jasongray

Ponyo on Sunshine-dori

Snapped this rain-slicked banner along Ikebukuro's Sunshine-dori today, outside the Humax cinemas. It advertises advance tickets for Miyazaki Hayao's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which went on sale at cinemas late last month. Advance tickets can be bought up until July 18, the day before the film's release.

One of Japan's major combini chains, Lawson, has exclusive rights to sell advance tix through their "Loppi" kiosks, which began last week. For those into collecting movie paraphernalia, or going to the trouble of selling it on GeekBay, if you buy through Lawson you get the below Ponyo water squirter. Other goods here.



Through writing some coverage of the film for Screen, I've become intrigued by the reportedly huge amount of effort Miyazaki has made to render water, where approximately 80% of the story takes place.

On the business side, Ponyo sees Japan's two biggest advertising giants, Dentsu and Hakuhodo, as members of the production consortium. They both invested an equal amount in Tales From Earthsea which was a rare, if not the first, case of the two rivals putting money into the same film. Ponyo is set to be Japan's biggest earner of the year. Could anything else even come close?

Posted by Jason Gray at 5/10/2008 06:24:00 PM