Astroboy...HUGE box office BOMB!!!

[The Toyroom]

I could have told ya this was gonna be a bomb....you didn't ask me though....

[toys2cool]

I'll rent it on DVD

[Meule]

I'll rent it on DVD

I MIGHT watch it when it's on TV, but I'm certainly not paying for it

[jwyblejr]

The biggest mistake was not getting [adult swim] involved. If they had run a marathon,there might have been a bigger buzz.

[Hector]

I don't even think an animated character has to have any past history of fandom.

Most of these new CGI flicks feature brand new characters...not even familiar with kids anyway.

Like Bolt...a little white dog with a painted black bolt on its fur.

Kids didn't know who he was previously...but they sure went and saw it...and it made money.

So I'm perplexed as to why not Astro Boy.

What's there not to like...a cute robot who also happens to be a powerful flying machine...that alone...whether kids knew him or not...should be flocking to go and see it.

I think the key to success in most animated films are basically marketing a distribution from an established company. Bolt for example was a Walt Disney production. Astro Boy on the other hand is from a start up foreign company, Imagi Entertainment.

Had Astro Boy been released by either Walt Disney, Pixar, or Dreamworks...I think it's safe to say that Astro Boy would've been a hit here in the U.S.

[Hector]

lol! dam, but who the hell spends $65 mil on that? I'm sorry but that was stupid

Damien...$65 million is nothing for these types of animated CGI flicks nowadays.

Bolt's production budget was $150 million for example.

[Raydeen1]

Agreed. My boys are actually asking to see this. I'm sure it's a fun movie.

I don't even think an animated character has to have any past history of fandom.

Most of these new CGI flicks feature brand new characters...not even familiar with kids anyway.

Like Bolt...a little white dog with a painted black bolt on its fur.

Kids didn't know who he was previously...but they sure went and saw it...and it made money.

So I'm perplexed as to why not Astro Boy.

What's there not to like...a cute robot who also happens to be a powerful flying machine...that alone...whether kids knew him or not...should be flocking to go and see it.

I think the key to success in most animated films are basically marketing a distribution from an established company. Bolt for example was a Walt Disney production. Astro Boy on the other hand is from a start up foreign company, Imagi Entertainment.

Had Astro Boy been released by either Walt Disney, Pixar, or Dreamworks...I think it's safe to say that Astro Boy would've been a hit here in the U.S.

[kingdom warrior]

This is the type of movie that just needs to be left out there and let the audience find it....the more exposure the better...if not maybe Dvd

[Mikey]

I also think some huge companies like Walt Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks sometimes fudge their opening day box office reciepts in an attempt to draw in more people telling everyone their movie is a hit and must be seen.

[Nostalgiabuff]

Disney/Pixar also has a proven track record and they put on a marketing blitz for every movie. It's hard to comete with the Disney marketing juggernaugt. My kids have not asked to see this one and I thought it looked dumb. I am a fan of Japanese animation but this one just does not look interesting to me.
Now when Robotech comes out, count me in.

[ODBJBG]

Imagi simply didn't put enough of a media blitz out there. It's also opening at a bad time for kids movies. November would have been smarter. Going up against Where the Wild Things Are and all the Halloween movies, it's a bad month to try in squeeze a kids CGI flick in.

[levyguy]

I loved the original Astro Boy cartoons in the 60's! I remember wanting an Astro Boy coloring book I saw at the 5 and 10 store and was so glad when I finally got it!
I think the trailor looks good for the new movie, while its not exactly the same as the original. I'll probably rent the dvd or see it when its on TV as I rarely go to the movies.
Does anyone remember Marine Boy? I used to love that cartoon too after school in the 60's!

[Tothiro]

It didn't appear to be a Fanboy movie to me at all from the marketing... If it were it would be closer in tone to Tim Burton's 9 advertising, or perhaps Iron Giant.
This isn't a critique, of course (that's coming later) because it's much more reasonable to market this to a larger kid audience. Especially since with kids movies the ticket purchasing comes in pairs.
Having said that, what I saw of the previews kind of sucked. It appeared to be very carefully constructed to be not Astroboy - a different toned movie about some kid (who's robotness is kind of tacked on) who enjoys a lot of super low brow, even for a ten year old, humor. I said Meh. Like, why not just animate The Sandlot or Bad News Bears? I got the sense they didn't really know where they were going with it, and missed most of the opportunities hidden in a license like that.

[bobws]

I was looking forward to seeing this, now i migt have to rush out before it gets pulled. and yeah i'm an old fogie who remmeber's it from the sixties and i loved it then.

[jds1911a1]

You guys seem to all know and love the original, but I never heard of it.

I also know for a fact none of my buddies in school heard of it or have seen it either ... This would be between 1970 and 1979 ... If any of them did see it we would have talked about it at least once.

This leads me to believe the show (the original) is/was not as popular in the United States as some believe.

The movie-makers probably based their viewing and popularity facts (of the original) on a few fan-boys who might have seen it in their particular area... which was probably a big mistake... This probably hyped them up to spend a zillion dollars thinking they would make it back.

As an example
I could go around and find a handful of Americans who love Rocket Robin Hood, but that doesn't mean 99.999% of the country has ever heard of it.

A nostalgic movie like this needs parents who know the original so they want to take their kids to the remake... This didn't happen in this case.

That's why I think this movie bombed

You didn't like Star blazers so I think you would have hated astroboy it's 50's b.w animation so it's very choppy. It has a US following like Gerry anderson shows (such as Capt Scarlet) very devoted but small I discovered it in the mid 80's as a teenager when Japanese Animation was hot (before they even called it ANIME) along with 8th man.
Astroboy was no where near as promienent as Speed racer was in the 70's