August 4 release date announced.
https://www.twitter.com/tf_autobot/status/1636140222928011265

 

Sigh…..
SIGH…

I’ll try to see it in July if I can at SDCC or something… damn companies here thinking they need to bank on Obon week… probably could pull in the same opening take if they just release on time smh. The Marvels moved to November, so there’s no real competition either…

 

Interesting, I’d have thought Paramount would want it to release around when the film everywhere else comes out for profit reasons.

 

The Japanese movie lobby is pretty protective of its domestic releases. I think the only foreign movie studio that is powerful enough to demand explicit release dates in Japan is Disney. It’s probably a money thing.

Foreign movies here are generally released months later. For instance, the latest Halloween installment (which premiered in October in the west) won’t be released until mid-April here. Often Christmas movies release in spring as well, completely missing the point lmao

 

Japanese movie exec: “Spring is kind of like Christmas, right? There’s people buying toys...and trees!”

<_<

>_>

*runs away*

 

Ah that makes sense then odd but makes more sense. Guess for full final worldwide numbers we will have to wait till then.

 

Takehito Koyasu is back as Primal in Rotb.

 

Some more info here:

ニュース｜映画『トランスフォーマー/ビースト覚醒』



Google translation of the last part of the article:

dubbing cast comment

■ Tessho Genda / Optimus Prime
, long time no see! Optimus Prime, Tessho Genda.
This time, in "Beast Awakening", I'm excited and grinning because I'm playing the role of Optimus Primal with my good friend Yasu-kun.
Each time, it develops a new world that surpasses the previous work, so expectations are likely to burst this time as well.
Feel the fate of the Transformers who have returned again, and let's go!
"Autobots, and Beast dispatch!"

■ Takehito Koyasu / Optimus Primal
Hi everyone, it's been a while. Combo... It's Takehito Koyasu from Optimus Primal.
What a wonderful world to finally be able to play a gorilla in a live action movie. I can't stop being excited.
Moreover, co-starring with Mr. Genda's Optimus! What kind of story will unfold? Even though I'm a performer, my heart is pounding like a fan!
I can't wait for the release now!
Let's conclude with this phrase!
It's the beginning of "Transformers / Beast Awakening"!

 

Because of course Japan pays more respect to their voice actors than we do here in the west when it comes to legacy roles.

 

The reason is that the first week of August is a holiday in Japan called Obon, where families typically get time off, and the *idea* for these "kid-friendly" blockbusters is that if you release then you can get a much bigger initial take than any of the other summer months (Japan doesn't have the typical long summer break for schools like in America).

HOWEVER, I think that's pretty old/flawed thinking, and that the Marvel movies have proved that people/families who want to see a new movie will just make the time...

TakaraTomy has virtually lost the will to live lately... and they haven't announced so much as a teaser for the ROTB "Mainline"--but one other reason could be that they too are trying to capitalize on Obon vacation and if they're going to be releasing the whole Mainline that week, they perhaps requested of Paramount/Toho Towa/the big theater chains to release it then...

 

Obon isn’t until mid-August though. Japan moves international movie releases around all the time, so that they do not compete with domestic films. The market is heavily saturated and domestic film are more profitable after all.

Only the super heavy hitters get released around the same time as the rest of the world (Batman, Spider-Man, Star Wars etc). Anything else (even stuff as big as the Jurassic franchise) suffers a few months‘ delay.

なぜ日本は洋画の公開が世界一遅い？ 映画ビジネスの笑えない課題はここだ 稲田豊史の「コンテンツビジネス疑問氷解」｜ビジネス+IT

 

Sweet!

 

Peter Cullen's story about his treatment during the Bumblebee movie supports this.

 

I have no problem with Ron Pearlman, but this proves they should have gotten Gary Chalk back to voice Primal too.

 

It only proves this

 

Yeah it really would've been something else to hear the legendary voices of Prime and Primal interact with each other. Absolutely a missed opportunity.
On the flip side though, if this movie turns out to be a train wreck, I'll be kinda happy that Gary Chalk wasn't a part of it.

 

IS THAT DIO!!!!!!!!!

 

GOD what I would’ve given to have Peter Cullen and Garry Chalk share the screen together as their characters.

 

Once again Japan outdoes America, how come they can have BOTH OG actors for prime and primal but we can\'t? Star power is powerful I get it, but damn. 

 

It'd be hilarious if they got the same people that worked on the Beast Wars dub to work on this. So the movie ends up a completely irreverent comedic mess