Daily News, L.P.   
Daily News (New York) 


August 04, 1998, Tuesday 

SECTION: New York Now; Pg. 31 

LENGTH: 575 words 

HEADLINE: COMING TOON, JAPAN'S TOP ANIME FILMS  NINE OF MASTER HAYAO MIYAZAKI'S 
FEATURES WILL BE RELEASED HERE 

BYLINE: By LEWIS BEALE 

BODY: 


HE'S THE WALT DISNEY OF JAPANese animation, a force whose films routinely 
outgross movies like "Aladdin" at the Nipponese box office. Now he's coming to 
America. 

Nine feature films by Hayao Miyazaki, Japan's foremost animator, were recently 
purchased by Disney. Eight will be released on video by Buena Vista Home 
Entertainment, Disney's video arm, and one will make it to theaters later next 
year. 

The first release, debuting Sept. 1, is "Kiki's Delivery Service," the story of 
a 13-year-old witch who uses her flying skills to open a delivery business. It 
was a No. 1 smash in Japan. 

"Princess Mononoke,"a 14th-century fable involving a battle between gods and 
man, will be theatrically distributed next year by Disney subsidiary Miramax. 
The film, whose English-language version will feature the voices of Gillian 
Anderson, Claire Danes and Minnie Driver, has earned $ 150 million in Japan it 
is the second-highest-grossing film in that country's history, topped only by 
"Titanic." 

"Disney is picking up on [Japanese animation] because they think it's the next 
stage in animation around the world," says Bruce Apar of Video Business 
Magazine. 

Compared to Disney's output, Miyazaki's work is leisurely paced ("Mononoke" runs 
133 minutes an epic length by animation standards), more story driven and 
nonmusical. Many films also have a distinct ecological subtext. 

"There's an epic nature to [Miyazaki's] stories, but also a certain naivete and 
innocence," says Scott Martin, Miramax' executive in charge of production for 
"Princess Mononoke." 

Miyazaki's work is barely known outside Japan. 

One film, "My Neighbor Totoro," about two girls who are befriended by a mythical 
creature, opened here theatrically in 1993 and sold more than 500,000 cassettes 
since it was released on home video the following year. 

But though Miyazaki has been courted by other foreign distributors including Fox 
and Warner Bros. he has refused in the past to license his films for fear they 
would be cut or altered. 

"We have not done anything to change these films but dub them. We have added 
some new songs, but we have remained true to the original," says Michael 
Johnson, worldwide president of BVHE. 

Johnson admits Miyazaki's work may initially appeal to a niche audience one 
familiar with anime (Japanese animation). But, he says, "we're going to try to 
go beyond that audience here. Anime . . . is about cutting-edge humor, violence, 
sexual overtones. None of that exists in the Miyazaki product. [We will be] 
taking it out of the anime category by packaging it differently, presenting it 
differently to the public." 

Will this approach work? Bruce Apar feels "Disney is looking for a cataclysmic 
change in the market, where [Japanese animation] becomes the really hip thing." 

Says David Wharff of West Coast Entertainment, one of America's largest video 
chains: "It seems like they're not really pushing the title to the industry that 
much right now. ['Kiki's'] will be a moderate hit. It won't be a 'Lion King' 
that [ships] 25 million copies, but it can do something like 'Totoro,' which is 
a consistent seller." 

Johnson is equally cautious. His company plans to release a Miyazaki title every 
six months, but those plans are dependent on how well "Kiki" does. 

"It's a build philosophy," he says. "We hope people discover this, and retailers 
are patient enough to stay with this product." 



GRAPHIC: ANIME MAGNETISM: Hayao Miyazaki is No. 1 in Japan. BROOM WITH A VIEW: 
"Kiki's Delivery Service," on video Sept. 1