The Naruto Movie Will Impact The Entire Anime Industry

Well boys and girls looks the the first real effort by Hollywood to adapt Anime and Manga en mass is upon. (You know now that they spectacularly failed to adapt video games this year.) Regardless of how good you think the Ghost in the Shell trailer, Scarlet Johanson is one of the most popular actresses on the planet right now. So WHEN the movie does really well, we’re guaranteed to get at least a few years of studios trying to adapt anime and manga to the big screen. This could be very, very good for the Anime industry. But if we want this to last, we’re going to need more unconventional stuff like Naruto to succeed as well.

2014's Lucy made over $450 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. So audience will be showing up for Ghost in the Shell AKA Hey Marvel, its me ScarJo, look how much money a solo Black Widow movie make!

Let’s be real, the anime industry isn’t in a great place right now. No it's not doomed, it's not going to collapse. But most of the people who work in the industry don’t get paid what they deserve, thanks to all but the biggest studios subsisting on the barest of profit margins from sales of over priced Blu-Rays. Sadly those exorbitant prices are necessary because the audience for Anime discs is so small (and because my fellow millennials don’t want to pay for anything anymore).

But the success of the live action Naruto movie could change all this. Yes a rising tide raises all ships, but if Naruto fails and only Ghost in the Shell succeeds, then we’re more likely to only get adaptations with more western friendly settings like Trigun, Black Lagoon and Cowboy Beebop. All of which would make for awesome movies, but wouldn’t bring as much attention and money to the industry as a whole. Or more likely the industry would probably shift its output to make more Western Friendly stories. And while that wouldn’t be totally bad, it might lead to over saturation of certain genres or stagnation. An Anime / Manga industry where there is enough excess cash to take risks on new ideas is better for everyone.

Remember, back in the day an original Anime like Evangelion was a huge risk, almost everything was an adaptation, but now it's one of the biggest merchandising empires in Japan

While something like Naruto has the potential to appeal to a wide demographic, like Harry Potter or the Marvel movies, and cause more people to be receptive to anime. I’m ultimately more worried about the damage a bad Naruto movie could do, than how it could bring about a renaissance for the industry. Specifically, if Naruto is a dud, it could frighten studios away from adapting the one Anime that could really be world wide in live action. Fullmetal Alchemist.

Hey Hollywood, its Japan. We've got your next Harry Potter right here. Ya know...if you want

Let’s not kid ourselves. The primary goal of the people making the Japanese Full Metal Alchemist movie, is to pitch Hollywood on a live action FMA franchise. And I posit that there is no other Anime/Manga property out there, more suited to be Anime’s ambassador to the world than Full Metal Alchemist. Its set in world with elements that audiences are already comfortable with, reminiscent of LOTR, Harry Potter. But it also has that unique Japanese flavor that would make it stand out without potentially scaring audiences off the way Naruto’s very Japanese setting could. In a better world the Full Metal Alchemist movie would come before Naruto, but its not, so we all need to cross our fingers and hope really hard that Naruto is a good movie.

Next Week: I argue about which actor I believe should play Kakashi. Why not do hypothetical casting on Naruto? Well you’ll have to come back next Sunday to find out!!!

The One Thing The Naruto Movie Needs To Do To Succeed

WHELP! ITS HAPPENING! Naruto is getting a big live action Hollywood adaptation from Lionsgate. The success or failure of this movie is going to have a huge impact on the future of the anime industry, but more on that in another article. This movie has several challenges it’ll need to overcome in order to be a global success. You’re going to need an aesthetic that’s faithful to the source material so visually the film looks unique enough to stand out among previous franchise blockbuster fair, but also not too weird and stylized that it turns people away and….oh

Character shots from the Naruto stage musical in Japan. Yes, that's a real thing.

Well ok, looks like that job is all done for them.

There are many other challenges like finding a balance between the funny moments for kids and the darker moments, and Oh no wait Avengers and Harry Potter already showed us how to do that. Um… they’re also going to find a way to make the more visually flamboyant Jutsu work and....oh you know Dr.Strange did that really well.

Wow, looks like the Naruto movie is primed for success in terms of finding an audience, and being visually believable. So then why am I worried enough to feel the need to write this?

Well, it's clear they want to start a franchise to rival Harry Potter with this, so in this spectacle driven, blockbuster landscape we currently live in, I'm afraid they'll make this first film bigger than it needs to be, the way they’re going to try and smash the first two Artemis Fowl books together. The big battles from the second Fowl book will provide for lots of 3D CG spectacle to wow the world wide audience, but it sounds VERY expensive and Artemis Fowl is nowhere near as popular as the Harry Potter books were before they got their movies. So instead of making a cheap, tight 90 minute film based on the first book, I fear they’ll spend too much, not enough will go to see it, and we’ll end up with another Percy Jackson or Vampire’s assistant, and those movies weren’t even that expensive.

So, if they really want to make Naruto into a franchise, they need to start as small, and as cheap as possible. So the film doesn’t have to do crazy numbers to establish a beachhead, in an increasingly crowded blockbuster industry. And thankfully the material for that is baked right into the source material, ready to go.

Its pretty simple. You take the first half hour to establish the world and characters with Naruto learning that he’s the host of the Nine Tailed Fox, and Kakashi’s first test for Team 7. Don’t bother with Konohamaru. Introduce him in the 2nd one if you want to, but not here. Don’t do the thing where Naruto tries to impersonate Sasuke to make out with Sakura. Then you take another 90 minutes max, to adapt the Bridge Arc. It’s simple, small scale, and personal in a way that if done right, will make audiences around the world fall in love with these characters and get them to come back for the inevitably more expensive sequels.

Now Lionsgate. Don’t Screw It Up!