According to Indiewire, Studio Ghibli has officially reopened to produce legendary anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s new, as-yet-untitled, movie. The Japanese animation film studio, co-founded by Miyazaki and Isao Takahata in 1985, was behind several award-winning Miyazaki anime features including Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro (whose title character serves as Studio Ghibli’s mascot), Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Miyazaki, now 76 years old, announced his retirement in 2013, and Studio Ghibli temporarily closed its doors in 2014. However, much to the delight of anime fans everywhere, Miyazaki announced earlier this year that he is coming out of retirement to make a new movie, his first feature since 2013’s The Wind Rises. There are no official details on Miyazaki’s new film, although there is speculation that he will do a feature adaption of a short initially intended for display at the Ghibli Museum, Boro the Caterpillar. Boro’s story is described as “a story of a tiny, hairy caterpillar, so tiny that it could be easily squished between your fingers.”
Studio Ghibli is now back in full pre-production swing. Miyazaki has assembled his collaborators, and active recruitment and hiring of animators and design staff has been going on this past summer. The new hires are expected to undergo six months of training before transitioning into main production work. 2019 is being eyed for the release date of the new film.
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