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NEWS: Miyazaki's Ponyo Opens at #9 with US$3.6 Million


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spoony



Joined: 30 Nov 2007
Posts: 117
Location: Illinois, US
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:55 pm Reply with quote
That's really impressive! As upset as I was when I first saw that a Cyrus and Jonas had been cast, I have to say now that I was being unfair; those kids did a great job (ending song rendition aside). Plus I don't think I can complain if it's getting kids to see the movie. I may not like their reasons, but they've got to actually SEE the movie before they can appreciate the artistry (or maybe just think, "That was a good movie!" and go back to it and appreciate the artistry when they're older). Plus if this adds a "cool" aspect to anime in the minds of kids, then it'll help its overall image for the future generation, when they want to see it for what it is instead of the actors. Wink I also liked that they didn't try to hide the "Japaneseness" of the movie; they even said "sensei" and called one lady "-san." Another good thing for kids to see--we don't get enough foreign exposure here in the States.


I saw this Friday night and I kept looking behind me as the theater was filling up to check the turnout (my friends were making fun of me for being so fangirlishly concerned that the movie did well =P). It was really full! This was a 9:25 showing, too, so I wasn't expecting too much. My show was mostly young adults who looked like they were probably Miyazaki fans. There were a few kids, too. There was this little girl in my row who kept giggling and getting really into it, she was adorable. Anime smile


But as good as the dub was, I just have to complain about this somewhere: it drove me NUTS that they kept saying "PAH-nyo" instead of "POH-nyo"! Aaaaargh!!!
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Socks of Death



Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:45 pm Reply with quote
I'm so glad the movie actually did well, considering when I went on Friday there was only one other family in the theatre. :3


(I thought I had misheard when I heard the "-san" and "sensei" come out of their mouths.)
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:50 pm Reply with quote
My theater was rather packed with families, and some teenagers in groups as well. If only the other Miyazaki films had had such a wide release, or the same general buzz.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4463
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:58 pm Reply with quote
On Saturday evening, I went to see it at the Empire 7 in Ottawa. Ponyo was playing on the "Screening Room" screen (which is a code term for "much smaller room and screen"), but it was still only about a quarter-full, though it could have been that most people in the Ottawa area who care about Miyazaki went to see it at the AMC in Kanata instead of downtown.
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:21 pm Reply with quote
Just saw it, and it was pretty fantastic. This was also in a smaller theatre, as if it were a very widely released art film. It was actually pretty full, with lots of families, so it's good that it's reaching audiences outside film junkies and anime fans.

Very sweet film, and if you're blathering about the edits to the music that some notes popped up about the past few days, there aren't really any- a dub version of the theme song plays at the end of the credits using the same instrumentals as the japanese version [so, basically just a translation], and only switches to the remixed version towards the later part of the credits, so you get both, and it works pretty well. As Disney has to go by Ghibli's standards, I'm guessing it's all okay by them. This is all at the end of the film, so it's very, very minor, and I found it kind of charming myself.

So, if you haven't seen it yet, Go and see it! It's pretty much playing everywhere, at not quite 1000 theatres, and doing pretty good averages per theatre too..... $3,782 per theatre at BoxOfficemojo, which makes it top "The Goods" and "G-Force", closer to the top 3 movies in per screen grosses.


Last edited by Paploo on Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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yblees



Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 165
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:21 pm Reply with quote
I took my 8 year old to the sub-only screening at the NZ Film Festival. Our 5yo missed out because I thought she wouldn't be able to read subtitles fast enough to enjoy the show.
I really regret that now, she would have loved it. Crying or Very sad
We'll be buying the dubbed release on DVD when that comes out.
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:43 pm Reply with quote
i what to see it but it wasnt playing around here
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cardcaptormanda



Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 237
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:24 pm Reply with quote
I'm glad to see a lot of people saying that their theaters had a pretty good turnout! The theater my sister and I saw it in on Saturday afternoon was almost completely empty. It had maybe 10 other people in it, if that. Two families and a few adults who seemed completely bored. Since it had only 5 showings that day, and was the only theater in the city playing Ponyo, I expected (hoped) to see a few more people than that.

Last edited by cardcaptormanda on Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:24 pm Reply with quote
3.5 million in less than a thousand theaters. if Disney doesn't expand the release, they are retarded.
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RestLessone



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1426
Location: New York
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:28 pm Reply with quote
I'm so glad this is doing well...I saw it on Friday and it was great. I was also surprised to hear -san one or two times, not to mention the use of sensei. The dub was, overall, nicely done and I don't mind the celebs if it gets kids to the theater, and it wasn't like it was a terrible dub anyway. Actually, I was pretty excited when I heard Liam Neeson was going to be in it.

The theater I went to wasn't that full, but there was an older couple, a few kids and preteens, and a larger family. I think me and my friends were the only teenagers there; however, Ponyo was playing at several theaters around here.
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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 767
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:46 pm Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
3.5 million in less than a thousand theaters. if Disney doesn't expand the release, they are retarded.

Please, they would rather be retarded if they would expand the release after the box-office results of one single weekend. Usually, distributors wait at least a week before deciding if a movie gets a wider release or not.
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joystick1101



Joined: 09 Dec 2008
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:50 pm Reply with quote
omg I was just looking at the Mojo Box Office chart and Ponyo actually made more money per theater than the # 5-8 spots!
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kallisti



Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:27 pm Reply with quote
On a related note, Ponyo was trending on twitter Saturday
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cyberbeing



Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 135
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:36 pm Reply with quote
joystick1101 wrote:
omg I was just looking at the Mojo Box Office chart and Ponyo actually made more money per theater than the # 5-8 spots!

You're reading it wrong. You should be comparing the opening weekend of each film.

Opening Weekend:
#5 $8,576/screen
#6 $2,911/screen
#7 $17,997/screen
#8 $9,579/screen
#9 $3,782/screen (Ponyo)

So it's only making more money on it's first weekend compared to #6 (THE GOODS: LIVE HARD, SELL HARD).
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2093
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Here's something that just occurred to me: in half a year, we're going to have a Pixar film and a Ghibli film going against each other for Best Animated Feature. With Tomatometer scores of 95 and 97.
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