Spirited Away ranks among those award-winning animated films that behold their viewers’ interest till the end. The credit for writing and directing this film goes to Hayao Miyazaki from Japan. All kudos to Miyazaki who did wonderful scripting for this animated film and made it worth watching for the audience.
He decided that the film must revolve around a ten-year-old girl who is the daughter of his associate producer friend, who made constant visits to his house every summer. During that time, the scriptwriter Miyazaki was working on the development of two personal projects that faced rejection.
The production of the Japanese animated film Spirited Away started with a budget of US$19 million in the year 2000. John Lasseter, a friend of scriptwriter Miyazaki, who is an animator from Pixar persuaded the well-known film production studio from America to purchase the distribution rights (North American). He even became the executive producer for the English version.
After that John hired Kirk and Donald Ernst for the direction and production tasks. And the scripting of dialogues in the English language for matching Japanese lip sync was done by Donald Hewitt and Cindy. The original release of Spirited Away took place in 2001 by a distribution company in Japan. The animated film did a wonderful worldwide business with more than $300 million at the box office.
Spirited Away is counted among the top blockbuster films of the 21st century. At IMDb, it came under the top 30 movies of the high rated category. It made history in Japanese cinema as being the highest-grossing animated film. It continued its record for nineteen years until it was superseded by another top high grosser animated movie, Demon Slayer in the last year (2020).
The Japanese animated movie also got several prestigious awards including Golden Bear and others. Let us know more about this fabulous movie and find out whether there is a possibility of the release of Spirited Away 2 in this article.
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Show Details
| TV Series: | Spirited Away |
| Genre: | Animated fantasy & Japanese folklore |
| Directed by: | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Produced by: | Toshio Suzuki |
| Place: | Japan |
| Voice-Over artists: | Rumi Hiiragi, Mari Natsuki, Miyu Irino & others |
| Original language: | Japanese |
| Release date: | July 20, 2001 (Japan)
December 20, 2002 (United States) |
| Cinematography: | Atsushi Okui |
Story Plot
Spirited Away comes up with an interesting storyline revolving around the main character Chihiro. She is a minor girl who enters an abandoned village while coming to a new place.
When Chihiro enters the abandoned village, she discovers a world of spirits. There lives a fearsome witch named Yubaba. She is also a sorcerer who makes her parents turn into pigs.
To save herself and her parents and bring them in their human form, she opts to work in a bathhouse after much-repeated requests to Yubaba. Initially, she makes all possible efforts to scare her, but when she finds Chihiro being unaffected, she hires her for the job in the bathhouse.
Then starts the adventure of Chihiro in her quest to save her parents and get them back into human form. The movie might have come long ago. But having a wonderful script makes this movie worth watching again and again. The movie ends up with the shapeshifting character Haku promising to meet Chihiro once again.
Will There Be A Sequel to the Spirited Away Movie?
After the tremendous success of the Spirited Away movie, fans are expecting the sequel of this movie. And if we go by rumors, then yes there were talks about the Spirited Away 2. It has been a long time since this Japanese animated movie hit the screens. But it seems fans are still craving to watch the new sequel.
They are curious to see the re-meeting of Haku and Chihiro, as per the promise they made to each other. When the rumor of Spirited Away 2 came every year, it made many fans jump with excitement. But sadly, there is no truth about it. If we look at the achievement of the Spirited Away movie, then its sequel could have taken place much before in previous years.
The way this Japanese animated film got so much applause from its fans, so it is natural to expect the return of this blockbuster film. But the creators of the movie seem adamant about the solo movie plan. Once there came an announcement by a Japanese film studio company regarding the director of the Spirited Away movie coming up with a new fascinating script.
All thought it to be the great news of the Spirited Away sequel movie, but it turned out to be the storyline of some other movie. Now it has been so many years gone by, still, there are no official announcements from the creators for the upcoming sequel Spirited Away 2. So it is an indication to all the fans to put an end to their expectations regarding the sequel of this famous animated movie.
No Sequel Policy Of Studio Ghibli
Going with the policy of the Japanese animated film company Studio Ghibli, they are not in favor of coming up with second parts or sequels. They don’t find it necessary at all. Even if any movie becomes a blockbuster hit, still, it won’t matter to them in working upon the follow-up of that movie. Everyone is familiar with this image of Studio Ghibli.
Now you might think that if this studio company remains adamant about their no-sequel policy, then they might be at the losing end in terms of potential profits. However, this film company is much concerned about its own profit-making by getting much credibility from their viewers. Now it might seem bad or good, but one thing seems to be sure, that there will be no sequel of Spirited Away coming up.
Hence people won’t be able to watch the reunion of Haku and Chihiro as per the promise they made with each other during the final closure of the animated movie. So, guys, I think it’s enough to make you understand that there is no hope of Spirited Away 2. Now bury all your expectations.
