The Hollywood Anime Adaption Problem

So a friend of mine writing about films got me thinking about the fact that anime-to-film adaptions have been kind of dismal.  Yet there’s always hope and horror that Hollywood studios will keep trying it.

I find this an interesting paradox.  There’s tons of anime out there that could be made into films or adapted that hasn’t been.  The efforts to do these adaptions range from dismal to average (I think “Astro Boy” may actually be one of the best yet, ironically), yet Hollywood has managed to get impossible things like “Game Of Thrones” right.  So really, why aren’t there more adaptions of anime?

I mean think of a pitch for something like Weiss Kreuz?  That sounds like money in the bank, it’s good-looking guys fighting crime.  You could just straight up adapt it.

Samurai 7?  America’s already had adaptions of “7 Samurai” anyway, and this is steampunk futuristic samurai anime where a guy cuts a freaking spaceship in half.  Sounds sellable to me.

Dai-Guard?  It’s Office Space/Better Off Ted/Dilbert with giant freaking robots.

Any of us could probably list a half-dozen possible adaptions that could work on TV or movies.

Yet we don’t see them.  Oh I’m sure there’s deals, but we see so few pay off.

I’ve been wondering about this on and off, and I think I came up with a theory: an adaption of good anime properties is not safe enough.

Yes, Hollywood plays it safe.  There’s a possibility of another Batman film.  Comic book adaptions are all over but that’s because they’re safe.  “The Hobbit” is money in the bank after LOTR.  This is Hollywood not taking chances.

Really if you notice anything Hollywood wants properties that are pre-sold, be it with property recognition, big names, or a gimmick.  Hollywood isn’t much different from, say, The Asylum – the Asylum is just more honest.

Anime, for all its great properties (Soul Eater with Tim Burton, just think about it) is a safe bet in that there’s great, adaptable stuff.  But the sad fact is “good” is not good enough – it needs to be pre-sold in most cases.

In short, even if you have great ideas, the right cast, the right director, a good script, an adaption of an anime would have to be something that would produce the media interest and synergy to make it a safe bet.

So I think you’ll see a successful, competent anime adaption that will get widespread play when:

1. It has enough name recognition for good marketing, or something marketing can use as an edge.
2. It can be relatable/similar to existing properties.  Game of Thrones wouldn’t have gotten made without LOTR.  Adapted anime properties need to be “marketable” as they’re reminiscent of previous successful works.
3. It can fit into an existing release structure, like the usual movie trilogy, standard TV show season (probably a cable season).
4. It has long-term potential for development (look at the way Twilight is getting milked).
5. It can be done without massive localization issues.

I think this makes the possible adaptions a very small list right now.

I think we’re going to be waiting for awhile to see that Great Western Anime Adaption.  So what do you think could finally work?

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.