Princess Mononoke - Release

Release

The film was extremely successful in Japan and with both anime fans and arthouse moviegoers in English-speaking countries. In those countries, critics interpreted the film to be about the environment told in the form of Japanese mythology.

Miramax Films, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, purchased the film's distribution rights for North America. Harvey Weinstein, Miramax's chairman, wanted to edit Princess Mononoke to make it more marketable. In response, Miyazaki had one of Studio Ghibli's producers send Weinstein a katana with a message stating "No cuts." The English dub of Princess Mononoke is a translation with some adaptation by science fiction author Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman. The main changes from the Japanese version are to provide a cultural context for phrases and actions which those outside of Asia may not be familiar with. Such alterations include references to mythology and specific names for groups, such as Jibashiri and Shishigami, that appear in the Japanese version, which are changed to more general terms, such as Mercenary and Forest Spirit, in the English version. The rationale for such changes is that the majority of non-Japanese viewers would not understand the mythological references and that the English language simply has no words for the Jibashiri, Shishigami and other terms. Miramax also chose to put a lot of money into creating the English dub of Princess Mononoke with famous actors and actresses, yet when they released it in theatres there was little or no advertising and it was given a very limited run, showing in only a few theatres and for a very short time. Disney later complained about the fact that the movie did not do well at the box office. In September 2000, the film was announced for release on DVD in North America exclusively with the English dub. In response to fans' requests to add the Japanese track as well as threats of poor sales, Miramax hired translators for the Japanese version. This plan delayed the DVD release back by almost three months, but it sold well when it was finally released.