Studio Ghibli was briefly in the news earlier this week with word that Shimizu Takashi (The Grudge, Ju-on) would be directing a live-action adaptation of Eiko Kadono’s children’s fantasy novel Kiki’s Delivery Service.  Today, we’ve got a double-shot of Ghibli: a live-action short film titled Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo (Kyoshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru) from director Higuchi Shinji (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and new images from Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises.

The first one needs little explanation beyond the title, but it’s fun to see Studio Ghibli getting in on some live-action throwbacks to the days of Godzilla and Ultraman.  As for Miyazaki, The Wind Rises is based on his most recent comic and centers on Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed the Zero Fighter used by Japanese pilots in World War II.  Hit the jump to watch the short and to check out some images from Miyazaki’s new project. 

Fans of Studio Ghibli will be happy to hear they’ve added two new films to their upcoming slate from two of the medium’s most acclaimed directors.  First up from Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu). Based on his most recent comic, The Wind Rises centers on Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed the Zero Fighter used by Japanese pilots in World War II. In an interesting note, the manga’s characters happen to be anthropomorphic pigs.

Also added to Studio Ghibli’s list is Princess Kaguya Story (Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari), the new film from director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies). This film is based on the Japanese folk story, “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” which was also referenced in Takahata’s 1999 work, My Neighbors the Yamadas. Hit the jump for a look at images from Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises manga.

Back in August, we brought you the trailer for Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill, written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki.  Now, we have word that the English version has a planned theatrical release of March 15th, 2013.  Lending their voices to that version will be such top talent as Gillian Anderson, Ron Howard, Christina Hendricks, Jamie Lee Curtis and Beau Bridges, among others.  Hit the jump to see who else is joining the party, along with the synopsis for From Up on Poppy Hill.

Written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki, From Up on Poppy Hill is the latest animated film from Studio Ghibli to grace our shores.  Based on a popular manga by the same name, From Up on Poppy Hill follows a group of teens who attempt to prevent their school clubhouse from being demolished by a local developer.  The trailer steers away from that plot and focuses on an interesting dynamic between a young boy and girl.  From Up on Poppy Hill was released in Japan on July 16th of last year, but will be distributed domestically by GKIDS in March of next year.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

Hayao Miyazaki‘s last film was about the friendship between a goldfish and a five-year-old boy.  His next movie looks like it will be slightly more serious.  According to ANN [via  Twitch], the legendary director’s next film is based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi, “the man who designed the Zero fighter plane used in the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. Horikoshi was an aeronautical engineer who developed a number of military aircrafts, with Zero being his most famous invention.”  Miyazaki’s films are known for their supernatural and mystical aspects, so I’m not sure where they would fit into this story, if they do at all.  Based only on the subject matter, I’m reminded of another Studio Ghibli picture and one of the saddest movies ever made, Grave of the Fireflies (if you haven’t seen it, watch it and bring a crate of tissues).

Completion on Miyazaki’s untitled picture is slated for late 2013.

On Friday, Mondo will release two prints for Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro by Olly Moss because of course they are.  They already have licenses for Pixar, DC Comics, Star Trek, and eventually everything else you love or will ever love.  The Totoro poster coincides with the start of the IFC Center’s Studio Ghibli retrospective.  Mondo is also planning to release a poster for Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso.

The folks who pick up some Totoro greatness should know that their money will go to a good cause (an actual good cause, not getting an awesome poster for yourself).  Mondo and Studio Ghibli will donate all profits to Ghetto Film School, a non-profit organization of educators and students who share of storytelling and filmmaking.  Hit the jump for the press release and more details on the poster and its variant.  The posters will go on sale at a random time on Friday.  Be sure you’re following @MondoNews for the announcement.

Earlier this year I was able to do a Hayao Miyazaki retrospective through Netflix DVD rentals, but his films lose their cinematic scope on the small screen.  Characters in My Neighbor Totoro (tied with Spirited Away as my favorite Miyazaki film), Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind soar through the air through massive landscapes and it would be wonderful to see these movies in theaters.  Thankfully, that opportunity will come to New York’s IFC Center beginning December 16th when Studio Ghibli and distributor GKIDS do a 15-film retrospective, which will include Miyazaki’s films.  The retrospective will run until January 12th, feature new 35mm prints, and will run both subtitled and English-dubbed versions.

But it gets even better.  GKIDS plans to bring the retrospective to Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Toronto, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and other major markets in early 2012.  Fingers crossed one of those markets is Atlanta.  And even if it isn’t, GKIDS is also planning limited releases of select Studio Ghibli titles, many of which have never been released theatrically in the US.  If these movies swing by your city, make sure you check them out.  Hit the jump for the full press release and list of movies playing in the retrospective.  Advance tickets can be purchased at gkids.com.

Not every film from Studio Ghibli is a home run but they’re always worthy of attention, especially when they come from co-founders Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) and Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies).  Miyazaki has announced that he’s preparing a new film that’s an “autobiography” although he did not specify if it’s his autobiography or someone else’s.  It’s worth noting that last year Miyazaki said he’s considering a sequel to his 1992 film, Porco Rosso.  Whatever he chooses, don’t expect it any time soon since there’s usually a four-year wait between Miyazaki’s films (such is the nature of animation).

As for Takahata, he hasn’t directed a film since 1999′s My Neighbors the Yamadas but according to Twitch, he’s “reportedly working on a new film based on the classic Japanese tale about a princess who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a bamboo plant.”  That’s what makes bamboo so great: food for pandas, material for chairs, princess producer.  It’s a versatile plant.

Goro Miyazaki, son of legendary director Hayao Miyazaki, plans to adapt the 1980s manga Kokuriko-Zaka Kara for Studio Ghibli.  Collider reader Ettore alerted us to an article on the Anime News Network that the project was in development and set for release in Japan next summer.  Here’s the synopsis per ANN:

The story is set in Showa 38 (1963, a year before the Tokyo Olympics) and follows the coming of age of an ordinary, pigtailed high school girl named Komatsuzaki in Yokohama, a harbor city near Tokyo. Her sailor father went missing after an accident, and her photographer mother is frequently going abroad for work. The manga recounts Komatsuzaki’s everyday life of “laughter and tears” with a school newspaper member, the student council president, and other schoolmates.

Click here to check out the official website.  Hit the jump to learn about the reaction to Goro Miyazaki’s previous film, Tales from Earthsea.

Yesterday at the Rome International Film Festival, Koji Hoshino, president of the beloved Studio Ghibli, stated that that the company “will announce Ghibli’s new work on December 15,” but did not add any more details beyond that. There is speculation on whether Hoshino was referring to the possible Porco Rosso sequel that animation godfather and studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki mentioned to Cut magazine back in August. An article in Cinema Today expressed that it is still unknown whether this project will be something helmed by Miyazaki or a different director. Hit the jump to get my opinion on what this new project could be.

Along with attending Comic-con and E3, visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum in Japan completes the Holy Trinity of Geek Pilgrimages. The interactive museum, only nine years old, is a testament to Studio Ghibli’s popularity in Japan and around the world. The museum, designed by Ghibli head Hayao Miyazaki, is a bit on the small side—only two hours to fully explore—but since it is such a popular attraction tickets are often sold out for as much as a month in advance. After waiting said month I was finally able to go to Inokashira Park in Tokyo and experience it for myself. Hit the jump for more.

Master animator Hayao Miyazaki gave an interview to the Japanese magazine Cut recently in which he discussed Studio Ghibli’s possible future.  He talked about his own involvement in Ghibli’s upcoming films – which he hopes will include a sequel to his 1992 feature Porco Rosso – and the possible dissolution of the Oscar winning studio.

The proposed sequel, entitled Porco Rosso: The Last Sortie would put the pig-faced fighter pilot in the middle of the Spanish Civil War.  The chance that this will end up being Miyazaki’s next film are probably pretty slim, though, since the director is notorious for getting excited about projects and then moving onto something else before they come to fruition.  He personally courted Ursula K. LeGuin for years for the rights to make an Earthsea film, but when she finally signed them over to him, he passed the job on to son Goro (with less than spectacular results).  Even Miyazaki himself admitted in the Cut interview that a Porco sequel might not be worth seriously considering, dismissing it as “an old man’s hobby.” Hit the jump to read the full scoop on what’s coming up at Studio Ghibli and my own thoughts on the chances of us every seeing Porco fly again.

The release of a Studio Ghibli animated film is always a hotly anticipated event in Japan. The animation studio, whose head Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) is regarded as the “Walt Disney of Japan,” has been enchanting audiences worldwide since the premiere of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in 1984. Its latest film, The Borrowers, the work of long-time animator/first-time director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, bowed recently in Japan. Released over a holiday weekend, the film racked up approximately $15.5 million in ticket sales out of 447 screens and secured 1st place at the box office. The movie is based on Mary Norton’s book The Borrowers, the first in her five-book series chronicling the adventures of a diminutive family who make their life underneath the floorboards of a large house by borrowing small items from the big people. The film is a breezy, fanciful work which lives up to the Studio Ghibli banner. For the full review, hit the jump.

Four years after its Japanese release, Tales from Earthsea is finally coming to America.  Back in 2006 and 2007 most of the world got to see Studio Ghibli’s “Gedo Senki”, an adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea novels.  The film could not be released in the US, however, because SyFy owned the screen rights to the Earthsea property.  Now that those rights have expired, Disney is giving the film a limited release in the U.S. on August 13th. We are proud to premiere the gorgeous poster for the film.

Tales from Earthsea was directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Ponyo).  The elder Miyazaki is the greatest director of animated films the world has ever seen and it will be very interesting to see how much of his brilliance was passed on to his son.  To find showtimes and to see the amazing poster for Tales from Earthsea hit the jump.

It was less than fifteen years ago that Toy Story debuted for the Holiday season of 1995. At the time Disney was taking a chance with an entirely computer animated film, especially after their amazing resurgence and recent run of cel animated films – they were only a year off of The Lion King. Now, Pixar essentially runs Disney animation and cel animation is the experiment – completely out of fashion in part due to Disney ruining the brand name (and to some extent DreamWorks making equally mediocre films). But you can’t blame Pixar for being good, and it was the wild success of the Toy Story films that helped cement their legacy. They tell the story of Woody (Tom Hanks), a cowboy doll who is ousted from his position as the sole favorite toy by Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and how the two go on an adventure in the real world. The sequel has the duo facing a toy kidnapper (Wayne Knight), who wants to send Woody to Japan with the toy line he originally came from while Woody confronts his own mortality. My review of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on Blu-ray after the jump.