From the people who brought you “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park” now comes… “Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea”???

by Chris MaGee

Anime News Network had word at the end of last month that Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki was playing coy with the media about a trip across the Pacific to Los Angeles saying only that, “there was a lot of demand for a screening of ‘Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea’ from the U.S., so I came here to…" What a tease…

Well, now Nausicaa.net has news on what the tease was all about. Super producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy (E.T., Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense) have stepped up to handle what is being described right now as simply a “large scale American release” of Hayao Miyazaki’s 10th animated feature. No other details were announced, but I’m a little surprised that Pixar’s John Lasseter, who produced the American dub and release of both “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”, isn’t involved. Hmmm…