Star Wars is known for its epic movies, which have earned a combined total of $10 billion in box office revenues alone. While its live-action movies and shows have generated much of the attention, some of the best storytelling from the franchise has come from its animated shows. Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels have been fan-favorites. The franchise currently has a lineup of six different animated shows streaming on Disney+. Lucasfilms recently created the Star Wars: Visions series, with the media company working with Japanese animation studios to create anime short films. The project allowed animators to re-envision the Star Wars universe generating a different perspective for the franchise. It was a nine-part anthology series that received positive reviews from critics and renewed for a second season. It might have also led to the current partnership between Lucasfilms and Studio Ghibli.
— スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) November 10, 2022 The simple trailer showing the logos of Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilms has gathered 380K likes and 100K retweets. The trailer already has 9.8 million views as of writing. Studio Ghibli is best known for creating animated feature films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle. The studio is currently working on “How Do You Live?” which will be directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli is highly regarded as one of the best-animated studios in Japan as they are responsible for five out of the ten highest-grossing animated films in Japan. The 2001 film, Spirited Away, also won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Fans have speculated that the collaboration would be for Star Wars: Visions. The studio was noticeably absent from the lineup of Japanese animation studios that worked on the first season. But, with the confirmed partnership, audiences hope that Studio Ghibli will have a chance to work on the next Star Wars: Visions season solo. The previous lineup delivered a varied perspective of the Star Wars universe but didn’t push the narrative of the story forward. Having just one studio would give Studio Ghibli the opportunity to focus on a narrative to expand the Star Wars universe. The studio’s unique art style should also mesh well with the diversity of the worlds that George Lucas created. We will be awaiting further details of the collaborations. For now, Star Wars fans will want to check out Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi on Disney+.
