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 Yet at the same time, the commercial future for Studio Ghibli,
the privately held Tokyo studio he left behind in retirement,
has never been more in doubt.
Under Miyazaki, Ghibli became famous for intricate, hand-drawn
animation and imaginative coming-of-age story lines that made
films like 1988's "My Neighbor Totoro" into an international
hit. A dozen years later, he masterminded what remains today as
Japan's highest grossing film, the Academy Award-winning
"Spirited Away".
In recognition, Hollywood is about to add its ultimate honor by
giving Miyazaki, 73, a lifetime achievement Academy Award.
But the animation studio is finding that life after Miyazaki,
who retired last year, is tough going.
Ghibli's first release since the legendary animator's departure,
"When Marnie Was There", has failed to catch fire with Japanese
moviegoers over the summer.
Besides the gaping hole left by Miyazaki, Ghibli, like Japanese
companies in other industries, faces a range of challenges: high
payroll costs, low productivity and the rise of new and cheaper
hubs for production elsewhere in Asia.
In six weeks, "Marnie," the story of an asthmatic high school
girl sent off for what becomes a summer marked by an unexpected
and mysterious friendship, has taken in just $28 million at
Japanese theaters. The mediocre takings comes as Ghibli’s fans
and critics debate how and whether the studio will survive
without the commercial magic of its founder.
Senior producer Toshio Suzuki made waves last month when he said
in a series of interviews that Studio Ghibli might have to
dismantle the expensive production system set up under Miyazaki,
which included employing full-time animators in Japan.
"We’re going to spring clean and restructure," Suzuki, 66, said
in an interview with TBS broadcasting.
Suzuki said the studio would take a break and could re-launch
with a different and lower-cost business model that could shift
production from Japan to Southeast Asia or Taiwan.
"Ideas will be formed in Japan and the animation could be made
in another country,” he said. “It will be ‘Made in Asia’.”
Ghibli declined to make Suzuki or Miyazaki available for
comment. A studio spokeswoman, who declined to be named, said
the privately held company, had no further comment on its plans.
QUALITY – AT A PRICE
Famous for starting production without a complete script,
Miyazaki insisted on working in pencil and spurned computer
animation, resulting in intricately drawn frames and very long
production spans. Some feature animations consist of about
10,000 drawings, but Ghibli’s sometimes exceed 80,000.
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In fact, Ghibli, under Miyazaki, made a virtue of its high-cost
approach, doing everything - and working deliberately - from an
ivy-covered, three-storey building in Tokyo's western suburbs.
Ryusuke Hikawa, an expert on Japanese animation, estimates Ghibli
was averaging just five minutes of animation production a month,
given its recent pace of producing a feature every two years.
That was sustainable when the studio, with Miyazaki at the helm, was
turning out consistent hits. The nine Ghibli films that he directed
averaged a box office take of $115 million.
"Spirited Away," which came out in 2001 and won the Academy Away for
best animated feature, remains Japan’s highest grossing film, taking
nearly $300 million at the box office - ahead of both “Titanic” and
Disney’s “Frozen”.
Box office takings are particularly important for Ghibli because the
company has limited spin-off merchandising, another break from the
approach of Hollywood studios which long ago abandoned hand-drawn
animation for computers. In June, Suzuki, 66, told a podcast for
fans he had cautioned staff to keep merchandising sales below $100
million to sharpen the focus on movie-making.
In part, as a result, Ghibli has had a volatile earnings record,
according to credit rating agency Tokyo Shoko Research, which
audited the studio’s books. In the fiscal year that ended March
2012, it earned $9 million. That dropped to $5 million in 2013 and
then jumped to $30 million in the just-ended fiscal year, reflecting
the success of Miyazaki’s last film, “The Wind Rises”.
Fans are focusing on "Marnie" because it is the first Ghibli film
shaped entirely without the involvement of Miyazaki, Suzuki or the
other famed Ghibli director, Isao Takahata.
Yuichi Maeda, a movie critic, said the film's director, 41-year-old
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, had delivered brilliantly drawn animation, but
without the energy of a Miyazaki film. The studio said overseas
distribution plans have yet to be decided.
Maeda said he did not believe Ghibli could prosper without
Miyazaki's guiding hand. “Ghibli’s popularity, unlike Pixar or
Disney, depends on who directs its movies,” he said. “I don’t think
Ghibli without Miyazaki can succeed."
(Editing by Kevin Krolicki, Elaine Lies and Jeremy Laurence)
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