Bad news, and potential good news concerning the Region 1 (U.S. and Canada) releases for several Studio Ghibli films, a good handful of which are classic Hayao Miyazaki titles. The bad news is Buena Vista seems to have mysteriously moved back the much-anticipated 3-film Miyazaki wave (consisting of My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) for a third time. “Originally slated to come last August [31st], this trio of 2-disc Special Editions were expected February 22nd, 2005. For now, we’ll have to put this back in the ‘release date TBA’ column…” writes Ultimate Disney.
However, on the up side, Keyframe Online alerts that the primary Australian anime distributor Madman Entertainment has announced its home video license to 13 Studio Ghibli films, in a similar deal that the Japanese studio has with Disney in the United States. Madman states that all 13 films will be released before the end of 2005, with the upcoming wave consisting of Nausicaä, The Cat Returns, and Porco Rosso around March of 2005. The interesting thing is Madman claims these waves to be “the same as the U.S.” If Buena Vista truly is on a similar release schedule, then hopefully that means an eventual U.S. DVD release for Whispers of the Heart and The Cat Returns, as well as the long-rumored Isao Takahata titles (which A-N reported about here), before the close of 2005. Let’s hope that this claim is true, and not just the ramblings of a “madman”!