Studio Ghibli To Release Its First Wholly CGI Film, ‘Aya & The Witch’, In Winter
Image via cowardlion / Shutterstock.com
Studio Ghibli fans are in a treat for an upcoming film fully made through computer-generated imagery. The movie, Aya and the Witch, will make its debut on Japanese television in winter this year.
The Japanese animation studio, co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki, relied purely on hand-drawn animation before 1997’s Princess Mononoke. Since then, the studio has utilized computer animation on scenes that would be ineffective with traditional hand-drawn methods, amount to a small 10-percent of its work thus far.
Aya and the Witch will be Studio Ghibli’s first-ever film to be created fully through CGI, Variety reports.
Miyazaki had ventured into 3D CGI after his temporary departure from the studio in 2013. Though the upcoming film will be directed by his son, Goro, Miyazaki has been credited as a planner, so his exploration with CGI might still be involved, according to Polygon.
The 2020 film Aya and the Witch will be based on the children’s novel Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones, and will not be the first time the company has worked upon Jones’ novels. Previously, Studio Ghibli adapted one of her novels into the 2004 film Howl’s Moving Castle.
However, it is unclear when or if the animation will arrive in other parts of the world.
Miyazaki’s interest in 3D animation will be applied in the forthcoming film How Do You Live?, slated to arrive in 2023, and will likely be his last project with Studio Ghibli.
In the meantime, you can catch the full catalog of Studio Ghibli films exclusively on HBO Max.
[via Polygon, cover image via cowardlion / Shutterstock.com]
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