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Miyazaki's Future w/ Disney
An anonymous reader sent us an interesting little article about
Miyazaki and Disney. Disney of course owns the rights to distribute his films (like to pick a gigantic example Princess Mononoke) to worldwide audiences. Apparently lackluster profits from Mononoke may jeopradize future Miyazaki titles release in the US, which would be terribly unfortunate considering that in the end, the DVD release of Mononoke was absolutely wonderful (although its a somewhat dark film for Mouse) This is all
tied to Spirited Away, his latest film which is apparently doing great things at the Japanese Box Office.
What a shame it is that the big corporations have to market to the lowest common denominator. I too own the DVD of Princess Mononoke, and I love it. I think it really stinks that instead of getting quality movies released, Disney puts out crap like Atlantis, Spy Kids or most recently the Princess Diaries, because they know that people will pay for them.
I read an article over at c|net yesterday discussing the idea of "critic proof" movies (they related it to Windows XP), movies that are commercially successful even though the critics hate them, like Tomb Raider, and most action movies. I dislike that they are willing to release movies like this. It seems like nearly everything released recently falls under this category. I haven't been to the movie theater in months.
Captain_Frisk
although its a somewhat dark film for Mouse
Well, Disney could have released the film under one of their many other brands. Like GM (Oldsmobile, Buick, Saturn, etc), Disney has many brands. So, if Miyazaki's film is "too dark", then why not just release it under Dimension or Miramax?
Much like how many people don't know that Pontiac and Oldsmobile are "cousins" (the Grand Am and Alero are almost identical under their skin), most people probably aren't aware that Disney owns these other brands. So, by releasing the movie under a different brand, Disney could give the film a "new image".
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Given the weak treatment Disney gave the theatrical release of Mononoke, I can see why Miyazaki would be concerned. Disney spent a ton of money doing one of the best anime dubs ever, and then released the movie to a handful of arty theatres, most of which were located in major cites. Most of the US population never even had a chance to go see the movie.
On top of that, advertising was weak, with short commercials restricted to slimly targeted timeslots.
I almost wonder if Disney did this with Mononoke because they did not realize until AFTER buying the rights that it would be competing with Disney's own animated films, which of late have been generally poor compared to older films, and also bear a heavy semblance to anime style. Perhaps Disney is pushing Miyazaki's work to the back burner to protect the films where they get exclusive profits.
I HATE watching a great anime when the English dub sucks with those whiny American voices. So I usually switch it to Japanese and turn on the subtitles.
:(
But, guess what. While the English dub is done in dolby 5.1, the Japanese is done in stereo! AGGGHHH!!! (Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, and Akira come to mind)
It makes me want to go out and buy the Japanese marketed version to see if it has english subtitles.
You know, I wonder if such movies fail at the box office simply because of the crappy voices. Makes me cringe when I hear them.