Arrietty to Open on Over 1,200 US Screens
The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney’s domestic release of The Secret World of Arrietty, studio Ghibli’s 2010 film Karigurashi no Arrietty, will screen in over 1,200 US theaters beginning February 17, the widest American theatrical release of a Ghibli film so far. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s film is an adaptation of British author Mary Norton’s 1952 novel The Borrowers, with its setting shifted to present day Japan. The film will screen nationally with an American dub starring Bridgit Mendler, Will Arnett, and Amy Poehler.
Ugh. This dub. Call me elitist if you will, but I can’t even bear to listen to the whole trailer.
Source: Anime News Network
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Wimp.
You’re not an elitist John, you just don’t like people perpetratin’ all over the beautiful Japanimation ( i just want to use that word). Fools be all ignant all Buena Vista like. You feel me holmes? I didn’t finish it either. Wait for the DVD/BD…
It’s a double-edged sword… God bless Lasseter, because his heart is in the right place, but we all know that if we don’t support the theatrical release (as terrible as the dub may be), then our chances of getting another one only dwindle from there.
She’s more tolerable than Danes in Princess Mononoke, at least.
Aaron: We’ll always get new ones, as long as Disney has stock in Ghibli. The problem is the old ones, Only Yesterday and Ocean Waves.
The dubs not… bad. Not exactly an all-star cast this go around, but at least we’re getting the movie in theaters, and the home video release will very likely offer us the original Japanese.
I hate to say it, but this release isn’t for us once again, it’s for the mainstream families trying to occupy their kids’ attention between summer releases. Plus, Disney does what Disney wants. I agree the cast could be better though. At least we’ll get the Japanese version later.
I’m more annoyed I found out about this at Ohayocon, where the reps’ booth was stuffed off in a corner where there wasn’t any traffic. If Disney actually promoted this stuff, maybe they’d get a better return on their investment. What kind of parent is going to see a display like this? The kind that already watches anime with their kids. I’ve heard there are commercials on TV, but you know if this had Dwayne Johnson in it, adverts would be all over the place.
I’ll probably still watch this in theaters. Probably will listen to the Japanese track with subtitles when the Blu ray comes out.
I’m done with collecting Ghibli titles on DVD. Besides, DVDs are packed with the eventual Blu ray releases that show up in the US a year after Japan’s first go-around with the Blu ray release.
Still have to get Nausicaa on the US Blu ray release. Looking forward to both Howl’s Moving Castle and Tales from Undersea’s eventual American BD releases within the next year.
Don’t know about others, but I liked the dub on Howl’s Moving Castle… They’re not all bad. Most of the time the Disney dubs are better than what Viz, Funimation, MB, and Sentai produce. They can afford to hire veteran voice actors in addition to celebs. I kind of wish Disney would steer away from celebs and Disney Channel talent and just hire the voice vets. Those guys are better performers than most celebs and much of the anime voice talent pool.
You can’t completely knock the anime voice talent pool, though. Many of them have graduated to A-level shows and a few are among the top tier of voice actors in North America, now.
I think Disney has done a sufficient job of promoting the film, all things considered. Carol Burnett has been making the rounds on the talk show circuit, and Disney Channel has been suffused with the usual in-show adverts — considering that Disney Channel isn’t an ad-supported cable network. Previews have aired on other Disney-owned media, too, like the ABC networks.
Pocky: “If Disney actually promoted this stuff, maybe they’d get a better return on their investment. ”
Actually, Disney’s promoting it better than they would have in the past. But Ghibli is really only lucrative on home video here. Nothing wrong with that, because as long as it makes money somehow, everyone’s happy. The problem is, outside of Japan, 2-d just can’t compete against the soul-less CG machine right now. But the upside is Americans are clearly getting bored with these computer furry flicks, so they’ll eventually come back to 2-D. I dunno, when I see CG, it just reminds me of that claymation gimmick they used to have with Gumby.