Studio Ghibli closing?

[Valigarmander]

Studio Ghibli Closing? | Geekosystem -closing/

Cut Magazine has an interview with Hayao Miyazaki where the venerable animator confesses that if their upcoming Arietty the Borrower doesn’t do well in the box office, plans are already in place to shut down Studio Ghibli.

"Suzuki-san is making a dissolution program for Ghibli. 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."

Presumably Miyazaki means the American box office, as the film has already been released in Japan.

If Arietty does do well, however, Miyazaki confessed that he has a certain Porco Rosso sequel in mind, set in the Spanish Civil War, but that that particular film won’t be made unless Ghibli can make successes of Arietty and two more films.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU-

FIRST SATOSHI KON, NOW THIS?

[Deepfake]

**** WHAT

GOD WHY DOES EVERYTHING GOOD END

[Bomby]

As long as Studio Khara is still around... they did most of the animation for Ponyo, anyway. Plus, they have Hideaki Anno, who since the passing of Satoshi Kon is now my official favorite person in animation.

[Apiary Tazy]

Godammit.

[Galefore]

Damn. What a week for Japanese animation, and really, animation in general. Hopefully their film does at least slightly well. I'd hate to see such a wonderful thing come to a screeching halt like that.