Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill is up for an Annie Award

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The nominations for the 40th Annual Annie Awards have been announced by The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) in Hollywood. Hayao Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa and Karey Kirkpatrick have all been nominated for the Writing in an Animated Feature Production category for their work on Goro Miyazaki’s From Up on Poppy Hill. Karey Kirkpatrick was responsible for the English dub script.

From Up on Poppy Hill has been nominated alongside the writing staff of ParaNorman, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (In America: The Pirates! Band of Misfits), Frankenweenie, Brave and Wreck-It Ralph.

The film has already been submitted for an Oscar nomination and has also submitted to be considered for the Best Animated Feature category of the Golden Globes Awards.

UK Dresden Pictures Get Rights for Live-Action Grave of Fireflies Film

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The British production company Dresden Pictures has acquired the rights to make a live-action adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka’s semi-autobiographic novel Grave of Fireflies.  The story follows a brother and sister, as they struggle to survive in the waning months of World War II. Liam Garvo and James Heath will be producing the film, and shooting is expected to start in 2014. 

The most famous adaptation of Grave of Fireflies would be the Studio Ghibli animation from 1988, directed by Isao Takahata. However, a live-action adaptation has been done before by Toya Sato in 2005, to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Dresden Pictures are the first overseas company to get the rights to the story.

Hayao Miyazaki receives Japanese Cultural Merit Honour

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The Japanese government announced that Studio Ghibli’s co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) will be one of 15 people to receive the Person of Cultural Merit honour as part of The Order of Culture and Persons of Cultural Merit annual function.

The award ceremony is part of a national holiday called Culture Day, and it will take place at the Imperial Palace. Previous winners include anime creator Leiji Matsumoto (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999) in 2001 and manga creator Shigeru Mizuki (Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro) in 2010.

Miyazaki is currently working on his latest Studio Ghibli film that he says includes “lots of airplanes”, the project is set to be released in 2013. The Studio Ghibli game Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch will also finally be released in the west, two years after its debut in Japan, on 25 January 2013.

Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki Decorates a Jetliner for JAL

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Japan Airlines (JAL) and Studio Ghibli have unveiled the Boeing 787 jetliner decorated by Ghibli founder Hiyao Miyazaki and seven children, who were the winners of a children’s art contest at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. The collaboration between Ghibli and JAL was made after the Ghibli film Porco Rosso and the art competition took place from 2007 to 2008 to decorate the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, Boeing delayed the delivery of the aircraft by five years and JAL filed for bankruptcy in 2010, the airline therefore had to wait until now to unveil the designs, which were part of its Sora o Tobu (Fly the Skies) Project. 

As part of its Fly the Skies Project, JAL flights will screen Porco Rosso and the rare 2002 animated short by Miyazaki, Kūsō no Sora Tobu Kikai-tachi (The Machines that Fly the Skies of Dreams). The short is not only directed Miyazaki, but is also narrated by him.

Latest News on Studio Ghibli’s Next Film “From Up On Poppy Hill”

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From Up On Poppy Hill, directed by Goro Miyazaki, has been adapted from the manga Kokuriko-Zaka Kara by Chizuru Takahashi and Tetsurō Sayama. It follows a group of Yokohama teens involved in a student movement to prevent the demolition of an old club house in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Hayao Miyazaki, Goro’s father and Studio Ghibli’s co-founder, scripted the film.

Already having been released in Japan, the film is set for release in America next spring. English dub cast members have recently been announced by Ghibli; Gillian Anderson (Princess Mononoke, X-Files), Chris North (Law and Order), Sarah Bolger (BioShock 2, The Spiderwick Chronicles) and Ron Howard (American Graffiti) will be voicing characters in the Ghibli film, though it is unclean which characters they will be playing.

Academy Award-winning sound designer and director Gary Rydstrom (Jurassic Park, Toy Story) is directing the English dub and Studio Ghibli will be overseeing the dub as producer. The film has qualified for Oscar consideration and the company GKids plan to release the film on Blu-ray and DVD after its cinema release.

“Totoro” is the Most Popular Word on Japanese Twitter

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BIGLOBE’s Twipple Trend information site has released the monthly Twitter stats. In July, “Totoro” was the most discussed word by Japanese Twitter users. My Nieghbour Totoro was rebroadcast on NTV in Japan with an amazing rating of 18.3%.

Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro will be available on Double Play DVD/Blu-ray in the UK on 12 November 2012, along with Lupin III: The Castle Of Cagliostro and Grave of Fireflies.