Here is the third in a series of movie posters for Studio Ghibli's first film, 1986's Laputa: Castle in the Sky. This is a terrific poster, not as iconic as the poster #1, but more colorful and dynamic than poster #2. I just love the sense of vertigo from this illustration. You really get a sense of the fantastic depth of these caverns, like a Welsh version of the Road Runner cartoons.
The characters in the background remind me of a lot of the slapstick comedy from Miyazaki's youth, particularly the pirate ship battle from Animal Treasure Island. Have I posted those screenshots yet? If not, I'll have to do that this weekend.
I'm a sucker for sharp details and lush colors, so it's no surprise that this is my favorite Castle in the Sky poster. Put this one on the DVD and Blu-Ray cover and I'll be a happy panda.
14 comments:
Yay for happy pandas!!! But, that is a swanky poster there. ^o^
I LOVE this poster, and have been searching the internet for a place to buy it. Any ideas?
That's gorgeous--what detail! I want that on my wall. Castle in the Sky is probably one of my favorite Miyazaki's, and that image really captures the movie's beautiful spirit.
@return: I would look on Ebay for posters, and online auction sites. I was just told by one of the GhibliWiki crew where to order these...where did he comment? D'oh! I know it's somewhere on one of the other posts in the Poster series.
Glad everybody likes the posters. Thank the terrific crew at ButaConnection, they did all the heavy lifting.
From what I've seen over the years, that particular poster is hard to come by (I'd like to find one myself ^_^). It is a B1 size (about 29x40"). There is also a folded B2 size one (about 20x29") that came as an insert to an issue of Animage magazine from that time.
There are probably some rolled B2 ones originally meant for theaters out there but I've never seen one show up for sale on-line, which probably just means I haven't been looking often enough.
There are a couple of others that use the same basic artwork but add more text and some smaller images at the bottom. Those are B2 size as well.
Be careful on ebay - lots of cheap (read shabby) odd-sized unauthorized Ghibli reproductions there. One great ebay store I can recommend though is "Edo-Iki" in Tokyo. He has lots of genuine Ghibli stuff (new and old) and writes in English and French too!
I've seen "Edo-Iki" on Ebay. I'm glad to know that he's a reputable seller. I'll keep that in mind.
What I really want to find most of all are vintage Toei posters. Horus, Puss in Boots, Animal Treasure Island - that sort of thing. I imagine those are extremely rare, and I never understand why Toei can't sell reprints of their classic movie posters. Free money in the bank, people!
I have a poster for "Animal Treasure Island" myself. This poster I have is from the "Toei Manga Matsuri" presentation, not sure if there was a standalone poster for the film though or was it just or this? Managed to get a shot uploaded here for you to check out (care of my refrigerator and some magnets)!
http://h.imagehost.org/view/0821/TreasureIsland
Here's a US poster I have for "Gulliver's Travels Beyond The Moon"...
http://h.imagehost.org/view/0622/Gulliver
Ah, yes! I've seen these multi-movie posters on Japanese websites. That's a terrific find, great work. It's a better poster than the stand-alone Animal Treasure Island poster. I do hope you've framed this.
Ah, yes! I've seen these multi-movie posters on Japanese websites. That's a terrific find, great work. It's a better poster than the stand-alone Animal Treasure Island poster. I do hope you've framed this.
I'm going to have to. Nice to hear it was better than the standalone poster. I thought it had a good bit of action set up on it.
So i took your advice Eishagishi and bought two posters from Edo-iki's ebay store, this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310089901379&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
and this one
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310157133782&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
Can't wait till they arrive!!
@return: Those are fantastic posters! The Howl poster looks especially ominous in that larger size. You really appreciate the perspective of the painting, which allows you to look wayyy up at this hulking behemoth. And the Castle in the Sky poster makes me want to throw in the DVD. What a terrific movie.
Great finds!
Daniel, you're right - Toei Douga posters are almost impossible to find on-line, except for damaged ones from what I've experienced.
For returnofthesmith - your first image is the version of that artwork that I have. I think you'll enjoy it. ^_^
I suspect one could find more of the Toei ones by visiting actual brick&mortar movie poster shops in Japan. Probably hideously expensive too. Which is why I won't be able to do such a holy grail quest for a long long time (sigh). And to think I used to be made of money... (oops, different topic).
From what I've read over the years, the Toei "manga movie festivals" used to be a summertime ritual for kids in Japan, kinda like each year's new "Tora-san" movie was for just about everyone. With most of those titles now out on some kind of video in Japan there's no need for those day-long screenings anymore. But that's why you'll see those Toei festival posters offered much more often than posters for the individual films - the festivals happened every year.
A shame if they don't do these type of screenings these days (sounds like the equivalent to what we may think of as the kiddie matinee in the US, if only once a year).
A summer cartoon festival would be perfect. Here in Minneapolis, the Walker Art Center sponsors a weekly series of movies all summer long. They are shown outdoors at Loring Park, and there are always annual themes. This year's theme is Paul Newman.
I'm guessing it's just harder to track down cartoons shorts and features. Having the rights held by fewer and fewer hands doesn't help matter much.
There needs to be more of a community atmosphere. An annual Totoro Festival would be perfect, I'd think. But movie festivals are expensive and challenging to run, and fewer and fewer people are interested in going out to the movies. That's really a shame, because there's nothing that compares to sitting in the park with hundreds of strangers to share in the experience of a really great movie.
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