by Vanessa Hague
When it was announced last September that Ghibli's co-founder Hayao Miyazaki would be retiring, there was a lot of speculation concerning what that meant for Studio Ghibli. This weekend however, saw it's other founder, Toshio Suzuki, announce what many were fearing on Japanese TV - that the Studio will be ceasing production of any new films, taking a break to consider what the future entails for the famous Japanese animation film studio.
When it was announced last September that Ghibli's co-founder Hayao Miyazaki would be retiring, there was a lot of speculation concerning what that meant for Studio Ghibli. This weekend however, saw it's other founder, Toshio Suzuki, announce what many were fearing on Japanese TV - that the Studio will be ceasing production of any new films, taking a break to consider what the future entails for the famous Japanese animation film studio.
Studio Ghibli has made a wealth of feature length anime, some of it's more well known titles include Spirited Away (2001), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Howl's Moving Castle (2004) and Grave of the Fireflies (1988). Whilst not an outright declaration of closure, the announcement made by Suzuki will no doubt still come as a shock to many people.
After a recent string of box office disappointments and pairing that together with a raise in production costs, the company want to use this break as an opportunity to restructure and reevaluate, allowing the studio to find the best manner in which to operate and return a profit. Film production isn't cheap and as Studio Ghibli prefers to keep it's production in-house rather than outsourcing (which is less expensive), taking a break to rethink and restructure, is probably the best way in which Studio Ghibli can once again become a profitable studio.
Hopefully,this is just a restructure and it will not lead to an outright closure. If Studio Ghibli does close, it will be a sad day in the film industry for many people around the world.
After a recent string of box office disappointments and pairing that together with a raise in production costs, the company want to use this break as an opportunity to restructure and reevaluate, allowing the studio to find the best manner in which to operate and return a profit. Film production isn't cheap and as Studio Ghibli prefers to keep it's production in-house rather than outsourcing (which is less expensive), taking a break to rethink and restructure, is probably the best way in which Studio Ghibli can once again become a profitable studio.
Hopefully,this is just a restructure and it will not lead to an outright closure. If Studio Ghibli does close, it will be a sad day in the film industry for many people around the world.
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