Ghibli’s Theme Park Will Cement the Beloved Studio’s Global Legacy
by Bea CaicoyaStudio Ghibli, the beloved animation studio co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki, is in the midst of expanding its legacy on the world stage. After signing streaming distribution deals with HBO and Netflix, it's also building a theme park that will open its doors in 2022, bringing to life iconic fictional worlds and characters like Totoro, Howl and Princess Mononoke. With all of these projects, it's safe to say that Studio Ghibli's work, which has shaped many people’s childhoods, will carry on to the next generation.
The construction of an entire park dedicated to Ghibli's films marks the beginning of a new era for the company. Just like other animation studios before it, Ghibli's evolution started with handcrafted animated films, made with heart and soul and aimed at children and adults, and continued with the regular release of a full-length feature film every two years or so, carving a reliable space in the childhood of the studio's growing, international fanbase. Now that those '90s and '00s kids have grown up and are starting to have their own children, Ghibli is bringing them the ultimate gift: a physical space where parents can share their favorite childhood films with their kids by stepping inside a magic kingdom.
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Following in the footsteps of Disney and Warner Bros., Studio Ghibli wants to shape a part of the world in its image to bridge the gap between beloved fantasy and reality, inviting fans to join its universe in an immersive experience very different from any other amusement park in the world.
"Ghibliland" will also provide a capital for fans of the studio, who up, until now, were constrained to the Ghibli Museum and the lonely reproduction of Satsuki and Mei's house. From a purely economic perspective, it is a fantastic opportunity that will create many jobs in the Aichi area, as well as the chance to organize special events for fans, becoming an unmissable stop in Japanese itineraries and a steady source of income.
As a reference point, in 2014 almost a third of Disney's revenue came from its theme parks around the world, and while operating these is a very expensive affair, Disney makes up for it by selling overpriced merchandise, food and drinks inside the parks. Who wouldn't want to taste Ponyo's ramen or any of the delicious food items that appear in Spirited Away? What about eggs and bacon cooked over a reluctant Calcifer, on your way to buying your own magic broom next to a Kiki's Delivery Service bakery?
Ghibli's theme park is being built on Aichi Commemorative Park, an exhibition area close to Nagoya that has housed temporary Ghibli exhibitions in the past, and still hosts a perfect life-size reproduction of Satsuki and Mei's house in the film My Neighbour Totoro open to the public. So far, the plans look like the natural expansion of its museum in Tokyo, a tourist landmark of the city that attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.
Miyazaki's original plans for his Ghibliland banned almost all technology-based rides, choosing instead to honor slow-paced attractions and the lush forests and greenery of the area. The new plans are relatively sedate, particularly when one compares them with Disney's state-of-the-art rides and light shows, but the aesthetics behind both parks have the same source: mixing an idealized version of their creator's country with the magical kingdoms immortalized in their movies. Where Disneyworld's Main Street was inspired by European-style buildings and idealized small-town America, "Ghibliland" is drawing inspiration from the Japanese countryside culture and the magical architecture of Southern and Central Europe.
Miyazaki, just like Disney, seems to be feeling the pressure to deliver a spectacular gift to the world before he goes. He opened up about this when he talked about his upcoming project, How Do You Live?, explaining that it was dedicated to his grandchild, so that even though he would have moved on, his grandson would still have the film. The final push to build the Ghibli Park, Aichi Prefecture's permit approval, arrived very shortly after the death of Isao Takahata, his colleague and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, as well as the producer of Nausicä of the Valley of the Wind and the director of, The Tale of Princess Kaguya. Miyazaki and Takahata had a "love-hate" relationship through the years, but the park could provide a way to physically honor the industry icon's legacy.
Walt Disney's obsessive involvement in Disneyworld's development is well-known and documented, but Hayao Miyazaki is not far behind. Ghibli producer and former President, Toshio Suzuki, told Variety that Miyazaki “is really worried about the Ghibli park. He can’t leave anything up to other people. He’s a meddlesome old man," even though his only son, Goro Miyazaki, is technically in charge of the project. "He is not the type to look on supportively from a distance,” Suzuki added. “He starts in right away with ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that.’”
Although Studio Ghibli has taken many more years than Disney to build a world in its own image, the feat is just as impressive. Since 1985, Studio Ghibli has been delivering stunning films at a steady pace that feed children and adults all over the world a steady diet of premium Japanese animation and storytelling. Whether they tackle Japanese legends, British children's authors or historical fiction, the studio's films evoke the same feeling in many people as Disney classics do on a wider scale, and now, fans will be able to literally step into their childhood memories with their own kids.
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