| 1. | (30 posts) | Inside.com Article Sparks MML |
| 2. | (6 posts) | Disney and Tokuma in Germany |
| 3. | (8 posts) | All About "Howl's Moving Castle" |
| 4. | (7 posts) | DVDs Around the World |
We looked at 87 posts by 45 different contributors.
Not a flood of posts this week, but quite a few hefty ones in the mix.
Nothing gets the MML going like a good Disney thread. This time the spark came from an article on Inside.com summarizing the current situation of the Disney/Tokuma deal. Needless to say, the discussion looked very similar to the previous threads on this issue: May 2000, August 2000, November 2000, February 2001, March 2001, April 2001, and May 2001 (twice!).
Marc Hairston, Chris Wallace, and Chris Meadows all posted great analysts of other posts (marketing, conspiracy theories) and the article. I recommend checking out all three posts.
And to give the "other" side some say here's Steven Feldman, "I interpret their choice of location for test marketing as a relative cultural vacuum where they could conveniently sabotage a film and say that no one cared about it. If they'd chosen a coastal city to test market the film, every damned anime fan in a 200 mile radius would have taken the day off and driven to see it. So much for the "Disney tried advertising it more" excuse.If they really cared, they wouldn't have shot it in the foot by testing it in the boonies.
I submit that certain mouse factions saw to it that the film was hindered at every step in a (successful) attempt to "prove" that "anime just isn't any good.""
Quite the gauntlet. As with all conspiracy theories, this one is impossible to _prove_ or _disprove_. It becomes a battle of interpreting the actions, which, as Steven shows, can go any which way.
Teto replied, "Actually, there is a rather large Anime fan base here in Minnesota. The real problem lies in how Disney marketed here, I saw ONE advertisement late at night. That's it. Nothing more.
Knowing it was Anime, (at least I thought so, from the few seconds I saw on TV) I dragged some friends with me to see it, and we all loved it. I understand few theaters in Minnesota had it. One of them -the theater I went to - was an hour out of the Minneapolis/St.Paul area. Most of my Anime-loving friends didn't even know the movie existed.
Kate Butler added, "I actually saw quite a few ads for it. Never during primetime, but quite often just before, in the 6-7pm slot.
The test market wasn't really -Minnesota- in general. It was Minneapolis/St Paul. The rest of the state had about the same level of
coverage as the rest of the US, as far as I could tell. The Twin Cities, on the other hand, had at least half a dozen theatres showing it, including the Mall of America (can't get more mainstream than -that-), which is where I saw it.
Vance Palodichuk didn't appreciate one of Steven's comments, "To whoever called Minnesota cultural vacuum: why I oughtta...!" Can't knock a state that has Prince, Neil Gaiman, AND Terry T.
Kari Lehikoinen wrote, "It was a test market; the purpose is not to sell as many tickects as possible, but to get a clear picture of the possible audience.
Remember that Disney has a totally different audience than the US anime companies (ADV, AnimEigo, etc.).
[. . .]
Disney aims for a bigger audience, and has to convince people who act more on impulse. They are not really interested in 'that' movie, they just want to have good time and see a good movie.
To which Chris Moon challenged, "But isn't dropping a film that doesn't already have an existing audience or an audience created via advertisement a predetermined failure?"
Chris Wallace replied, "You make a valid point in that a film with no advertising will probably generate no gross, since no one will know about it.
However, an equally valid point is that spending tens of millions (and even hundreds of millions, if "Pearl Harbor's" rumored ad-budget is to be believed) will also not guarantee an equal return on gross.
[. . .]
I do not think "the coasts" are any more "culturally advanced" then the middle-swath of the country and do not think that if "Mononoke" had been advertised more heavily on the coasts, it would have done $20 million instead of $2. It was released on "the coasts" and it tanked there, to. Even though the critics said go see it.
[. . .]
advertising is a way to reach those non-fans. But I think Disney was burned. They did not expect "Mononoke" to go down so hard. And they may think that *only* the fans went. I mean, how many of us proudly proclaimed on the MML that we took our fellow anime fans (and non-fans) with us and they liked it? But notice what I just said - the *fans* were the ones who brought the *non-fans* to see it. The non-fans did not intend to see it, until the fans brought them.
A semi-related thread arose from the previous one about Disney in Germany. Mirko Schnellbach wrote, "I live in the "cinema capital" of Germany, a city where the film theaters / citizen ratio is the highest. I saw _no_ advertisement for Mononoke, and the actual film was shown in the smallest theater for exactly 2 weeks. There were no posters, no making-ofs in TV, no trailers, nothing.
[. . .]
As Disney isn't known to be incompetent at marketing, I can only guess this was done on purpose. Maybe to strengthen the prejudice that "Asian films just don't work here", and therefore to be a little safer from that competition."
Wow, an even bigger guantlet. Michael Johnson replied, "I would like to doubt that there was any deliberate plan to encourage Germans to think negatively about Asian films. I would prefer to think that there was miscommunication between Disney headquarters and Buena Vista International in Germany. Having said this, however, only serves to strengthen the prejudice that Disney can make mistakes and might not coordinate well with its international subsidiaries.
We might be overestimating Buena Vista USA's influence over what the rest of the Disney conglomerate does with the Studio Ghibli properties. Mr. Jessen might have the best of intentions, but if other executives rule against him, then there might be little that he can do about it. Blaming him, or blaming all of Disney through him doesn't help, whether or not he is at fault, which is why we at Nausicaa.net always recommend that you write polite letters to him, rather than flames.
[. . .]
Is Mr. Jessen, as Vice President of Acquisitions for Buena Vista Home Entertainment (title given in Mr. Totilo's Inside.com article)
responsible for Studio Ghibli releases worldwide, or just in North America? Further, does he have absolute control over the activities of
international subsidiaries, or does he simply send directives that heads of international subsidiaries are not obligated to execute to the letter? Could it be that BVI - Germany had _Mononoke_ dumped into their lap with little or no warning and asked to handle its distribution?
Hanno Mueller posted the inside scoop, "I was told (on the phone, so take this as a rumour) by BV Germany that they wanted to make a DVD home video release and had it all prepared, but then - to their own surprise - found out that their contracts did not allow them to. . . Since I am not in the movie biz, I cannot comment on this contractual mixup. It appears to me though that the Japanese business partners are some tough folks to argue with.
[. . .]
I have tried to convince the Japanese rights owners to have a German Ghibli festival with subtitled movie prints (using the ones that are on tour for the Barbican festival). I have the business partners waiting, I have a major cinema theatre franchise chain who wants to host it as a travelling festival in a few German cities, I just cannot do the actual financial planning and sponsorhip details because the Japanese just don't want to give me their movie prints.
[. . .]
The Japanese don't *want* to have the films screened here in Germany. They say that this because they don't have a distributor here. I don't understand however why the Barbican can show these movies, since I haven't heard of a full distribution deal in England, either.
[. . .]
So it seems to me that not only Buena Vista International is an expert at shooting its own foot when it comes to marketing Ghibli. It appears that Studio Ghibli itself isn't interested in spreading the word outside Japan."
This revelation set Mirko back, "To be honest, I would be more comfortable with a conspiracy to keep Ghibli films from the masses than with that stunning display of ignorance / incompetence..."
Hanno also posted a most excellent briefing on the marketing of Mononoke in Germany.
Joe Curzon covered how the Barbican Festival got the films, "The Ghibli Screening at the Barbican in the UK is part of the Japan 2001 Festival.
It is organised by lots of Anglo-Japanese organisations and companies. Including the Japanese Embassy and the Daiwa Foundation (which used to be the host venue for the London Anime Club).
Lots of contacts were used to establish many of the events, in the UK and Japanese Governments.
The screenings at the Barbican and other selected venues can be classed as arthouse cinemas so don't always have to go through the same channels as someone wishing to show these films nationally. Since the Japan Festival happens every 10 years, I do know it has taken a long time to organise. I first heard details of the Ghibli screenings in the UK last October, but I had to wait until March 2001 when I had finally got more solid details and official confirmation of the event.
Hanno replied, "I talked with the Barbicans, they were very supportive. (Initially, I had hoped that their movie prints could be used in Germany after their festival.) It seems that they had to jump through a maddening number of of hoops before it all worked out. Still it makes me sad that it appears to be so tough to get a festival screening on the way. I really do have the impression that the Japanese rights holders make it unecessairily difficult to do this and I do not see the business sense in this. . .
here is a willing and dedicated audience who wants to see these movies, a group of people and companies who want to take the business risk
of screening them and who want to pay the appropriate money to rent the movie prints from the Japanese rights owners. (After all, we never
expected to get these movie prints for free.) How could this be a problem?
While I believe that this and my previous message in this public mailing list now finally nullified my chances of ever getting a hold on the movie prints, I just had to vent my frustration. Sorry.
Joe encouraged, "Keep on trying though. The more people we can get to watch Ghibli films the better. ^_^"
And now some pleasent news about a Studio Ghibli film. As alluded to last week, one of Ghibli's next films is Diana Wynne Jones's novel "Howl's Moving Castle". The only mystery is what role Miyazaki will play, Diana's official site states that Miyazaki will direct, but Ryoko Toyama isn't so sure, "I just cannot believe that Miyazaki-San is going to direct a film to be released within 2 years. If he had committed to the project, he wouldn't have said that he was going to retire from directing a feature-length film when he had finished "Spirited Away."
Miyazaki-San could be producing, or writing storyboards.
[. . .]
In a magazine interview I read yesterday, Miyazaki-San was joking that he was "thrown out from the projects (by young directors)" since he was bothering (the directors? the staff?) too much.
Hanno Mueller asked, "I never heard of her books. If anybody is familiar with her work on the list, could you please give a few insights on what to expect from such a film?"
Lots of details from David Mankins, "She's a delight, her books are filled with a delicious humor. Many (Neil Gaiman, for one) compare her work quite favorably to the Harry Potter books. I think that comparison reflects an adult sensibility --- my kids haven't been captured by Jones the way they have been by Rowling.
_Howl's moving castle_ is about a young girl (with a personality somewhere between Shizuku of _Whisper of the Heart_ and Toki of _Princess Mononoke_ --- more toward the Toki end, I think) who ends up working for a fairly young, absent-minded wizard named Howl (I believe she does this to rescue someone else, but its been some years since I read the book).
During the progress of the book, both she and the wizard mature, though she's pretty sharp to begin with. I'm sure it would be a delightful book for Miyazaki to turn into a film, and I think that Miyazaki's treatment of the book might well result in an even better
work.
I could easily see it being a "girls' _Laputa_".
David later posted another book recommendation, "The book is "Dragon Sword and Wind Child" by Noriko Ogiwara. The author writes of her childhood inspiration by works like that of CS Lewis, and how she wished for a native Japanese fantasy, and this book is an attempt to fill that void. It's loosely based on Japanese origin myths (though not in a form with which I am familiar). The writing isn't as numinous as Lewis' (but that could just be the fault of a pedestrian translator). It's the only book of hers that's been translated into English (and is now sadly out of print). . . When I read it, I thought: "This is a book that could have been written by Shizuku (of _Whisper of the Heart_)!""
Michael Kerpan noted that "Howl's Moving Castle" and it's (loosely-tied) sequel "Castle in the Air" (no, not that "Castle"!) have just been published in paperback form.
Andrew Osmond contacted Diana's agent and uncovered the following, "(Reply from agent) 'The news about the Ghibli film of HOWL can be made public, but I've not been able to find out the answers to your questions. Ghibli haven't officially announced that HOWL is going to be one of their new projects, so I have not received a press release. The combined launch of SPIRITED AWAY and the opening museum of animation in Tokyo has been dominating their business and press releases. Also I understand that August is the only time that Ghibli staff can take a holiday, so I think this is why information is scarce at this point. Ghibli have not told me when they are planning their press release but it must be happening in the early Autumn.
Diana's Japanese publisher Tokuma (owned by the same company as Ghibli) will soon be making an announcement about publishing Diana's
Chrestomanci books and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE and CASTLE IN THE AIR (*). They will almost certainly mention the film, so perhaps we can get more information from them. I will let you know when I have some more detailed information.'
(*) The reference to CASTLE IN THE AIR is _not_ to Miyazaki's LAPUTA but to another Diana Wynne Jones novel, which brings back several of the characters introduced in HOWL (though the main characters are different). 'Chrestomanci' is a very powerful dimension-hopping wizard-
figure who appears in (I think) four of Jones' novels plus some short stories; he's not in HOWL or CASTLE, though.
Chris Wallace theorized about DVD distribution around the world, "As for the rest of the World (non R1/NTSC), that is trickier.
As Kiki does have a Spanish and a Portuguese dub, it is quite possible that at least "Kiki" will be released on "local" Region 2 DVD. Since they can also do a British release, the three might persudade Disney to do the PAL conversion (I understand the tapes are in PAL already) and then market it. Are Mexico and Brazil R2? If they are, five markets would help even more.
[. . .]
Totoro was released in Spanish and French on VHS, however it was done by non-Disney companies. If they can get the rights to the dubbed editions, we could see R2 releases for at least those countries.
Jesús Muñoz replied, "I wish! We are Region 4, together with all Latinamerica, the rest of Asia (Japan excluded) and Oceania. It's weird when you put a Mexican, R4 disc and you see that, asiede from teh English subs, it's also got subtitles in korean and chinese available"
Fabio Burla shared the situation in Brazil, "I believe the Portuguese dub of Kiki is from Portugal, and since their accent is very different from the Brazilian Portuguese, they wouldn't release this in Brazil. But a Spanish dub would be ok to be released in the rest of the Latin America, I don't think they would have this "accent" problem :)
Two Ghibli movies were released in Brazil some years ago, and not by a Disney company too. They were Porco Rosso and Totoro. Princess Mononoke would be released by the local Buena Vista, it even had a dub done (made in Brazil), but they decided they wouldn't release it in the theaters. Later they gave a date to release it on VHS but it was also cancelled, and the reasons we know is that they thought it was too violent for kids. . . what some people here say, most of the people that really want to see it, already have the fansubs and wouldn't want to pay for the original and better quality version. We are too used to pirated stuff :(
I don't have much hope that Buena Vista will release in Brazil the other Ghibli movies that are going to be released in North America and the other countries. We don't have much tradition of selling anime, so if they don't go to the theaters or TV... Fans will have to buy the imported R1 releases as I do. I wish this could change since the DVD market is really growing now. It's a shame for a country with so many otakus.
Jesús replied, "Oh, believe me, we do have this "accent" problem! A dub from Spain would not be too well accepted in Latin America. There's so many differences sometimes, it becomes kind of unconfortable (this is mostly true of dubbed cartoons and animation).
Fortunately, as a matter of fact, there is a Mexican dub of Kiki, which is the one that was distributed in LatinAmerica
Ilan Nguyen posted about a pocket-sized version of of Saint-Exupery's "Terre des hommes" in Japanese. You might recall this thread. Cynthia notes (in HTML) that Animaxis is selling a "Sen" bundle. A progressive DVD primer from Lee Johnson. Robin Casady notes a "Totoro" DVD is highly desired.
Whew! Next week is week 5, so the next issue should arrive on September 10th. See you then!