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Originally Posted by 4Tran
First off, the idea that Ghibli is in financial straits is ludicrous. While their films are expensive to make, they also have ridiculous and enduring popularity in Japan and the accompanying sales figures to go with that. They're already so popular there that there's no realistic way of improving on that. The only way the studio can have problems money-wise would have to come down to incompetence.
Since that's not too likely, the complaint about Ghibli's position is more likely to be about their inability to find much success in North America. Here, the problem is probably more due to the fact that CGI animation is what's bringing people theatres nowadays. Even Disney's own try at 2D animation, 2009's The Princess and the Frog did poorly at the boxoffice, so why should Ghibli expect to do well? As is, they're trying to release a product that isn't well suited for North American audiences, that hasn't received decades of publicity, and that's in a format people no longer watch en masse.
The other problem is the one that's pointed out in this thread. I love Ghibli's older works, but I haven't been compelled to watch anything from them since Spirited Away came out. When such a storied studio can't stir my interest, then the problem would seem to be the quality of their actual product.
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I'd hardly consider Princess and the Frog a failure when it doubled it's budget in box office recipts, if you add in the overseas gross.
People did point out that Ghibli is hardly in financial trouble, which is a good point.
Now Ghibli's trouble is that it seems to lack direction. Ghibli=Miyazaki in most cases. When Miyazaki leaves, what follows? As opposed to Disney, Pixar and classic Warner Bros studios, there doesn't seem to be a true rearing of directors at the studio.
Can Ghibli afford to go in drastically different direction with an outside director. Ghibli to me seems like Disney, I assume when people see Ghibli films they expect to see something Miyazaki like. If they deviate from that formula, they could be in trouble if not done right.
Anyway what I say stands, until America changes it's tune FROM THE INSIDE, no one should count on major slack being pulled from the US market, EVAR!