Ask John: Could An American Adaptation of Monster Be Good?

Question:
Do you have confidence in New Line’s ability to faithfully adapt Monster into a live-action film given their evisceration of the original source material in the film “A History of Violence” as well as their parent company Time Warner’s loose interpretation of “V for Vendetta” that caused Alan Moore to take his name off the film? This also brings up the question of why these studios buy up the movie rights to these random anime/manga properties in the first place if they just prefer to let them collect dust, as has been the case with Battle Angel. Why do these companies then invest in adaptations of properties which have less audience appeal such as Ghost Rider, Elektra or Hellboy, rather than, say, DBZ?

Answer:
I’m uncertain over the possibilities of an American live action film based on Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. The original story lends itself to live action well because it’s a contemporary murder mystery set in the real world rather than a story filled with unbelievable, fantastic characters, settings, and action. Theoretically a good screenplay and a skilled crew could produce a very suspenseful, thrilling and chilling live action adaptation of Monster. My primary concern is the effectiveness of condensing such a long manga story into a single feature length film. Inevitably New Line’s feature will have to be based the original concept of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster rather than exist as a direct adaptation. I don’t think that New Line is any more or less capable of producing a respectable comic adaptation than any other major Hollywood Studio. New Line has already proven its ability to finance critically acclaimed film adaptations of fantasy with its backing of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s unreasonable to expect that the American Monster movie will be a faithful adaptation of the original manga; that’s simply not possible with a single movie. It’s important to consider film adaptations as independent works, because that’s what they are. I’m aware of the criticisms levied toward both A History of Violence and V For Vendetta, but in both cases I still thought that the movies were quite good. In fact, I’m a ideal barometer for these movies because I’ve watched both films, but have not read the comics that either were based on. In both cases, the Hollywood adaptations managed to be intelligent, compelling, satisfying movies despite their divergence from their source material. So with those examples in mind, I do believe that it’s possible for an American crew to produce an admirable adaptation of Monster. Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

I’m not a Hollywood or movie industry insider, but I do eagerly follow the movie industry. So I know that it’s common practice for Hollywood studios to purchase scripts and adaptation rights to countless potential movies that never get made. Having more than enough options allows greater flexibility than having too few options. From the perspective of major film studios, having a surplus of scripts and treatments available is a wise business decision. Securing live action film adaptation rights to manga and anime titles is also probably relatively inexpensive. I can easily imagine Japanese distributors being eager to sell remake rights to America just because the publicity generated by Hollywood films is valuable. Manga and anime titles like Dragonball, Lupin the 3rd, and Battle Angel have strong cinematic stories and characters, and have an already established American audience, which makes them attractive potentials for American film studios.

But live action film adaptations of titles like Kite and Kiki’s Delivery Service remain unproduced in America while comic adaptations like Hellboy, Elektra, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider do get produced because movie making is a business. Regardless of the strength or potential of anime and manga stories and characters, comics created by Americans for Americans will always be more accessible and appealing to mainstream American society than foreign creations intended for Japanese consumers. Dragonball Z may be tremendously popular, but it probably doesn’t have greater American mass market appeal than Spiderman, Hellboy, or even Daredevil. I steadfastly believe that Hollywood’s studios are eager to make profitable movies, and if movie adaptations of anime and manga were expected to outgross adaptations of American comics, I’m sure we’d see more anime and manga adaptations coming out of Hollywood. The rarity of American live action adaptations of manga and anime probably reflect their mainstream American market potential. If manga and anime titles had absolutely no potential for success as live action American movies, they wouldn’t get optioned for possible American re-makes. The fact that some manga and anime titles do get optioned for American re-makes suggests that they have some potential, but probably not enough to fast-track them into production. We have to keep in mind that anime and manga have certainly penetrated farther into American culture than ever before, but even now manga and anime are still a fringe industry in America that’s relatively miniscule compared to the popularity of domestic entertainment creations. When the United Press International still defines anime as “highly detailed cartoons that feature busty girls with big blue eyes,” in an April 2006 article, anime still has a distance to go to become fully understood, respected, and appreciated by mainstream America. Anime is still not taken seriously in America, so it’s no surprise that American film studios are hesitant to invest millions into producing live action adaptations of anime that may not appeal to mainstream American moviegoers.