Reader living in Japan

[Muon]

Hi, I just joined the forum.

I was an obsessive reader of 2000 AD from 1987 to around 1992, when it started carrying stories about sheep policemen and I started to worry about what girls might think if they saw me reading a comic about a sheep policeman. I now live in Japan and I've spent the last few years ordering various graphic novels to catch up on what I missed before and after my time as an obsessive reader. I dread to think how I'll carry them all if I ever move back to the UK. I subscribed to the prog in September and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

One of the reasons I registered is to try and provide other users with an insight into how the Dredd film is received over here in Japan, so my first couple of posts will probably be over on the film discussion section.

Cheers!

[JOE SOAP]

Welcome back; is there much in the way of promotion for the film or does it exist in a sea of ignorance?

[Muon]

Thanks! Unfortunately it looks more like a sea of ignorance at this stage, but it's still early days. Of course, I'll do as much as I can to change that. One thing I wanted to mention is that as far as I can see it's on quite a limited release. I'll try to give more details about that later.

[Bat King]

Welcome!

You have taken up a weighty task! Hope the film odds popular there, some on the forum seem convinced it will be.

[Muon]

Welcome!

You have taken up a weighty task! Hope the film odds popular there, some on the forum seem convinced it will be.

Thanks! I don't want to get people's hopes up too much - I'm just planning to give my (completely unscientific) observations about how it may do in Japan. Actually, I just tried to post in the film section but I couldn't find a way to post in the "Dredd" topic. Is that locked to new users? If not, how can I start posting there?

[Muon]

OK, I've had a look around and I'm still not sure how to post in the Dredd topic, so I'll post my thoughts here.

Firstly, about the number of cinemas showing Dredd. From the official Japanese page, it seems that only 20 cinemas in the whole of the country are showing the film. I looked up statistics about cinemas in Japan and it seems that there about 3,300 cinema screens in Japan, so as you can see that's quite a limited release.

Secondly, I would also like to voice a note of caution about Japan's receptiveness to foreign films. Most films get shown here sooner or later, and everything finds an audience, but the relative popularity of foreign films in Japan has waned massively in the last ten years. In around the year 2001, the ratio of foreign films to domestic films was around 70-30, but now the majority of films shown are domestic. I think there are a variety of reasons for this, including Japanese films becoming more entertaining, the nation becoming more insular in general, and of course, Hollywood films being pretty shite.

Here is a link that could give a clue about what kind of box office performance Dredd might expect:
http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/japan/yearly/
As you can see, the top grossing films were all Japanese, followed by the usual Hollywood suspects. From this and the number of screens showing the film, I would guess that Dredd would be somewhere near the bottom of the list, grossing 5 million or so. I hope it will be more of course, and I will try to get a load of friends along to see it.

Regarding awareness of Dredd in Japan, I would say it's similar to the US in that it's limited to the Stallone film. Most younger people don't even know that. The comic has an almost non-existent presence, as of course Japan has its own thriving comics culture, which is very different to ours. People here tend to prefer "cute" styles of drawing, and the realistic kinds of drawing styles you get in something like 2000 AD doesn't really appeal to them.

Good news is that I did a quick search on Google News Japan and saw a couple of articles about the film. There don't seem to be any reviews as such, but I did read one thing that gave a brief opinion about the film, saying it was non-stop action. It came out with the old chestnut that the plot is similar to "The Raid", but the guy went on to say that it's an old trope of action movies anyway so it doesn't matter. This brings me onto another positive thing. Japanese people tend to be more analytical and reasoned than most, so people are unlikely to react with the kind of kneejerk "it's a copy of the Raid and the original Sly version was better!" reactions you get in the US. I think people will give it a chance, and journalists and writers of blogs will actually get their facts straight about the film without spreading inaccurate rumours.

I haven't seen any posters or anything, and I haven't seen TV adverts, but I don't really watch TV anyway. I've been going on about the film to others enough that they're sure to mention it if they see a TV spot, though.

One last thing: I saw that if I pre-order tickets from one cinema in central Tokyo, I'll get a free gift of some Dredd coasters with Judge Dredd and other characters in the film on them. Definitely gonna pre-order!

[dweezil2]

Glad to have you on board RicheyJ!

Keep us posted on the fate of Dredd at the Japanese box office and welcome to the board! 

[Dandontdare]

One last thing: I saw that if I pre-order tickets from one cinema in central Tokyo, I'll get a free gift of some Dredd coasters with Judge Dredd and other characters in the film on them. Definitely gonna pre-order!

There's a certain obsessive Dredd collector around here who would probably buy those off you - or even preorder a ticket he'll never use to get hold of 'em! 

welcome to the board, and keep spreading the word!

[Bat King]

LOL coasters probably Cellar bound as soon as he treads this thread...

[Spikes]

How do, RicheyJ and welcome to the forum!

[Richmond Clements]

OK, I've had a look around and I'm still not sure how to post in the Dredd topic, so I'll post my thoughts here.

As an anti-trolling measure, new arrivals can only post on certain parts of the forum. You seem like a normal human to me though, so I've bumped you up to a full member and you should be able to post everywhere now.

[Muon]

Thanks for the welcomes.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that Dredd has an R15 certificate, meaning that you have to be 15 or over to see it. The certificate's usually reserved for gory horror movies.

[Muon]

OK, I've had a look around and I'm still not sure how to post in the Dredd topic, so I'll post my thoughts here.

As an anti-trolling measure, new arrivals can only post on certain parts of the forum. You seem like a normal human to me though, so I've bumped you up to a full member and you should be able to post everywhere now.

Thanks - I thought it might be something like that. I'll try to post on the film discussion section if I hear anything new.

[captain_skank]

Greets to RicheyJ from another new member.

Look forward to seeing you on the next series of Sasuke  , been watching a lot of this ( ninja warrior in the UK ) on challenge recently.