PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

Check out this news item from Anime News Network:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-09-13/miyazaki-ponyo-slides-to-no.21-with-$656000

PONYO has made more money theatrically than any other Miyazaki film released in the U.S.

However it's still only the fifth highest grossing anime film released to theaters in the U.S. The four highest grossing are...[cue theme song]...the first three Pokemon movies (POKEMON THE FIRST MOVIE, POKEMON THE MOVIE 2000, and POKEMON THE MOVIE 3: LORD OF THE UNKNOWN TOWER) and YU-GI-OH!: THE MOVIE.

(I was going to add this to my Pokemon thread, but I figured nobody would read it there.)

Even though my ardor for Miyazaki has cooled in the last seven years, it's nice to see one of his movies (his weakest, IMHO) finally make some money. And I'm happy to see the Pokemon movies at the top of the heap, even though so many of the later ones (esp. movies 6, 7 & 8) were so much better, but didn't rate a theatrical release at all.




The link isn't working, so I'll just copy and paste the story from ANN here:


The Box Office Mojo website reports that Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's Ponyo anime film has earned an estimated US$656,000 during the September 11-13 weekend. In its fifth weekend in American theaters, Ponyo slides from #16 to #21 at the box office as it faces four new films. With 589 theaters (301 less than last weekend), Ponyo has an estimated per-screen average of US$1,114. Ticket sales has dropped 49.9% from last weekend.

With a current estimated total of US$14,362,000, Ponyo is still the fifth highest grossing theatrical anime release in the United States, below Pokemon 3 - The Movie (US$17,052,128). The only anime films with higher American box office totals are the first three Pokémon movies and Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie. After their fifth full weekend of release, Princess Mononoke (1999) had earned US$1,638,393 on 26 theaters, Spirited Away (2002) had earned US$3,424,435 on 151 theaters, and Howl's Moving Castle (2005) had earned US$3,817,641 on 177 theaters. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli were also responsible for Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle.

Ponyo's story follows an ordinary boy named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas in the English dub) and his friendship with Ponyo (Noah Cyrus), an unusual goldfish from the seas. The other English-language castmembers include Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, and Betty White. The Yahoo! Movies and Apple websites have been streaming the trailers.

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself opened at #1 with approximately $24,030,000 in ticket sales. 9, Sorority Row and Whiteout debuted in 2nd, 6th and 7th spots respectively.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

really?! that's surprising ... and great news. I've seen it twice once on day of release, then a second time with some kids. However let's hope that Disney doesn't throw out 'Tales of Earthsea' and think THAT film will succeed.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

You'd think that with Disney's backing and big name Hollywood stars these Miyazaki films would do better. I don't know why they didn't do more promotion on ABC or the various Disney channels. And they've got that Japan pavilion at EPCOT. Why not have a few costumed characters or put some Miyazaki stuff in that museum towards the back?

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

question - does the Japanese Pavillion at EPCOT sell Studio Ghibli merchandise?

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

It's been a year since I've been there. There's the Mitsukoshi Department Store, which makes up the bulk of the pavilion. I know they have an anime section, right up front. I remember seeing a Totoro and Catbus stuffed animal.

But what really stood out were the expensive anime figures in a glass case. It was mostly Evangelion stuff. Found a pic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheukiecfu/2648350464/

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

Not really that surprising, it is also his widest release, the only film to even come close was the Spirited Away re-release after it won the Oscar.

I have yet to see it but it looks interesting, probably won't get a chance to see it until DVD now though.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

Wow, that is surprising because I liked this one the least of all his films.

Is it because this has the widest release of any of his films? Or is it because of a lack of competition out now?

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

There were commercials for it during Disney's Saturday morning block of programs on ABC.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

I dont get how Ghibli films can only make a fraction of the Japanese intake in theaters. The numbers to me are embarassing, considering the number of fans there are in the US.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

I'd say the latter.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

The hardcore American Miyazaki fans do not constitute the family audience needed to make these films hits in theaters. The first three Pokemon movies hit big because they had a major studio (Warner Bros.) backing them and they came off a high tide of Pokemon awareness and popularity among moviegoing family audiences, thanks to the games and the TV show. Miyazaki films do not come with that type of audience awareness. They're not based on pre-sold properties. Plus, they're quite a bit more challenging than the average animated family film. They usually find most of their family audience after the theatrical release when the families have time to discover the films on tape or DVD or TV showings and they get word-of-mouth from peers.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

I'm not that surprised by this (especially after all the promotions that they have done). Miyazaki releases just aren't as popular (understatement) as Japan. Even I saw this in the theater already, I'm looking forward to the upcoming release in likely BD (in December).

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

I'm so excited by the fact this should be receiving a Blu-ray release. I wonder if Spirited Away or one of the other Miyazaki films will come out on Blu-ray the same time to coincide? Should be awesome!

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

Ponyo is expected to have a DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo releases. It doesn't look like any other Ghibli BD releases is coming any time soon. Though it's expected that Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro will receive special edition re-releases (DVD).

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

UltimateDisney says the same that rereleases are forthcoming, but I don't know what they would add to these "Special Editions", but I am curious to see. I guess we should be expecting an announcement for it by next month

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

Forget the re-releases, I want to know when Ponyo is being released in R1-land! If it's not out by Christmas, I may well have to go get the R3.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

It's rumored to be coming out Dec-15th

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

It's been known for a couple weeks that it won't be released in December. And today, it was revealed that it won't be released until March.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

March??? thats a bummer. Thank you for letting me know though

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

My local Suncoast has a release date for Ponyo. It's available for pre-order @ your local TWEC chain stores. The release date listed was 3/2/2010. It remains to be seen if this date will hold up.

• DVD (Reg): $29.99
• DVD (SE): $34.99
• Blu-ray: $39.99

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

December 8th, according to AsianBluRayGuide

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

...and picture of the SE (w/Plush) release.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

Oh well, looks like the 12 and a half hour documentary won't be included, but as long as the US version has all the BD extras from Japan, then it should be good.

That will be my reason to upgrade from the current DVD, which was pretty boring on extras....

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

from dvdtimes:

Different extras it seems, compared to the Japanese release.

Re: PONYO is Miyazaki's biggest hit in the U.S.
 

I saw this with the wife..very classic styled anime.