An Anime Journey: The Film That Sank A Studio – Titan AE, The Borrower Arrietty and When Marnie Was There

A few nights ago I watched a movie that is now a cult film: Titan AE. This is a sci-fi animated film from 2000 directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was about Humans invent some new revolution technology called the Titan Project and out of fear a race named the Drej attack Earth, destroying it. The story is one of a now grown boy, the son of the man who created the Titan Project, must now find his father’s lost invention in order to reunited and save humanity from extinction. However, what is really notable about this film is how it made a massive loss at the box office and was thus blamed for sinking an entire animation studio. After their hit Anastasia Fox Animation Studios looked to rival Disney animations. Anastasia was in essence a film very similar to many of the Disney princess movies and did well both commercially and critically. However, in 2000 the studio released its next feature film (Titan AE) and based on its box office failure compared to its budget the studio closed. This was after laying off 300 of the 380 staff (in order to cut expenses and make cheaper films) before the film’s release.

Titan AE poster, which looks like an action packed Sci-Fi. http://www.deviantart.com/art/Titan-A-E-344682317

Having watched the movie I thought it was not that bad. It had some moments of promise like the part of the ships in the ice ring that created a mirror room like place. It also had some clichéd moments, such as the young adult given the wheel and when he is driving he is followed by dolphin like creatures. The characters were likewise archetypal, or clichéd, with the reluctant at first hero, the girl who hates him initially and then loves him after a troubling experience together, and the backstabbing comrade who redeems himself at the end. However, admittedly the characterizations are done too quickly and changes aren’t given enough depth. The universe it created was though rather interesting and well made, with most parts of it having a purpose to the story. It had perhaps an interesting message about something that is really important to humans: the earth and all the wildlife and how this cannot be replicated once it is lost. It’s visuals are maybe not as good as Pixar’s Toy Story, released a few years earlier and its soundtrack is a polarizing rock based score. It wasn’t necessarily a bad film but it wasn’t as good as say Treasure Planet, the Disney Sci-Fi animated adventure released two years later. However, these two are really on the only two western Sci-Fi animated adventure films around this time.

Treasure Planet poster, where we can see more kid friendly elements, like the typical non-verbal small companion. http://movie.southlinkbd.com/images/Treasure%20Planet.jpg

The directors were experienced (Don Bluth and Gary Goldman had worked for Disney and had made things like The Secret of NIMH and The Land Before Time previously) and the cast were pretty star-studded, with Matt Damon taking the lead role of Cale. So why did the studio go shut down if the movie was not that bad? Surely such good directors and good cast could bring in crowds. Why did people not see it if it was such a unique film? Well precisely because it was so special and novel a film for the western market. Western films are usually about princesses (Disney), about some non-human that goes through an adventure (Pixar) or competing with the localized Ghibli fantasy movies. There is little room for a sci-fi adventure. However, because it is so unique and different it became hard for the studio to market it. The main reason given for the movie’s failure was the marketing and failing to aim for a target audience. It was not as child friendly as other movies like the Disney, Pixar and Ghibli films. At the end of the film, without giving too much a way, there is a scene where a man breaks a humanoid alien’s neck in full focus of the shot. A bug alien is shot and vaporized is one thing, a twisting neck snap is another. On the other hand it was supposedly not marketed for the sci-fi Star Wars type audience. Because no one audience was targeted, no one went, the film flopped and the studio ended up closing.

Preed was the character that had his neck snapped. Even though he wasn’t a human his death is definitely to mature for a child’s animation. http://www.deviantart.com/art/Preed-About-To-Leave-217739180

The reason I brought this all up is because recently news has surfaced of rumours and interviews suggesting Ghibli will practically close if When Marnie Was There fails. It will stop making movies, because it is not making money this way, but it will just keep on a few employees to manage their copyrights and trademarks. I can imagine that this would be quite profitable seeing as how much merchandise Ghibli sells of characters like Totoro, Jiji (Kiki’s cat) and Ponyo or just books, posters, calendars, puzzles etc of its most famous films. There are various museum exhibits people would pay to see that it could make. Not to mention that last year Princess Mononoke was adapted for stage and I could imagine Chihiro and Howl getting the same treatment. In other words, it seems unless Ghibli can keep making decent money on its new projects, it will stop trying so and just focus on making money more efficiently through its old ones.

Ghibli certainly has a lot of merchandise.

But why is Ghibli not making money on its projects? Are its films not that good anymore? First, its visuals are as good as they have been and they still make the most beautiful 2D animations around (soon maybe the only 2D animated features around). Likewise the stories, characters, soundtracks are still very solid and are in fact good. So why are they failing. Well I think its sort of the same reason as Titan AE failed, failure to target a market audience or rather, in Ghibli’s case because it has got its own audience, a failure to deliver on the film genre it is most famous for. Just as Titan AE delivered a Sci-Fi adventure, not really for kids, Ghibli has been producing (and it seems When Marnie Was There is the same way) historical drama/romance films, that aren’t really for kids and aren’t the fantasy adventures of old. We should establish what Ghibli’s genre is. Nausicaa, Totoro, Porco Rosso and Kiki established the Ghibli genre of an adventure through a sort of (but not necessarily entirely) fantasy world in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ghibli movies then usually followed in these footsteps. Admittedly this is more Miyazaki than Ghibli, as he then made Mononoke, Chihiro, Howl and Ponyo and Takahato did not really follow this making his own things, from Grave of the Fireflies to my Neighbours the Yamadas, from Pom Poko to A Whisper of the Heart. However, Miyazaki made a few more films than Takahata and other films still followed Miyazaki’s concepts. The Cat Returns and Tales from Earthsea both looked to create fantasy adventures. These two films were not made by Miyazaki or Takahata, but by potentially the new generation of Ghibli

Studio Ghibli established really itself in the fantasy genre. http://www.deviantart.com/art/Ghibli-398165032

But now we get to a point where these rumors surfaced for the first time it seemed. Before the studio released Arrietty it said it would close if the film did poorly. Miyazaki said that if Arrietty did well he had plans for a Porco Rosso sequel (many speculate this became As The Wind Rises). However, he said that if the movie failed that Suzuki, who was the general manager had a dissolution plan and would just focus on trademarks and copyrights. That being said Arrietty did very well in the box office, making $145million US and thus the studio continued to make movies. Who knows why exactly they would stop making movies, especially when Ponyo did well at the box office, as did Tales from Earthsea before it. One rumour I read was that they were not necessarily talking about doing well financially, but doing well critically. Miyazaki and Takahata were old and they had already failed n their plans of succession with Yoshifumi Kondō, as he died in 1998 from a stress related illness (this caused Miyazaki to think of retiring or at least work at a more relaxed pace). Arrietty was well received critically as well, however, it was probably a tester because this was Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s directorial debut. He along with Hayao Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki, were to become the new generation of Ghibli, the new Miyazaki and Takahata it seems. Unfortunately, Goro’s first film, Tales from Earthsea, did not do well critically. It was not as well received as other Ghibli films. At the same time as being nominated for good awards, it won Raspberry awards, for both worst film of the year and worst director. Maybe Ghibli executives were scared the new generation would run the Studio name through the mud if they let it go on too far. I mean these are the same executives who stopped Mamoru Hosoda directing the Howl’s Moving Castle because they did not like the direction. Mamoru Hosoda has subsequently gone onto direct The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars and The Wolf Children. He is definitely talented but maybe the old guard was scared of change. This fear could have been confirmed when Goro Miyazaki’s film was obviously not well received when the board gave him the project instead of waiting for Hayao Miyazaki to finish Howl. If Hiromasa Yonebayashi failed the test as well the board probably would have realized that it might be best to just shut up shop.

The Borrower Arrietty did very well for Ghibli, both commercially and critically. http://www.deviantart.com/art/Arrietty-199686380

Anyway now the same situation is happening. Studio Ghibli’s future productions lie in the hands of Hiromasa Yonebayashi; the outcome of his film When Marnie Was There is to be the production that decides the fate of the studio. If it fails then the studio would stop making new films and focus on capitalizing on its old projects. Many, however, are surer that this is not critically based but a financially based decision. I suppose we should ask why Ghibli films are so expensive. This is because unlike other studios that outsource a lot of their animation to other parts of the world, like South Korea, where it is cheaper, Studio Ghibli has a full time team of animators in Japan. Supposedly, according to Kotaku, now Ghibli films need to make $100million US to turn a profit. Anything less would obviously be a loss. Who knows how much this has to do with the financial crisis caused by the economic collapse in 2008 and then the impact from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. I am no economist but I all I can see that it seems that Ghibli films cost a lot more and need to make money now, more so than the past. But then why aren’t the films making money? Surely, Miyazaki’s and Takahata’s films made a fair buck, right? Their films are still top quality, why aren’t people seeing them. Well the same reason people didn’t see Titan AE. Quality and directorial names sometimes aren’t enough. Sometimes, total uniqueness isn’t what audiences want, they want the same but different.

The Legend of Korra is an example of a high-quality animation that was exported to South Korea.

As I said before, Ghibli established itself as a studio that made films within a partial or totally fantasy world and usually its stories were about adventure and growth. Arrietty followed in these footsteps and it paid dividends. However, the films that have followed have not been so wise. From Up On Poppy Hill was Goro Miyazaki’s next film and although it was good, it felt too much like an underdeveloped romantic drama that belonged on TV if it had more filler. It was a historical romantic drama that had none of the fantasy elements Ghibli is beloved for. Likewise Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film is also devoid of any fantasy elements as it too is squarely in the romance/drama sections of movies. I said with Disney and Pixar, people go to these films expecting something and come out disappointed if it doesn’t reach the target audience. Maybe the same is for Ghibli films now, that they (like Titan AE) are not necessarily hitting a target audience, in that they are maybe too mature with not enough fantasy for kids (their target audience), but don’t push the drama and emotional boundaries for the new audience that they could bring in. The other film within this is Takahata’s Tale of the Bamboo Cutter which has been a box office flop it seems, losing all (and maybe more) that Miyazaki’s film brought in and realistically the only reason Miyazaki’s film made money is that it was riding the reports that he would be retiring (for real). Takahata’s films, to be honest, are just too unique and different to be box office hits really. This is especially the case for his latest film.

The animals Ghibli has produced only show how fantastical their worlds are. http://www.deviantart.com/art/Ghibli-Naptime-463250108

So again it’s all up to Yonebayashi. It seems as if he made a film good enough for critics last year, lets see if he can make one good enough for the box office this year. The signs don’t look so far with it failing to do half as good as Arrietty in its first week according to Crunchroll. Having had a look at trailers it’s no surprise why this is happening. Although it has that Ghibli look it is again missing that Ghibli touch of fantasy, that thing that sparks a child’s imagination and makes them want their parents to take them to it. Again however, it is getting good reviews but it, like Ghibli’s other latest films, seems to be failing to captivate a target audience, or rather the established audience. It's not just Arrietty that did better than the newest Ghibli film, the Pokemon movies also did very well. Again maybe because they have a target audience and they stick to that audience. Their films aren't as good as Ghibli films but they sell because of their audience. I hope When Marnie Was There does well however. I hope the rumours are untrue and Ghibli continues to make quality films, no matter the subject matter, but for the sake of continuing maybe they just have to stick to fantasy.