Studio Ghibli, the Japanese maker of animated films including Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke, has agreed to be taken over by Nippon Television Holdings.
The deal will be completed in October, the Tokyo-based broadcaster announced overnight.
Although the animation studio has produced several hundred-million dollar revenue films, it has been involved in tussles over their distribution rights around the world, including a long, fractious relationship with The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS).
Ghibli's president Toshio Suzuki, aged 75, will be chairman of the animator, while co-creator and animation guru Hayao Miyazaki, now 82, will be honorary chairman.
Both sides approved the deal late on Thursday, according to local reports, amid speculation over the future leadership of the studio due to the age of its senior leaders.
“For a long time, it has been a concern who will take over the studio,” Studio Ghibli said in a statement.
Goro Miyazaki, eldest son of the co-founder and Ghibli's animation director, did not want the responsibility of being CEO, the statement said.
Therefore, Nippon TV said it will handle management operations, allowing Ghibli to focus more on the creative side.
Spirited history
Founded in 1985 by Suzuki, Miyazaki and the late director Isao Takahata, Ghibli has often been referred to as the 'Japanese Disney'.
But Ghibli had a fractious relationship over its global distribution deal with Disney, which ran from 1996 until its unceremonious end in 2020.
With new owners, it opens the possibility of a new relationships with Disney and other streaming giants, though most of its films are currently available on Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) and an agreement has been made with HBO Max.
Its biggest selling title, Spirited Away, still one of the highest-grossing films in Japanese history, is the only ever foreign language winner of the Oscar for best animated feature, and made huge sales around the world despite criticism that Disney 'sabotaged' its wider release.
There were similar battles over Mononoke (also a one-time record-grossing film in Japan) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with Miyazaki refusing the requests from US producers and the Japanese producers sending Harvey Weinstein a samurai sword with two words engraved on it: "No cuts".
Ghibli's highest grossing films worldwide
Studio Ghibli recently confirmed the first UK screening of its new movie The Boy and the Heron will be at this year's BFI London Film Festival.
While the studio has a large following around the world, its name is not as well known outside Japan as it could be.
But still Ghibli has made six films that have generated gross box office takings in the hundreds of millions, along with several other fan favourites:
- Spirited Away (2001) $365 million
- Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - $236 million
- Ponyo (2008) - $203 million
- Princess Mononoke (1997) - $169,785,629
- The Secret World Of Arrietty (2010) - $149,184,563
- The Wind Rises (2013) - $136,454,220
- From Up On Poppy Hill (2011) - $61,459,425
- When Marnie Was There (2014) - $34,949,567
- My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - $30,477,153
- The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (2013) - $24,638,337