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Jan 27 2006 8 Comments

Monkey (not so) magic

“The biggest reason it failed was because of a lack of promotion. That, and it was a bit grotesque, with scenes featuring humans being devoured by dinosaurs and giant bugs.”

Movie critic Mutsuo Sato attempting to explain why King Kong hasn’t been an especially big hit in Japan.

Considering that the country is home to the likes of Godzilla and tentacle porn, Sato-san’s latter point is perhaps a little suspect. However as far as promotion — or indeed the lack of it — goes, he appears to be spot on.

‘Low-key’ and ‘on the cheap’ being polite criticism for some of the advertising efforts on show.

king kong japan

Categorized: Film, Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Live Phone Chat says

    1/27/2006 at 7:30 pm

    I have heard the new King Kong is poor, at the end of te day we all know the ending, its sad so why bother seeing it…

    Reply
  2. Ken Y-N says

    1/27/2006 at 9:05 pm

    Failed? I just saw on telly this morning that it was the 5th biggest New Year file, taking in 25 oku yen or so over that period, and considering the competition included Harry Potter and Otokotachi no Yamato (anyone else cheer when it sunk?), I think that’s pretty good.

    Reply
  3. Paul says

    1/28/2006 at 12:22 am

    It’s a pity, because it’s a gobsmackingly good film.

    Reply
  4. dr Dave says

    1/28/2006 at 2:46 am

    Bah, we all know Japanese pride was deeply hurt by past cinematographical assumptions that Kong could kick Godzilla’s ass.
    They have never been able to put that behind them, thus the resentment to this day…

    Reply
  5. Shay says

    1/28/2006 at 12:39 pm

    It didn’t do as spactacular as they expected it to in the USA as well.

    Reply
  6. Worn Panties says

    1/28/2006 at 11:32 pm

    Glad that they killed him, I hate it when Monkey’s maul me…

    Reply
  7. Ben says

    1/30/2006 at 9:59 am

    All this time i thought tentacle rape porn was a joke. It is a genre on anime. I shouldn’t be surprised yet i am.

    Reply
  8. Em says

    1/30/2006 at 11:15 am

    I was going to say, perhaps it has to do with “real” people instead of animated, and then I thought of some of the live action Japanese films I’ve seen.

    Reply

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