American fans of good quality animation have Hallmark and The Sci-Fi Channel to thank for a two year delay on seeing the latest effort from Studio Ghibli, the studio of Japanese animation genius Hayao Miyazaki.
The studio that brought us the likes of ""Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Princess Mononoke" released their latest film "Tales From Earthsea" a few months ago in Japan. Since then this directorial debut effort of Miyazaki's son Goro has already grossed more than $67 million across several major territories.
The film however won't be getting a release until December 2008 States-side according to CHUD. Why the long delay? Well the film is adapted from author Ursula K. Le Guin fantasy novel, the same novel which inspired the 2004 Sci-Fi Channel mini-series "Earthsea".
Back in 2004 Hallmark Entertainment granted a specific rights reversion that allowed Studio Ghibli to produce the animated theatrical release, so long as the resulting feature isn't released in the U.S. until December 2008.
The resulting two year delay, whilst allowing US distributor Buena Vista time to prepare an English language dub, may cause problems as many loyal Studio Ghibli enthusiasts will simply buy and import copies from overseas when it is released in Asia and other Western territories on DVD early next year.
