrical release of Steamboy, popular American movie critic Roger Ebert provided a less than enthused review of the film. Scoring it with 2 out of 4 stars, Ebert labels Steamboy as a "... noisy, eventful and unsuccessful venture into Victorian-era science fiction".
 
Paul said:
the ways in which anime is theatrically advertised and eventually released in the West often leaves a lot to be desired.

Well they did at least try and advertise this, unlike Geneon with Appleseed.

edit: Hey, that Times article is by Jake Forbes, wonder if thats the same guy who translates manga/novels for Tokyopop.
 
Nice to see that Howl's Moving Castle is planned for a much larger 7-800-theatre run in the States (about the same as Spirited Away got after it won the Oscar). Hopefully we'll get a decent showing for the film when it opens in the UK, too (assuming they even bother with a cinema release).
 
I honestly believe Steamboy could have been massive had Columbia TriStar actually put some faith in it. Given the minimal advertising, it's a surpise it even managed to take over $100,000.

If there is one good thing to say about Disney, it's that they at least give their anime a fair chance to shine. 800 theatres is a great number, here's hoping it is given enough of a marketing push to match it's widespread release.
 
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