Makoto Shinkai English Fan Forum and Site

zitch · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:00 pm Post subject: Makoto Shinkai's Budget

I was doing some research for a Miyazaki vs. Shinkai topic on AnimeNfo when I stumbled over the budgets the two directors have to work with. I put the notes and work into my calculations on my blog, But the following graph should highlight what I found out (The values are in U.S. Dollars, adjusted for inflation to 2008):

Wow... Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue is also very impressive, but that low budget definitely showed up in the final film. Harder to say that about Shinkai's work, though.

Nick · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:07 am Post subject:

:O $27,500,000? for princess monoke?

:O :O :O
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zitch · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:16 am Post subject:

That's nothing when compared to what Americans spend to make animations. Consider:

The Incredibles: $92,000,000 in 2004
Titan A.E.: $75,000,000 in 2000

Frankly, the Japanese seem to do a better job of stretching a smaller budget further, though it often entails underpaid animators and off-shoring work to the Chinese and Koreans. That's not as bad as a problem in the U.S. Of course, with Disney closing their animation studios, that meant animators being out of work instead of underpaid...

I don't think Shinkai off-shores any animating work outside of Japan, but I could be wrong.

Nick · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:18 am Post subject:

It almost makes Shinkai's works seem even more special seeing how small his budget is. Do you think it'll be much bigger for his next one considering the release of 5cm and his trip to London?
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zitch · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:24 am Post subject:

You can also consider that Princess Mononoke (and the other films that tower over 5cm) feature much more movement than Five Centimeters Per Second, while Shinkai's style is pretty static, as a whole. Shinkai is just very good at hiding the small budget, as I thought he was working with 1-2 million dollars in 5CM even accounting for his style. The estimated budget of 5CM (in 2008 U.S. dollars) was only $230,000.

I'm not sure if he will have a bigger budget or not, and how he will be able to take advantage of it if he does. It's possible much of the charm of his movies is a result of him having to work with limited resources, but we can only see if that will be the case.

gleowine · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject:

Laz · Laz Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 1073

From looking At ComixWaves site, they really don't have a huge library of titles. They seem to be pretty boutique. I wonder if Shinkai stays with them as they probably don't meddle so much in his work. I'm still shocked at that 5 CM budget and some of those Myazaki budgets ... wow!

Laz
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gleowine · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:17 pm Post subject:

I remember from the DVD interview, that for 2 years they worked out of his own house. Talk about shoe-string budgets.

Daydream · Tracer Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 19

yeah, i understand how companies like Pixar spend that much (the large number of staff) but most american studios seem to burn through mountains of cash and produce a sub par piece. European and japanese studios are pretty flexible regarding budget/quality, at least the good ones XD
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EliteHunters · VelaCiela Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 42

The costing on Akira....that I can understand considering the time it was made, plus the animation style used to achieve the end result for a animated feature film in that timeline.

Princess Mononoke on the other hand....big budget and the fact it had to be edited countless of times from the Japanese version to the American version with author Neil Gaiman's help....not to mention as well the musical score changes and artist songs and again dubbing for the western market, using actors Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Crudrup, Clair Danes and Minnie Driver.

So the cost for that piece of work....well it speaks for itself.

5 Centimeters Per Second.

Well, is there anything to say for this piece of work.

Hell no......just watching it alone speaks EPIC.

The costing.......if less really works well enough for Shinkai to give us a masterpiece in animated film making.

Then by all means.....give him a $100 mil + and lets see if we are driven to the gates of heaven.