SMS Released With Mixed Reaction The May 23, 2000 release of "Sailor Moon S" appears to be huge with initial sales stronger than for it's predecessor "Sailor Moon R." The general industry consensus is that "Sailor Moon R" helped get the word out that there was new product available resulting in the higher numbers. Nevertheless, "Sailor Moon S" is expected to not sell as well as the first film. The mixed reviews aren't helping. Fans are complaining of questionable performances by some of the Voice Actors (when, we believe it may be due to the ADR Direction, Casting and/or the fault of Optimum Productions). There has been almost universal agreement that the direction of the English dub is now firmly headed in the wrong direction. (This, plus some other alarming, deliberate choices by Cloverway & Optimum [and not by any network] have given some of us second thoughts about continuing our support of this property in the English speaking world. Perhaps "Sailor Stars" should be left undubbed? This would encourage truly interested fans to discover and enjoy the Japanese versions of the Sailormoon universe.)
To see how the film is selling, check in on Amazon.com's hourly ranking of the 100 Top Selling Videos & the 100 Top Selling DVDs (we've seen the VHS get up to #4 & the DVD to #21), as well as the Cahners publication Video Business magazine with its weekly (and more important) ranking of the 25 top VHS Best Sellers and DVD Best Sellers in the United States and Canada as provided by Blockbuster, Suncoast, Tower Records, Target & Best Buy stores. Also selling well on Amazon.com is "Sailor Moon" merchandise. In their "zShops" section we've seen the toys & dolls featured as #3 on their "zShops Favorites" (which we suspect isn't a statistical ranking at all). Back on May 16, Pioneer Entertainment announced that the final animated feature, "Sailor Moon Super S", will be released on August 15 and has been renamed "Sailor Moon Super S - Black Dream Hole". This new title (while unnecessary) marks the first correct usage of the word "Black" in dubbed versions. In the past any reference to "Black" was changed to "the Negaverse". Instead, fans were insulted by the tampering. We welcome this new development. However..... please read our sidebar. Meanwhile, AnimeOnDVD.com recently posted a comprehensive report of how the release of the "Sailor Moon R" DVD was really unedited! Read of this amazing screw-up but keep in mind that this sort of thing goes on all the time! Our current, favorite example has to be Disney's release of "Tarzan" which has the Left and Right Front Stereo Tracks switched with the Left and Right Surround Tracks. |
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