Toho has announced that in summer 2008 it will release Hayao Miyazaki's latest feature, GAKE NO UE NO PONYO (PONYO ON A CLIFF). Studio Ghibli is of course producing.
The follow-up to his $169 million worldwide grosser HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE will follows Ponyo, a goldfish princess that wants to become human. Miyazaki will also write the original story. A five-year-boy, who befriends Ponyo in the story, is based on his grandson, who is the son of Goro Miyazaki, the director the animated feature TALES FROM EARTHSEA.
Despite a growing use of CG in recent Studio Ghibli films, PONYO will be completely hand-drawn. Studio Ghibli reported in Oct. 2006 that Miyazaki and his main staff scouted locations in Kobe, a port on Japan's Inland Sea, and that Miyazaki is using watercolors for his storyboards, instead of his traditional black and white.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
