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Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe Thread (& Knuckles)

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Dark Sonic, May 28, 2020.

  1. RDNexus

    RDNexus

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    I know there's ripped BD versions of it online. Anyone could sub it in JP for interested parties.

    That and the late release might've affected potential japanese interest on it. That's saddening...
     
  2. The KKM

    The KKM

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    can the "sonic doesn't appeal to japanese" (eastern audiences? come on, don't do the "West means America" but for Japan now. If you mean Japan say Japan, don't treat Japan as being all of "eastern" and leaving a dozen other countries to rot) die already? The franchise was at its peak in the console that sold the least in Japan, that's the biggest thing about it. All the post-hoc explanations people go around of "oh too american" "oh too animal cartoony" fall flat when you realise how much American stuff is popular there, or how things like Doraemon have been popular for decades.

    Instead, actually look at the list of movies. Of course Top Gun is going to make more. Of course Minions is going to make more. And Japan has a healthy internal media industry, so most Japanese movies will compete and outpace foreign stuff.
    And of course, as Dark Sonic points, it's also a half year afterwards. Odds are any dedicated fans have already watched it at home in English.
     
  3. Kyro

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    ...no, i meant the east, not just japan. Maybe Im misinformed, but I've been under the impression for a while that sonic simply performs worse in eastern markets compared to western markets in general (not just America, either). I know american stuff is popular, and I know he IS at least somewhat popular in Japan, ive been there, and sonic advertising and merch was very common in tokyo when I was there, but not as much as even the other stuff you mentioned.

    Not sure why you got so defensive over what amounted to a question
     
  4. Londinium

    Londinium

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    'In China, the release was also postponed due to the pandemic, eventually receiving a July 31 date and underperforming at the Chinese box office due to new pandemic-related theatre policies there'

    The Sonic movie sold 698,500 tickets in China, and 118,725 tickets in South Korea.

    Just thought I could bring that up.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(film)
     
  5. Plorpus

    Plorpus

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    Having lived in Japan for over half a decade I can confirm that Sonic not being very popular there isn’t a myth. He’s well known but I haven’t met a single person there who actually bought any games. I think a lot of them just know him as the mascot character in the coin exchange machines at Sega arcades.
     
  6. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    And yet they still try catering to this crowd.
     
  7. Plorpus

    Plorpus

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    Well, they want to sell the game in their home country too… the goal is to get that crowd to like Sonic. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Sega to want to try and win them over.
     
  8. kitsunebi

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    I'd like to point out that Japan's ridiculously late release dates are probably not as detrimental as it must seem to anyone living elsewhere. "Going to the movies" has never been as popular a pastime here as in most of the rest of the world, and for the most part people seem to have their head in the sand when it comes to awareness of when films are released elsewhere. They sometimes get stuff on the same day as the rest of the world, but they're often literally the very last country in the entire world to open a film.

    I've written before about a student of mine who (atypically) is a huge Sonic fan (how big of a fan? He showed me a notebook full of Sonic drawings he made...and as he flipped through the pages, I literally LOLed when he got to a spot-on perfect drawing of Sanic.) I remember asking this kid a month ago if he was excited for the 2nd movie, and he had no idea there even WAS a second movie.

    For anyone curious, I'll show the list again, this time including the films' Japanese release dates. Jurassic World is doing quite well, for example, despite also being released last in the world in Japan, and already available in streaming format. So you can't point directly at those factors as a detriment to Sonics's success.

    1st: ONE PIECE FILM RED (JP) AUG 6
    2nd: Jurassic World Dominion JUL 19
    3rd: Top Gun Maverick MAY 27
    4th: Minions: The Rise of Gru JUL 15
    5th: "Theatrical version Pokemon Advance" Generation Seven Nights Wishing Star Jirachi (JP) JUL 19, 2003 (LOL, this is a re-release)
    6th: Kingdom 2 To the Distant Earth (JP) JUL 15
    7th: Tonight, even if this love disappears from the world (JP) JUL 29
    8th: TANG Tang (JP) AUG 11
    9th: Violence Action (JP) AUG 19
    10th: Sonic the Movie: Sonic VS Knuckles AUG 19
     
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  9. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

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    It looks more like the films take so time to rise up in the list, all the August ones are below besides One Piece, but it's One Piece and it's Japan.
     
  10. kitsunebi

    kitsunebi

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    One Piece Film Red opened at #1 and has stayed there. It's earned $67 million in the 3 weeks it's sat at #1, making it the highest-earning One Piece film ever. I wouldn't expect those 2 other August releases on the list (Tang, Violence Action) to jump up much higher in the coming weeks, as neither seems to be well-reviewed.

    Speaking of reviews, I'd be interested to see some Japanese critic reviews, but I'm honestly not aware of any reputable source of critic reviews in Japan. All I ever see are sites with user reviews. Wish there was a Rotten Tomatoes Japan or something...
     
  11. The KKM

    The KKM

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    You say that as if it were a moral failing of them to not have an attachment to the mascot whose golden days was in the console that flopped over there lol

    Not to mention when they cater to that crowd we win too- repeatedly we've had the games be at their best or at least most interesting when they're trying to have a flair appealing to Japanese audiences first.
     
  12. Fadaway

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    So, something I have been curious about but figured it'd get brought up eventually is ‘Pivonka’. Because I haven't seen it mentioned yet (although I freely admit I haven't read every post here because that's a tall order and it could have been talked about here in the past), I figured I'd give it a mention. I've always had a fascination with Siberia going way back to my childhood. I've always wanted to go there (I do have an aunt who spent time living in Siberia in the '80s as part of her job and the photos she'd send back were mesmerising to me). But, in all my reading about Siberia over the years (and Russia in general) I have never in my life heard of Pivonka. My immediate reaction at the cinema is it is probably a made-up thing.

    I did a quick Google search and found a Reddit post that pretty much confirms it's bullshit. Some Russian-born users even said it's bullshit and not an actual thing. However, some other posters seemed to interpret the scene as Tails's translator fucking up and spitting out the surname Pivonka for some reason and there happened to be a guy in the place named Pivonka who took it as a challenge because he is a competitive dancer. That's an interesting take on the scene I admit.

    But, I am interested in how that scene came together. Shay Kuebler did a great performance in my opinion. I haven't listened to the commentary (if there is one) on the physical releases yet but if that gets mentioned during commentary, I'd love to know what is said about it.
     
  13. shilz

    shilz

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    They don't really say much. They kind of just refer to the general scene as "Pivonka" and call the guy the "Pivonka Champ". They talk more about the production and the intention of the scene.

    It's a pretty good and pretty informative commentary, and it's really cool that it's not only entirely subtitled, but subtitled in multiple languages!
     
  14. JaxTH

    JaxTH

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    Jack shit.
    Anyone is Europe have the steelbook of the second movie? I noticed it has two discs.
     
  15. kitsunebi

    kitsunebi

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    Looks to be equivalent to the 2 disc 4k/Blu-ray combo steelbook exclusive to Best Buy in the USA.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2022
  16. Snub-n0zeMunkey

    Snub-n0zeMunkey

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    yeah I think it's 100% possible to increase Sonic's appeal in Japan.

    I remember reading a quote from Eiji Aonuma where he said that the Legend of Zelda series was quite unpopular and considered a niche series in Japan, but after Breath of the Wild and the success of the Switch, things really turned around and Zelda has become one of the more popular game series over there.
     
  17. kitsunebi

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    Well...if the opening weekend wasn't enough to convince everyone, Sonic 2 is a certifiable flop in Japan. My local theater (in a city population ~420,000) only played it for a week before dropping it. Not sure if that holds true for the rest of the country's theaters, but I think it's safe to say it's officially done.

    Oh, wait. I think I CAN confirm that Sonic WAS dropped nationwide after its first week of release. Because in a Box Office Mojo list of the top 14 movies at the Japanese box office from last weekend (Aug 27-28), Sonic isn't anywhere on the list...and "The King's Man," which is in last place at #14, only pulled in $56. Fifty. Six. Dollars. And since Sonic not appearing on the list at all means that it earned less than that, I'll go out on a limb and say that it earned $0 because no theaters were showing it in its second week of release.

    So Sonic 2 pulled in $343,563 in its opening weekend and was gone by the next. EDIT: Just found the box office total for Japan: $1,033,310. That's almost as well as it did in Hungary, a country with less than a tenth of Japan's population. Better luck next time?
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2022
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  18. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Those are “give up” numbers if I’ve ever seen ‘em
     
  19. Kyro

    Kyro

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    Oh yeah sounds like a massive flop . Thats very unfortunate, I would have thought it would do better just given the hype and marketting behind it
     
  20. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

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    Or they chose to buy it on DVD or watch it through a streaming service. If cinemas are so irrelevant there, niche movies will arrive to their consumers through what possibly are less niche sources in that country.