Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: New Miyazaki Film: Howl's Moving Castle

This is topic New Miyazaki Film: Howl's Moving Castle in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=001550

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-17-2002, 07:03 AM:

From today's Screen Daily magazine:

http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=10596

Three new works by Japanese animation powerhouses head Toho’s line-up for 2003-2004.

Leading the line-up is Howl’s Moving Castle, the latest film by Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away set an all-time Japanese box office record last year and is being tipped for an Academy Award nomination.

Based on a 1986 children’s novel by Diana Wynne Jones about a girl who is transformed into an old woman by a wizard’s spell, the film was originally set to be directed by Mamoru Hosoda for a summer 2003 release.

A director for Toei Animation, Hosoda was the first outsider chosen to helm a film for Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, but Hosoda quit the project several months ago, after failing to come up with a concept satisfactory to his Studio Ghibli bosses. The film then remained in limbo, until Miyazaki decided to direct it himself. The official start of production is February 1, with completion scheduled for the spring of 2004 and release for the summer of the same year.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-17-2002, 12:39 PM:

Here's a link showing the first piece of concept art attributed to Miyazaki and Howl:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/images/news/4882.html

Poor Miyazaki--his retirement plans keep getting shelved! He actually did retire after the completion of Princess Mononoke in 1997 and moved into a new smaller private studio/office (Butaya, lit. The Pig's House--Miyazaki loves pigs!) built for the purpose just down the street from Studio Ghibli. But a few weeks after Miyazaki's end-of-'97 retirement party his successor Yoshifumi Kondo died of a brain aneurysm (at age 47!). Miyazaki came back to the studio he started, and the result was Spirited Away in 2001. He then "retired" again, but this time only as a director--he produced this year's Neko no Ongaeshi (The Cat Returns) and was set to executive produce Howl until Hosoda left. So, he gets to direct at least one more. Great news for us fans, but his getaway cabin in the Japanese Alps will have to remain vacant for a while longer. Poor Miyazaki! [Big Grin]

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-30-2003, 04:20 PM:

The Japanese release date for Howl's Moving Castle has been slipped from July to November 2004. Apparently this production has been a real bear, and Studio Ghibli has decided to delay the release rather than compromise their production standards. From what I've seen of the translated production diary entries, the staff are all just about fried and burned out.

I wonder how the new release date will affect Howl's boxoffice? Traditionally, Studio Ghibli tries for a July release date to coincide with the short summer school break. A November opening will mean the target audience will be in school, with only Saturday afternoons or Sundays available for moviegoing, on top of homework, cram-school, and after-school activities. Miyazaki's last two films both enjoyed 6-8 month long roadshow releases--we'll see how this one pans out.

Disney is still in negotiation with Ghibli for Howl's distribution rights. One way or the other hopefully we'll get to see subtitled film festival screenings starting in the spring of 2005.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-06-2004, 02:52 PM:

Looks like Studio Ghibli has re-affirmed their original release date for Howl. Steven Alpert, VP at Tokuma Publications (Ghibli's parent), spoke at last night's screening of the new Disney English-language dub of Porco Rosso, which opened the 2004 New York International Children's Film Festival.

Alpert confirmed that Howl will open in Japan this July with a US release scheduled sometime after that. And in more good news for Ghibli fans, he went on to mention that all of Studio Ghibli's feature films will be released in the US by the end of next year. Some of these may get limited theatrical releases as well. Personally I'd love to see the Ghibli Retrospective package that NY MOMA and Cowboy Pictures put together in 1999 make the art house rounds again.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 06-26-2004, 10:47 PM:

Heh heh, looks like the Japanese release date will indeed be November 20th, which means we probably won't see it here much before next summer.

Downloadable 1+57 trailer link (QuickTime/MPEG4 13.4MB) here.

[Edit to update link.]

[ 11-24-2004, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-24-2004, 04:49 PM:

Well, it opened. And set a new boxoffice record for best opening weekend gross of any film in Japanese movie history ($14.3 million USD on 443 screens, 72% of the country's total weekend boxoffice).

The film had its world premiere on Sept. 5th at the Venice Film Festival, where it took the Osella Award for technical achievement.

Pete Docter, directer of Monster's Inc, will produce the English-language dub for the North American market. John Lasseter was set to do this, but is busy finishing up Cars for Pixar. No word yet of a planned NA release date.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 11-24-2004, 06:30 PM:

From Animated-News.com

quote:
Pete Docter to lead production of English Castle

During a press conference held by Howl's Moving Castle producer Toshio Suzuki, an announcement was made that Pete Docter (director of Monsters, Inc.) will lead production of the English version of Howl's Moving Castle. John Lasseter, the first choice to head the production, was unable to work on the film, due to his involvement with Pixar's next movie, Cars. Thanks to "Wolf Tooth" at the AN Forum for the info.