My So Called Disneyfied Life

 I recall reading an article in Wired magazine, back when Wired was actually interesting to me because it had Japanese pop culture updates.  Anyway, the article was basically said that Akira was going to take on Mickey Mouse and win.  For some reason I still remember that article all these years later.

 Maybe it is because I grew up in Tampa and with Disney’s Magic Kingdom in my own backyard. I never developed a strong animosity towards all things Disney.  I grew up with all the classic Disney animated films like Pete’s Dragon and The Fox and the Hound.  Disney movies, when they were good emotionally moving. Sometimes, I didn’t want a sad, tragic experience so I would switch over from Disney to old Bugs Bunny cartoons.  I must admit that I liked Warner Brothers cartoons because they were just so much fun and less thought provoking thus being much more entertaining.

 I was also fortunate to have a next-door neighbor who was an artist who actually worked on the beginning sequence for The Great Mouse Detective. At 15, It seemed like the coolest gig in the world to be able to be paid for artwork.    

 Certainly, Akira was a major hit and I thought that it was going to conquer Disney in the same way that 80’s metal got silenced by Grunge.  However, I don’t think Anime feature films have upped Disney.  

 When Anime movies get released in the U.S., it is a niche market unless the movie is a Miyazaki film or has a strong following among children like Digimon.  Anime movies still play at art houses or indie movie theaters in major cities.  As a result, most quality anime movies don’t receive the widespread distribution both locally and internationally that Disney is able to achieve.  Also, if a Disney movie bombs, it still rakes in a profit unlike an anime movie that might suffer poor DVD sales or play for a limited run and disappear after a week.

 Taking a look at Brother Bear, which only made $85,336.277 at the box office and didn’t little to increase the wealth of the Magic Kingdom, Pokemon:  The First Movie only did slightly better with $85.744,662.  If a Pokemon movie can barely do better than a recent Disney bomb it cannot compete with Beauty and the Beast at all.

 The following Anime title released in the U.S. were all beaten at the box office by Brother Bear:  Yu-Gi-Oh!:  The Movie, Ponyo, Spirited Away, Digimon:  The Movie, Princess Mononoke, Ghost in the Shell 2:  Innocence, Cowboy Bebop, Paprika, Akira, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, and many more.

 Now for the Japanese box office, of course, anime movies did much better, with Tales from Earthsea earning 7.65 billion, Death Note at 5.5 billion, and Yamato with 5.09 billion. However, U.S. releases in Japan still did much better with Disney’s live action, Pirates of the Caribbean:  Dead Man’s Chest taking in 10.01 billion.  

 For anime to succeed in both countries, it is going to take a massive reform in marketing and distribution.   Right now anime theatrical releases cannot compete with U.S. based companies such as Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks Animation SKG, Fox Animation Studios, and Cartoon Network Studios.

 I enjoy both Disney and Anime movies and I would like to see the day when more anime movies are released in the US, with the right kind of marketing that gets the film in the theaters and sustains it.  I think there is room for both forms of animated films and I think it is foolish to pick one over the other.