Well, it is pretty far outside our areas of expertise - so I dunno how much we could say about it in an Intermission other than parroting info from elsewhere.   

[snip]

So, if you're willing to tolerate even more of her writing , a lot of the info you're looking for is in her book.

The issue of China alone is quite something - yes, it's a massive new market, but there are trade restrictions, content restrictions, etc.  Also, a lot of the funding is coming from financiers who've invested heavily in 3D and Imax theaters, and so they only finance content that's produced in... 3D and Imax.    So - tentpoles.  Nothing but tentpoles.   Tentpoles that say positive things about China.   (Oh hai, Looper!)

Comedies rarely translate to foreign markets.   However, since comedies are usually lower-budget, there's a growing market for foreign remakes of American comedies if the details can be transposed to make it work for local audiences.  (There's a Bollywood edition of Wedding Crashers, apparently).

The availability of theaters is a major issue - in China Amazing Spider-man and the Dark Knight Rises had to open the same day , to the detriment of both.

Trey wrote:

Well, it is pretty far outside our areas of expertise - so I dunno how much we could say about it in an Intermission other than parroting info from elsewhere.   

[snip]

So, if you're willing to tolerate even more of her writing , a lot of the info you're looking for is in her book.

Her perspective is interesting, but having read a few other things she's written that she'd linked on her website, I'm gonna have to pass. I know my limits.

Trey wrote:

The issue of China alone is quite something - yes, it's a massive new market, but there are trade restrictions, content restrictions, etc.  Also, a lot of the funding is coming from financiers who've invested heavily in 3D and Imax theaters, and so they only finance content that's produced in... 3D and Imax.    So - tentpoles.  Nothing but tentpoles.   Tentpoles that say positive things about China.   (Oh hai, Looper!)

Ah, the promise of the glorious Chinese market, where things are always way more complicated than you thought they'd be and never quite as profitable.

Trey wrote:

Comedies rarely translate to foreign markets.   However, since comedies are usually lower-budget, there's a growing market for foreign remakes of American comedies if the details can be transposed to make it work for local audiences.  (There's a Bollywood edition of Wedding Crashers, apparently).

I was very surprised when Ted, that movie about the talking teddy bear, got a release in Japan. I can't tell you the number of times I've been the only person laughing in the theater. It's embarrassing. I've gone so far as to explain the humor to people afterwards, and usually I'm told that the Japanese subtitles were completely different and no one else even knew it was a joke. 

But for some reason, they spent a shit ton of money on a Japanese comedian, Hiroiki Ariyoshi, whose career is white hot right now, to localize the script and provide the dubbed voice of Ted. I'm tempted to rent it, 'cause Seth MacFarlane's style is so different from Ariyoshi's, it would be like getting two movies for the price of one.

Trey wrote:

The availability of theaters is a major issue - in China Amazing Spider-man and the Dark Knight Rises had to open the same day , to the detriment of both.

This is an interesting point. Every expat in Tokyo has asked themselves at some point, why we have to wait so damn long for movies over here. I hear a lot of the hype from back home, but by the time I can get in on the action, the topic has completely shifted to the next big thing. No one back home is going to be interested in talking about  Man of Steel anymore by late August. Mostly, these delays get blamed on the localization process, which itself is pretty terrible. But Japan's film industry is nothing to sneeze at, and it makes a whole lot more sense if domestic films are getting priority over US-imported tentpole flicks.

Cotterpin Doozer wrote:

Every expat in Tokyo has asked themselves at some point, why we have to wait so damn long for movies over here. I hear a lot of the hype from back home, but by the time I can get in on the action, the topic has completely shifted to the next big thing. No one back home is going to be interested in talking about  Man of Steel anymore by late August. Mostly, these delays get blamed on the localization process, which itself is pretty terrible. But Japan's film industry is nothing to sneeze at, and it makes a whole lot more sense if domestic films are getting priority over US-imported tentpole flicks.

Hey, the Attack of the Clones thread just saw a resurgence here so why not Man of Steel?

I'm not reading all that shit, just tell me who I gotta blame for the problems and I'll join in. I suspect it's those fucking interdimensional reptilians at it again.