Maybe it is because I grew up in Tampa and, with Disney’s Magic Kingdom in my own backyard, I never developed a strong animosity towards all things Disney. I grew up with all the classic Disney animated films like Pete’s Dragon and The Fox and the Hound. Disney movies, when they were good, were emotionally moving. Sometimes, I didn’t want a sad, tragic experience so I would switch over from Disney to old Bugs Bunny cartoons. I must admit that I liked Warner Brothers cartoons because they were just so much fun and less thought-provoking, thus being much more entertaining.
I was also fortunate to have a next-door neighbor who was an artist who actually worked on the beginning sequence for The Great Mouse Detective. At 15, it seemed like it was the coolest gig in the world to be able to be paid for artwork.
Certainly, Akira was a major hit and I thought that it was going to conquer Disney in the same way that 80’s metal got silenced by Grunge. However, I don’t think Anime feature films have upped Disney.
When Anime movies get released in the U.S., it is a niche market unless the movie is a Miyazaki film or has a strong following among children like Digimon. Anime movies still play at art houses or indie movie theaters in major cities. As a result, most quality Anime movies don’t receive widespread distribution both locally and internationally that Disney is able to achieve. Also, if a Disney movie bombs, it still rakes in a profit unlike an anime movie that might suffer poor DVD sales or play for a limited run and disappear after a week.
I enjoy both Disney and anime movies and I would like to see the day when more anime movies are released in US theaters, with the right kind of marketing that not only gets the film in the theater but sustains it, too. There is room for both forms of animated films and I think it is foolish to pick one over the other.
