In 2014, Miyazaki announced that he was retiring from filmmaking. He had received an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Awards. He told reporters that there would be no more films created from his pen. He would not be making any more features. He also confirmed that Studio Ghibli would be closing up shop on new films. He thinks the time of pencil, paper and film is coming to an end.
Before I start opening up old wounds and we all ugly cry over the memories, I've got some news!
Guess what? Hayao Miyazaki is returning to the film world to direct his first computer-animated short film! This news started spreading back in 2015. This will definitely be interesting to see since he's famous for all of his hand-drawn, beautiful, animated feature films. He may have announced his retirement back in 2014, but he told reporters when he received his honorary Oscar that he intends to work until the day he dies. He retired from making feature-length films, but not from animation. He believes that hand-drawn animation will eventually fade away which is really unfortunate. No release plans for the short film have been announced.
So, Miyazaki is back! I'm definitely going to miss his hand-drawn feature films. It's sad to know that there will be no more of those to look forward to in the future. We can still look back and appreciate all of the work that he shared with us over time.
What do you guys think? What's your favorite Hayao Miyazaki film?
-Kacy