The 4K restoration version of the movie "Princess Ghost" is available on the big screen in mainland China.

I was particularly happy in the 134 minutes from the beginning to the end. "Walking out of the screening hall of "Ghost Princess", fans began to imagine when "Ghost Valley" will be re-released. According to the Lighthouse Professional Edition, it will be launched on the big screen in mainland China with a 4K restoration version. The box office of "Ghost Princess" has exceeded 87.35 million yuan as of press time, and AI predicts that the total box office will exceed 100 million yuan.
As an animation work with high recognition from Chinese audiences, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's works seem to be relatively stable in the "old film re-release" track. From "Tongkat" won 173 million yuan in box office in 2018, "Spirited Away" won 488 million yuan in box office in 2019, "City of Sky" won 135 million yuan in box office in 2023, and "Hal's Mobile Castle" won 167 million yuan in box office in 2024... Audiences urged "re-re-release" on various platforms every year, and urged "surrounding specials" in theaters. "Princess Princess" re-released also shows the audience's new form of "re-for-childhood votes". But if it is included in the category of "old movies and eating feelings", the audience does not seem to buy it. Watching Miyazaki's movies repeatedly is not only because of nostalgia, but also often watch "touching": Miyazaki's animation is so charming.

New form of "replenishing tickets for childhood"

In the newly released Hayao Miyazaki documentary, the children are not absent. A primary school student passed by Hayao Miyazaki. "Is it Ghibli's man?" the primary school student turned around and shouted. Miyazaki turned around and raised his hand - "Yes!" The white-haired and white-bearded old man smiled smugly.

"No matter how the times change, children will still pursue the touch of encountering a work, right?" Miyazaki Hayao said that his animation is for children, but for so many years, the scope of "children" is undoubtedly expanding infinitely. This time, the re-screening of "Princess Ghost" can be seen that Chinese audiences have experienced from TV to computer to big screen. The former childhood movie fans have become the main force in cinemas today, inviting their children or parents to be "movie matchmakers". Audiences of all ages "strengthen their momentum" during the movie. As Zhan Yubing, a young associate researcher at the Chinese Department of Fudan University, said: "For our generation of audiences, it is a blessing to be able to re-appreciate Miyazaki's works that we have seen through various other channels in the cinema. This form of cartoons can indeed be 'appropriate for all ages': children can see cute images, exquisite pictures and imaginative stories; the fan group likes its high artistic aesthetic value, which can be proved by his winnings of many awards at the Oscars and European film festivals such as Berlin and Venice; and for the 'passerby' audience, Joe Hashi's music is a familiar auditory and sensory call."

The old film is re-released, and the audience has specially prepared a new form of "replenishing tickets for childhood": watching the movie, wearing a Ghibli co-branded T-shirt, showing the character Ashidaka and Xiaosang's COS, seeking co-brands of peripherals or daily necessities outside the screen... Zhan Yubing Observation, there are also the charming features of Miyazaki animation outside the film: "Its cultural and commercial value is not limited to the movie itself, but has formed a huge IP derivative economic system. Now in the cultural and creative or trendy toy stores in Shanghai, it is estimated that the Totoro or Ponyo theme pillows, stickers, refrigerator stickers, keychains, desktop ornaments, etc., which are mixed with the sentimental consumption of the post-80s and ACG consumption of the Z generation, etc.."

Touch the audience with deep thoughts on "humanity"

The entanglement between human civilization and the natural world is the main narrative line of "Princess Ghost", but constructing the story alone is not enough to enter the hearts of the people. In the film, each character has his own motivation and guardian land. Ashidaka, who is cursed, does not have to choose between the ironworks and the unmanned forest. The flamboyant and tough black hat master protects women and invades the forest. Xiaosang, the "ghost princess" abandoned by mankind, loves the cursed forest aliens deeply. The greasy and despicable monks also have their friendships, and even the "Mu Ling" has different spirits. Miyazaki saw the contradictions and difficulties in the process of human development, but he never proposed a "condescending" solution, nor imagined a "perfect ending". Instead, he respected the diversity of the world that is not limited to human beings, did not integrate the scope of good and evil into the film, and even delivered the right and willingness to judge "rights and wrongs" to the audience. What kind of world do you want to feel from the video? What kind of self do you feel? Such a question seems to be in secret and bridging its ideas.

Therefore, the audience always gets "touched" from his videos. This old man who drives the 1948 version of Citroen to work every day, feels happy when he hears the sound of children playing baseball outside the studio, and "true feelings" is proportional to daily working hours. Because he sees the "loss of motivation" of modern people, he uses the virtual world he creates to infinitely observe the real people, and "can't help thinking about the cultural responsibilities that cartoons bear." As he repeatedly stated in his many works, "to survive", we must first respect our own motivations as an individual in life, explore the vitality contained in ourselves, open our hearts to the world, and find the possibility of transcending worldly contradictions.

Miyazaki and his works accompany the growth of movie fans around the world, as he saw at the beginning: children grow up every day, but the "battlefield" they have to face will not shrink. The animation produced with this concept has a good record of re-reflecting works, which is probably deeply related to it. On the other hand, in the wave of re-release of old films, more types of animations are constantly appearing. "I'm even more looking forward to "Ghost in the Shell" by Oshii, who is Miyazaki's No. 1 'black fan'. We want to watch both the forest secret realm, the nature elves and steampunk, as well as the urban dark night, neon lights and cyber humans." Zhan Yubing said. (Wenhui Daily intern reporter Sun Yanyang)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]