Preview M22: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution

[Pkmndub]

Can someone please tell me what TPCi is trying to do here?????????

View: https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/1177681819363418112?s=19

 

[Poke Trey]

OK, there has to be a trailer coming soon!

 

[Yash]

Feel like it's a major whiff to not do a theatrical release for this one, no matter how poorly Power of Us did. That movie had barely any hype whereas this is about as blatant an appeal to nostalgia as they could possibly get.

Just look at the Dragon Ball movies that have gotten theatrical releases lately. Battle of Gods and Resurrection F performed decently enough, but then the Broly movie did amazingly well. The fact that it capitalized on everyone's memories of the original Broly movies probably didn't hurt things at all.

 

[Islander Princess]

I've started wondering if Disney XD is planning on airing the movie with a preview of the new series and that's why they haven't said anything yet. We got SM's preview in December 2016 and the movies usually premiere on TV in December.

That's the only good reason I can think of for why they haven't officially announced it yet or shown a trailer. Other than that...I don't get it.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm.not too surprised. This movie had two issues with it;

1) It's a re-telling of a movie most of the fanbase has already seen.

2) It's taking characters mostly known in 2D and bringing them into a 3D landscape.

Yeah, we had Detective Pikachu bring success but that had Warner Bros, Legendary, and Ryan Reynolds behind it, as well as new characters and a story never told before. I'm not too familiar with how well this movie did in Japan (perhaps Dogasu could give us an idea on how well it did compared to previous installments), but repeating whatever their success was overseas was far from a guarantee.

I definitely feel for the fans who wanted to see this in theaters, but I'm not entirely shocked this will likely be a television premiere or straight to DVD/Blu-ray. Hell, maybe this will be a Disney+ premiere, that streaming service is launching in November.

I don't know if either of those points would be that much of an issue. Most movies that get remakes tend to be really familiar with audiences, so I don't think that would be a huge problem. Plus, making it a more faithful dub of the first movie might have made it feel more of a new experience for people who only saw the original dub. Taking characters known for 2D into a 3D landscape might be more of a problem by comparison, but even then, I think it might have been okay. Most of the Pokemon themselves look really good in CGI, but the human characters are a bit more mixed.

I'd be a bit annoyed if this was a Disney+ premiere, if only because I don't want to pay for another streaming service, but I'm also pretty sure that isn't the case. They probably would have announced it by now if that was the plan.

M20 US Box Office: $2,401,722
M21 US Box Office: $789,170

Of course they're not gonna do M22 after that big of a drop.

That is a pretty huge drop and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason they didn't want to give the movie a limited run in theaters. But at the same time, it would be kind of unfair. The Power of Us didn't have nearly as much promotion as I Choose You. The latter was also a pretty big deal as being a reimagining of Ash's first journey and a celebration for the anime's own 20th anniversary. A remake of the first Pokemon movie would have attracted a lot more attention, especially if they did promote it. It would make sense if that was why they decided to not give this movie a limited release, but it also seems kind of unfair at the same time.

I've started wondering if Disney XD is planning on airing the movie with a preview of the new series and that's why they haven't said anything yet. We got SM's preview in December 2016 and the movies usually premiere on TV in December.

That's the only good reason I can think of for why they haven't officially announced it yet or shown a trailer. Other than that...I don't get it.

That would be an interesting idea. I'm not sure why they'd want to combine the movie premiere and a preview of the next series, but that could explain why we haven't gotten any solid information on the movie's dub yet. Even before they started putting the movies in theaters again, we usually got a trailer and a dub title well before now.

 

[Pkmndub]

Per Disney XD PR, M22 is not going to be airing in November

 

[Poke Trey]

December then I'm guessing, just before end of the year then?

 

[Moonbyum]

Per Disney XD PR, M22 is not going to be airing in November

I'm guessing they'll show a trailer at probably December or probably at the beginning of 2020. Maybe we'll get more news during that time soon

 

[Daenerys]

December then I'm guessing, just before end of the year then?

I feel like the closer to December that it airs, the worse it'll do ratings wise because the holiday season is when a lot of people travel or watch holiday specials. Nobody other than really hardcore Pokemon fans would want to stay home and watch a Pokemon movie during the holidays imo.

 

[BigDocFan]

I wonder when the movie will air in the UK

 

[thomaswiencek]

Do you guys think that Warner Bros. Pictures has any plans to release English dub version of Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution internationally outside of Japan, just like they did earlier to POKÉMON Detective Pikachu, the movie?

 

[Silktree]

Who knows. The fact that they aren't just airing it next month and calling it a day is suspicious.

 

[Poke Trey]

Watch this gets pushed to 2020, just in time for the new anime series to air in North America. Given how distribution seems to be now these days.

 

[kantoskies]

Between TPCi not airing Satoshi's league win simultaneous with the Japanese airing and missing the 20th anniversary of Mewtwo Strikes Back's dub with absolutely zero news or updaes it must suck even more than usual for dub-only fans. Before anyone asks no this isn't me taking a jab at dub fans, I genuinely feel bad for them and wish TPCi would step up their game and be competent for once.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Between TPCi not airing Satoshi's league win simultaneous with the Japanese airing and missing the 20th anniversary of Mewtwo Strikes Back's dub with absolutely zero news or updaes it must suck even more than usual for dub-only fans. Before anyone asks no this isn't me taking a jab at dub fans, I genuinely feel bad for them and wish TPCi would step up their game and be competent for once.

Even with how huge of a reaction the Alola League victory was, I'm not surprised that TPCI didn't want to air it right along side the Japanese airing. Not only because they generally don't do that, but I think having a simultaneous dub airing with the Japanese version might have made the results more obvious. I don't know how many people thought that Ash was going to win the Alola League this time around, but I thought that was part of the reason why the reception was so positive. Not as many people hoped for it to happen like with the Kalos or Sinnoh Leagues. It still would have been cool, but I wouldn't have expected TPCI to do something like that even for something like Ash winning the Alola League.

I am much more surprised that they didn't want to release this movie in theaters to tie in with the 20th anniversary of the Mewtwo Strikes Back dub. It seems like such a good and obvious setup. It would have attracted long time fans, as well as people who are nostalgic for the first movie. I don't know if it would have been a huge financial hit, but it probably would have ranked in a decent amount of money all things considered. Not giving it a limited theatrical release and no Disney XD airings until possibly December is a lot more questionable to me.

 

[Islander Princess]

I wish they'd say something about the dub. I'm honestly really excited about it, and I've got some friends who want to see it as well (who are not regular watchers of the anime). I find it very odd that they're not taking advantage of the nostalgia trip and marketing the heck out of the movie, theatrical release included.

M20 came out on Disney XD on November 25, and M21 aired on December 8, but both had theatrical releases. Like I said before, the only thing I can think is they're going to bundle it with a preview of the new series so they can't say anything just yet. Even if that's the case, however, I don't really get why they wouldn't (for now) announce or advertise just the movie.

 

[Pkmndub]

I don't get it, but M22 will not be airing in December

 

[Poke Trey]

So, it'll get a 2020 release instead. I'm getting slightly concerned about this now.

 

[Islander Princess]

This is really bumming me out. I just want to see the movie!

I wonder what's holding it back. TPCi? Disney? Are they still trying to organize some theatrical release? I can't remember ever getting a dub movie later than December.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Yeah, this is really strange. I'm not sure why they're taking this long to release the dub. If they wanted to give it a theatrical release, I'm sure that they would have done so by now. I don't think that it would be that much of an issue considering the previous two movies got limited releases in November too. Hopefully this won't mean that the next movie will have a delayed dub as a result.