Sci-Fi Channel blocking Earthsea
copyright issues keep Goro Miyazaki film from North America
Tales from Earthsea author Ursula K. LeGuin says that the Sci-Fi Channel could block the animated feature film from North America until their copyright expires in 2009.
(Source: www.icv2.com)
Imagine this scenario. The son of a famous anime director makes his first movie, an animated adaptation of a classic novel by an award-winning author who is notably reluctant to allow her books to be filmed. This movie becomes the most successful summer film at the Japanese box office, earning $61.4 million and beating the crap out of such high-powered contenders as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Cars. This flick looks like a no-brainer for North American distribution, right?
Wrong. According to Ursula K. LeGuin, Goro Miyazaki's debut movie Tales from Earthsea could be kept out of North America until 2009, despite its success overseas. Why is that?
It's simple. In 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel made a live-action mini-series based on LeGuin's novel. According to copyright law, that means no other movie with that same title can show up on the market for a minimum of 5 years after its release, so that there's no confusion between the two products. That is, unless the Sci-Fi Channel says it's okay. And, according to LeGuin, that's not going to happen. "There are dogs in the manger," she says.
So is Tales from Earthsea (Gedo Senki in Japan) worth the hype/wait? It's hard to say. Even though the film was #1 at the box office for six weeks, it wasn't as successful as some Hayao Miyazaki's films. Of course, it remains to be seen how it does on DVD or internationally. Certainly there's enough interest in Studio Ghibli's movies, or in the Miyazaki name, that Tales from Earthsea won't fly under the radar internationally.
Even though Tales from Earthsea received a standing ovation at the Venice FIlm Festival, reviews have been mixed. Many of them unfavourably compare Tales from Earthsea to Hayao's best work, which seems unfair. A first film is a first film: no one reviews The Castle of Cagliostro (Hayao's first flick) and says, "This sucks next to Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke."
Also, LeGuin herself isn't totally happy about how Goro Miyazaki translated her book to the silver screen, finding parts of it "incoherent" and needlessly violent. She especially objected to a scene where Prince Arren stabs his father.
Here is what she said in her blog: "Much of it was beautiful. Many corners were cut, however, in the animation of this quickly made film. It does not have the delicate accuracy of My Neighbor Totoro or the powerful and splendid richness of detail of Spirited Away. The imagery is effective but often conventional.
"Much of it was exciting. The excitement was maintained by violence, to a degree that I find deeply untrue to the spirit of the books."
On the other hand, LeGuin's critique is positively sunny compared to her assessment of the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series, which she ripped for "while boasting that they were 'color blind,' reduced the colored population of Earthsea to one and a half. I have blasted them for whitewashing Earthsea, and do not forgive them for it."
When it comes to Goro's version, she says, "I cannot address the issue of race in Japan because I know too little about it. Most of the people in anime films look — to the American/European eye — white. I am told that the Japanese audience perceives them differently. I am told that they may perceive this Ged as darker than my eye does. I hope so. Most of the characters look white to me, but there is at least a nice variation of tans and beiges. And Tenar's fair hair and blue eyes are right, since she's a minority type from the Kargish islands."
So there you go. Unless the Sci-Fi Channel gets the pickle out of its . . . you know, and allows Disney to release Tales From Earthsea in North America early, we won't be seeing this animated film in theatres or on DVD shelves until 2009 at the very earliest. And whether you like this much-talked-about film or not, that's a shame.
