This evening, the live-action Attack on Titan movie was shown at theaters across North America. Some moviegoers have been waiting for this day. The subtitle screw up, though, they could’ve done without.
Update: Funimation issued a comment regarding this issue, which can be read in full below.
At a showing tonight in San Francisco, there were reports that a third of the way through the movie, the English subtitles froze on a line of dialogue as the characters continued talking. Which seems like utter hell, especially if you’ve left the house and paid money to see a movie at the theater.
@FUNimation Have you been waiting for this day? Cuz I've been. #Waiting4ThisDay pic.twitter.com/dahE5q4Zk5
— ✪ daniel barnes ✪ (@Danny8bit) October 1, 2015
https://twitter.com/embed/status/649421151588892672
Kotaku has reached out to the film’s distributor, Funimation, for comment, but did not hear back prior to publication.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/649421642184048640
Unlike in the past, where subtitles were on each film frame, today’s subtitles are added digitally. The assumption is that this could be an issue with the software or hardware being used to project the film.
The majority of the reports appear to be from the San Francisco screening. Though, the same issue apparently did happen elsewhere in Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin. There were also reports (hereand here) of the movie being shown free of subtitle snafus, so this is still hard to gauge.
@FUNimation In theaters watching the Attack on Titan movie. Y'all done goofed on these subs! #Waiting4ThisDay pic.twitter.com/LMroLCwji4
— ✪ daniel barnes ✪ (@Danny8bit) October 1, 2015
Kotaku reader Daniel Barnes, who attended the San Francisco screening, writes, “Much hilarity ensued as me and a bunch of the other people in the audience began laughing and riffing on it.”
@FUNimation at Centry theater in SF and our Attack on Titan film subtitles have been stuck for the last 10 min. 🙁 pic.twitter.com/tnH0LvPwL5
— Rebecca S. (@sithel) October 1, 2015
The subtitles got stuck #AttackOnTitan #Ivebeenwaitingforthisday #comeonson pic.twitter.com/iKx8L10n14
— Grim Reaper (@GrimReaper_Ent) October 1, 2015
https://twitter.com/embed/status/649422791662436352
The subtitles froze on that line for the next twenty or thirty minutes as you can see in the stills Barnes snapped to show the extent of subtitle screw-up. Other Twitter users did likewise.
The subtitle had been "I've been waiting for this day!" for 20 minutes. #AttackOnTitan pic.twitter.com/pSFxjoogpd
— Tiffako (@tiffako) October 1, 2015
“Our theater stopped the movie, over an hour into it, and said they were gonna restart from the beginning,” Barnes added. Apparently, most patrons at this screening weren’t interested and were given vouchers instead.
But seriously @FUNimation I've been waiting for this day…o_o pic.twitter.com/BjRk02nbQA
— Namespace Jargonaut (moved to bsky) (@psychronautron) October 1, 2015
https://twitter.com/embed/status/649422167197659136
https://twitter.com/embed/status/649433481617936385
In North America, the movie is slated to run at nearly 300 theaters. If you haven’t already, read Kotaku’s reviews of Volume 1and Volume 2.
Update: Below is a comment issued by Funimation regarding this issue:
Both Funimation and fans of Attack on Titan have been waiting for the day when the live action movie would open in theaters in the U.S. Unfortunately, fans at a handful of theaters last night did not have the experience that we hoped they would have.
As reported online, there was a glitch in the middle of the Attack on Titan Part 1 which caused the subtitles to freeze on a single line of text for 10 or more minutes while the movie continued to play. Funimation became aware of the subtitle problem on Monday, September 28. All exhibitors were alerted to the issue and worked with Deluxe to provide a simple fix that same day to correct the software error. Funimation and Deluxe followed up with all exhibitors the next day – Tuesday, September 29.
The handful of theaters that experienced the subtitle problem last night did not implement the fix, which resulted in the glitch during their screenings. Our theatrical division and Deluxe are in contact with these specific locations to confirm the fix is being implemented and what, if any, assistance Funimation can provide to ensure this problem does not occur again during the remainder of the Attack on Titan Part 1 theatrical run. Funimation will be hardcoding subtitles on Attack on Titan Part 2 and other future releases to prevent this problem from happening again.
According to Funimation, less than 2 percent of theaters were effected by this subtitle freeze.
Top images: Daniel Barnes (Thanks Dan!)
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft
