Studio Ghibli Sold to Nippon TV

Image: Frazer Harrison (Getty Images)

Studio Ghibli, the animation studio co-founded by famed director Hayao Miyazaki, has been sold. According to AP, the studio will become a subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corp. This deal was reportedly discussed last year when producer Toshio Suzuki approached a Nippon TV executive in an effort to preserve Ghibli as its two leading creatives age and begin to think (maybe earnestly, in Miyazaki’s case) about retirement.

AP states that Nippon TV wants to “[honor] its creative independence so it can focus on animation and other artistic projects.” While Miyazaki’s son, Goro Miyazaki, an animation director himself, had been eyed to succeed his father, AP reports that “he had expressed doubts, saying the responsibility was too great.”

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