Astro Boy

Is this for real? I couldn’t believe this! After waiting patiently for several weeks since the New Year’s,  they’re not going to deliver this?!?

How on earth could New Zealand cinemas decide not to have nation-wide release of this film? I was so looking forward to its Australasia release.

BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED?!?

Why?  Could it really be that bad when Imagi had it screened overseas that they had to turn it down? Because it wouldn’t produce enough considerable amount of profit for SkyCity and Hoyts cinemas? It’s just doomed to be super time-waster for cinema goers, as they thought it was?

This is definitely not that cool. And I was really hoping that things would have worked out.

Ever thought about running a toy business of your own?  Does that ever come to anyone’s mind that this is a business that they could do, even though it may sound uncommon to you?

No matter what your varied opinions are on how this type of business could (or should) work, there’s one person who demonstrated her major love affair in this tin-toy business.  And it’s an Australian Chinese celebrity, Claudia Chan Shaw, who’s definitely loving her robot toys like none other you can imagine!  All of her toys ranging all the way to the 50s classic like characters from Lost in Space.  And she also takes a great fancy with Japanese toys too, including Astro Boy!^^

Image sourced from Sydney Morning Herald

I was left amazed of how this OZ celebrity could run a toy collectable business in this  industry, when the fact is that her actual profession is working in the fashion industry, making boutique knitwear for women!  And she’s also running a toy business that any guy (like myself^^) would love to spend their entire life working on?

For there’s a lot of money to be made in this industry.  Crazy lots.

It’s time for me to building my collection so one day I’ll end up having a closet as big as hers!

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Reading the latest news feeds from Animenewsnetwork.com, our favourite hero of the great anime classics is experience a ‘major’ fault with his rocket-powered legs which prevents him from skyrocketing at the top of the USA box office charts.

Astro Boy Movie

The US $65-million film by Imagi earned nearly US $18 million after remaining in the cinemas for almost four weeks now. It’s ranked from its 10th place to 13th last week. Think the American audience’s feedback was generally harsh with it? Don’t know. Hard to say. I heard sources from online reviews saying the film has several cliché themes were overused especially (spoilers!) in the middle and end. That could explain why it contributes to its drop. But I doubted it’s got anything to do with the plot’s weakness in telling its own unique story as compared to the original so one wouldn’t expect too much originality in its perfect form, even for the hardcore fans. It’s an adapted film after all.

Find out more info about its US Box office ranks and its comparison with other films.

Source: ANN.com

Since my last post on how Astro Boy Movie may or may not truly turn out that great for Astro boy fans (as harshly claimed by RottenTomatoes movie rating king), there is one movie critic that I could depend on, and hope to convince myself (and anyone else reading this!) to pull out wallet at the cinema ticket booth without any hesitation.

Manny, a movie buff, gave us a neat but coolly entertaining film critic on the movie. I thought it’s really well-summarised. Delivered with plenty of good punchlines and hiswitty comments. Certainly brought me some good smiles (and the movie look forward to after all.) Enjoy!

Manny, a Filipino, born in Philippines, but grew up on the American soil when he was little. As an Arts graduate, radio and TV advertising would be his natural profession, having played many roles in American radio and TV broadcasting stations which makes him one of few prominent movie critics around in Los Angeles, California.

Source: RottenTomatoes.com,

Astro Boy: All whiz but no bang?

Been reading a few reviews on Astro Boy online. They sure don’t sound very optimistic as it oughta be. I really hope it would deliver well and make great impact on the audiences, both young, old and the fans of the 50 year Japanese iconic anime series.

Some say it’s a complete waste of movie goers’ time and that USD 10 bucks is better spent on other films that are more tangible to watch. Even B-rated films believed to be comparatively than this as sources say. Some rated it’s barely watchable, especiallly for family and kids.

And some argue it’s actually good to watch as it delivers strong messages on family bond and unity that many common families do not normally see, especially in the areas where son misses fatherly-love connection where he’s denied from receiving full expression of love and care that any parent would give to a child. Something like that.

Whatever the views are, I’d still be keen to give this a go when it comes out here in NZ. Are you still keen to watch despite the mixed rave of reviews?

Source: SiouxCityJournal, NorthernStar, The Jamestown Sun,

Astro Boy

It sure has been pretty busy week for me. Not much posting going on as I recently got a new job last week since my last job at my last company was made redundant some weeks ago. So plenty of time has been put focus in getting used to my new work environment, learning to get to know your new work colleagues, getting used to having a public transport to get to work (takes about 90 minutes by car, that doesn’t even include the time to find a car park!!!)

Which now brings me back to my attention on what’s been going in the anime world since my absence.

Yes! As you probably know by now, Astro Boy has finally made into the cinemas worldwide just almost three days ago. And in the USA, it sure did get a positive reception after reading this page from SkyNews.

I just read its movie review, done by an American writer, who’s clearly a movie-junkie if you traceback his review source, and (SPOILERS ALERT) I find his final conclusion on Astro Boy being less disingenuous than its orginal TV series run seemed a little harsh to deserve such a low grade. Though I yet to see the film to find his comments are fair justifiable, I would think the movie have a different emphasis on the importance of family bonds and how this film challenges that due to Dr Tenma, father of Astro Boy, rejecting him as his son despite his compassionate efforts in reviving his dead son he used to dearly love(which gives the reason for Astro Boy’s existence in the first place!). At least, that’s what Nicolas Cage mentioned in his comments from this LA Times’ post.

So there are different intangible things people look for when watching this 50-year iconic character on the silverscreens. Whether it’s fun for kids or getting to know the character in depth, I’m sure for all the while, it’s definitely entertaining to watch.

Guess, I have to wait till early January (New Zealand’s release date is 21st Jan) next year to write up my take on this.

Source: SkyNews, SeattlePi, LA Times

Just reading this article last night. Apparently, Astro Boy was selected as the lucky mascot for Japan as part of their efforts to bid for the FIFA World Cup 2018. It coincides with its impending worldwide release of the film within 7 days, it makes a lot of logical marketing and public relations (PR) sense to make complete use of this opportunity to tell the whole world who and what Astro boy is all about (and the country he proudly serves).

Nothing like a great way to building up its appeal to the masses at such global proportions.

Other countries like England,
Australia, Indonesia, France, Mexico, USA, Russia, South Korea and Qatar are also bidding their hardest for this prestigious host before the bids close for the end of this year, by FIFA.

Are you looking forward to seeing Japan’s increasing chances of winning the bid for the World Cup? Or do you think FIFA should let other countries have a chance because Japan ‘technically’ already done their host in 2002? What do you think

Source: Inside Japan

Well… Isn’t this turn out to be quite of a sudden move.

If rumours proven to be true…

Astro Boy Worldwide Movie Poster

With only barely a little over 7 days to go before its worldwide release, there’s been some talks from Imagi’s making plans to have a sequel for the Astro Boy film, whether or not the film will be a big success or not in the USA. Which begs the question, are they willing to gamble everything on the table to see the things fly.

Here’s an excerpt from MTV.com’s post.

The Imagi Animation Studios-produced “Astro Boy” hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but watchdogs are waiting with bated breath for the movie’s upcoming release—because the success or failure of the movie will have an immediate impact on the franchise’s future.

The Hollywood Reporter runs down a veritable laundry list of reasons why the success of “Astro Boy” is so important both for Imagi and other studios, particularly noting that a strong showing for the manga adaptation could lead to “Astro Boy II” launching into production shortly after the first movie’s release on October 23, 2009….
Source: MTV.com

Read here for more info.

Source: MTV.com

Just wanna share this with everyone. It’s just the same Hollywood trailer you may have seen so far in other forums or movie trailers, but this time it’s for the Hong Kong as their world premiere is edging closer. Comes with chinese subtitles on them.

Source: Youtube.com

Finally, after what it almost appears to be a two-week ‘post absence’, it occurs to me a huge track of time being lost here, due to several inconveniences with the web transfer, I would like to apologise that it sure has taken their IT staff this long to make a 2-5 day transfer exercise, if only they didn’t need that many staff to manage one simple helpdesk request. Only to cause several confusions along the communication lines, making things difficult to get done…

But like everything else in life, that’s life. We just have to deal with it and move on.

And there are several postings I want to share with you. Some I’ve been meaning to do it for a long while before the transfer…

A couple of weeks ago, anime blogger, CartoonLeap, showcased us a great cast of Evangelion Cosplays for the recent Evangelion Movies that turned out this year. Here’s one of his pictures.

Evangelion Cosplays - Image Copyrighted by CartoonLeap.com

Girls sure did a remarkable job in impersonating their favourite Evangelion female characters with such realism. At such near perfection! And figurewise… they’re proportionately accurate as the character’s counterparts. For more photos, check out CartoonLeap’s blog post further! There’s also a poll for you to vote which one of the Eva cosplays would you think turns out the best of the three, if you’re interested.

In entertainment news, with Astro Boy Movie already making its way starting from Japan with its world premiere, IMAGI is setting their major sights on America and Hollywood before it gets released further worldwide on 23rd October (only 8 more nights to go!!). It’s interesting to point out that IMAGI’s major drive to push into the USA movie markets is so they aim to produce higher quality animation that are comparable to the standards of Disney’s Pixar and Dreamworks Studios. Read on to hear what other thoughts that IMAGI and other similar companies have to say with the progression of Asian-based (other than Japan) animation.

With all the crazed hype that is going to build over the next week or so, bet there’ll be plenty of Astro Boy merchandise to buy over the Internet. I’m hoping to see which one of those vendors will provide the best buys for people of all ages, not just applying to just kids.

Source: CartoonLeap.com, Google.com