Can't wait for Howl's Moving Castle to get released here June 10th.

I saw the trailer for it when I went to see Holy Girl, and it looks fantastic. I have to say I noticed some odd similarities to Steamboy, which leads me to believe it might not go over here so well. First, the main characters are caucasian. British in Steamboy, and I'm assuming the heroine in Castle is also British, though i guess she could be from somewhere else. There's also a big castle, heh.

But the primary difference I noticed from the on-set was tone. Steamboy was more sci-fi oriented, and Castle looks to be more fantasy/dreamlike. I like Miyazaki's magic. Plenty of spirits and phantoms. Here, a young girl falls under a spell that makes her an aged woman. She travels about, and the trailer really wouldn't give away all the details why.

from rt:


Also, there are no meter readings yet, as there are not enough reviews, but Slant and MovieMartyr (whoever they are) both give it a fresh rating so far.

Looks to be a pleasant surprise.

It's really not as good as most of the recent Miyazaki output.

So says my friend.

People said the same thing about Steamboy and i enjoyed it alot. I wonder if it has to do with the different landscape setting? England/Industrial rather than Japanese/Fantastical?

I like them both. And this one still seemed to have alot of fantasy imagery. What did your friend say? Plot/content wise it was weaker, or visually?

I think the name Miyazaki should give it at least a strong start to its run. Are they planning on releasing it limited initially or wide immediately?

If it goes wide immediately, I'd not expect more then $25 million total for it. If it is limited, somewhere in the range of $10-$15 million sounds reasonable.

So does Joseba here on the boards. He has seen it. But he says it is still very good, heh.

I loved Spirited Away, but saw only half of Mononoke. Mononoke seemed interesting, but not as amazing and charming as SA.

I'll be seeing this one, though.

Said it was a mix of cliched plotlines and Miyazaki repeating himself. Said visually it doesn't match Mononoke or Spirited.

I like Miyazaki (I think Porco Rosso would be on a list of top 50 films of all time for me) but his films aren't always solid gold. This will be a rental for me.

Sounds interesting, but I'd be more excited about this if the girl was changed into a heavily made-up, aging rock star (voiced by no-time Oscar nominee Gene Simmons).

I adore Miyazaki, and I'm positively bulging with anticipation for this. Hopefully it won't disappoint!

Snrub, your plot twist as intrigued me.

It could be Hedwig and the Angry Inch meets Ghosts of the Moving Castle. Fully equipped with some of Nick Cave's Murder Ballods.

It's like you read my own children's film screenplay... but added transvestites and Stagger Lee!

I'll leave out the transvestites for now, but Stagger Lee's totally going in there.

Trailer

I think that this film looks great, looks like another great film by Hayao.

About ten days to go!

First two early reviews over at rt are positive. SO lets hope that upturn remains?

Great looking shots Dolce. I'll be there next Friday for sure.

I'll go opening night as well if I can. Hopefully we'll get to hear some front page reviews from you, we've been missing them.


edit*** Going to watch Day of the Dead with us thus weekend? The thread's stickied.

Yuck, a dubbed version. I'm glad we'll get the original version in theatres.
Will there be no subtitled version for an older/mature audience.

I'm psyched, despite the fact that I haven't really been keeping up with it (how has it done in Japan so far?).

\:D/

I saw the trailer when I saw Kung Fu Hustle a couple of months ago, can't freaking wait. Miyazaki's films (like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke) are spectacular. I have also heard that its not as good as his earlier work, but if its bettter than his weaker but still good films (Laputa and Nausicaa), then I'm a happy camper.

Perhaps. Life is just...different right now. I've got some movies I should review but just haven't.

And I might try Day of the Dead, if I can find it and some time. Classes started this week, but I'll see what I can do.

35 theaters. Spirited Away had a PTA $17,301 in 26 theaters its first weekend. I expect similar PTA here and $500,000 to 600,000 opening weekend gross.

I'll be watching an advance screening for this probably.

How? Was it on-line? Can I get one somehow? HOw come I never get to see advanced screenings?

dolce, if you can be here in montreal June 6th, you can come with me. I might have 4 tickets for this one and have no idea to do with the extra 3.

how did i get it? i PMed you about how to go about getting some ... you don't read my PMs...now i'm sad : (

saw it ...

reserving my comments for later.

YOU MUST TELL ME!!!

*ahem*

i've written my review. waiting for dolce to edit it for me.