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Two days of speculation about the mysterious project between Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilms brings to fruition an exciting announcement. The two productions will be releasing a hand-drawn animated original short called Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies on Disney+ on November 12, 2022.
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The announcement looks to be the climax of the continuous tease by Studio Ghibli, as it finally discloses that the legendary Japanese animation studio will indeed be collaborating with Lucasfilm on a certain project.
Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilms announces the release date for the upcoming collaboration project
Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies will be premiering exclusively on Disney+. The original short is directed by Katsuya Kondo and will feature music by Ludwig Göransson. It comes at a time when the third anniversary of the premiere of The Mandalorian is upon us, with the short being launched in honor of the series.
Grogu, lovingly known as Baby Yoda, made his debut in The Mandalorian and has since taken the galaxy by storm. Meanwhile, the dust bunnies already made an appearance in Studio Ghibli's much-acclaimed movies - Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. In Japan, they are known as susuwatari, which translates to "wandering soot" in English.
Starting on November 10, 2022, Studio Ghibli took to Twitter to share a brief video of Lucasfilm's logo, followed by its own. This sparked discussions within the anime and Star Wars community that led the internet to believe that the two companies would soon be collaborating on a spectacular project.
As such, Ghibli continued to tease the collaborations in the next couple of hours. Moreover, the teasers also featured a figure of Grogu and the noticeably blurred-out director Hayao Miyazaki in the background.
Earlier this week, when the news first broke, speculations began to arise regarding the upcoming project, which could somehow be connected to the critically acclaimed series Star Wars: Visions. What surprised the series' fans into thinking was that the franchise was joining hands with the animation studio.
However, this collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm is not going to be for Star Wars: Visions, but for an original short. Nonetheless, it is a milestone union between the two huge creative companies.
Ghibli first started out in 1985, thanks to the joint collaboration of Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki. The studio soon evolved to be one of the leading production and animation houses in the country, heralding several famed projects like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
As for Lucasfilms, it was founded by George Lucas in the year 1971. It stood up to be a production house owned by Disney and is now responsible for mega franchises such as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Willow, and many others.
