Blu-ray version of 'Nausicaa' shoots to top of sales chart

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Blu-ray version of 'Nausicaa' shoots to top of sales chart
By The Editor
August 9, 2010 - 03:21

Studio Ghibli
$3.99 US

Director Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" Blu-ray edition hit the market July 14 and immediately topped the July 26 Blu-ray ranking compiled by Oricon Inc.

Released by Walt Disney Co. (Japan) Ltd., the Blu-ray version sold 20,000 copies to grab the top spot in the weekly ranking for July 12 to 18. This is a phenomenal sales figure for a film first released 26 years ago, in 1984.

"Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" is one of the director's early works and was produced by animation studio Topcraft, the forerunner of Studio Ghibli.

To create the Blu-ray version, such experts as Atsushi Okui of Studio Ghibli and Yoshiichiro Kashiwagi of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory worked to recreate the image quality of the original.

"Nausicaa" is the first earlier work to be released on Blu-ray by Studio Ghibli, which has also released a Blu-ray version of "Ponyo." Many people wondered how the new technology used to create "Ponyo" would benefit "Nausicaa." The healthy sales figure seems to reflect the success of the studio's efforts.

The film was released on videotape in September 1997 and on DVD in November 2003. Both times, the film topped the Oricon rankings. Having repeated that feat for the Blu-ray ranking, it is now the first ever to take the top spot on Oricon rankings across all three categories of video, DVD and Blu-ray.

In the past, Hollywood blockbusters such as "Titanic" and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," as well as Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away" have topped both the video and DVD charts.

Since the Blu-ray versions of Studio Ghibli's earlier works are due out in the future, they may yet again break records.