There’s magic in the air today after Studio Ghibli, the world-famous Japanese animation studio behind Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle teased a collaboration with Lucasfilm. Studio Ghibli announced the pairing via tweet with a short video displaying the logos of both studios. While fans of either studio were pinching themselves and dreaming of the implications of the union, Walt Disney Pictures’ President of Marketing, Asad Ayaz, retweeted the post, adding coal to the furnaces of the hype train.
— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) November 10, 2022
Lucasfilm, who created the Star Wars franchise and cracked a bullwhip alongside Indiana Jones, is always looking for ways to expand its reach in the ever-growing entertainment world. Previously, Lucasfilm teamed with seven anime studios to create Star Wars: Visions, an anthology of nine short films set in the Star Wars universe. While combining top-tier Japanese animation with the unpredictable and story-rich world of Star Wars, Visions breathed new life into the space opera franchise one animated frame at a time.
With next to no details available, fans are already speculating wildly about what a collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm could mean. Is a full-length Japanese animated Star Wars series on the way? Will Star Wars add another full-length feature film to its library? Or is Studio Ghibli going on a new adventure with Indiana Jones? The sky is the limit for any of these scenarios to be true.
Disney and Lucasfilm are ensuring Star Wars fans will eat well over several years with various projects in development. The Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka starring Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Hayden Christensen, is forthcoming, with Jude Law set to star in Skeleton Crew, directed by Marvel’s Jon Watts. Russian Doll‘s Leslye Headland is prepping The Acolyte, and that’s just the beginning.
More films set in the Star Wars universe are also on the way. Taika Waititi is developing a new movie that will take the Star Wars galaxy in bold directions, and Deadpool‘s Shawn Levy is gearing up to helm a new film too. As I said, Star Wars fans will be eating well for a while.
What do you think the collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm means? Is there something you’d love to see the studios combine their talents for using either brand’s iconic characters? Let us know in the comments.
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