Could 'Alita' be Hollywood's breakthrough manga movie?

As a fan of the original and manga in general, I'm excited to see it, but I doubt it's going to be any more of a 'breakthrough' than Ghost in the Shell was. I doubt moviegoers are going to stop at the bookstore in droves to pick up copies of the Battle Angel manga after the film.

As a person who enjoted "Ghost in the Shell" for what it was , and not for what others wanted it to be, I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy Alita.

People have to understand the medium of paper comics and digital films are so far apart that literally there's no need for comparison. The enormous creativity and flexibility offered by the movie form allows for "anything" goes.

As far as following the story line - loose is good enough, as long as the characters inherit some of the defining features of the original - ie a dark character should be dark, a foolish character should be foolish, a strong brawny character should be strong and brawny etc.

Waiting for Big Eyes.

Sorry, Alita has a flop written all over it. Ditto for the Attack On Titans live action. A guaranteed flop.

The first manga/anime property that will gross over $200 million in the US will be Gundam, produced by the Chinese studio Legendary Entertainment.

Chinese seems to have a more intimate understanding of Japanese culture than Hollywood folks do and have a good history turning Japanese source material into blockbuster movies, starting with Godzilla 2014.

This is the reason why Sunrise picked a Chinese studio over a Hollywood studio to bring out the live action Gundam.

never heard of it and not a animai fan but the trailers looks pretty dam cool to me.

Samit Basu - Why do you think Alita will be a flop?

ATM it appears to possess all that's needed to guarantee success. Let's see in a few weeks or so.

And re Chinese affinity for Japanese culture as opposed to Hollywood - the Godzilla movie you are referring to (starring Ken Watanabe) was a Pure Hollywood production and was critically acclaimed.

It also enjoyed blockbuster box office success taking in over 4X it's cost.

The first manga/anime property that will gross over $200 million in the US will be Gundam, produced by the Chinese studio Legendary Entertainment.

This is the reason why Sunrise picked a Chinese studio over a Hollywood studio to bring out the live action Gundam.

The Chinese bought Legendary in 2016, and it's a US based subsidiary, not a Chinese production company.

Just dont remake Akira.. to many Hollywood remakes of animes and Jhorror films..

Ghost in the Shell, Ring etc..

Ghost in the Shell was ok, but yeah.. running out of ideas?

Alitas eyes look weird on the trailer..

Samit

You are wrong on everything, Astro Boy was remade by a Hong Kong animation studio and tanked and Chinese in zero way know Japanese story telling, why the need to copy?

Alita trailer ads have been all over US TV networks, topping those of other movies:

‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Again Tops Studios’ TV Ad Spending

https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/alita-battle-angel-again-tops-studios-tv-ad-spending-1203121132/

In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Twentieth Century Fox claims the top spot in spending for the second week in a row with “Alita: Battle Angel.”

Ads placed for the sci-fi thriller had an estimated media value of $5.63 million through Sunday for 1,120 national ad airings on 35 networks.

Just behind “Alita” in second place: Columbia Pictures’ “Miss Bala,” which saw 811 national ad airings across 31 networks, with an estimated media value of $3.42 million.

TV ad placements for Paramount Pictures’ “What Men Want” (EMV: $3.33 million), Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Kid Who Would Be King” ($3.28 million) and Warner Bros. Animation’s “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” ($2.93 million) round out the chart.

I doubt moviegoers are going to stop at the bookstore in droves to pick up copies of the Battle Angel manga after the film.

People don't even do that for the billion-dollar Marvel movies

Still doesn't mean a film itself can't breakthrough - as Marvel films regularly breakthrough

Chinese seems to have a more intimate understanding of Japanese culture than Hollywood folks do and have a good history turning Japanese source material into blockbuster movies, starting with Godzilla 2014.

Godzilla 2014 was produced by Legendary Pictures. Chinese Wanda Group only acquired Legendary in 2016

Still, Legendary is very much American, as its owner Wanda is quite hands-off and don't make most of the decisions

That's like saying Sony Pictures is also very much American, even though it's owned by Japanese Sony, since most of Sony Pictures' decision-making are made by American executives

Nobody would ever call Sony Pictures as a Japanese studio

I'm guessing it will flop for the simple reason of the big eyes. I'm ok with big eyes in anime, not like this. I can't see myself staring at those eyes for the whole movie. That would be torture.

Unless its animated in a Japanese style, I don't think it should be called a manga movie. Don't cast real people, don't use south park drawings. Just anime.

Unless its animated in a Japanese style, I don't think it should be called a manga movie.

It's a movie based on a manga. Seems pretty accurate to me. Unless you're expecting two hours of someone flipping the pages of a book while you read it.

@Samitbasu

The first manga/anime property that will gross over $200 million in the US will be Gundam, produced by the Chinese studio Legendary Entertainment.

Chinese seems to have a more intimate understanding of Japanese culture than Hollywood folks do and have a good history turning Japanese source material into blockbuster movies, starting with Godzilla 2014.

This is the reason why Sunrise picked a Chinese studio over a Hollywood studio to bring out the live action Gundam.

There is so much wrong here, I don't even know what to say. Legendary isn't a 'Chinese studio', it's an American studio owned by a Chinese company. It's not any more a Chinese movie studio than Chrysler is an Italian car company because it is owned by Fiat.