Studio Ghibli continues to set the standard on screen with the release of The Boy and the Heron, with a new report revealing the studio’s worth.
A new report from the reliable Tadashi Sudo at Animation Business Journal (ABJ) crunched the numbers from Nippon Television Holdings’ financial results dated November 2, 2023. Nippon TV previously owned 14.86% Studio Ghibli. It was revealed that in acquiring the studio, Nippon TV paid 10 billion yen to increase its stake to 42.43%. ABJ reported that this would value Studio Ghibli at around 36.6 billion yen, marking the highest valuation ever for an animation studio that has undergone mergers and acquisitions in Japan. By comparison, the 2007 merger between manga publisher Mag Garden (Aria, Elemental Gelade) and Production IG (Heavenly Delusion, Psycho-Pass, Ghost in the Shell), which formed IG Port, was valued at just 20 billion yen.
Studio Ghibli’s valuation is still significantly lower than the 600 billion of Toei Animation, known in recent years for One Piece, Dragon Ball Super and The First Slam Dunk, all of which achieved great financial success. main. However, this valuation represents great confidence in Studio Ghibli, a company that Nippon TV has promised will have a guaranteed future and uncompromised creativity.
Fans won’t have to wait long to see the magic of Ghibli on the big screen, with The Boy and the Heron opening in North America on December 8, 2023. New trailer features the English dub cast was revealed on November 2, featuring Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Florence Pugh and Studio Ghibli returnee Christian Bale, who later also voiced Howl in Howl’s Moving Castle.
GKIDS is the North American distributor of The Boy and the Heron and describes the plot as follows: “A boy named Mahito longs for his mother to venture into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death ends, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death and creativity, a tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.”
Source: Animation Business Magazine