Regal Cinemas Under Fire for ‘Bait and Switch’ Cyberpunk Movie Release

by

Fathom Entertainment, a company owned by major theater chains like Regal, AMC, and Cinemark, has become known for showing special events in cinemas across North America. They’ve previously screened popular films like those from Studio Ghibli and recently partnered with Aniplex of America to bring anniversary showings of movies like Gurren Lagann to theaters.

I’ve been following the reaction to the new anime film, Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl, and it’s been pretty intense. A lot of fans are really disappointed with what they saw. The film, directed by Yasuomi Umetsu and animated by Studio Shaft, had a very limited run in U.S. theaters on November 11th and 13th. It’s set in the future, 2099 to be exact, where advanced medical androids called “Somadea” are common, but also used for crime. The government responded by creating a bounty hunter system. The story centers around Ubu Kamigori, a bounty hunter who gets kidnapped by her enemy, Mr. Elegance. He then does something shocking – he transfers her brain into a robotic body that looks like her when she was fourteen, holds the power switch, and forces her to work for him. The film follows her struggle to break free and get her revenge.

Anime Movie Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl Movie Faces Controversy After U.S. Theatrical Release

The main issue with the movie’s release is how it was advertised. Fathom Entertainment and ticket sellers like Fandango stated the runtime for Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl was 94 minutes. However, viewers found the animated film itself was only 30-35 minutes long. The rest of the time was filled with a behind-the-scenes documentary featuring the director and animation studio. Although the description mentioned extra content, it didn’t clearly explain how much of the runtime it would take up. Many people felt they paid full movie ticket prices – around $15 to $20 – for something that felt more like a single TV episode. This happened despite the actual 35-minute runtime being available on websites like Wikipedia and MyAnimeList.

A moviegoer at the November 13th premiere at Regal Cinema criticized Fathom and the theater for what they saw as misleading advertising. They felt the 60-minute behind-the-scenes feature shouldn’t have been shown in theaters and would have been better suited for streaming on platforms like Crunchyroll or HiDive. This attendee, along with many others, walked out and received a refund for their $15.75 ticket. Similar complaints online led other potential viewers to cancel their tickets or avoid seeing the film in theaters.

The negative reaction to Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl was made worse by the high expectations surrounding its release. This is Yasuomi Umetsu’s first film as director in ten years, and he’s well-known for titles like Mezzo Forte. Those earlier works built him a dedicated fanbase due to their distinctive action style, dark themes, and graphic violence. The film’s trailer further fueled excitement before the movie came out.

I heard that work on Virgin Punk started way back in 2015, and the main idea was to really let the director, Umetsu, showcase his unique artistic vision. The finished film is surprisingly packed – for a little over 30 minutes, it contains a massive 740 cuts and 35,000 individual drawings – almost twice as many cuts as you’d find in a normal half-hour anime show. Clockwork Girl is meant to be the first part of a larger story, exploring a world built around this ‘Somadea’ technology. But a lot of viewers were expecting a full-length movie, and were disappointed to find it was more of a series opener with some extra content added on.

Read More

2025-11-16 02:41