THE NEW YORK TIMES
JANUARY 3, 2002

A Wizard of Animation Has Japan Under His Spell

TOKYO, Jan. 2 — "Harree Pottah" may be a smash box office hit in America but in Japan the current sensation is "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi," an animated fantasy about a sulky, pudgy-faced, 10-year-old girl trapped in a bathhouse with Japanese gods and spirits.

Ultimately, the heroine rises from sulkiness to fend off dragons and sorceresses while trying to lift a curse on her parents, who were turned into pigs.

"It is the biggest hit I have ever seen," said Koko Volpicelli, a third- generation movie theater owner in Tokyo. "We opened with a show at 7 a.m., and all the seats were taken. For the second morning show, we allowed people to stand."

"Sen to Chihiro," produced by Japan's celebrated animator, Hayao Miyazaki, was the country's No. 1 movie last year and has sold a record 21.4 million tickets, enough for 17 percent of the nation's population. Five months after its release, the movie surpassed "Titanic" as Japan's all-time hit.

For a country with a fraction of the movie screens of the United States — 2,500 to 36,000 — a box office smash takes some doing. Ticket prices here average $14. But on this one, many viewers are return customers. For now, the film is booked into theaters through March, making for an eight- month run.

"The eventual box office will be in the neighborhood of $250 million — that is so huge for Japan when you think about the number of screens," said Stephen M. Alpert, international vice president of Studio Ghibli, Mr. Miyazaki's production company.

Despite the popularity of American institutions like Starbucks and McDonald's, audiences leaving "Chihiro," which is being translated as "Spirited Away," say they enjoy the fact that Mr. Miyazaki's tale is saturated with Japanese culture.

" `Sen to Chihiro' is so Japanese- ish," Emio Omata, a 15-year-old, said in English. "The music, the culture, the background are closer to Japanese people. My grandparents love Miyazaki's anime," she said, using the Japanese shorthand for cartoon figures. "They ask me if I have seen the latest one yet."

Unlike in the United States, the audience for animated movies in Japan ranges across the generations.

"Japanese animation is the envy of the world," Jeffrey Katzenberg, cofounder of DreamWorks, said on a recent visit to Tokyo to introduce a Japanese-dubbed version of "Shrek," his company's successful animated movie. Praising "Chihiro," Mr. Katzenberg said of Mr. Miyazaki and his work, "What I like about it is that it is so much a part of mainstream moviegoing here."

For Mr. Miyazaki, 60, the movie is the culmination of an artistic career that now includes 12 full-length animated movies. Critics applaud him for having an uncanny sense of what kids think and dream about, while still managing to produce movies that have wide appeal.

"The images were so beautiful," Fumiyo Ono, a 39-year-old mother of four said after watching "Chihiro" here. "They are dreamlike, yet convincing. If you see trees, you can almost feel their presence."

Saori Ono, her 6-year-old daughter, said, "I loved the scene where the dragon is chased by a lot of paper birds."

Saiji Kanak, a 12-year-old boy, said: "The storyline, the plot was really interesting because the girl gets stuck in this ghost world. As you watch it, you think, `is there a place in the world like that?' "

Illustrated works of all sorts are popular with all ages in Japan, said Isao Matsuoka, chairman of the Toho Company, the Japanese distributor of Miyazaki films. Comic books account for 60 percent of printed publications in Japan, a reflection of low literacy rates due to the difficulty of learning Japanese characters. Animation also lowers the costs for an industry that rarely makes movies that can generate additional revenue through success outside of Japan.

With the film opening this winter in Asia and in France, Mr. Miyazaki has talked vaguely about opening one day in the United States. "Princess Mononoke," his only film to open commercially in the United States, bombed, drawing barely 2 percent of the $150 million in box office revenue it had earned in Japan.

Not surprisingly, Studio Ghibli was in no rush to raise its American profile. For this article, a publicist declined to arrange interviews with anyone from the studio. He would not provide background material on "Chihiro," subtitled video versions of earlier films, or even a ticket to Mr. Miyazaki's new studio museum.

The publicist said, "Other than my mother living in New York, I am not interested in this article being written."

Revered in Japan, Mr. Miyazaki delights in playing the antiglobalization curmudgeon.

Dragged to a news conference marking "Chihiro" 's box office rise over "Titanic," he declared, "I think a small number of the people will understand the film, and that is more than enough."