Disney Releasing Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on a Cliff By the Sea

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann Apr 13, 2009

As previously suspected, the Walt Disney Company will bring Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, to North American cinemas this summer.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the the elder Miyazaki's 9th film for anime factory Studio Ghibli will come to theatres on August 14th.

The acclaimed anime – the 4th Miyazaki flick that Disney has brought to this side of the Pacific – was Japan's highest grossing film of 2008, making the equivalent of $165 million. One of Miyazaki's previous movies, Spirited Away, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2003.

The English cast for Ponyo includes such names as Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, plus celebrity siblings Frankie Jonas and Noah Cyrus (younger sister of Miley).

Disney animation creative chief (and hardcore Miyazaki fan) John Lasseter is producing the flick, along with frequent Steven Spielberg collaborators Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Scritpwriter Melissa Mathison (E.T. the Extra Terrestrial) handled the English translation.