Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm to collaborate on new project

Beloved Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli took to Twitter to announce a collaboration with Disney’s Lucasfilm. It is unclear whether the project will be animation, live-action, based on an existing franchise, or a completely new idea.

In the Twitter video shared by Studio Ghibli’s official account, we could see the studio’s own logo appearing along with Lucasfilm’s logo. Asad Ayaz, the president of marketing at Walt Disney Studios has also retweeted Studio Ghibli’s tweet. 

Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by reputed filmmakers and animators Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki. The Japanese studio is known for creating critically acclaimed films that became worldwide sensations like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Grave of the Fireflies, and My Neighbour Totoro. The 2001 film Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, became the first non-English animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and is still considered one of the best films of the 21st century by critics.

Disney had previously dubbed and distributed a number of Studio Ghibli films for the international audience including Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Hayao Miyazaki has been vocal about his reverence for Walt Disney and Disney animation. Studio Ghibli is often popularly referred to as “The Disney of the East”