[UPDATE: Anime News Network reports that although Studio Ghibli is indeed closing down development on new movies, the decision could simply be a “housecleaning” and not a permanent shutdown. Our original article, complete with a sad obituary for Studio Ghibli that may or may not actually be necessary, is below.]
There are very few movie studios that are known for producing consistently excellent movies. We all know what Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures are, but they produce just as many bad films as they do good ones. Even Pixar’s once-stellar reputation has been sullied of late after mediocre efforts like Cars 2 and (arguably) Brave. But Studio Ghibli – the animation studio behind animated classics like My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Spirited Away and The Wind Rises – has been consistently producing classics for decades, earning avid fans the world over and inspiring one generation of filmmakers after another to use the medium to express the most beautiful and timeless aspects of their imaginations.
Which makes it all the more sad that now, after 29 years of cinematic excellence, Studio Ghibli appears to be shutting down production on new motion pictures. To say that this would be the end of era would be a serious understatement. Studio Ghibli will continue to exist but focus its efforts on its existing trademarks, not new feature films.
The news came directly from Studio Ghibli’s general manager Toshio Suzuki on Japanese television. The news was translated – somewhat roughly – by Oh-Totoro.com (via Coming Soon), and reads as follows:
“Just moments ago, Toshio Suzuki, Studio Ghibli producer, announced on the TV show of the MBS Jounetsu Tairiku chain effectively as announced as sources close to the studio, Studio Ghibli will close and production studio anime, leaving himself only as a company that will manage its trademarks. As stated in the program’s producer, “the production department of anime will be dismantled,” which coincides with the data that we gave in our previous post on this decision had been taken from spring after the poor reception at the box office of Kaguya-hime no Monogatari.
In the interview, Suzuki has also admitted that it was a major setback for the study progress Hayao Miyazaki, one of the reasons already unveiled the portal Rakuten Woman. Once we have access to the full TV interview, adding more data. No doubt that this is a very sad news for Japanese animation, of which we are all fans, because it is undeniable everything Studio Ghibli has given the anime. Please remember that what will be his last film, Omoide no Marnie, premiered at the Japanese box office on 19 July.”
Related: ‘The Wind Rises’ Movie Review
Studio Ghibli made the announcement not long after filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, who co-founded the company and directed most of his undisputed classics for the studio, officially went into retirement upon completion of this year’s Oscar-nominated The Wind Rises. Although Miyazaki received the most international acclaim for Studio Ghibli – having directed such landmark films as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away – the studio also produced motion pictures from such impressive filmmakers as Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty) and Hayao Miyazaki’s own son, Goro Miyazaki (From Up on Poppy Hill).
Although the films of Studio Ghibli will live on, and although the possibility that it will once again open its doors to new filmmakers is not outside the realm of possibility, it’s hard not to report this news as something akin to an obituary. For surely, audiences will have lost something magical.
The final feature film of Studio Ghibli, Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s When Marnie Was There, was released on July 19, 2014 in Japan. (No American release date has been scheduled as of this writing.) Studio Ghibli’s second-to-last production, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, is slated for a North American release on October 17, 2014.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
