Once again, Hollywood shows that it has a serious problem with anime and manga. Today, May 26, The Knights of the Zodiac, the first live-action movie based on Masami Kurumada’s famous manga, opens in Spanish theaters. Despite the fact that heavyweights like Toei Animation and Sony Pictures are behind the scenes, the result is once again the same: a disaster.
It is not something we say either. The ratings we can see on Rotten Tomatoes are quite clear: the critics have been happy with the film and it has obtained a 26% on the website. Fans have been somewhat more benevolent and so far, the percentage has remained at 62%.
On websites like FilmAffinity it is not far behind either. So far, the film has obtained an average score of 3 out of 10. As detailed in some of the published reviews, this is a generic story, where surprises are non-existent and clichés abound, once again.
For some reason, live-action film producers have been on a crusade against the otaku world for years. We only have to remember the attacks against cinema that were Dragon Ball: Evolution and Death Note (although there are many, many more, unfortunately). The Knights of the Zodiac seems to be following the same path and although it is not as terrible as the previous ones, it doesn’t improve much either.
A box office flop
Before Spain, Knights of the Zodiac had already been seen in theaters in Japan, the U.S. and Latin America. Its results? Disappointing. During its first weekend of release, the film managed to generate just over $500,000, a derisory figure for a production of such caliber.
The overall figures don’t help either. For the moment, its box office has reached $5 million. It is worth remembering that this is a film with a budget of $60 million. After all, it seems that we are facing another cult manga butchered by the Hollywood vision.
