As the end of the year approaches and Hollywood turns its attention to the successes and failures of the awards season, the biggest unexpected surprise has occurred at the box office.
Over the weekend, Hayao Miyazaki’s potentially last film, The Boy and the Heron, took the top spot, surpassing Trolls Band Together and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which had been in theaters for four weeks. The film’s success may have been due to a lack of other strong competitors. The $12.8 million revenue in American theaters shows the lasting appeal of Studio Ghibli’s reputation for exceptional anime.
Within a short time, the United States’ total earnings will surpass the previous Ghibli record of $15.1 million, which was achieved by Ponyo. The international profits are also expected to reach a nine-digit figure. The overwhelmingly positive response and celebratory atmosphere surrounding a renowned director has led some experts to suggest that this animated film may have a chance at winning the prestigious Academy Award for Best Picture. The collection of work that was once considered a foreign curiosity now makes a significant impact as a highly anticipated event.
Speaking of leaving a dent: the intrepid adventurers and cannibalistic parakeets of Miyazaki’s farewell address came closely tailed by Godzilla, as the Toho-produced sleeper sensation Godzilla Minus One racked up another $8.3m in the weekend’s third spot to hit a worldwide sum of nearly $52m. This unusual confluence of Japanese-language moneymakers caps off a year marked by a greater than average number of internationally fluent entrants into the American mainstream, a cultural channel finally starting to reflect the diversity of its makeup.
The movies Past Lives and Anatomy of a Fall, which are set in both Korea and Europe, incorporate the language barrier into their plot, highlighting the difficulties that characters face in trying to communicate with each other. In The Zone of Interest, one of the highest-rated films by critics, actress Sandra Hüller portrays a German woman who speaks her native language as the wife of a Nazi commander. The recent announcement of the Golden Globe nominations included good news for Finnish actor Alma Pöysti, who received a nomination for best actress in a comedy or musical for her role in the well-received Fallen Leaves. In total, all four films have received a combined 14 nominations.
In the past five years, the Academy Awards’ best picture category has been inclusive of non-English films such as Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front, Japan’s Drive My Car, the bilingual Korean American immigrant story Minari, South Korea’s popular Parasite, and Mexico’s Roma. During the broadcast of Parasite’s groundbreaking victory, director Bong Joon-ho encouraged viewers to overcome their hesitation towards subtitled films, stating that it opens up a world of exceptional cinema. This addresses the long-standing reluctance of English-speaking audiences to engage with foreign films, either due to a perceived intellectual barrier or a preference for not having to read subtitles. However, this misconception is slowly fading as American audiences become more comfortable with reading subtitles while watching movies.
Words, whether in the form of subtitles or closed captioning, have become increasingly common on televisions. This trend has also benefitted global art films. With the popularity of Korean content in the United States, shows like Squid Game and soap operas have become normalized as part of the average content viewers consume. This is just one example of Netflix’s commitment to worldwide production. The company has established studio hubs in major cities around the world, with a focus on breaking down language barriers. This shift can be traced back to the widespread embrace of anime by younger generations. Anime, once considered niche and only for “nerds,” has now become mainstream. As a result, more and more viewers are watching content with captions, ensuring they don’t miss any dialogue. This has also become a common practice in movie theaters, where big-budget spectacles still dominate but with a wider range of national themes and aesthetics.
The promise of a global economy was always to provide equal access to the best products for everyone. It just took some time for people’s preferences to catch up with the explosion of options on the internet. American moviegoers can expect to see more unusual box-office successes, such as Ghibli and Godzilla, or the previous year’s blockbuster RRR fever. These occurrences will no longer be viewed as abnormal, but rather as a normal part of the movie industry. This will lead to a more diverse group of consumers, with broader tastes and exposure to unfamiliar cultures. Godzilla, in his destructive manner, acts as a symbol of peace, bringing with him a universal language of toppling buildings, panicking citizens, and fire-breathing monsters.
Source: theguardian.com
