Oh no. Bad news for animations fans!
After the legendary anime film maker Hayao Miyaziki announced his retirement, it is reported that Studio Ghibli might be taking a break from film production as well.
The article about the unconfirmed rumour first appeared on Rakuten, one of Japan’s largest web portals. An insider claimed that the studio’s latest feature film, “When Marnie Was There” might be the last film they’re producing.
According to Kotaku, the insider explained that there are rumours regarding the studio’s dissolution after Miyazaki’s retirement. The studio’s co-founder Toshio Suzuki has also recently stepped down from producing films to become the studio’s general manger.
Because the feature films are incredibly expensive to make, the films have apparently yet to turn a healthy profit despite being tremendously successful. This is largely due to the fact that Studio Ghibli is hiring permanent full-time employees in Japan instead of having their jobs shipped overseas to save money. Thus, the insider said it is likely that the studio will be making money off the anime they’ve produced so far by managing the films’ copyrights.
The rumour was “apparently” backed up by Miyazaki’s interview with Cut Magazine in 2010 as he mentioned Suzuki’s dissolution program for Ghibli. He said:
No joke, we talked about it the other day. For example, Ghibli should be able to continue with about five staff members as a copyright management company even if we smash the studio. So, Ghibli can say, “We stop film production. Goodbye”. I do not have to be there.
For the past few years, we’ve become so familiar with Studio Ghibli’s films that we tend to rekindle our childhood imaginations through his iconic anime such as “My Neighbour Totoro”, “Spirited Away”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and so on. It’s bad enough to know that Miyazaki will be retiring. Now we are utterly saddened by the rumour about Studio Ghibli’s productions coming to a halt.
Regarding the rumour, Kotaku has reached out to Studio Ghibli to get an official statement from the studio. So for now, let’s just hope for the best!
Source: Kotaku, Bleeding Cool
