Jason DeMarco produced “Lord of the Rings: The War of The Rohirrim” film bombs epically at the theater with only $4.6 million at the box office

[OwlChemist81]

It may be a flop, but I'm finally seeing it tonight!!

[MasqueradeOverture]

They should call it The Fartfucking of The Rohirrim

[PokeNirvash]

Zaslav be fartfuckin' the Rohirrim.

[Blatch]

Funnily enough, my local theater has been closed lately due to a rat infestation. (There must be something going on in that town, because it's been a problem at a local school too.) So if DeMarco really does get the axe over this, I guess I'll indirectly take the blame. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

With the reveal of the first schedules of 2025, I wonder if the results of Rohirrim had something to do with it.

[Sketch]

On 12/24/2024 at 7:47 AM, Mr. Idea Box said:

With the reveal of the first schedules of 2025, I wonder if the results of Rohirrim had something to do with it.

Probably not in any meaningful way.

Even so, less than 20 million in the box office for a 30 million budget certainly isn't an endorsement for 2D animation (which usually costs much more than that if it's made in the US) and one could hope WB/D will never attempt to make a theatrical movie again. At this point it's safe to say the world is better of if WB/D entreily stops co-producing anime for the US market.

[Jman]

13 hours ago, Sketch said:

Even so, less than 20 million in the box office for a 30 million budget certainly isn't an endorsement for 2D animation (which usually costs much more than that if it's made in the US) and one could hope WB/D will never attempt to make a theatrical movie again. At this point it's safe to say the world is better of if WB/D entreily stops co-producing anime for the US market.

I wouldn't go that far, because their DC/anime collaborations have all been fairly successful, and even Ninja Kamui did pretty good ratings, but I think if DEMARCO is never allowed to co-produce an anime again, and gets his hand slapped every time he suggests it, the world will be better off.

[Sketch]

I doubt DeMarco is the only problem but he was the least involved in Suicide Isekai Squad and it was either that, the fact that WB/D doesn't just let people do whatever they want with DC characters or a combination of both which lead to that co-pro turning out better than everything else DeMarco got a producer credit on since taking his current position.

We'll see how Ninja Batman 2 Electric Boogaloo turns out. I don't have high hopes and IMO Batman Ninja was quite a mess of its own but it was at least entertaining. But did we even need THAT much less another one? Warner Japan makes fine anime for the most part but when Warner US gets involved quality tends to go out the window with or without DeMarco.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with The War of the Rohirrim, it could definitely be a better movie but far worse movies have done well in the box office. I also doubt it would have done better or been better without DeMarco and Joseph Chou involved. Kenji Kamiyama's track record is looking pretty bad these days as well but his two most visible flops (Black Lotus and Rohirrim) did involve DeMarco and Chou. Not sure who decided to focus on Hera but I suppose the movie would have been more popular with a male insert lead, focused more on Helm or following the cousin who became the king in the end.

If it was live action it might have done a lot better but also would have cost a lot more to make. Anybody with half a brain knows a 2D animated drama is a tough sell to theater audiences and only a handful of 2D animated movies did impressive numbers since 2020 (all of which were Japanese in origin). At first it looked like WB/D was taking a big gamble but we all should have realized from the start that all they cared about was extending their license for the brand so they can do more with it when they feel like it. Lose a bit of money now to make a lot of money later, who cares if that very visible failure for a 2D animated movie further diminishes the chances that more 2D animated films will be made and released in theaters right?

I guess I'm the sucker for taking this project in good faith and wanting to support it in theaters in hopes to see more 2D animated theatrical films be made.

[Toonamiguy321]

On 12/24/2024 at 9:47 AM, Mr. Idea Box said:

With the reveal of the first schedules of 2025, I wonder if the results of Rohirrim had something to do with it.

No chance. The only relation the two things have is Demarco working on both. AS programming doesn’t care if a theater film flops. 
 

What Saturday is actually being punished for is Rewind failing. 
 

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

I doubt DeMarco is the only problem but he was the least involved in Suicide Isekai Squad and it was either that, the fact that WB/D doesn't just let people do whatever they want with DC characters or a combination of both which lead to that co-pro turning out better than everything else DeMarco got a producer credit on since taking his current position.

 

He may not be the only problem, but he is a common problem on everything he works on. Pulling him out of the drivers seat has very high odds of improving projects, while having low odds of making them worse. 

[Sketch]

He's had plenty of chances already and Uzumaki was the biggest mess yet but if he can't even get a great show out of Watanabe then he truly has no business overseeing these projects. I'd say he should have already been replaced in that division but who else would they get to run it? I guess it doesn't really matter because at this point its hard to imagine anyone doing much worse. But IMO they should just get rid of the division. They didn't need it to make things like Batman Ninja, Gotham Knight, Halo Legends or The Animatrix so they can easily go on without it.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

He's had plenty of chances already and Uzumaki was the biggest mess yet but if he can't even get a great show out of Watanabe then he truly has no business overseeing these projects. I'd say he should have already been replaced in that division but who else would they get to run it? I guess it doesn't really matter because at this point its hard to imagine anyone doing much worse. But IMO they should just get rid of the division. They didn't need it to make things like Batman Ninja, Gotham Knight, Halo Legends or The Animatrix so they can easily go on without it.

Yea I feel the same way. It’s not an issue that needs a replacement, it’s an issue that needs gotten rid of. Anime does not need direct western influence in its creation. Anime has been rocketing to prominence primarily because it does NOT have direct western influence. 
 

I say direct because it’s well documented that Japanese projects have made changes on their own in an effort to be more appealing to the west, primarily with the removal or censorship of fanservice. Unfortunate, but that’s more Twitter’s fault than anything.