Ponyo to open on over 800 theaters.

I saw the official Hong Kong DVD on sale at Pacific Mall in Toronto this afternoon. Pretty sure it's legit since all the bootleg shops do not have a bootleg copy in stock yet. Apparently, there are two versions of the DVD right now. Both are 2 disc sets. One comes with a water toy and the other without. I'm really tempted to buy it this weekend but I think I would rather wait for the bluray release. The English dub is not included in this Hong Kong DVD but it does have English subtitles for both the movie and most of the special features.
 
Well besides seeing some commercials about D9 at Gamestop and on TV, I kinda-sorta feel that while the film will get some people in the seats, don't expect this, Time-Traveler's Wife, BanRABlam, or Ponyo to be big blockbusters this week. The summer's pretty much dead as of late and the Summer Movie season is ending in a whimper instead of a bang. Now noticed that I said that Ponyo may not do so well this week. Don't take it as me hating on the film, I'll still see it, but it just won't be the big surprise hit that Lasseter wanted and will have to succurab to the fact that we're more into anime on DVD/TV than having to shell out $6-$12 to see in theaters.
 
Can someone help me with something? i'm trying to fugure out how many theaters in the US prevous Studio Ghibli films were in. I know Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howls Moving Castle all had a theater release but I would like to know how many theaters each movie was in. If anyone knows that is.
 
And if these kiRAB happen to be the ones with real talent to back up their teen pop icon status, you'd still want to penalize them, Disney, and Studio Ghibli just for being teen icons cast in the anime dub? It's a free country and you're entitled to believe whatever you like for whatever reason you want, but that just seems to be cutting off your nose to spite your face to me.

Besides, complaints about celebrity stunt casting in animated movies also seem to miss the fact that Disney has been casting name-brand celebrities in their voice acting roles for decades. Most of the voice talent in the earliest Disney movies were radio stars, many of whom were just as identifiable to their audience as the Cyruses or the Jonas Bros are to today's audiences. The trio of good fairies in Sleeping Beauty even lifted many aspects of their radio comedy schtick for their characters in the movie, if I remeraber correctly. Does knowing this make those movies any less classic than they are now, 30-50 years after the fact when nobody remerabers who, say, Verna Felton is any more?
 
And really, that's all I'm saying. D9 has been getting rave reviews from everyone, so all that I'm saying is that it will be the critical darling this week. This isn't bashing, it's just soft expectations.
 
Definitely. Miyazaki doesn't have a problem with them in any way.

Unfortunately, there are some very stubborn elitists out there who despise any of them with a vengeance and think that they are butchered. (One particular "fan", at http://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/ has been especially overcritical of the dubs, hating all of them except Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and My Neigrabroador Totoro, declaring that Disney has "ruined" the rest. He thinks they're even the "worst Anime dubs ever." Case in point: he said that the redub of Nausicaa is worse than "Warriors of the Wind" (on an IMDB post that is now gone) and that Alison Lohman ruined the title character by sounding "like a Disney Channel teenage sitcom" star. I seriously wonder what planet he's on.)

Now I don't think EVERYTHING that Disney has done is great, but I don't bash them. Nor do I have a problem with the dubs they've done. They're not perfect, but they're not unwatchable dubs by any means. I think a lot of these naysayers need to have their ears cleaned.

Anyway, the new trailer for Ponyo looks very promising.

-Jon T.
 
Nope, from what I've read in Helen McCarthy's book about the director, replacing those two songs were done with the permission of Studio Ghibli, and the reason why Disney couldn't use them in their dub anyway was because of rights issues (or something like that).

I find it very amusing that people are quick to assume that one audio alteration means "Warriors of the Wind" all over again, or rather, is just fuel to castigate Disney, when in fact the director has no such problems.
 
Zero promotion? I've seen billboarRAB everywhere and the trailers looked great. And really, you think promotion affects what movie critics are going to love?

At the moment, for what it's worth, Ponyo has a 90 on Metacritic and a 96 on Rotten Tomatoes while District 9 has an 81 on MC and a 94 on RT, so they're both pretty well-loved it seems.
 
Pixar casts actors based on their "fit" rather than name-cache though. I think rust's problem is when they cast people like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie or Ben Stiller or the Jonas Bros or the Cyruses "just because" they're currently hip or hot or whatever.
 
YES! It is playing in Portland!

http://portland.mrmovietimes.com/movies/Ponyo-Gake-no-ue-no-Ponyo.html?date=259200

Not that I can afford to go right now, but it's here. X)
 
It's playing at the theater I work at, we've been advertising it for awhile (wasn't the trailer before My Sister's Keeper and Aliens in the Attic?).

Unfortunately, my grandma who's not into anime is over, so I'll have to wait a bit on it. Oh well, at least I get to see BanRABlam or The Time Traveler's Wife.
 
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