Anime News Network notes that the Time Magazine piece on the Venice International Film Festival screening of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, confirms what has been expected. The film will be distributed in English by Disney. Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park) will reportedly co-produce the American release, scheduled for next year.
Gake no ue no Ponyo draws from his relationship with his son, Goro to tell the tale of a five year old boy's friendship with a gold fish who wants to become a human, employing a watercolor based look inspired by time that Miyazaki spent on a rental house by sea cliff.
Speaking of Goro Miyazaki, his directorial debut, and the Studio Ghibli feature that proceeded Ponyo, Tales from Earthsea, may have a chance of being distributed in North America after Sci-Fi's right to Ursula K. Le Guin's expire in 2009.
On the Hayao Miyazaki front, the 67 year old director has recently put off retirement again. At Venice, he commented “I think animation is something that needs the pencil, needs man's drawing hand, and that is why I decided to do this work in this way…. I will continue to use my pencil as long as I can." He also suggested that his next feature project is at least three years off.
