Subscribe
Follow Us
After around a decade away, Studio Ghibli icon Hayao Miyazaki returned with The Boy and the Heron. He isn't done and his upcoming film got a huge tease from his son, Goro Miyazaki.
Speaking to Oricon (via ComicBook), Goro talked about what his father's next film could be. It sounds like his father will be going back to his roots in some way with his next feature film.
“I'd tell him, ‘Make some for future projects. Only making them for your past stuff is boring.' He's making some now, though,” he said. “I don't know if it'll actually be for his next film, but it's looking like an action-adventure-type movie, nostalgic and reminiscent of the old days.”
What exactly that means for Hayao's next film remains to be seen. Perhaps he will be returning to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind after all. Or, he could be going back to the vibes of his early work such as My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service.
What is Studio Ghibli?
Studio Ghibli is one of the most iconic animation studios in the world. It was founded 38 years ago in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki, Isao Takahata, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma.
Their early work included Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, and My Neighbor Totoro. Takahata was the first non-Miyazaki filmmaker to make a film, Grave of the Fireflies.
Studio Ghibli has since released countless award-winning hits. Miyazaki is the poster child for the studio, but they are home to several high-profile auteurs.
Hayao Miyazaki movies
Hayao Miyazaki is highly regarded as one of the best filmmakers of all time. He made his feature film directorial debut with The Castle of Cagliostro. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa: Castle in the Sky followed after the film.
My Neighbor Totoro came next and is an iconic animated film. It helped put Studio Ghibli on the map for the mainstream. He followed that up with Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and Princess Mononoke throughout the rest of the eighties and nineties.
Spirited Away kicked off the 2000s for Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The film was a massive hit and he won the second Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2002. Spirited Away beat out the likes of Ice Age, Lilo and Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Treasure Planet.
Despite several more films being nominated for the category, Miyazaki wouldn't win the award again until 2024 with The Boy and the Heron. Howl's Moving Castle and The Wind Rises were both nominated for Best Animated Feature as well but lost to Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Frozen, respectively.
His return
After The Wind Rises, Miyazaki seemed to be retired. However, he returned in 2023 with The Boy and the Heron. The film was kept under wraps for the longest time, with a cryptic poster being the only promotional material unveiled for a long time.
The film follows a young boy, Mahito, who loses his mother to a hospital fire. After his father marries her sister and Mahito's aunt, he struggles with the move to her estate. This is where he discovers a fantastical world thanks to a talking grey heron.
An English dub of The Boy and the Heron was released by GKIDS. Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, Christian Bale, Mark Hamill, Florence Pugh, Willem Dafoe, and Dave Bautista headlined the Studio Ghibli cast.
