The Mononoke Hime impressions page has been updated and restructured. It is at http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/mh/impressions.html

All the news articles in the "Articles 4" page are new addition.

The article about Japanese anime by Miyazaki-San is now compiled and available at http://www.nausicaa.net/file-archive/interviews/aboutanime.interview

Enjoy!

According to Houchi Shinbun (reprinted in Yasuhide Mohri's web site, http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hn7y-mur/mononoke2/monolink06link26.htm in Japanese - thanks, Mohri-San!), the English dubbed "Kiki" has sold more than 900,000 copies so far. The article says that it will likely to exceed 1.2 million copies before the year end.

According to the article, Tokuma and Disney have officially signed the contract concerning the MH's US release on Sept. 28th. The contract was 114 page length, and I hope that this "released in April in 1,000 theaters" is in the contract. (The contract includes the deals about other Ghibli movies.)

Subject: MH release in USA

According to Houchi Shimbun newspaper on September 29 1998, it has been formally decided that "The Princess Mononoke" will release in USA next April.

The contract was concluded between Tokuma and Disney on September 28.

"The Princess Mononoke" will release at 1000 movie theater in USA. It is said that the cost to release in USA amounts 350,000,000 yen. (about 2,500,000 dollars)

Subject: A bit more Disney/Tokuma info

I recently got some answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the Disney/Tokuma deal, courtesy of Martin Blythe.

(Martin Blythe's comments are in this color.)

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Jeremy, let me take a stab at answering some of these. You may post them as you feel it's appropriate. Martin

I've been going over the Ghiblink feedback archives, looking at common questions that aren't in the FAQs to figure out what we should add to them. I put together a list of the most frequently asked ones relating to the Disney/Tokuma deal to which we don't currently have answers, and am passing them along to you. I doubt I'll be able to get answers to all four, but it seemed worth a shot since any one of them I can get an answer to is one more thing we can put in the FAQ, and one less thing we end up getting a lot in feedback questions. :)

1) Will there be subtitles of the other films? (Since it's already been announced Kiki will have one - I also wanna know this one for Laputa in particular. I would think that Whisper of the Heart would almost do BETTER subtitled, aimed at a different market, also.)

Most likely. Everything depends on how we do with the sub-titled KIKI.

2) For the subtitles, will they be based off existing sub scripts, a direct translation, or use the dub scripts?

Direct translation then approved/changed by Tokuma/Ghibli.

3) There's a rumor floating around that the dubs were based off of the existing dub scripts (the Macek ones) and tweaked from there. True? False? No comment? :)

Not true

4) And lastly, by far the most frequently asked... what was the reasoning behind altering the soundtrack? While I wasn't particularly bothered by it, I have to admit that I've been wondering the reasoning myself, and we do get this question a lot. I expect you may not be able to answer this, but it seemed worth asking.

This is extremely complex but the basic answer is "cultural difference." We tested the dubbed version in different forms with live audiences and the silences from the original just didn't work. We believe the changes are relatively minor except to purists but we recommend they get the sub-titled version anyway.

By the way we hope to get it out on September 29, if all works out. We have a special 800 # for this version if you'd like to post that as well: 800-207-9440. It is operational now but they won't be actively taking KIKI orders until around September 29.

Re: Akira Kurosawa dies

This is a really tough day for Miyazaki-San.

Not only Kurosawa, whose movies (especially "Seven Samurais", which influenced Mononoke Hime) Miyazaki-San really loves, but also Yoshie HOTTA, an author whom Miyazaki-San respects a great deal passed away today.

Miyazaki-San says that the writings by Hotta affected him very much. Miyazaki- San, Hotta, and Ryotaro SHIBA had a talk, which is now published as a book, "Jidai no Kazaoto (The Windsound of the Time)". When Ryotaro Shiba passed away, Miyazaki-San reportedly cried loudly.

Kurosawa and Miyazaki-San also had a talk, which is in the "Ghibli ga Ippai" LD Box set. It is also published as a book, "Nani ga Eiga ka (What is a film)".

My respects for these two great men from bottom of my heart.

(Reported on the ML by Don Hoffman)

(Reported on the ML by Justin Leach, URL reported by Kevin Mosman)

According to an article (actually, it's a series of articles) in Houchi Shinbun (reprinted in Yasuhide Mohri's web page, http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hn7y-mur/yamadakun/nonolink06link04.htm - in Japanese. Thanks, Mohri-San!):

• Disney is spending about 300 million yen (about $2.1 million) to make the English dub of Mononoke Hime.

• Tokuma and Disney (Miramax) had the final negotiation concerning MH in May, 1998 (the deal made in 1996 was preliminary. They had to make several more negotiations to make a concrete plan). According to Mr. Suzuki, the producer and president of Ghibli, the only conditions Tokuma asked for were, 1. No cut 2. No change in the music. He says that "as long as Miramax keep these two conditions, the rest is up to them." But Miramax still keeps sending fax from time to time to Tokuma (or Ghibli) asking if they can cut some scenes.

• Harvey Weinstein, the president of Miramax, reportedly said that he would aim for an Oscar for MH.

• The article says that Madonna "will sing the theme song of MH".

• The article says that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton will attend the premiere of MH next spring.

(Site reported on the ML by Shun CHAN)

• Racso's Mononoke Hime page (Nice Work!)
• Al's Mononoke Hime page
• Princess Mononoke Film Comic Translation

Cinema Scramble, a Japanese internet movie magazine has a report on the press conference held by Tokuma and Disney on July 16th, concerting MH's global release and Ghibli's next movie, Yamada-Kun.

It's at: http://www1.meshnet.or.jp/cinema/hino/hino.html

It is in Japanese, but you can see several pictures, including pictures from a pirot film of Yamada-Kun.

Miyazaki-San was asked whether he would be involved in the production of the dubbed version(s), and he answered:

"I think that making a dub would take some time. If they want my opinions, I might go (to the US?), but I'm not sure. If they want to change the title to something that fit to their own culture, that is fine by me. We grew up with translated American movies, so when I tried to find a movie which I remembered as "Duel in the Wild" in the US, no one could understand me. Of course they couldn't, since I didn't know that its original title was "My Darling Clementine"! (laughs) This kind of things often happen in this industry, so I wouldn't mind such things so much."

The report also said that MH will be released in "Germany, UK, Italy, and Brazil". So will it be released in the UK or not??

New York Daily News has a report on Disney/Tokuma deal. The article comes with nice pictures of Miyazaki-San and Kiki (no doubt provided by Disney). It's available at http://www.nydailynews.com/1998-08-04/New_York_Now/Movies/a-1511.asp

Studio Ghibli and Tokuma Shoten, together with Disney held a press conference in Tokyo on July 16. It was to announce the plan about the global release of Mononoke Hime, and Ghibli's next movie.

Ghibli's official web page has a report about the press conference in Japanese ( http://www.ntv.co.jp/ghibli/yamada/index.html - as of July 17, there isn't much in this page. They say that they will make more detailed report later.)

Nikkei Newspaper, along with other newspapers, has also reported about the press conference. According to them:

• Ghibli's next movie, "Hohokekyo, Tonari no Yamada Kun" (directed by Isao Takahata) will be distributed by Shochiku, not Toho. The movie will be full digital (no cel). The movie is based on a comic strip by Hisaichi ISHII, which was serialized in Asahi Newspaper.
• They are hoping to earn 5 billion yen with "Yamada-Kun".
• Of 1.6 billion yen (at least) production cost, Disney (Buena Vista Japan) will invest 10%.
• The voice cast of "Yamada-Kun" includes Yukiji ASAOKA and Toru MASUOKA (both famous Japanese actors).
• Miramax will release Mononoke Hime in the US sometime around from April to June, 1999. (They said that they are "aiming for", so it can be changed.) It will be released in 1,000 theaters in 100 cities across the US.
• The voice cast of the English version is the same with the one already reported.
• After the US release, the English version of MH will be also released in Japan.

(Reported to me by Cynthia Schmidt of the Gillian Anderson Web Site (GAWS), and on the ML by Shun CHAN)

A TV program to promote the video release of Mononoke Hime and other Ghibli films from Buena Vista was aired in Japan. In it, the English cast for Mononoke Hime was announced. It was the same with the one Houchi has reported:

San - Claire Danes (Romeo & Juliet, The Rainmaker)
Moro - Gillian Anderson (X-Files)
Eboshi - Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting)
Ashitaka - Billy Crudup (Sleepers)

Since the program was:

1. Sponsored by Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Japan),
2. Filmed at Studio Ghibli, and Miyazaki himself appeared (and MCed by Yuriko ISHIDA, the voice actress of San),
3. Aired on NTV, which is one of the producers of MH,
4. The narrator said "Here, for the first time, we *announce* the cast for the English version.",

I take this as "official".

They also mentioned the names of Robert DeNiro and Quentin Tarantino, as "are planned to join", but they sounded less sure about them compared to above mentioned cast. It sounded as if that they are still in negotiation.

They also mentioned that Madonna may sing the song for MH, but they sounded even less sure about it (maybe the negotiation isn't going well.).

They also mentioned that Mononoke Hime is "planned to be released in the US in next spring, in about 1,000 theaters from Miramax".

Please take note: Disney (Miramax) can change their plan any time. The release date of "Shall We Dance?" was moved several times, even after they officially announced it on their web site.

Hi, just wanted to let you know that Princess Mononoke will be shown in Germany during the Fantasy Film Festival in various German cities (starting from end of July to end of August). I`m really looking forward to it.

According to Houchi Shimbun (reprinted in Yasuhide Mohri's Web page at http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hn7y-mur/mononoke2/monolink06link24.htm in Japanese. Thanks always, Mohri-San!), the voice cast of English MH will be:

San - Claire Danes (Romeo & Juliet, The Rainmaker)
Moro - Gillian Anderson (X-files)
Eboshi - Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting)
Ashitaka - Billy Crudup (Sleepers)

Since Mr. Gaiman mentioned "X" about Moro's voice actress, I guess Gillian Anderson is indeed playing Moro.

Again, I'm not sure how accurate this report is (Houchi has been wrong before).

Also, according to the same report, the video of MH sold 2 million copies in the first week, breaking the record held by "Aladdin" (500 thousand in the first week).

Last night, I went to a video rental shop. An entire corner was dedicated to MH, and there were about 150 copies of MH. All had been rented out. :)

According to the news reports on Houchi Shinbun and Nikkan Sports (both dated on June 18th), the latest news on the MH dubbed versions are:

• Madonna will sing a song for MH.
• Leonardo DiCaprio will not play Ashitaka, since he is taking a hiatus.
• They are currently negotiating with famous Hollywood actors, including Robert DeNiro.
• The details about the dubbed version will be announced on July 16th.

(The news articles are reprinted in Yasuhide Mohri's web page, at http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hn7y-mur/mononoke2/monolink06link24.htm in Japanese. Thanks Mohri-San!)

According to a Japanese magazine, "Video & DVD Data" (July Issue), the voice cast for the English dubbed Mononoke Hime are *planned* to be:

Matt Damon (Ashitaka)
Claire Danes (San)
Glenn Close (Eboshi)
Jack Nicholson (?)
Jim Carrey (?)
Robin Williams (?)

I don't know how accurate this report is.

The laserdisc of Mononoke Hime will be:

CLV, Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, Letterboxed, High Vision digital master.

Comes with 18 minutes of "extra": one theater trailer, four theater spots, 6 TV spots, 2 promotion films. A *trailer* comes with English subtitles (*not* the movie).

*No* scenario disk, no chapter.

To be released on June 26th in Japan. 7,800 yen. From Tokuma Japan Communications. TKLA-50300.

This has been reported before, but this time, it was reported in Mainichi Shinbun, one of the three major newspapers in Japan. So, it might be more credible that previous report, which was published in a tabloid.

(Still, this remains as an unconfirmed report).

According to Mainichi newspaper, Madonna is going to sing the theme song of Mononoke Hime. It will be used either as a song in the movie, or as an ending song.

According to the report, the Madonna's song will be a totally new one, not the existing song by Hisaishi.

Also, according to the report, MH will be released in the US in next August.

According to Mr. Martin Blythe, a representative of Disney, the North American release of Mononoke Hime is "tentatively set in the second quarter of 1999".