VIZ Media to Publish Books Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo

VIZ Media is set to release a series of new books based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo, which is due to be released by Disney in the United States on August 14 2009.

Ponyo  an animated film by the Japanese anime studio Studio Ghibli, written and directed by famed anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.

Among VIZ Media’s offerings are a four-volume Ponyo film comic book that uses full-color frames from the film, a Ponyo picture book and The Art of Ponyo, which goes behind the scenes on the making of the film. Ponyo Film Comic, Vols. 1-2 which is rated ‘A’ and cost $9.99 each will be available on August 4. Vols. 3-4 will be available on August 11, 2009

The picture book also uses art from the film, as well as simplified text, to tell the story of the film for younger readers. It will be available August 4 and cost $19.99.

The Art of Ponyo will be out on August 11 for $34.99. It is a comprehensive soft cover edition that features striking watercolor and pastel concept sketches and layout pages from the film, as well as interviews with production principals and the complete screenplay to give an inside look at the entire creative process behind PONYO.

A Tribute to Hayao Miyazaki

Master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s upcoming visit to the United States is adding a stop at the University of California, Berkeley.

Hayao Miyazaki is the recipient of the 2009 Berkeley Japan Prize. On July 24, the Center for Japanese Studies and PFA will present a special screening of Miyazaki’s new film, Ponyo, at Wheeler Auditorium on the UC Berkeley campus. On July 25, Miyazaki will make a rare in-person appearance at Zellerbach Auditorium. For information on these events celebrating CJS’s fiftieth anniversary, please visit ieas.berkeley.edu/cjs/.

For details and tickets, please refer to http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries/miyazaki_2009

Sunday, July 12, 2009
4:00 p.m.?My Neighbor Totoro
Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1988)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
7:00 p.m.?Porco Rosso
Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1992)

Sunday, July 19, 2009
2:30 p.m.?Castle in the Sky
Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1986)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
7:00 p.m.?Princess Mononoke
Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1997)

‘Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea’ to Close LA Film Fest

Ponyo will be the closing film of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival on June 28. The festival runs from June 18-28, 2009. The story follows an ordinary boy named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) and his friendship with Ponyo (Noah Cyrus), a goldfish who wishes to be human.

The Los Angeles Film Festival is also showing three live-action films from Japan: Tadashi Mori’s Panda Diary, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking, and Koji Wakamatsu’s United Red Army.

As what we have mentioned earlier, Walt Disney Pictures will open the film throughout the United States on August 14.

For details of LA Film Fest, click here.

Disney to Release Ponyo on August 14th in The United States

Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea will finally be hitting US theaters on August 14, 2009. The original which has since grossed over getting ¥15.0 billion ($153.1 million) in Japan will be retitled as Ponyo.

The English voice cast includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, and Frankie Jonas as Sosuke, a young boy who befriends Ponyo. Noah Cyrus provides the voice of the baby goldfish named Ponyo who desires to be a human.

Via the Disney blog.