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Ghibli's N. American Arrietty BD to Have U.S. & U.K. Dubs (Updated)

The AV Watch website reported on Wednesday that the North American Blu-ray Disc of The Secret World of Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty) film will include both the American English dub and the British English dub. According to AV Watch, it will also have the Japanese dub and Japanese subtitles, but no bonus video extras. Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Studio Ghibli adapted the film's story from Mary Norton's 1952 British novel The Borrowers.

The American dub of Arrietty features Bridgit Mendler (Good Luck Charlie, Wizards of Waverly Place) in the tite role, along with David Henrie (Wizards of Waverly Place), Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation), Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Running Wilde), and Carol Burnett (The Carol Burnett Show).

Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones/Atonement) leads the British dub cast that also includes Tom Holland (one of the boy actors who took the lead role in the stage musical version of Billy Elliott), Mark Strong (Green Lantern/Sherlock Holmes), Olivia Colman (Peep Show), Phyllida Law (The Time Machine), and Geraldine McEwan (Marple).

Walt Disney Studio Japan also announced on Wednesday that the Japanese Blu-ray Disc/DVD release of Goro Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's From Up On Poppy Hill (Kokuriko-Zaka Kara) film will include Japanese and English subtitles when it ships on June 20. The Blu-ray Disc will also have French and Korean subtitles, as well as soundtracks in Japanese (linear PCM stereo and DTS-HD MasterAudio 5.0), French (DTS 5.0ch), Korean (DTS 5.0ch), Cantonese Chinese (DTS 5.0ch), and Mandarin Chinese (DTS 5.0ch).

The standard edition of From Up On Poppy Hill's Japanese Blu-ray will have just one disc, but the disc will have a storyboard picture-in-picture feature, the recording dialogue script, the press conference for the theme song, footage from Aoi Teshima's live concert to mark the film's opening, the onstage greetings by the staff and cast after the first preview screening, the onstage greetings on opening day, the theme song's music video, and trailers. The standard 2-DVD set will just have the storyboards and trailers.

The limited first edition or "Yokohama Special Edition" of From Up On Poppy Hill's Japanese Blu-ray and DVD release will add another bonus DVD with an interview with Goro Miyazaki, footage and photographs of Yokohama City during the film's Showa era and the modern era (set to music from the film's image album), and another music video of the theme song with footage from the film and real-life Yokohama.

The packaging of the "Yokohama Special Edition" will feature a key piece of visual art from Goro Miyazaki. The special edition will also bundle a guide map of Yokohama.

People who pre-order any version will receive a pair of marriage protection charms. Starting on March 16, people who buy or pre-order any Studio Ghibli Blu-ray Disc or DVD in Japan will receive original sticker of From Up On Poppy Hill. The sticker includes a link to a site with personal computer wallpaper and a Flash-animated ringtone for mobile phones.

A separate Blu-ray Disc/DVD release of the documentary NHK Futari/Kokuriko-Zaka • Chichi to Ko no 300-Nichi Sensō ~Miyazaki Hayao x Miyazaki Goro will ship on May 16.

Update: The "North American Edition" of Arrietty with the two English dubs will be sold in Japan under the Ghibli ga Ippai label. Disney has not specified whether the edition that it will sell in North America will also have two English dubs. Thanks, toru.