"Like the card game its name alludes to, Go Fish Pictures, DreamWorks Animation's specialized distribution arm is holding a gambler's hand in the hopes that Japanese animation for grown-ups, which has so far thrived only in the home entertainment marketplace, will establish a major theatrical presence.

Then again, DreamWorks' decision to launch Go Fish was based more on artistic considerations than the bottom line.

It was initially formed to handle the American release of Satoshi Kon's /gofish.dreamworksfansite.com/milleniumactress/"">Millennium Actress, a thoughtful, ethereal fantasy vs. reality saga that was not the standard, action-oriented, sci-fi adventure that the anime audience generally expected.

That's part of the point, DreamWorks Animation's head of artistic development Frank Gladstone said at the time of the film's 2003 release. I don't think anime fans are one-note fans. Nobody here underestimates them.

Up to that point, the closest to a successful mainstream run for an anime film was Disney's 2002 English-language release of Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki's self-described fantasy for 10-year-old girls.

DreamWorks had been holding off, hoping that 'Spirited Away' would be a big enough success that they could do a larger theatrical release for 'Millennium Actress,' and turn it into an animated equivalent of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', says anime expert and historian Fred Patten.

Ultimately, it did not happen that way, Patten says. If 'Spirited Away,' which won all those awards (including the 2002 Oscar for animated feature) and was a great children's film could not make it, I cannot think of a publicity campaign that would bring the general American public into theaters to see 'Millennium Actress,' which is a beautiful film, but is definitely not a film for children.

Go Fish returned in 2004 with /gofish.dreamworksfansite.com/ghostintheshell2/"">Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, writer-director Mamoru Oshii's follow-up to his 1995 sci-fi classic Ghost in the Shell.

It was another limited release about 70 theaters nationwide and like /gofish.dreamworksfansite.com/milleniumactress/"">Millennium Actress, /gofish.dreamworksfansite.com/ghostintheshell2/"">Ghost 2 retained the original Japanese dialogue track.

While no further wholly animated pictures are on the hook, Go Fish will release Casshern, also from Japan, which is live action with animated elements. Pic created a buzz at the Cannes film festival.

Source: /www.variety.com/"">Variety."