There are teases, and there’s what Studio Ghibli just put out. The groundbreaking animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki just put up a tweet that is nothing but the Lucasfilm logo followed by the Studio Ghibli logo. No words. No explanation. Just the tweet announcing that the two companies are working on something together. That something could very likely be a Star Wars project, given that’s basically all Lucasfilm does right now, but nothing is certain.
https://twitter.com/JP_GHIBLI/status/1590720957676949504
The project could be anything. The studio could be working on a full-fledged Disney+ series, it could be doing a series of shorts, it could be making another ill-advised CGI film, or even a theatrical movie, as Disney finally gets the ball rolling on its film side again. Most likely, however, is that Studio Ghibli will be taking part in the second season of Star Wars: Visions, the collection of animated shorts that debuted last year to strong reviews and features a slew of top-level animation studios producing them. The second season has already been confirmed with a debut in spring 2023 and will evidently take a more global approach, bringing in studios from around the world. That would very likely include Japan and thus Studio Ghibli for a Lucasfilm collaboration.
If that’s the case, it’s great news. Anyone who has seen a single Studio Ghibli film knows just how full of life and creativity they are, and bringing that to the world of Star Wars would be amazing. Hell, even if it was just a walking tour of some Japanese-inspired city on an alien planet with no plot, it would be captivating seeing the life they breathe into their animations. While the first season of Visions landed some incredible artists and studios, Studio Ghibli is on a unique level both in terms of its work and its brand, raising the bar for the second season dramatically if it turns out that is what it is working on.
Then again, maybe someone at Ghibli really likes Indiana Jones and they’re partnering on that Lucasfilm IP instead.
