Studio Ghibli has now joined the wave of theme parks, and officially opened the world's first project to the public on November 1, restoring scenes from classic works such as "My Neighbor Totoro" to the real world.
For Studio Ghibli, people are most familiar with the classic animation works, but in recent years, the studio has also been involved in other fields, building art galleries, launching official stores to sell peripherals, and authorizing other companies to produce related products. Clothing and other commodities, the business continues to expand, making Ghibli more than just an animation studio.
The first theme park cost 34 billion yen
The sea train in "Spirited Away", Yu Po Po's studio, the home of Satsuki and Xiaomei in "My Neighbor Totoro", the Totoro who is taller than a human... All the classic scenes in animation, with the November 1 The official opening of the Japanese Ghibli theme park is reproduced.
The Ghibli theme park opened this time is located in the Expo area of Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya, Japan. Valley" 5 parks.
According to public information, the first phase of construction of the theme park has been completed, and three parks of about 3.4 hectares have opened. .
At present, the operation of Ghibli Theme Park chooses to enter the area, and does not sell admission tickets common to the three areas.
Among them, "Ghibli's Big Warehouse" has an adult ticket of 2,000 yen on weekdays and 2,500 yen on holidays; both "Youth Hill" and "My Neighbor Totoro Forest" have an adult ticket of 1,000 yen. JPY.
For children, 4-year-olds pay half the price of adults, and under 3 are free.
As Studio Ghibli's first theme park in the world, the project has received increasing attention since its construction plan was announced in 2017, and the investment is not a small amount.
According to media reports, the project cost 34 billion yen, and the Aichi prefectural government invested 19.3 billion yen in infrastructure construction and 50 million yen in the promotion of tourist attractions and local specialties in the prefecture.
But at the same time, it is also predicted that after all five theme parks are opened to the outside world, it is expected to attract 1.8 million tourists every year, and the economic benefits brought by this will reach 48 billion yen.
The transaction volume of NFTs has exceeded 200 million yen in the two months since its launch
As we all know, Studio Ghibli "works slowly and works carefully", only a 4-second clip can take more than a year, and it is not uncommon for a work to take several years. Although this brings quality assurance, it is cost pressure. It goes without saying that the annual personnel cost can be as high as 2 billion yen, and some industry insiders have revealed that about half of Studio Ghibli's works are losing money.
In order to make up for the operating pressure, in recent years, not only theme parks, but Studio Ghibli has already blossomed more in commercial operations, including the hot NFT, which has also become the goal of Studio Ghibli, "My Neighbor Totoro", "City in the Sky", A series of classic works such as "Princess Mononoke" have been produced as related products and sold on platforms such as Leza.
According to media reports, the original line drawing of the Totoro bus for "My Neighbor Totoro" was smashed to 27.5 million yen, and within two months after the related NFT products were launched, the transaction amount exceeded 200 million yen.
Before that, the "Ghibli Museum of Mitaka Mori", designed by Hayao Miyazaki himself and with an investment of about 5 billion yen, was opened to the public in October 2001, and has held the "Shinyin Girls Exhibition" and "Spirit of the Sky" so far. City and Fantasy Science and Machinery Exhibition” and many other exhibitions, attracting visitors.
In addition, Studio Ghibli has also deployed the official store online and offline simultaneously.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily found on the official website of Donguri, a boutique animation film boutique of Studio Ghibli, that the current 2023 calendar with the themes of "My Neighbor Totoro", "Witch's Delivery Service", "City in the Sky" and "Spirited Away" has been completed. It is on sale, and various daily necessities such as tableware, dolls, storage bags, and piggy banks are also on sale.
Among the many peripherals, "My Neighbor Totoro" is regarded as the most profitable work for Ghibli, and various peripheral products are endless.
But what many people don't know is that the Totoro doll was originally made not to increase box office revenue, but an unexpected gain.
According to public information, "My Neighbor Totoro" had been released for two years at that time, and a doll manufacturer took the initiative to find Studio Ghibli, saying "this is the role that should be made into a doll". Dolls are made and set on fire.
From animation but not stop at animation
Back in 1985, the animation studio "Ghibli" co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki was officially established with the publishing house Tokuma Bookstore as the center, mainly producing Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Director's theatrical animation.
At that time, it was extremely rare to focus on producing original theatrical animations like Ghibli, because each work had an unguaranteed box office risk, so most companies chose to produce relatively more stable TV animation series.
However, for the founder of Ghibli, TV animation cannot achieve his goals in terms of details and quality, so he runs the studio with the idea of continuing to operate a work if it succeeds and ending if it fails.
And in order to reduce the risk, Ghibli did not hire employees at that time, but created a work to call 70 staff members, and the team was disbanded after the work was completed.
In 1988, "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Grave of the Fireflies" were released in the same year. One won all the film awards in Japan that year, and the other was praised, making Ghibli his signature.
Released in 1989, "The Witch's Delivery Service" attracted 2.64 million people to watch the movie and became the most popular movie in Japan that year.
In order to ensure the treatment of the staff and cultivate new talents, Ghibli began to change its business model, including regular employees, and also decided to build a new studio to retain talents, which undoubtedly increased the operating pressure again. How to make each work better High box office has become a problem that Studio Ghibli must think about, and realize that publicity and other aspects should also be paid more attention.
In this regard, the studio not only chooses to release most of the works in the summer to create an atmosphere of "this summer, the topic of the must-see" atmosphere, the director and producer will also personally participate in the battle, and carry out publicity activities in many places across the country.
Gradually, the fields that Studio Ghibli has been involved in have also become more abundant. It is no longer limited to the original works of the studio, nor is it limited to animation works. The production of commercial advertisements and the planning of exhibitions are also involved in the field.
Up to now, Studio Ghibli has released more than 20 animated feature films, "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle", "Princess Mononoke" and "Ponyo on the Cliff" have all received box office of over 10 billion yen so far. In terms of revenue, the highest box office of a single film has exceeded 30 billion yen.
However, the challenges faced by Studio Ghibli have not completely disappeared. Problems such as over-reliance on Hayao Miyazaki and "slow work and careful work" lead to frequent delays in the completion period.
Now, what more fans are looking forward to is that Studio Ghibli's new work, Hayao Miyazaki's last animated film "How Do You Want to Live" revealed that it is expected to be released in 2023.
For future plans, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily contacted Ghibli, but no response was received as of press time.
In the opinion of film critic Liu He, the classic works of Studio Ghibli have established brand and market influence, and the surrounding industries around the content can also continue to bring income, but more importantly, the emergence of high-quality new works, this time Miyazaki Jun's new film enables the studio to inject fresh blood at the work level, and the accumulation of content can further promote the development of diversified businesses.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Zheng Rui