I would question the inclusion of Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky under the Direct-To-Video section, as these were both released theatrically (just not necessarily in the US.)
Also, I didn't see Miyazaki's Spirited Away listed anywhere, I would have assumed that it would be under the Other Animation category. IMHO, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky should also be placed in the Other Animation category, as well as other Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli films that Disney will be releasing.
-- littlefuzzy
I was curious to see other people's responses to this, personally, I still feel that to put them in Direct-To-Video does these films a disservice, as they are in no way comparable to the cheap sequels that comprise most of this category. I also see some TV episodes and cartoon shorts that I feel shouldn't be there either, but that's another story.Hi,
Thanks for your e-mail. It's a fuzzy science to classify some of these films and certainly the Miyazaki films don't easily fall into any category. As it is now, the Animated Classics are really easy to define, but live action films that may get limited theatrical release, TV movies that are shown theatrically overseas, and animated productions that Disney certainly didn't animate but handles to some degree all are difficult to label. I think "Spirited Away" probably should go in "Other Animation" - you're right there. But I feel that Kiki's and Castle, having been released direct-to-video in the US, should stay where they are and just have a note added - as was done for other DTV films that played theatrically, like the live action "Other Side of Heaven" and "Summer of the Monkeys." Thanks for your feedback; I appreciate your insight.
Cheers,
Luke
UltimateDisney.com
With 3 films already available - Spirited Away (already in Other Animation,) Kiki's Delivery Service, and Castle in the Sky - and two batches of films coming soon, I feel that all of the films should be listed in one section. Three more from Miyazaki should be released in 2005 - Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, and My Neighbor Totoro - and there was talk of a release of Takahata's films in Nov. 2004. These would be: Pom Poko, My Neighbors the Yamadas, and Only Yesterday.
Spirited Away made $259 million worldwide at the box office, which was 3 million shy of Lilo and Stitch. I couldn't find many figures on Castle in the Sky, but Kiki's Delivery Service had 2.6 million admissions in Japan. Nausicaa had just under a million admissions, and Princess Mononoke had 13 and 1/2 million admissions in Japan with a total box office of ~$150 million.
Looking at the top-rated Animation titles at IMDB, there are quite a few Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki films listed, with 5 in the top ten.
01. Spirited Away (Disney)
03. Princess Mononoke (Miramax)
04. Grave of the Fireflies
06. Castle in the Sky (Disney)
10. My Neighbor Totoro (Disney)
20. Kiki's Delivery Service (Disney)
21. Nausicaa (Disney)
23. Whisper of the Heart
28. Porco Rosso (Disney)
35. Castle of Cagliostro (A great Lupin III flick)
I am not sure if some of the new-to-dvd titles will be released theatrically or not, but given that Disney didn't see any real box-office on Spirited Away (bad marketing, maybe?) I doubt they will release any older films to the theaters. Of course, Howl's Moving Castle will be released, and hopefully Disney will market this one better.
In fact, I really doubt that they would even include Princess Mononoke, since it was released by Miramax.
