Spirited Away being released in late September/early October

[Mark Holtz]

:welcome:It's nice to see a film beforehand and be able to recommend it wholeheartedly months before the release. That film is Spirited Away, and you can read my review at The Logbook (http://www.thelogbook.com/movies/2002/a.htm). Some updates...

* The film will be in limited release on September 20th, and wider release on October 4th.
* The official web site (http://www.spiritedaway.net/) is now up, and you can see the English trailer there or at Apple's Quicktime (http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/spirited_away.html) site.
* And, someone who is a die-hard anime fan saw the dubbed version and came away impressed (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature.php?id=20). Although there are some minor dialogue changes, there has been no editing of the film beyond the credits.

A excellent film to take the family. :righton:

(updated web site URL)

[invaliduser88]

Will Disney support this release better than Princess Mononoke?
I remember the only city that had wide release was Minneapolis (sp).

We can only hope that it will come to a Theater near us. If not, will be waiting for the DVD.

[Mark Holtz]

:computer: Admittedly, Miramax (one of Disney's companies) had problems as to how to market Mononoke. Many america's mindsets is that "animation=kid's stuff", which Mononoke wasn't. However, I have shown Princess Mononoke to groups of friends, and the end, they loved it. (Princess Mononoke frequently shows up on Starz, Action, and occassionally Wam!)

It appears that Disney is following the same strategy that was used with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I saw the trailer for that, and went wow. And it started off in a few theaters, then expanded. Although it never was number one, for weeks, it was always in the top 10. Hopefully, the same will happen with Spirited Away. It should be noted that whenever the film was shown at film festivals, the tickets were quickly sold out. (When I attended the San Francisco showing, there were two lines at the Castrop theater..... one for those who had tickets, and one for those who were hoping to get tickets).

One thing that they did omit in the English trailers is the fact that Chihiro's parents were changed into pigs, which was a major plot point.

[Mark Holtz]

From http://www.imdb.com/StudioBrief/2002/20020924.html#2

Spirited Ticket Sales for 'Spirited Away'

Opening on just 26 screens the Japanese anime film Spirited Away (http://www.imdb.com/Title?0245429) earned $450,000, ($17,000 per screen). The Rotten Tomatoes website (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/) said Monday that the movie had received not a single negative review (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/SpiritedAway-1116064/) from 55 print, broadcast and online critics and was in fact the best-reviewed film of the year so far. Coincidentally, it observed, the new Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/BallisticEcksvsSever-1116131/) received not a single positive notice and was the worst-reviewed film of the year.

Note: Since this article was posted, Spirited Away has received a single negative review on Rotten Tomatoes. In comparison, The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheLordoftheRingsTheFellowshipoftheRing-1108476/) got a 95% rating based upon 169 reviews.

[jrjcd]

well, rotten tomastoes hasn't seen a film they DID like....

it hasn't been pointed out here yet, but "spirited away" is the largest grossing film in asia, even beating "titanic"...

this is a film to go see(and after you see "the ring", find the original japanese films on dvd if you can)

[Mark Holtz]

According to Rotten Tomatoes, a 60% or above average is considered "fresh", below 60% is "rotten". This is based upon a compilitation of many reviewers.

[Mark Lamutt]

I'm going to hold off for the DVD on this one like I did with Princess Mononke hoping against hope that they secure the rights to the Japanese audio to release with the DVD. I really don't like English dubs of anime features in general, and especially of Miziaki (I know i butchered that spelling!) films.

[Mark Holtz]

Some of this was based upon the Q&A session after the Spirited Away presentation in April at the San Francisco International Film Festival:

* Princess Mononoke was a bit of a problem DVD release because of the inclusion of the Japanese language track. At the time of the DVD's release in the US, there was no corresponding DVD release in Japan, so there were fears of reverse importation.
* Spirited Away has since been released on DVD in Japan.
* Any Disney/Ghibli DVD releases will feature the original Japanese language track and the corresponding subtitles. If available, there will also be an corresponding English dub track.
* My Neighbor Totoro may be released this December by Fox as a dub-only full-frame base-bones release. Fox has the rights to this movie only until 2004, after which the rights will revert to Disney/Ghibli.

[MrAkai]

I had the chance to see this flick last Sunday at the Metreon in San Francisco. Dubbed, with DLP projection.

I have the R3 DVD (legit, non bootleg HK version) for a while now, so it was nice to see it on the big screen.

I recommend the dub of this movie at least once since it's not half bad, and I noticed a bunch more visuals than I did reading it while watching the DVD.

Check it out any way you can tho, it rocks.

[Mark Holtz]

The official website (http://www.spiritedaway.net/) now have several of the dubbed clips for viewing.

[Mark Holtz]

I also just checked the Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/SpiritedAway-1116064/) site again. Apparently, the bad review was removed, and the movie has 74 reviews-all positive.

[Mark Holtz]

Well, I took two friends of mine to see the film late last month. Neither of them are major Anime fans. Both loved it, and one can't wait until it gets released onto video.

However, I really loved this review (http://www.capalert.com/capreports/spiritedaway.htm). The religious bias shows a little bit. Uh, does that mean that we shouldn't respect other culture's religions?

[Mark Holtz]

Okay, according to news reports, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Castle In The Sky are all scheduled for release on April 15th of this year as two-disk sets.

[Mark Holtz]

:welcome: Spirited Away won best Animated Feature oscar, which may change the release date of the DVD.

Here is a review of the check disks for Spirited Away (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2046.php) and Kiki'a Delivery Service (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2045.php).

[invaliduser88]

I wouldn't count on it with the release date three weeks away and the limited theatrical release it had in the US last year.

[Mark Holtz]

There is unofficial word on Anime News Network that Spirited Away may be re-released in 800 theaters this Friday by Disney. This is unconfirmed.

[invaliduser88]

BTW, still on for April 15th release on DVD!

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/newspro/latest_news.shtml#newsitem1048876741,19215,

[Mark Holtz]

Will keep an eye out for specials. Also, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle In The Sky will also be released on that day.