Ghibli to Borrow 'The Borrowers'

Do you remember reading The Borrowers as a kid? A series by British author Mary Norton, it revolved around a family of three very tiny people who "borrow" things from humans to survive. Okay, more than likely you actually remember the more recent live-action film (from 1997 starring Draco Malfoy, Fred Flintstone, and some other people).

Word on Gigazine is that Studio Ghibli's next film is based on the novels and is called Karigurashi no Arrietty, which translates roughly to "Borrowing Arrietty" (as in "Arrietty who Borrows").  Arrietty is the heroine of the story, of course, the 13-year-old daughter of the teeny tiny clan. Apparently the story will be transplanted, though, from 1950s England to modern Japan.

The first question I'm sure most of you have is "well, is Miyazaki directing?" The answer is no; it'll be Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who's been working with Ghibli for some time (he worked on Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle before moving on to Ponyo).

Now, the question is: can we get a wide release for this in the US? The Borrowers is familiar material, and of course Ghibli and Miyazaki have a good relationship with John Lasseter over at Disney. But it's not a Miyazaki film...still, I hope we'll have some luck on that front.
 
The movie's due out in Japan in the summer of 2010, but the theme song will be released December 19th...so I'll see you back here then to see if we all like it, yes?