Astro Boy

Post by **Dacey** » November 3rd, 2009, 12:02 pm

In fact, looking at the studio's brief history, their own successes are Twilight and the Nicholas Cage sci-fi flick Knowing from earlier this year. Everything else they have had a hand in distributing has either bombed or drastically under-performed. All because of lack of marketing.

One thing to remember about the studio, though, is that Summit is a relatively new company. They don't seem to know all the rules of distribution yet (they released a slasher film on 9/11, which probably wasn't a very good idea), so they may not know how to produce hits for the time being (of course, no one really "knows" that anyway).

As for lack of marketing, I don't think that's really an issue. In the case of "Astro Boy," they made a trailer for it last year, and I've seen a good ammount of promotion since then (including ads during the World Series). In the case of another release, "Bandslam," I saw a ton of commercials for it, but it still bombed.

If they market "Twilight" to death, you have to admit it's understandable from their perspective. The franchise is their bread and butter right now, and if it doesn't deliver for them, then what will?

Post by **Darkblade** » November 3rd, 2009, 6:35 pm

Anyone know if Imagi is planning on doing a sequel to this?

Post by **Ben** » November 3rd, 2009, 6:56 pm

With the money it's been hemorrhaging there's doubt Imagi will ever make another movie again, let alone a sequel.

No, Astro Boy is a one-off.

American_dog_2008 · Post by **American_dog_2008** » November 4th, 2009, 12:48 pm

So, did I miss anything!?

Post by **Dacey** » November 4th, 2009, 1:50 pm

"Astro Boy" flopped, AD.

Post by **ELIOLI** » November 4th, 2009, 2:57 pm

That's too bad. I really did like the movie though..

Post by **OriginalGagBonkers** » November 7th, 2009, 5:18 pm

I saw this with a few friends of mine a few days ago, I for one enjoyed it quite alot. For a CG movie that is based off on an manga that led to Anime and other manga, it was great. Although it is a shame that it bombed though I would like to see a second Astro movie, but heck I know that will probably not happen. And I am a bit surprised Imagi hasn't done a sequel to their TMNT movie.

Post by **ELIOLI** » November 7th, 2009, 5:54 pm

I think there's a few reasons why it didn't do so well. For one, besides animation fans, alot of people here in america are probobly not quite familiar with Astro Boy. And two, the limited promotion on the film. That's what I think anyway...
I don't think people just didn't watch it because it looked like a bad film, but I really think it's those two reasons I mentioned above. Like I said, I really,really enjoyed this film and thought it was better than some anime big screen adaptions. It's one of my favorite films of the year.
I hope this doesn't happen to Planet 51, since it's opening against some pretty big films if i'm not mistaken.

I agree with you, Original. it would be cool to see a sequel, but too bad that won't happen.. But we can all dream can't we?

Post by **Bill1978** » November 11th, 2009, 12:07 am

Is it wrong that I'm kinda happy Astro Boy flopped so there can't be a sequel. I remember the days when movies were made as stand alones and sequels weren't done just because of money, but because the story lent itself to exploring more stories. I know Astro Boy could tell a thousand stories, but it is nice to know that at the moment it was a one off movie. And there won't be Astro Boy 2 Save The World

Post by **EricJ** » November 11th, 2009, 1:26 am

I dunno, like most "origin" movies of heroes most of us haven't heard of, it takes them the entire movie to set up the character, and only ten or twenty minutes left to indulge the "classic" version of the character with all the explanations out of the way.
When the movie ends on the iconic "Fist!" image, have to admit, I left hoping they could at least squeeze out another direct-video, and with maybe a little less of the Britcomic-relief robot "revolutionaries" this time.

Post by **eddievalient** » November 11th, 2009, 12:27 pm

That's the problem with origin stories. You get 80% setup and only 20% actual story (or less) and if there's no sequel, then it seems somewhat unsatisfying no matter how good the film is. There are films that manage to avoid this trap (for instance, Hellboy gets the origin out of the way in the first ten minutes and when the main story starts the characters have already been doing their thing for awhile) but they're few and far between.