Studio Ghibli surprised fans across the globe by cryptically announcing an upcoming collaboration with Lucasfilm. The famed Japanese animated studio behind such beloved hits as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Princess Mononoke revealed the new project on Twitter, but there was very little in the way of information. The official Studio Ghibli account shared a short video that silently showed the Lucasfilm logo and its own before fading to black.
You can see the Studio Ghibli/Lucasfilm announcement below:
— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) November 10, 2022
At the time of this writing, the most likely project feels like it could be a second season of Star Wars: Visions. The well-received and Emmy-nominated anthology series allowed various anime creators to tell all-new stories set in the Star Wars universe. The project brought a much-needed jolt of kinetic energy and creativity to the franchise and was praised for its bold, original stories.
However, Star Wars: Vision Season 2 will reportedly feature less anime and focus on a more “global approach” for its animated episodes when it arrives in Spring 2023. That said, this new approach doesn’t close the door on Studio Ghibli being a contributor for the highly anticipated new season. Although, it does suggest that perhaps Lucasfilm and Studio Ghibli are aiming for something much bigger: An all-out anime Star Wars movie in the Ghibli’s iconic art style.
Of course, all of this is operating on the presumption that Star Wars will get a Studio Ghibli mash-up. Granted, it’s the likely candidate, and Lucasfilm does have a wealth of IP under its belt that could easily be imbued with Ghibli magic.
(Via Studio Ghibli on Twitter)