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Studio Ghibli's Next Work to Be From New Director

Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki has confirmed on Sunday that the studio's next project will be from a new director. The staff has already begun drawing artwork for the project, but more details will be announced in December. The July 10 entry in the official Studio Ghibli blog had already revealed the studio's plans to open its next theatrical feature film next year.

On a separate note, Suzuki said on Sunday that the next film from Oscar-winning director and studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki himself is "proceeding as expected." However, Suzuki could not confirm the contents of Miyazaki's next work since various elements are changing during development. He did predict that the film might open in four years.

Studio Ghibli revealed during a February 2008 press conference that "directors [Isao] Takahata and [Hayao Miyazaki's son] Goro Miyazaki are both developing works" for release after Hayao Miyazaki's Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on a Cliff) opens. Studio Ghibli President Koji Hoshino added in July of 2008 that there is a likely chance that Ghibli will promote one of its own animators to direct a film or recruit a director from outside the studio. Miyazaki himself told his studio's staff in November of that year that they will start two feature-length works, with young staffers at their core, over the next three years.

Suzuki made his comments to the media after a special preview screeening of the Ponyo wa Kōshite Umareta. ~Miyazaki Hayao no Shikō Katei~ (Ponyo Was Born Like This: Hayao Miyazaki's Thought Process) documentary in Tokyo. (The documentary will be included in the special keepsake edition of the Ponyo Blu-ray release in Japan this December.) The screening was presented to 140 students who are aiming to enter the fields of anime and other art forms.

All but three of Studio Ghibli's theatrical features have been directed by the studio's two co-founders Miyazaki and Takahata. The late Yoshifumi Kondō directed 1995's Whisper of the Heart, Hiroyuki Morita directed 2002's The Cat Returns, and Miyazaki's son Goro directed 2006's Tales from Earthsea. Tomomi Mochizuki did direct 1993's Ocean Waves, but that project aired as a television special.

Source: animeanime.jp