I personally love getting to see anime on the big screen. It doesn't happen to often, but every once in a great while there will be an anime debut at a theater around here. Luckily I live about an hour away from New York City, so I can head into the city with friends and check out an anime premiere. Other than that, seeing an anime on the big screen is a rarity. That is, until American movie studios decide to take the live-action route.
To say that live-action anime films have been sub-par would be a complete understatement. I don't know what it is about Hollywood, but they can't seem to translate anime into a live-action film. It seems like it should be something that could work, but it just never does. Need I bring up the terrible Dragon Ball film? Fans are still reeling from that creation, which was an absolute disaster.
I'm still trying to figure out why Hollywood feels the need to move away from anime and go live-action to begin with. Do they think that an anime feature just won't appeal to North America? Are consumers not willing to sit down and watch a serious animated film? I'm sure some audience would be lost, but I'm surprised that at least one studio out there hasn't been more willing to take a shot, minus Disney and the Miyazaki films.
How do you feel about live-action adaptations of anime? We know that more are on the way, even if they're taking a long time to surface. There's discussions for Death Note, Akira and others. Is this something you want to see Hollywood push for, or do you wish they'd actually stay with animated features?
