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Help: Looking For... Spirited Away on 35mm

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In June of 2015, the film Spirited Away received a Blu-ray release. I was unbelievably hyped, considering that I saw the film in theaters back in 2002 and I consider it to be one of the greatest films ever made. And unlike other home video releases I have talked about, I was not disappointed at all. It was an amazing transfer of an amazing film. I would like to acquire a 35mm print of the film as that was the version I saw in theaters and there currently isn’t a 4K version. The only clip I have that is in 35mm is the initial American trailer as seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByXuk9QqQkk&t=34s. I would actually like to see an entire version like this that matches the theatrical version. Any help would be appreciated.

Project creator and film enthusiast.

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Not to scold or anything but it’s good to stick around and make some friends + connections. We’re a community enjoying the hobby, have fun with us! Making thread after thread of homework requests for others isn’t a good look. There are currently no scans for this online. I recommend scoping eBay and locating one if it’s ever for sale and get in contact with the appropriate folks to acquire and scan it. Of course, it helps to stick around and meet people. There’s plenty of things I’d like to see on 35mm and when they happen they happen. When you want to see something bad enough, it can happen provided strings are pulled when possible.

I wish you luck!

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Except in the places where some of the films were digital noise reduced to remove grain, i honestly don’t see anything to be gained from a release print.

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JadedSkywalker said:

Except in the places where some of the films were digital noise reduced to remove grain, i honestly don’t see anything to be gained from a release print.

The look of the movie on a print is the draw, tbh. If that doesn’t concern you or you do not care then you do you

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Apparently a print is being sold on eBay—provided you have the money to pay for that psycho pricing: https://www.ebay.it/sch/m.html?_odkw=GHIBLI&_udlo=99&_ssn=hokutoshinken&_sop=15&_udhi=7000&_mPrRngCbx=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313&_nkw=GHIBLI+feature&_sacat=0

JadedSkywalker said:

Except in the places where some of the films were digital noise reduced to remove grain, i honestly don’t see anything to be gained from a release print.

Typically I find that, more often than not, prints have a fairly different color scheme than what is presented on home video. That said, I cannot say what Spirited Away is like in comparison as it is a more modern print, but anything is possible quite frankly.

If I seem inactive, check me on FanRes: https://forum.fanres.com/user-1389.html

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The Ghibli catalog and Miyazaki films in general are all over the place in quality. Though most are not DVNR’ed to hell and back like Totoro or Castle of Cagliostro. That was my point. Though the reissue of Nausicaa was grain managed.

Princess Mononoke looks absolutely fantastic and flawless on G-kids Blu-Ray and so does Howl’s Moving Castle.

I don’t want to speak for the Blu Ray for spirited away because i do own it but haven’t had the chance to watch it yet.

I also saw that listing too it seems he wants 2000 for each reel. Which is insane. It would be insane for a complete print.

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I understand the notion of wanting to see the movie as it looked on film, but keep in mind that Spirited Away was shot digitally. I think it was the first Ghibli film to do so. So as far as intended experience, the commercial blu ray probably comes pretty close. Color timing is handled respectfully. There’s no film grain that’s being managed or suppressed, so the only detail that could potentially be lost is in compression. The commercial blu ray looks really fantastic imo, so even as an avid fan of film prints, I don’t feel as though I’m really missing out. Ghibli treats it film catalog really well when it comes to home video release. Not at all like Disney’s revisionist methods.

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Speaking as someone who also saw the movie in a theater during its initial American run, I believe the first US DVD release from Walt Disney Home Video may be the closest to how it looked in a theater. The opening and ending titles/credit sequences on the English angle were sourced from Disney’s film master atleast. It definately didn’t use the same master as the Japanese Region 2 version as it lacked the “red tint” everyone who imported it was complaining about back then.

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The GKIDS/Shout Factory BD+DVD release, I own this one with slipcover, of SPIRITED AWAY is vastly superior to the Buena Vista one. I’ve only watched this in the original Japanese audio and never dubbed.