I'm pretty tired, so the unboxings will have to wait... hopefully this weekend. But I'm super happy that they are here. :) After getting that surprise free poster for Ieiri Leo's "chocolate" single... I was half hoping for a secret tokuten from ufotable for the Kara no Kyoukai set but no such luck. :( Ah well... that's life. :) Can't win them all. :)
Also.... I feel like ranting for a bit... while I am really happy that we are getting quite a few anime films recently, I can't help but be somewhat annoyed with Odex whom I think is the local distributor for these films. They are responsible for bringing us KnK: Mirai Fukuin, Hunter x Hunter and Majocco Shimai no Yoyo to Nene and I'm really grateful that these films are making it to our screens, especially the obscure titles like KnK and Majocco Shimai no Yoyo to Nene... but seriously... I think, if Odex is the distributor, they are doing a piss poor job at marketing these films. Thing is... they don't seem to be doing ANYTHING at all. :(
The films just quietly show up on Cathay's page, then we hear nothing about them... not a squeak... no advertisement... no push... no nothing. With Yoyo to Nene, it was worse. Today is the scheduled opening day but the screen times weren't available till late this morning. Yoyo to Nene is rated PG, so this film could have been marketed to the lucrative children's market... but I don't see any advertisement anywhere. Even the AFA guys don't seem to have too much prior news of what's going on. Does anyone want to make money from these screenings at all?
Encore Films does a pretty good job just using FB alone, they have managed to garner quite a bit of interest from some of their foreign language offerings. AFA does a good job using social media and their blogs etc. But Odex does nothing. :( It's frustrating for me. I want to see more obscure titles come but if they are not selling tickets, will they continue to come? :( Come on Odex, if you're the local distributor,... buck up... it isn't that hard to try and get some buzz going for these films. :(
Okay... rant over... I need to do work before I sleep... got to go. :)
7 comments:
I feel your frustration on ODEX. After reading your post, I visited their site and there's no mention of the movies either.
It's really sad after all these years, ODEX has not reconciled themselves with the anime fanbase in Singapore. Maybe the scars of the Odex debacle in 2007 is too deep and remains very fresh for some. But if they want to stay in this business, they need to learn to reach out and directly reconnect with Sg anime fans instead of hiding behind proxies, like in this case Cathay Cinemas. Back in 2007, they literally killed the local anime DVD scene. I hope they would not go on to destroy the anime movie scene in Sg.
Indeed, when Odex pulled that ridiculous stunt way back when, I was really annoyed with them. Seriously, instead of trying to reach out to the community, they ended up alienating everyone, including people like me... the ones who do spend on the stuff that we like and wish to support.
My friend picked up a few of their titles and it was sub-par indeed. Wrong subtitles, bad subtitles, missing subtitles, missing discs etc. She told me don't buy Odex's product even if they are dirt cheap and now I import. Seriously, you can't expect people to shell out serious money for rubbish like that when it can be gotten for free. You have to appeal to the friends differently.
Odex seemed to go all out to give anime fans in Singapore a bad name and in the end it looked like the world's biggest thieves of anime all live in Singapore. :( We're a small country... we lose just by per capita alone. Anyone who lives in Singapore would know that if anything gets pirated more, it's music, movies and K-drama... not anime.
It seems like Odex is still incapable of getting their act together. I see their name on the poster and that the local licensee is them so I can only assume that they are the local distributor so I will blame them for this debacle.
Yesterday, my friend went down to Cineleisure during lunch to collect the tickets and the free posters and the posters were not yet at the cinema... and that's one day after the movie's opening day. :(
Screening time info was late, posters also late, zero publicity... what are they trying to do?!?!
Is it soooooo hard? Set up a FB page and get people to join... give out a couple of freebies, run a few contests... send out releases to places like SGCafe, AFA etc and get them to write a review a week or so before the screening... not the day before or on opening day. Gosh... I think they should hire me. :(
With the way they are handling things, Cathay might not even want to work with them anymore and who knows what the Japanese distributors will be thinking.
Please don't screw this up Odex... I have barely forgiven you for 2007. :(
*You have to appeal to the FANS differently.
Wow those are some pretty comprehensive thoughts on how to promote a movie! Odex should hire you indeed though you probably want to think THRICE about joining haha! :P
The Odex debacle was a deep dark stain on the history of anime in Sg indeed. I 'love' how they pin their poor discs sales on piracy when, as you rightly pointed out, their products were rubbish.
We should start supporting the other company which brought in the 3rd Madoka movie. Maybe some 'competition' will wake up Odex's idea XD
Throw Odex out of the window! Maybe I haven't been following animes that much nowadays, but I was surprised Odex is still alive. How did they survive till now lol
Hi Stripey,
LOL... I don't think I need to think THRICE. Odex doesn't seem like a place I would want to work at. They sound like a really jerky company and a company that doesn't seem to like anime or films at all. :(
I think it was AFA who brought in the Madoka movies. I think they did a pretty good job since all the screenings for Rebellion sold out.
I really wish that AFA were the ones who brought in KnK and Yoyo to Nene. I think these films might have done better at the box office, in particular Yoyo to Nene since that is a standalone film and needs no prior knowledge.
I really wish someone would kick Odex in the butt. :(
Hi Wei Hao,
Good question. How did Odex survive? That's a mystery to me too. I don't know how they make money. They don't even seem to care about earning money from their movie screenings. :(
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