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[Meier]

Saw this today on the Nausicaa.net Miyazaki mailing list (news entry: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/newspro/latest_news.shtml#newsitemEEpEEFukyFuAXaDnpx)...

Toho announced :
'Howl' earned 1,400 million yen (~$13.5 million USD) at the box office in the first day of release and its next day (Nov 23, 24). This is the highest new record at a Japanese movie.

Furthermore, Toho said
"This is a golden chance. We are going to aim at Spectator mobilization of 40 million people and The box office revenue of 50 billion yen."

http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

The article says 1,480 million yen (~$14.4 million) as opposed to the more general 1,400 million (~13.5 million) of the byline. The target of 50 billion yen translates to roughly $485 million which would absolutely crush the record that Spirited Away holds of largest grossing film in Japan at roughly $240 million US (or closer to $300 million at current exchange rates).

 

[Meier]

Article up on Yahoo! news:

Famed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film "Howl's Moving Castle" chalked up 1.48 billion yen in box-office revenue and attracted an audience of 1.1 million people during its first two days of release, a record for a domestic film, Toho Co. said Monday.

For its first two days, the movie surpassed the record of Miyazaki's previous work and smash hit, "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" (Spirited Away) by 40 percent, the film distributor said.

Craziness.

 

[Asbel]

Awesome news.

 

[soundwave05]

Well you can see probably why Nintendo has some interest in the animation business.

EDIT: $485 million in Japan alone would be ... unbelievable.

That's more than Spider-Man, Shrek 2, The Passion, or Star Wars Episode I earned here. The only movie that's earned more than that in the US since E.T. would be Titanic ($600 + alone in the US).

 

[Meier]

Yep, pretty incredible considering there's only ~125 million or so people there. Although there would be repeat viewing so you cant say unequivocally that would be 1 in 3 people seeing it, 40 million admissions for a country that size would be mindblowing. Most impressive is this is in 450 theatres and doing numbers like this.. Shrek 2 for instance was in around 4200 theatres at its peak in America.

 

[Matlock]

Spirited Away brought in that much money? Jeez, no accounting for taste.

 

[Flynn]

Spirited Away brought in that much money? Jeez, no accounting for taste.

I'd strangle you where you stand if each of Miyazaki's amazing movies hadn't have helped teach me a humanistic world view, where no one is a true villain.

 

[Hurricane_Chris]

I saw it twice. Once on opening day, once the next day. Altho a big reason was I had to watch it twice to understand some of the Japanese used in it....

It's a really good movie. I recommend you watch it if u get a chance....

 

[Dan]

Well you can see probably why Nintendo has some interest in the animation business.

EDIT: $485 million in Japan alone would be ... unbelievable.

That's more than Spider-Man, Shrek 2, The Passion, or Star Wars Episode I earned here. The only movie that's earned more than that in the US since E.T. would be Titanic ($600 + alone in the US).

Umm, only if you ignore inflation. And if you ignore inflation, ET would be below $485 million anyhow.

Most impressive is this is in 450 theatres and doing numbers like this.. Shrek 2 for instance was in around 4200 theatres at its peak in America.

America has only a little over twice the population of Japan but it's spread across 26 times more land... I think both countries' big releases are shown in plenty of theaters to accomodate the vast majority of people that want to see the films immediately. You cannot compare theater counts of the two nations directly and actually come away with anything meaningful.

 

[Meier]

America has only a little over twice the population of Japan

American population: 294,815,616 (roughly)
Japanese population: 127,619,000 (roughly)

I wouldnt exactly call it only a little more than twice.

 

[Dan]

2.3 times. Big fucking deal.

 

[Matlock]

I'd strangle you where you stand if each of Miyazaki's amazing movies hadn't have helped teach me a humanistic world view, where no one is a true villain.

:lol

The only Miyazaki film I've ever liked is Castle of Cagliostro.

 

[karasu]

Aren't movie tickets in Japan like 20 bucks?

 

[Matlock]

Aren't movie tickets in Japan like 20 bucks?

Gleaned from an article back in 2001:

Over the New Year's season and during the summer holidays, theaters can count on a rush of new releases. But during the slack season, Kuroda has no choice but to run cheaply distributed X-rated films just to make ends meet. "The high ticket price of 1800 yen is ruining the provincial movie house. If only we could make a profit at a more reasonable price for entertainment, like in the United States - say, at 1000 yen per ticket," laments Kuroda.

 

[madara]

Can anyone give us very brief summary of what this is about? You know nonspoiler edition in few sentences. Well at least just tell me there is no mechs or robots at least P
Just so nervous after seeing SA that he could possibly even match that.

 

[Lhadatt]

Can anyone give us very brief summary of what this is about? You know nonspoiler edition in few sentences. Well at least just tell me there is no mechs or robots at least P
Just so nervous after seeing SA that he could possibly even match that.

Based on Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Howl's Moving Castle follows the story of young Sophie Hatter, a bookworm, the eldest of three daughters, a girl doomed to an uninteresting life as a hat maker. Sophie resigns herself to her boring fate, but fate has other plans for her. Cursed by the Witch of the Waste with the body of a 90-year-old woman, she finds her way to the moving castle inhabited by the wizard Howl, said by all to eat the souls of young girls.

Howl has been cursed by the Witch as well, and is seeking the love of young girl to help him break the curse. The book has enchanted readers of all ages for nearly 20 years, and the film is set to be released on November 20, 2004 in Toho theaters across Japan (see the FAQ for other release dates).

The screenplay for the film was written by Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed the film. Katsuya KONDOU (Kiki's Delivery Service) was the Animation Director. Mamoru Hosoda had been selected to direct the film but abruptly left the project. Miyazaki then took up the director's role.

http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/howl/

 

[MASB]

I'd strangle you where you stand if each of Miyazaki's amazing movies hadn't have helped teach me a humanistic world view, where no one is a true villain.

What about Muska in Castle In The Sky or the General? I don't suppose anyone is 100% evil, but motivations, intentions, etc. don't excuse actions beyond a certain point (Hitler, Stalin, many other bad people).

As for Howl's Moving Castle, it'll make a mint of course, but I think they're being overoptimistic with the $500 million talk. Of course it could happen, but a few days at the box office won't tell anything about that. At what point did Miyazaki become the real 'in' thing in Japan? Was it with Princess Mononoke? Because it seems like his films made money before, but nothing like his past three films have (even accounting for inflation).

 

[kumanoki]

I'll be going to see Howl's Moving Castle this weekend. I'll let you know how it is.

 

[speedpop]

At what point did Miyazaki become the real 'in' thing in Japan? Was it with Princess Mononoke? Because it seems like his films made money before, but nothing like his past three films have (even accounting for inflation).

Well as far as I was told, Nausicaa, Laputa and Totoro did great numbers (not too sure about Kiki's), took awhile for it to happen again with Porco Rosso which Miyazaki has said was a failure in his eyes but the general public lapped it up regardless.. then of course Mononoke came along then Spirited Away.

Don't kill me over this fact as I haven't researched it properly, but Porco Rosso was the highest grossing film before Mononoke came then of course Titantic swept it all aside.

 

[Flynn]

What about Muska in Castle In The Sky or the General? I don't suppose anyone is 100% evil, but motivations, intentions, etc. don't excuse actions beyond a certain point (Hitler, Stalin, many other bad people).

It's mostly in his latter film when his storytelling developed away from the villain trope.

I'd call Laputa the last example of a true villain in his work.

I wouldn't really call Hitler and Stalin villains. They're evil men. Snidley Whiplash is a villain.