The Ultimate Disney Website has learned that Buena Vista Home Video will release three Studio Ghibli films on DVD on March 7th, 2006:  Hayao Miyazaki's most recent effort, Howl's Moving Castle (2005); one of the best of his earlier films, My Neighbor Totoro (1988); and Whisper of the Heart (1995), which was directed by Yoshifumi Kondou, though Miyazaki wrote the screenplay, drew the storyboards, and produced.

The three Ghibli releases will all be 2-disk Special Editions (SRP $29.99) containing numerous extras as well as both the original Japanese soundtrack and a dubbed English track featuring top-of-the line actors (see 'The Fanning Sisters in 'Totoro''). 

Miyazaki's films tend to do extremely well (in comparison to other anime releases) on DVD and have outstanding 'legs' -- they sell well years after their initial release.  If Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle is nominated for an Academy Award (see 'Ten Features Eligible for Animated Oscar'), the DVD should do extremely well, but don't underestimate the potential of My Neighbor Totoro, a brilliant and poetic evocation of childhood that will be available on DVD in the U.S. for the first time in the correct widescreen format.