Speed Racer flops at box-office; woe for live-ac anime films

On Friday last week, the latest Wachowski “Matrix trilogy” brothers action movie Speed Racer (based on the 1960s anime series Speed Racer (aka Mach GoGoGo)) opened in theaters worldwide, but has so far failed to achieve the kind of box-office sales required to be the big-budget Hollywood summer blockbuster many expected it to be. The film (now being classed as ‘flop’) took $20.2 million, far below the already scaled-down estimation of $30+ million.

With this news in mind, it brings into question the potential financial viability of the several other big-budget live action anime adaptations currently in-production; including the fast-approaching Dragonball movie, which has already been filmed, and the highly anticipated new Akira and Ghost in the Shell movie projects.