Miyazaki animation lifts revenues for domestic movies to record high

Friday 30th January, 06:09 AM JST

TOKYO —

A hit animated film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki helped boost box office revenues for Japanese movies to an all-time record in 2008, an industry group said Thursday. Revenues for Japanese movies rose 22.4% from the previous year to 115.86 billion yen, while those for foreign movies declined 23.9% to 78.98 billion yen, the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan said. Combined revenues slid 1.8% to 194.84 billion yen.

The revenue surge for Japanese movies was attributed to Miyazaki’s ‘‘Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea),’’ which alone raked in 15.5 billion yen. ‘‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’’ was the top hit among foreign movies with 5.7 billion yen. Japanese movies had a 59.5% share of overall box office revenues in 2008, to 40.5% for foreign movies.

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11 Comments

bishamonten at 08:38 AM JST - 30th January

Miyazaki’s the man.

He never fails, it's only sad that he says this is last film, though he has said that before, I think this time he means it.
motytrah at 09:36 AM JST - 30th January

The Indiana Jones movie made the top list? Wow. That movie sucked. Maybe they fixed all the cliche and far fetched plot points in the translation.
stereoman at 11:39 AM JST - 30th January

Unfortunately, hiding in a fridge to avoid being burned in an atomic bomb blast translates into stupid in almost every country.
Samuraiiki at 12:08 PM JST - 30th January

Manga compensates for lack of real talent.
TokyoGas at 01:08 PM JST - 30th January

Ponyo knocked 'em out.
dennis0bauer at 03:29 PM JST - 30th January

Disney can learn a lot from miyazaki
techall at 03:40 PM JST - 30th January

@Dennis0bauer: Miyazaki is a great filmaker but no Disney does not need to learn from Miyazaki. Disney uses 24 cells per second versus 12 cells per second (with each cells used twice) for most japanese cartoons. That is why the action in Disney movies is more lifelike. Also, Disney uses children to dub the childrens voices while the Japaese use adult women to represent boy's voices.
franz75 at 04:17 PM JST - 30th January

bishamonten: "He never fails"　[Kiki's Delivery Service] is pretty bad. At least there is "Porco Rosso" to compensate
michaelkane at 06:45 PM JST - 30th January

I think its time WDisney takes over Miyazaki production.
bishamonten at 09:45 PM JST - 30th January

franz75

Point taken, though I did still like Kiki.

techall

I wouldn’t say that the technical make up of a cartoon is what makes it special or enjoyable. In fact most people are very unlikely to even know what you are talking about. They watch the film, how many cells are used & re-used & who the voices belong to never crosses their minds. Why should it? They came to see a film.
techall at 04:28 PM JST - 1st February

bishamonten:

The viewer may not know exactly why but the do see the difference in the lifelikeness of motion and haveing adults try to imitate children voices is one of the most annoying trait in Japanese amination. The story line may be the top selling point but the quality of production is what make the viewing enjoyable.