When Marnie Was There may be Studio Ghibli's final film, if rumours¹ of the Japanese animation² studio's imminent³ closure are true.

 

The reports come from a Ghibli insider, who told Japanese website News Cafe (via Kotaku) that there have been changes afoot（在进行中） in the studio responsible for family favourites such as My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

 

Studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki retired⁴ last summer, after completing The Wind Rises. Earlier this year co-founder and producer Toshio Suzuki stopped producing films and became Ghibli's general manager.

 

Although the reports have been unconfirmed, the source told News Cafe that financial reasons made it likely that When Marnie Was There would be the Ghibli's final film before they just "manage the copyrights", or make money from, their older material.

 

Ghibli's films are made by full-time⁵ staff working in Japan, making them very expensive to produce. Furthermore, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun revealed last autumn that The Wind Rises had yet to make a profit and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, also released in 2013, made 5.1 billion yen⁶, the equivalent of £29 million, and was considered a flop⁷ by the studio due to its production costs.

 

The source said: "There's no choice but to dissolve（解散） the studio, because it's unable cross the high hurdle⁸ of announcing a new film on an annual basis."

 

It's not the first time Miyazaki has mentioned the dissolution of the studio. In 2010 he spoke⁹ of plans which look remarkably¹⁰ similar to those rumoured¹¹ here in an interview with Cut Magazine. "Suzuki-san is making a dissolution program for Ghibli.

 

"No joke, we talked about it the other day. For example, Ghibli should be able to continue with about five staff members as a copyright management company even if we smash the studio. So, Ghibli can say 'We stop film production. Goodbye'. I do not have to be there."

 

When Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin met Miyazaki earlier this year, the studio co-founder suggested Ghibli would be taking a break: "We have no future plans. We just want to take some time off," he said.

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