Nothing looks or feels as good as a Studio Ghibli movie. The storied animation studio, whose acclaimed filmography has been shaped by master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, has mastered a kind of style that can never be replicated, and it’s turned its films (rightfully) into classics. There’s an alchemy to the way Ghibli characters move, a hypnotic bent to its depiction of nature. It makes the idea of a remake feel utterly unnecessary — but as the years pass and Ghibli’s films get older, it’s all but inevitable. What’s more, a handful are also based on preexisting works (think Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle), making the idea all the more plausible.
One Ghibli classic has already gotten the live-action treatment: in 2014, The Grudge director Takashi Shimizu helmed a feature-length adaptation of Kiki’s Delivery Service. And soon, the same story will be remade again.
