It's a bit more than just "some", and it's an evolution 20 years[0] in the making[1].
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_(programming_language)
He explains that dynamic languages are not inherently slow. It's their current implementation that's slow. Java is not fast thanks to static typing, it is fast thanks to the Hotspot VM, which builds upon the StrongTalk VM implementation.
Quote taken around the 13" mark (some trolling included ;) ): "Ruby has the dynamic part, and Java has the fast part. And this has led to this assumption that people have that the reason that Java is fast and Ruby is slow is because Java is static and Ruby is dynamic. And that's just not true, that's just a myth. Nothing about Java being fast has anything to do with it being static. It's simply that the papers that the Java people read were the ones that told you how to make it fast, and the papers that Matz read were the ones that told you how to make it usable."
That's a business opportunity. PHP is not my bag, but an interested compiler hacker could make a quick trace JIT (a la Dalvik), license it out, and probably get a fair bit of cash.