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Commences September 22nd
Howl's Moving Castle
Howl's Moving Castle is based in a slightly fantasy setting, in
that magic fantastical creatures and many fairy-tale conventions exist. The
heroine is Sophie, who lives with her step-mother and two step-sisters after
her father dies, leaving them his hat-shop. Since they are very poor, the step-mother
decides it would be best to send to of the daughters away where they
can be assured of a good start in life. In fairytale convention, the youngest
child will always suceed best when seeking their fortune, so the youngest
daughter Martha is sent to learn magic with a friendly white witch, while
the middle daughter Lettie begins an apprenticeship with the local baker. Sophie,
the eldest, doesn't have much chance, so she stays on with her mother
to help run the hat-shop, which she will inherit someday.
However, things don't work out as planned. Martha and Lettie use
a spell to switch places, since Lettie wants to learn magic and have adventures
while Martha wants to get married and raise a family. After Sophie discovers
this, she crosses paths with an evil sorceress who for some reason that
is not revealed at first, casts a spell on Sophie that turns her into an
old woman and prevents her from telling anyone about it. Forced to leave the hat
shop, Sophie goes to find some way of breaking the curse and ends
up taking refuge at the moving castle (yes, it is a castle that can
move about, and also has a door that can lead to four different locations).
This place belongs to Howl, a charming yet seemingly irresponsible
wizard with a reputation for chasing pretty girls. The castle is
powered by Calcifer, a fire demon who lives in the hearth and is
bound by a contract with Howl. He makes a secret bargain with Sophie;
he will break the curse she is under, if she can find a way to break
the contract as it could destroy him and Howl. Sophie takes a position
as
housekeeper and tries to find out what the contract is (Calcifer
is also bound
not to tell her what it is), whilst putting up with Howl's annoying
behaviour,
and there are further complications when he clashes with the evil
sorceress.
Watch the trailer:
| News Miyazaki's Howl’s Moving
Castle breaks Japanese box office record
Howl’s Moving Castle earned US$14.2m (Y1.48bn)
on 1.1 million admissions in its first two days on release in
Japan - a new record for a Japanese film surpassing the opening
of Miyazaki’s previous film, SPIRITED AWAY. The film’s Japanese
distributor, Toho, is now projecting a possible $480m gross on
40 million admissions - which would mean that nearly one-third
of Japan’s entire population is expected to see the film.
Howl's Moving Castle has topped 350,000
admissions in France in its opening week of theatrical release. This makes it the best opening for a Miyazaki picture in France. Howl's Moving Castle has also been given the honour of closing the Roetterdam International Film Festival on February 5. |
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