Remember how we told you that it looked like My Neighbors the Yamadas would be the next Ghibli film to make it to Blu-ray? Well, it seems that Disney, Ghibli’s distributor has other plans. At the conclusion of an airing of the film on Japanese TV, the studio made the announcement that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind would be the next Ghibli film to hit Blu! And it’s apparently going to be released this coming summer in Japan.
Now, that could mean any number of things for us. For certain, a plan is underway to bring all the Ghibli films to Blu-ray. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment confirmed as much during the ceremony for the 2nd annual Digital Entertainment Group Japan Awards/Blu-ray Prizes where they earned the top award for their release of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (released December 8th in Japan.) What’s in question is the order that the catalogue titles will appear. And when and if we’ll see them on this side of the Pacific. Ghibli producer, Toshio Suzuki claims the next title up is Yamadas while Disney is claiming Nausicaä. To be honest, I’m happy either way. As long as the effort is being made to get Ghibli films onto Blu and the discs make their way here to North America I’ll be satisfied. I’m not holding my breath for a 2010 release though. If push comes to shove, I’ll import the Japanese releases. They may be expensive (think $80 US on average) but at least the discs include English subs and will play on my PS3.
Via: Anime News Network
I was hoping they would release a few Ghibli films alongside Ponyo in March, but instead they decided to just re-release the DVDs.
The Ghibli collection can’t come soon enough on Blu-ray for me!
[...] on Blu-ray and know how brilliant these films can look in 1080p. If the rumours are to be believed, Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind will be making its way to Blu-ray this summer in…. I’ve got my fingers crossed that a North American release will follow quickly on its [...]
[...] Disney was right – Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is officially set to be the next of Studio Ghibli’s films to come to Blu-ray! When last we reported on the Japanese animation studio’s catalogue coming to Blu, it was still in question whether distributor, Disney would follow up the release of Ponyo with Miyazaki’s Nausicaä or Takahata’s My Neighbors the Yamadas. Today’s announcement confirms the former but details are still in question. Here’s what we’ve gleaned from the Japanese language post on AV Watch: [...]