| Princess Mononoke | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | もののけ姫 | ||||
| |||||
| Directed by | Hayao Miyazaki | ||||
| Written by | Hayao Miyazaki | ||||
| Produced by | Toshio Suzuki | ||||
| Starring | |||||
| Cinematography | Atsushi Okui | ||||
| Edited by | Takeshi Seyama | ||||
| Music by | Joe Hisaishi | ||||
Production company | |||||
| Distributed by | Toho | ||||
Release date |
| ||||
Running time | 133 minutes | ||||
| Country | Japan | ||||
| Language | Japanese | ||||
| Budget | |||||
| Box office | US$194.3 million | ||||
Princess Mononoke (Japanese: もののけ姫, Hepburn: Mononoke-hime) is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijo, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, and Hisaya Morishige.
Set in the late Muromachi period of Japan (approximately 1336 to 1573 AD) and including fantasy elements, the story follows a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, and his involvement in a struggle between the gods (kami) and spirits (yōkai) of a forest against the humans who consume its resources. The film deals with a recurrent theme in Studio Ghibli work: environmentalism as a reaction against over-industrialization within the context of Shintoism, animism, and folklore.[1][2][3]
Princess Mononoke was released in Japan on July 12, 1997, by Toho, and in the United States on October 29, 1999. A critical and commercial success, the film became the highest-grossing film in Japan of 1997, and also held Japan's box office record for domestic films until 2001's Spirited Away, another Miyazaki film. It was dubbed into English with a script by Neil Gaiman and initially distributed in North America by Miramax, where it sold well on home media despite not performing strongly at the box office.[4] The film greatly increased Ghibli's popularity and influence outside Japan.[5][6]
- ^ The Guardian: ‘I’m really serious this time!’: have Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli made their final masterpiece? [1]
- ^ The Guardian: ‘Irreplaceable’: will Hayao Miyazaki, Japan’s animation auteur, ever retire? [2]
- ^ The Guardian: Studio Ghibli films
- ^ "How Spirited Away Changed Animation Forever". Time. July 20, 2021. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ Kelly, Stephen. "Princess Mononoke: The masterpiece that flummoxed the US". BBC. Archived from the original on August 22, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ "5 reasons to celebrate Princess Mononoke: Hayao Miyazaki's animated masterpiece turns 20". British Film Institute. July 12, 2017. Archived from the original on August 22, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.