In this age of Marvel movies, it's easy to forget that it took a long time for Hollywood to understand how superhero movies work. They may have understood a character here and there—i.e., Superman (1978) and Batman (1989)—but the tropes and themes inherent in the superhero genre eluded most of the creatives in Tinseltown. Nowadays, Hollywood has gotten the formula down so expertly that the genre is starting to become slightly stale.
Although superheroes have conquered cinemas, their grasp on comic sales and cartoon viewership has been usurped by manga and anime. Consequently, several studios have been salivating at the prospect of bringing popular manga and anime series to movie theaters. However, films like Ghost in the Shell, Dragonball: Evolution, Alita: Battle Angel have proven that manga and anime occupy a similar place in Hollywood as the superhero movies of yesteryear.
Studios have been scrambling to figure out how to make manga movies commercially viable for quite some time.
In the video linked above, you can check out an awesome video that explains why Speed Racer (2008) was actually way better than critics at the time claimed.
