Can foreign superhero films ever reach mainstream status?

[Vakanai]

Arbitrarily cherry picking out the most obvious example seems...arbitrary.

I disagree about it being arbitrary, more removing the obvious low hanging fruit. Anime is, well, animated. Easier to dub convincingly. Doesn't have to worry about special effects because animated. Comes from a first world nation that has the money to if not compete with American and British productions at least better able to hold their own animation-wise. And it has always had greater ties to the West than most other non-Western countries. Basically, it'd be way too unfair to compare anime to the chances of any other country we might discuss here. It'd just be "Anime /thread" which is hell of a boring discussion and really kind of defeats the purpose of the spirit of the thread at least - aka can your standard small Asian/African/South American/Island/etc. nation ever produce a superhero thing that can penetrate western pop culture enough to be considered mainstream? Japan might be small and Asian, but it sure as heck ain't standard. Even other nations of equal or greater import in the region such as China and South Korea are more interesting in this discussion because South Korea's pop culture penetration is only just beginning while Japan's is many decades old, and China is only now beginning attempts at big CGI spectacles that might appeal to non-Chinese.

So less arbitrary and more acknowledging that Japan's always been more of an outlier, and that animation is a far different medium and most other nation's are more likely to go forth through live action and comparing anime to live action attempts is just...not similar at all.

I mean, you can disagree and still think it's arbitrary, but at least I put forth my reasons why I don't think including it would have been very conducive to the discussion and topic. And hell, you could say removing Britain from the discussion is just as arbitrary, but again there's so many reasons why it has advantages to help it keep pace with the US in establishing mainstream pop culture it'd be unfair to include it.

It's hard for foreign ANYTHING to become big in America -- not just superhero movies.

In order for something foreign to have any real type of success in America, it would have do the following:

- do something America isn't already doing
- do it better than America would be able to do it

This is what made anime so popular in America, but even that's not as commonplace as, say, Tom and Jerry or Scooby-Doo for most American kids.

Once you take England and anime out of the equation, the chances for success for a foreign product are significantly lower.

Sure, a project or two might pop, but ongoing, long-term, mainstream success is pretty impossible -- not only because of a language and culture barrier, but simply because America already produces the best of the best in terms of pop culture.

Not even as the cost of CG goes down while the quality goes up, and more and more people complain about how American actors aren't trained to, well, act?

If you count Dr. Who and 007 as super heroes, we can say it's at least possible.

Godzilla in the Showa era was SORT OF a superhero. Sort of.

Britain was already left out of the intended discussion for being too big/mainstream/English-speaking/like America as is. If you could name say a French or Spanish example that'd be more along the line of the general idea. For example I think France made that Miraculous Ladybug show - although again cartoons have an inherent advantage since dubbing them into English is so easy.

Godzilla is kind of a toughie. As said Japan does have stronger ties to the West and USA than most other non-Western countries, and Godzilla as a giant monster doesn't talk or have much character. On the other hand a lot of the older movies had pretty horrible dubs. Definitely a very interesting case certainly.

You eliminate the prime examples of yes it can happen? That does make any sense to me. They are literally the playbook

Not really a playbook any other nation is likely to be able to use though. Unless the only option countries have to produce such mainstream content is to embrace and rely on animation more that can be dubbed well into English.

A. Small amount of American people pick it up in it native form and become a cult hit

I don't know if easily dubbed cartoons on Saturday mornings count as either native form or picked up by a small amount of people...

B. It is super popular in its home country
C. It pops on Hollywood radar because of America fans liking it
D. Hollywood actually has respect for the material and put big budget into it and that is the most important thing imo

C and D are pointless to the discussion - by the time Hollywood takes notice it's already popular enough to be considered at the very least marginally mainstream. If something has enough American fans it's already a part of pop culture to some extent. The question is how can a country achieve point A really, as that's the only one on the list that matters - how to get American fans. What is the playbook for that that other countries can follow?

Yes foreign superhero films can crack mainstream status,In India,Japan and China we are starting to see stuff that is about at Hollywood level. I should real show this RA.One trailer but this movie is on Netflix(But I can't resist showing off this clip)



A better example is Wandering Earth which is the currently 7th highest gross movie of 2019 which made 700 million(691 million in China) this movie is also on Netflix. It is showing you example of how close other countries are getting with CGI and the budget(50 million). It is not hard to imagine in the future China going after some US stars to get the US audience in much in the same way US companies is doing the same thing now to get that audience. You are also seeing some small stuff other countries sneak in like The Protector which is a Turkish superhero show basically a Turkish Iron fist and I also saw Shadow which is basically South African Luke Cage . Once the money gets better they will do better in America

Where you are going to see most success is with the Asian stuff we are already accepting of martial arts and subtitles from that area. So the biggest hurdles are mostly out of the way. It is not going to be a surprise in the next couple of years if a Korean show or movie break out in the US. I have seen some interesting looking normal dramas that have way better action for show of that genre I am not going to be surprised when one of them break out in the US. Finally I was watching the Wu Assassins on Netflix and 1 episode in It was easily better than Iron Fist so far and it has Iko Uwais(The Raid) Katheryn Winnick(Vikings) Lewis Tan(Enter the Badlands,Deadpool 2) Byron Mann(alter Carbon,The expanse) ,Mark Dacascos(John Wick,Brotherhood of Wolf). I am pretty sure the production is US but it has feel of type of project that could have been done as co production for a property from somewhere else.

At some point a street level superhero character of batman/arrow style of show or Martial art superhero ala Iron Fist is going to break out from another country. The other styles of heroes is going to take a little longer because of the money but a couple years back The Guardians caught people eyes and if it is done right I don't see why people in America won't like it.

Now this is very informative and gives a lot more to think about!

So China/South Korea/Japan are the most likely to produce a mainstream foreign superhero film/show/franchise you think because the have the most money/advanced technology to compete with Hollywood level CGI then? So cracking the CGI thing is key to live action mainstream success? Also obviously it seems like appearing on Netflix seems to be the best in to get eyes on foreign stuff?