50 Fun Facts About Princess Mononoke

Who wrote and directed Princess Mononoke?

It was his first jidaigeki, a period drama about the lives of historic Japanese people.

In which period of Japanese history is Princess Mononoke set?

Miyazaki chose it to show Japan before deforestation and rice agriculture had tamed the land.

The young prince who journeys west to cure his cursed arm belongs to which people?

The film uses his outsider status to challenge the idea of a single homogeneous Japanese ethnicity.

San, the girl the townspeople call Princess Mononoke, was raised by which animals?

Her adoptive mother is the wolf goddess Moro.

Who produced Princess Mononoke and led its marketing campaign?

The promotion budget of at least ¥2.6 billion exceeded the film's production budget.

Which company distributed Princess Mononoke in Japan?

It opened on 260 of the country's 1,800 cinemas with record queues.

What was the final production budget of Princess Mononoke?

It was more than double that of any previous Studio Ghibli film, and the most expensive animated film at the time.

Which short film did Miyazaki direct during a break from Princess Mononoke?

He took the side project after hitting writer's block in December 1994.

Who composed the score for Princess Mononoke?

He first produced an image album of demos that he shared with Miyazaki and Suzuki before writing the final score.

On what date was Princess Mononoke released in Japan?

By the end of its first week it had drawn over a million viewers.

Which studio handled the English dub and North American release?

The Disney subsidiary marketed it as an art house film and opened it on very few screens.

Which fantasy author wrote the English-language script?

He nearly declined until a shot of a stone getting wet in the rain convinced him it was 'real filmmaking'.

Which director did Harvey Weinstein reportedly first offer the dub script to?

Tarantino recommended Gaiman instead, according to Gaiman.

What is the name of the boar god whose corruption curses Ashitaka?

An iron ball lodged in his body, fired by Eboshi, turned him into a demon.

Which monk advises Ashitaka to seek the Forest Spirit in the mountains?

He is secretly after the spirit's head, which is believed to grant immortality, on behalf of the Emperor.

At sunset the Forest Spirit transforms into which giant form?

Its beheaded body floods the land as a dark fluid searching for its head.

What are the tiny forest creatures that guide Ashitaka through the forest of the gods?

Stuffed kodama were among the merchandise sold during the film's release.

What is the name of the wolf goddess who adopted San?

Her reanimated head bites off Eboshi's arm after the spirit is beheaded.

Ashitaka arrives at which settlement that has deforested the land to mine ore?

It was inspired by metalworking settlements in China and a tatara furnace in Shimane Prefecture.

Eboshi's town shelters former prostitutes and people with which disease?

Miyazaki was inspired to include them after visiting the Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium near his Tokyo home.

Which blind boar god leads the clan's doomed assault on the humans' town?

His pain turns him into a demon that engulfs San before Moro and Ashitaka free her.

Who beheads the Forest Spirit during its nightly transformation?

She later resolves to rebuild Irontown better, and Ashitaka stays to help.

Who first sketched the Princess Mononoke concept in 1980, after which film?

The original idea was a Beauty and the Beast retelling in historical Japan.

The 1980 concept was roughly based on which fairy tale?

The Beast was an animal spirit, a mononoke, whom a nobleman's daughter was forced to marry.

Which 1983 Miyazaki work most closely resembles the eventual film?

Its hero rides an elk to the land of the gods, much as Ashitaka rides Yakul.

Miyazaki considered adapting which 1212 Japanese literary classic instead?

He found its concept too far from common sense to sell tickets, but its grim tone shaped the film.

Which island did Miyazaki and four art directors visit to research the forest of the gods?

The island had already inspired environments in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Art director Kazuo Oga went to which mountains for the look of Ashitaka's village?

He was the fifth art director; assigning five to one film was unprecedented.

Roughly how many cels were used to make Princess Mononoke?

Miyazaki is estimated to have drawn or retouched nearly 80,000 of them himself.

Approximately how many minutes of the film were animated entirely digitally?

Another ten minutes used digital ink and paint, a technique every later Ghibli film adopted.

Which company developed the Toon Shader program used on the film at Ghibli's request?

It processed 3D sequences so they resembled traditional animation.

Ghibli had first experimented with digital techniques on which earlier film?

The computer graphics department itself opened during Princess Mononoke's production.

Which ancient Mesopotamian poem about a forest god's death inspired the concept?

The philosopher Takeshi Umehara had earlier asked Miyazaki to adapt his stage play on the same subject.

What single-word tagline did Suzuki finally settle on for the Japanese campaign?

The tagline, a logo and key imagery were the three pillars of the campaign.

What title did Miyazaki originally intend for the film before Suzuki changed it?

The unused title survives as the name of the opening theme on Hisaishi's image album.

How many preview screenings were ultimately held before the Japanese release?

Porco Rosso had managed only 23 by comparison.

The 1997 worldwide distribution deal paired Walt Disney Studios with which Ghibli parent?

The publisher's magazine Animage had been closely tied to Ghibli since the 1980s.

Whose Japanese box-office record did Princess Mononoke break by November 1997?

A tenth of Japan's population, 12 million people, saw it in theatres during that period.

How much did the English dub earn at the American box office?

Miramax had rolled back its planned marketing and opened it on very few screens.

Where did the English dub premiere on September 26, 1999?

It had been screened earlier at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival in February 1998.

Why was the North American DVD release delayed from August to December 2000?

The disc finally shipped with both audio tracks plus a trailer and documentary.

Which countertenor sang the original vocal theme?

Sasha Lazard re-recorded it for the English dub.

Which orchestra performed the 1998 symphonic re-recording of the score?

The original soundtrack was played by the Tokyo City Philharmonic.

Which critic called it Miyazaki's best and urged an Academy Award nomination?

Japan submitted it for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Oscars, but it was not nominated.

Miyazaki resigned in 1998 but returned to direct which film after Yoshifumi Kondō's death?

Kondō had been intended as his successor at Studio Ghibli.

Which director cited Princess Mononoke as an influence on Avatar?

Critics also see its mark on Ori and the Blind Forest and Breath of the Wild.

What did the Forest Spirit's head supposedly grant the person who possessed it?

Jigo stood to be richly rewarded for delivering it to the Emperor.

In which year did GKIDS release a remastered 4K IMAX version?

The remaster took US$6.8 million in North America, pushing the worldwide total to US$231.3 million.

Whose 'evergreen forest culture theory' shaped the film's forest of the gods?

Miyazaki said the book taught him what he was the descendant of.

Who directed the English dub of Princess Mononoke?

He had previously worked on the dubs of other Ghibli films including Kiki's Delivery Service.