Studio Ghibli Closing

[Disney_freak]

I know that this technically isn't 100% Disney but since they were in a partnership for so long and Disney distributes so many of their movies I felt there should be a thread for this: http://t.co/sXRc0h0KMl

It's official Studio Ghibli will cease making new feature films.

[Disney's Divinity]

Well. This sucks.

[MovieMan995]

Presuming Kotaku has it straight, the reports of Studio Ghibli's demise are greatly exaggerated.

http://kotaku.com/studio-ghibli-is-not- ... 1615520289

[Jules]

There's conflicting information on the internet. It's being widely reported that Studio Ghibli is closing down for good. However, Variety reports otherwise.

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/japan ... 201274707/

Who to believe?

[ce1ticmoon]

I follow Japanese news media fairly closely, and if Studio Ghibli were really officially closing, I think I would have seen a lot of huge news items by now, which I have not seen at all. The reports probably aren't based on nothing, but I'm not sure they are much more than speculation at this point. I'd say we should just wait and see without getting ahead of ourselves.

However, with Miyazaki retiring and with Takahata and Suzuki being as old as they are, I'd say the studio is definitely facing a crisis, as they have not really develop any new talent at their studio, and don't seem to be recruiting anybody either. They have Hiromasa Yonebayashi (and Goro Miyazaki if you consider him to be a viable successor), but nobody else.

I think they suffered a big loss when Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children) was cut from directing Howl's Moving Castle. He is the closest thing to "the next Miyazaki" right now (in terms of critic/audience reception and box office performance), yet Miyazaki effectively chased him away.

[unprincess]

Oh no! I hope they can survive! they are kinda like where Disney was in the late 70's, early 80's...

if they go it will be another nail in the coffin for hand drawn animation.

[MovieMan995]

It seems like they are talking about reconstructing and evaluating their options. I think they need to take a pause and see what the studio's prospects are after Miyazaki. I believe this is similar to what happened with Disney Animation after Walt's passing. Is shutting down an option? Sure it is. But until we hear from official channels let's remain optimistic here.

[Jules]

However, with Miyazaki retiring and with Takahata and Suzuki being as old as they are, I'd say the studio is definitely facing a crisis, as they have not really develop any new talent at their studio, and don't seem to be recruiting anybody either. They have Hiromasa Yonebayashi (and Goro Miyazaki if you consider him to be a viable successor), but nobody else.

I find it incredible that they could have been so short-sighted as to forget or to fail to train upcoming talent in order to have them take the reins after Miyazaki & Co. retire. This was never a problem at Disney animation during the last 25 years. We've had films directed by John Musker, Ron Clements, George Scribner, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, Roger Allers, Eric Goldberg, Kevin Lima, Mark Dindal, Chris Sanders, Will Finn, Steve Anderson, Chris Williams, Byron Howard, Nathan Greno, Don Hall, Rich Moore, Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and others I've forgotten.

By the way, thanks for your prompt reply on Blu-ray.com. I was the one who asked for information on the region coding for the GKids/Cinedigm blu-ray discs.