Remember that post I wrote about Pixar’s Up coming out so late in the UK (October)?

I was idly browsing the cinema listings for my home town in Norway as I’m popping over two weeks from now, and noticed something. This something was a listing for Gake no ue no Ponyo, the new film by Hayao Miyazaki, the man behind Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and so on. I instantly went “hang on a minute!” because hey, I haven’t seen it listed here. And I pay attention, or at least I’d like to think that I wouldn’t miss something as important as that.

I checked IMDB, because surely this can’t be right. And there it is, the UK release date: 5 February 2010.

Why is it out in Norway already, and dubbed at that, and it won’t be coming out in the UK for another six months. Why! Are they after me specifically and know which films I adore the most? First Up, now this? What gives, English distributors? What is your justification for keeping good movies away from me? Surely there must be a reason. I really need to know if there’s any sort of twisted logic behind this, or if someone went “meh. It can wait until next year”.

It makes me sad that I have to either download or leave the country to see films I want to pay to watch here in the UK. Who is dragging their heels about understanding that entertainment is a global market now? Someone out there need to get fired.