I know that fans of Studio Ghibli have a love/hate relationship with Disney. On the love end of the spectrum Disney produces quality dubs, gets the films into theaters, and (most importantly) get the films over to America. On the hate side of the spectrum is that many of the films have gone straight to video, they never get the wide releases fans feel they should, and for years they bought the films only to sit on them (“Only Yesterday” remains unreleased). With “Ponyo” people were wondering if Disney was finally getting serious about Studio Ghibli. Over 1,000 screens on opening day, a serious Oscar campaign, things seemed to be taking a turn for the better.
Then the release of “Tales from Earthsea,” the new film from GORO Miyazaki (Hayao’s son), changed all that again. The film was indeed dubbed and released in theaters. However the film was released August 13th to a pitiful FIVE theaters! After three weeks the movie has been pulled and now we just have to wait for the inevitable BluRay release. I understand everyone’s pain here. No, I didn’t like the movie, but seeing it on the big screen was probably the only saving grace it had. The idea of other people not even having much of a chance to see it this way saddened me. And judging that the single trailer they released for the movie (which can be viewed on the side) did nothing to promote the story or even the celebrity voices...well, something fishy is going on here.
Did Disney really and truly try to bury a Ghibli film for once? Yeah they did some unfair things to “Spirited Away” when they were trying to promote “Lilo & Stitch” for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, but that movie got a wider theatrical release after it won. Here the effort just feels missing. And in this case...yes, Disney probably didn’t want to release the movie. I don’t blame them completely though. Unlike previous Ghibli films that they could release months after they were made it took four YEARS for this movie to become available! All thanks to a legal problem with the rights to “Tales from Earthsea” being held up while Disney waited for the Sci-Fi Channel’s rights to expire this film was distributed all over the world. The dub premiered in Europe, Australia, and other countries. Unlike other Ghibli movies though the word of mouth for this movie was poor.
Very poor. Word got out pretty early that this was not a great movie. Yeah some people liked it, but the number of people who didn’t was FAR greater! This reflected in the movie doing less then spectacular business anywhere that wasn’t Japan. The film has also been downloaded and shared across the peer-to-peer sites, so the demand to see this movie in America greatly diminished before Disney could get a crack at it. Because the film is a couple years old it likely doesn’t qualify for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, so there’s little reason to have the movie there. To top it all off it got a PG-13 rating (and how many PG-13 animated films have you known to make money).
If anything I bet Disney wanted to send this straight-to-DVD. But oh wait...yeah, they’re contractually obligated to release all the new films in theaters. So Disney put together some prints of the film, made a poster, hired some guy to cut a trailer (and seriously, that trailer is so weak I think it’s the ultimate example that Disney didn’t care about this film), put it in five theaters and watched the box office receipts diminish rapidly. This thing made just a little over $30,000 the first weekend. By the third weekend it made just over $1,000. Word-of-mouth clearly wasn’t going to save this film so they killed it.
So to answer everyone’s question: Yes, I think in this particular case Disney wanted to bury a Ghibli film. But can you blame them? The odds were against them the second they couldn’t release it when it was, you know...NEW! And despite the ill feelings you may have about the release I have to give Disney credit: This movie got a PG-13 rating and they left their name on the film. That makes this the first animated film Disney has released that’s rated PG-13. That shows that they had SOME hope for it! That hope just didn’t pan out the way they wanted it to. So while they did try to bury it the BluRay will likely be out soon and you can be totally underwhelmed in the comfort of your own home.
Comments
My wife is a native of Japan and loved it alot, especially it's unique difference from other Miyazaki films, its darkness, and its unapparent, at first glance, but real... depth. So she says. I still haven't seen it yet, because she saw it in the theaters four years ago in Japan while i was left out of the picture. So she brings home the soundtrack (which i did fall in love with) and she's a composer herself so she found something to appreciate in it - whatever people are saying about it.
So I waited and waited and have the soundtrack memorized. But no movie. And, as a midwesterner, i wasn't about to drive to NY to see it on August 13th, 2010 - four painful years of anxiety.
I'm also a huge Dafoe and Dalton fan. And what? I can't even find a release date for the DVD.
This was a painful experience, but I guess I'll be thankful when i finally get to see it and feel it was worth it, ... or whether just to consider Disney as inconsistent and intermittently inept.
One last thing: the Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle dubs were fantastic but then what happened to the Ponyo dub? An excellent movie in its own right, but utterly not watchable in the English dub. Utterly so. The song remix was atrocious.
So, yes. Disney is inconsistent and intermittently inept.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!