Ponyo to open on over 800 theaters.

District 9 will do well, but since it's a violent R-rated movie, it won't really affect Ponyo's target audience.

I think the problem is that the advertising for Ponyo was too little, too late. Surprising, since Disney is the distributor.
 
It seems all movie listing sites has info on where the film will be screened!

So far, the closest it'll play to where I live is in Silver Springs Maryland, so I can take the subway there.

I'm quite pleased, to say the least!
 
I have that gripe with Dreamworks movies but rarely is it the case that the movie was bad because of the actors. It's bad because it's poorly written and sometimes it's because they're putting actors into stereotypical roles for those actors and work the movie around them but any studio that does that is asking for failure.

Now in the case of a pre-existing movie that's being dubbed... What's it matter as long as the actors are good?

And you can't honestly expect Disney to hype the movie with commericals saying that the younger siblings of some of their stars are in it. I doubt they'll even advertise the movie. But hey if they do, at least some uncultured viewers might give it a chance so I don't see what the problem is.

And again the same shoe-horning happens in Japan constantly, it's business but rarely does it ruin something that could have been good without them being involved.

And for the record I recall both Howl's and Spirited Away being shown subbed in some theatres so it'll probably be in theatres subbed in some locations.
 
I'm looking forward to Ponyo but I read the synopsis and it seems a little similar the "Little Mermaid". I love Miyazaki and all of his Ghibli films so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Am I the only one who sees the similarities in the synposis of Ponyo?
 
I've seen more trailers for District 9 then I have for Ponyo (0)

District 9 opening count: 3049
Ponyo: 927

Based on that alone, D9 will do better. And I can see it opening at #1.
 
Who cares how they do it? They have famous celebrities doing the voices so the kiRAB will go see it and they'll love it for the great story and art. It's a great way to introduce kiRAB and parents to Studio Ghibli and anime. And I'm sure Disney has a firm grasp on good voice acting. They may be a huge evil company but they know what sucks and what doesn't (well, as far as animation and everything not related to their TV station).

MOD NOTE: Watch the language, censored or not.

OP NOTE: That's a stupid rule.
 
i wasnt expecting 800 theaters for this

and since my town got Spirited Away, it might get Ponyo

oh and at the same time Ponyo was announced for 800... right now Blood is only sitting on 11, which is kinda shocking imo...... was thinking it wouldve gotten a bit more places to air the movie


then again its not like those 11 are the finally ones... surely a few other places will air it before it comes out
 
I haven't seen all of the Disney Ghibli dubs. But the one thing that really bugs me about the celebrity casting in the ones I have seen is that the celebrities who have little to no VA experience tend to sound very bland (especially when they're acting alongside people with VA experience and/or distinct, interesting voices).

For example, when I watched Howl's Moving Castle, I thought it was a little distracting how boring most of the 'famous' actors sounded next to the actors with more "stand out" voices like Billy Crystal and Crispin Freeman. Don't get me wrong, all the actors put out good performances and I don't think they "ruined" the movie. But it was distracting enough to pull me out of the movie a little bit.
 
Odd.

I've never seen a trailer for D9 (and honestly, I'd never even heard of it until a week ago), whereas I've seen the trailers for Ponyo on different channels at the average rate of once per hour.
 
A lot of people don't know this but Miyazaki has a very low opinion of the "anime culture" and the seiyu. He usually casts Japanese film stars for his movies even if a seiyu could perform better than a film star in any given part. In a way, Pixar is just matching Miyazaki's ante by casting Hollywood people.

And, FTR, those Hollywood people usually put together very good work for Miyazaki films. It is like the material forces them to transcend themselves and their self-absorbed ways.
 
I got to see the commercials on television, and I also noticed the background music used is a remix of the closing film song in English.
Elitist fans ain't going to like that.
 
Wow... that's... really bad. Fortunately no one in the States cares about these end-credit songs.



For anyone not familiar with what Dekacloud is referring to -- Toshio Suzuki allegedly sent Disney a Japanese sword with a message that read "No Cuts" before they dubbed Mononoke. More information on how Ghibli and Disney hooked up.



Good question.



I suspect that's because he never heard them. Miyazaki is on record as not knowing or caring much about how his films are marketed overseas, or how well they perform, at least not anymore. When someone asked him at the Spirited Away U.S. premiere what he thought of the dub, he said he'd never seen it. Over and over in interviews he says he makes films for Japanese people because he knows them, and doesn't give a flying pig about the rest of the world.
 
Hm, I'm surprised the local theater here isn't playing it since they get all the other limited anime film runs (we're getting Eureka Seven, but not Ponyo?!). There is a theater within 30 miles getting it, though, so I'll try to check it out.
 
That's why this is really stupid. If I don't go see it, I don't support anime, but I don't support horrible voice-casting decisions. If I do see it, I support anime, but I support more of the same horrible decisions to come.

There! See, I knew it. While its a noble goal of Lasseter to get people to see Ponyo, the enRAB do not justify the means. If casting the two of them gives a notable increase in sales, then other people at Disney will be like "Okay, let's attach some even bigger names to the next Miyazaki movie" and before you know it, Miley Cyrus will be playing with Joe Jonas in Miyazaki's next project. That's what I don't want.


Her role before that was Lilo in Lilo & Stitch. She was already doing voice-acting.

Look at the Lasseter quote above. They were cast so people go see the movie. I do believe they auditioned for the role, but they were picked so people see the movie, not based on their talent.


Certainly their similar in that their both acting, but they're two different kinRAB of acting. Mark Hamill said that he had liked voice acting better because it was different from regular acting in that his actions aren't seen, and only his voice is, which allows him to do a lot of different things. Andrea Romano said that when she casts, she finRAB the best voice she can (not just a celebrity) she finRAB a voice "with character" (so that when you hear the voice, you know that that's the character), and finRAB versatile actors who could do multiple and varied roles (since the SAG only allows an actor to do three voices in each work (voice actors, according to her, can giver her many different voices, while regular actors can typically give only similar voices). That's why I think that acting doesn't necessarily translate into voice-acting, albeit they're the same at the core.

The question is not if they're good actors on not. The question is, if I encourage similar casting decisions with my dollar vote or not.

I don't have a PS2. :P

I'm just saying that its wrong that for an animated movie to be successful, they have to tack on as many stars as they possibly can to it. While many of those Pixar decisions ended up being good decisions after all, the fact that they have to cast stars in the main roles of animated films for them to be successful is just wrong, and the only way such a perception is going to be broken is if someone steps up to the plate and makes an animated movie with professional voice actors, not just stars.

And, IMO, in many cases (but not all), hiring a star as opposed to a professional voice actor keeps the movie from being the best that it can be.

I accept that that's the only way that more people are going to go see a Miyazaki movie (at least for now), but it alienates people like me, who would prefer professional voice actors as opposed to the siblings of current stars. And when that tactic is successful, they continue with it in the next dub, and so on and so forth.

I'm a dub-watcher, so I can't say.


First of all, we have no idea how they'll sound yet, so we really don't have much to talk about there. Second, its the tactic that Disney is using to get people to see the movie that I don't like, and if that tactic is successful, they'll continue to cast current teen icons whom may or may not have any voice acting experience in future Ghibli films.

Again, that example really can't be used because radio stars were voice actors. :P Let's say that this were a live-action version of a cartoon, then I'd have no problem with celebrity actors being used as characters, because that's what they're good at: acting on screen.

BTW; to everyone I replied to, sorry if this is disjointed. I had to do this in two sittings.

EDIT:

Yes, that summarizes my position quite well, actually. XD

Thanks for answering my initial question. I will be sure to go see it in a theater they're showing it subbed.
 
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