Conlan Press, who has released an audio book of the original Peter S. Beagle novel, announced that the animated Last Unicorn will be returning to theaters in 2012. The 1982 Rankin/Bass production, which featured the voices of Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Tammy Grimes, Angela Lansbury, Jeff Bridges, and Christopher Lee, was animated by Topcraft, the precursor to Studio Ghibli also known for animating Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. (An in-depth history can read here.)

From the announcement:

Starting early next year and running through the middle of 2013, there will be more than 80 special digital theater screenings of The Last Unicorn taking place in America, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. [Last Unicorn author] Peter [S. Beagle] will be at every one of these events to do audience Q&A, meet people, and sign stuff.

On the movie's new, $5 million digital processing:

Not remastering, mind you, but renovating: going through The Last Unicorn from end to end and top to bottom, spending five million dollars to upgrade the special visual effects and soundtrack, smooth out and improve character animation, finish background paintings that were never completed, and add five to eight minutes of entirely new shots and sequences that will bring the story to a whole new level. And when the work is done, this wonderful new 30th Anniversary Version will be given a worldwide theatrical release in both 2D and 3D.

via Anime Nation