Studio Ghibli Reveal More Details on Miyazaki's New Film and Future Plans

The announcement that the legendary Hayao Miyazaki would return to make his (allegedly) final feature was met with excitement the world over. Since the rumour first hit (and was subsequently confirmed) we've all been on the lookout for even the smallest crumb of information on the new film. After several early rumours proved to be wrong, we recently learned that the film would be titled Kimi-Tachi Wa Dō Ikiru Ka (How Do You Live? )and would be inspired by a 1937 book by Japanese author Genzaburō Yoshino.

Now more details have been revealed. The news comes directly from Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, and he described the film as a "hand drawn action-adventure fantasy". This is slightly surprising considering what we already knew- and perhaps suggests that the connection with the source material is fairly loose.

Suzuki is quoted as saying he understood why Miyazaki chose to return after he read the content of the film. What exactly could this film be that drew him back in? We can't wait to find out!

Perhaps even more importantly though, Suzuki stated that "Ghibli will continue to make films until it fails". This is significant because much has been made of the studio's future without Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. On the master's retirement from features, production at the studio was shuttered, but work continued on shorts and commercial work. The feature production arm has now reopened to make Miyazaki's new film, but it wasn't clear what would happen beyond then.

The studio has just recently made a series of major new appointments. Kiyofumi Nakajima (formerly director of The Ghibli Museum) has been appointed the new president, and Koji Hoshino (who was previously President) moved to become Chairperson. Kazuki Anazi will be the new director of The Ghibli Museum.

Suzuki described the new staff changes as a "new wind" and a "restart" for the company. It's definitely encouraging to see that they are looking to the future and not planning on stopping after Miyazaki re-retires (assuming that one sticks).

Suzuki also revealed that Goro Miyazaki (son of Hayao) is working on a new CG project. His last, Ronja The Robber's Daughter was a co-production between Ghibli and Polygon Pictures so it's reasonable to suspect this may be the same.

[Source: Natalie via ANN]