Forum - View topicNEWS: Howl's Moving Castle Box Office Results
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.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
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lj1958
Posts: 28 |
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Yes, and advertising on Adult Swim is preaching to the choir. And many of us were in places that the movie wasn't going to be booked.
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Haru to Ashura
Posts: 617 Location: Termina |
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There are a few other smaller problems that are hurting Howl's numbers, I think.
1) - Over-active middle-class American parents think anime is porny/sexist/violent/stupid/etc. Thanks to the oversaturation of the market with crappy harem/girls with guns/guys with big-ass swords titles, anime gets a bad rep. And Howl is marketed as anime - therein lies the problem. Personally, I honestly consider Studio Ghibli's creations to be in a class entirely seperate from most anime, and I think that Disney should not be marketing Howl's Moving Castle as anime, but as an animated film. 2) - People who brought their kids to see Spirited Away (and/or Mononoke, perhaps.) might have been turned off by the movie's little splurts of violence. Of course I think that's ridiculous, but when I went to see Spirited Away for a second time, people in front of us would squirm and cover their kids' eyes during the scenes where Haku was bleeding, or when No-Face was vomitting. 3) Now let's move away from kids and talk about adults. "Animation = children's play" is, unfortunatley, still what most Americans think of animated film, be it from Japan or wherever else. Howl's Moving Castle is a movie that's more suited for people who are at least pre-teens or teens, and the film does require actual thought process - gasp! That's just too much for some people. Sorry, I know I sound very condensending in these comments, but it's the truth. 4) I agree that the trailer didn't tell us very much about the film. Just from watching the trailer, you can't really tell what the movie's about at all. But one thing I really did enjoy were the voices they cast. I think this is Disney's best dub yet, and I thoroughly enjoyed each important character's voice.
I saw it at the AMC. The locations, overall, are spread out pretty well, but I wish it was playing somewhere in the PV/Scottsdale area. Both times I saw Howl, the theater was pretty empty, it was a dissapointment. But on the other hand, I went at unpopular times (10:30 in the morning opening day, and 7 at night on a Monday.) |
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The Ramblin' Wreck
Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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Some of your points I think need a bit of refinement: 1. I think your average mom in America thinks "Pokemon" or "Yui Gi Oh!" when you say "Anime". Ask a soccer mom off the street if she has ever heard of Mouse, Sister Princess, Elfin Lied, or any other fanservecy/uber-violent show. Then ask if she knows about Digimon, Zoids, DBZ or Duel Masters. My bet's on the latter rather than the former. 2. Violence in animated movies is a turn off to parents? I suggest that you watch The Incredibles if you want to see some serious situations in an "children's film". 3. The public perception of "animated films = kids" is slowly fading. I credit smart, witty films like Toy Story and Shrek for giving older audiences more of a taste for animated feature films. 4. I agree. That was a crappy trailer. The average Joe on the street knows Speilberg, Cameron, Lucas, etc. but doesn't know Myaizaki from Adam. They should have sold the story, not the director. Just my $0.02 |
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.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
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Oh wow, I never would imagine an anime would open in the #1 spot in a European country. I just didn't think it was that popular. But the U.S. is getting there...sometime.
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jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Quite often, it really doesn't matter whether the movie is good or not or how much the critics love it. "Cinderella Man", the recent Russell Crowe boxing movie, was one of the best reviewed movies of the summer and it performed so abysmally bad that some theatres were offering free refunds if you didn't enjoy it, just to get some butts in the seats. The "Howl's" theatrical run could have been more impressive, sure, but 200 theatres at least gets it on at least one screen in every major city in the country. Compare that with, say, the Inu-Yasha movie, which had a theatrical run that didn't get within 1000 miles of where I'm sitting right now. I applaud Disney for at least trying, and if their limited release means that they eke out enough profit to make them want to release the next Miyazaki movie, hey, that's good enough for me. |
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jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Actually, Fox did, when they released "My Neighbor Totoro" in theatres back in what, 1992? I wonder how that did at the box office....can't find an exact number anywhere.... |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4474 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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If Totoro got any theatrical release, it would have been festivals and very low-level arthouse circuit only.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher Posts: 10430 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Toy Story, Shrek, Monster's Ink and the Incredibles and such all follow a formula designed to appeal to adult that think cartoons are for kids. As for "adult situations" they were only included in those movies in way that kids wouldn't recognize. There was no blood in any of those movies. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those movies, but fact is, they aren't doing anything to change the perception. These are movies that are made to appeal to children on a visual and story level, and adults on a comedy level. It's a wonderfully successful formula, but it does nothing for traditional "family" fare that appeals to children and adults identically (much like Ghibli's movies and classic Disney animation) nor for true "adult animation" that isn't produced with any thought towards children. The majority of American audiences are still closed to the idea of animation being anything more than cartoons (cartoon is not a synonym for animation, the origin of the word has to do with funny/silly drawings). -t |
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Steventheeunuch
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CARTOONS CARTOONS CARTOONS CARTOONS CARTOONS CARTOONS CARTOONS CARTOONS |
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slickwataris
Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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I finally got the chance to see it yesterday, it was awesome. Had to pay 2 more bucks to see it at that theater but oh well.
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lj1958
Posts: 28 |
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Update: Howl finally came to ONE theater in our pretty large metro area...this theater is like 45 min. from my house. There are three large multiplexes within 15 min. of my house, none of which got Howl.
We might go this weekend if it's still playing. |
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Lady_Kildragon
Posts: 1 Location: Missouri |
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Speaking as a middle-aged Mom, families have to introduce their children to it. I started watching anime over twenty years ago before there was very much out and my sons and I would watch together. Now I watch with my six year old daughter. But on the hold I think in my community, anime is equated with cartoons and children not animated shows that an adult should watch. It's surprising to me how many people tend to sneer when an adult watchs an animated show but turn around and these same people will watch WWF or fake reality shows I've asked a few people who I work with if they knew what anime is and they didn't know. I live in a rural area and there was no way that "Howl's Moving Castle" would get shown around here. I think the closes place was over an hour away and I had to work when it showed there.
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jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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I might be going mad, since I can't find any corraborating evidence online, but I could have SWORN I saw ads for "Totoro" in the theatre here in St. Louis back when I was in junior high. I mean, hell, that was well over a decade ago, so my memory might be fuzzy... |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4474 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Well, I was only beginning to get into anime back then, but I remember that Totoro only ever got reviewed on Siskel and Ebert and At the Movies when it got released on VHS and Laserdisc. (I'm not even that sure that Siskel and Ebert ever reviewed it, actually; I may just be remembering things Roger Ebert wrote and said about it in subsequent years.)
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