Studio Ghibli has revealed a first look at its new Ghibli Park attraction, which is scheduled to open in Japan on Nov. 1.
The celebrated animation studio unveiled the new park with a teaser video and a series of pictures posted to the company's official Twitter account. The video begins by showing off several other famous historical landmarks located in Aichi, Japan, where the park is currently being constructed. The trailer then ends with an in-depth look at one of the theme park's new attractions, a painstakingly screen-accurate recreation of Satsuki and Mei's home from My Neighbor Totoro. The Totoro section of the park will also include a recreation of the movie's shrine and the path leading up to it, as well as a 17-foot tall statue of the movie's titular character, which kids will be able to play inside of.
The theme park will be roughly four times the size of the Ghibli Museum located in Mitaka, Tokyo. In addition to the Totoro area, the park will also feature a recreations of the village from Princess Mononoke and locations from Kiki's Delivery Service. There will also be a stationary version of Howl's moving castle, as well as one of the airships from Castle in the Sky. The location will also house an attraction called the Giant Ghibli Warehouse, which will be themed after the world of Spirited Away.
Plans for Ghibli Park were first announced in 2017, and the attraction was originally planned to open in 2020. The theme park is being constructed in Aichi's Expo Park, which hosted The World's Fair in 2005, and was also previously the venue for two official Studio Ghibli exhibitions in 2008 and 2015. The attraction's backers have stated that they hope that Ghibli Park will attract both domestic and foreign tourists, though Ghibli fans may want to hold back on making any travel reservations at this moment, as Japan has currently placed restrictions on international travel into the country due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by producer Toshio Suzuki and the acclaimed anime directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. The studio has produced countless critically acclaimed animated movies, the most notable of which is 2001's Spirited Away, which was the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Miyazaki is currently working on his next movie, How Do You Live, which is inspired by the 1937 novel of the same name by Yoshino Genzaburo. The film currently has no official release date.