Depositing thoughts as someone more in tuned with things (b
ut I will add--I have *not* watched Chainsaw Man. Will do if only to keep myself in check with the characters)
I think the problem with DreamWorks Theater is inevitably a issue that for what HHN Hollywood does, a second "True" Live Show is not optimal for the venue. They do not have the infrastructure or the backspace to make DreamWorks Theater viable for a full on HHN live show that works in context of the event. I also think it is a problem that stems to that of USH especially, of their show writer teams
*never truly being the best*.
I kind of wish Orlando helped us more properly on live shows, considering how much we seem to be collaborating, but considering our own limitations as a park (especially after losing two stage venues at the same time for Hollywood Drift), having something in DreamWorks Theater will always be a net win.
Now--what about Chainsaw Man. Thinking about it rationally, I think I kind of said it from the beginning back in January/April of when I had this as my "Prayer Circle" pick of the year, for the sake of a few reasons.
- It's likely very much more "Cost Efficient" to port a previously existing show that is from a similar park in the "Pacific Rim Division" in a way that only needs localization/translation work.
- The type of show is not far off from that of the Osaka 4D Cinema, to where the conversion rate for Day/night time operations is far more manageable than it would be for the sake of a live show.
- There is a market demographic that otherwise would not care about HHN that might be invested into this
- Universal and Sony for the parks have continually been more and more wanting to collaborate and work with each other (similar to Paramount), and with Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc releasing domestically in October, and with USH needing to fill in DWT; working with Crunchyroll actually works rather smoothly as a form of promotion.
Should this be dubbed? Quite frankly yes. I have heard for those who did Jujutsu Kaisen that the overall experience was not hampered as much from having to read subtitles, but I do wonder if they could work out a way to get English VO as Crunchyroll's NA teams finish the localization of the film ahead Reze Arc's domestic release.
Is it horror? Define horror to me, because I think we've finally hit a point where with The Weeknd, Fallout, FNAF, Ghostbusters and Chainsaw Man, that they (USH) are more willing and more game to be flexible and able to have more broader elements tied to HHN. Plus as I said with Point 3, I think the market has yet to really be mined at more properly on Hollywood.
On a overall element, I think Chainsaw Man actually is kind of exciting to see being brought over domestically. I wonder if this will be the start of Universal being in a more song/dance with Aniplex/Crunchyroll going forward with more imports beyond Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man this year. Maybe even figuring out ways to convert XR films to be DreamWorks Theater films (Demon Slayer comes to mind quick as a viable HHN contender if in this context with the projection mapping).
I can get why people are not happy, but I am here for it.