Two childhood dream-worlds potentially collide…
Over the past year, lockdown has made us all try news things. Whether it be a new sport, diet or fashion, there has been a lot of room and time for change. So a Studio Ghibli/Pixar crossover actually does not sound so farfetched, if the Ghibli twitter account is anything to go by.
The account @JP_GHIBLI posted to its 642k followers on May 13th what seemed to be an American twist to its classic 1989 films, My Neighbour Totoro. The picture depicts 2 characters from the CGI Pixar smash Monsters Inc. (Michael “Mike” Wazowski and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan) who join Totoro at the iconic forest bus stop as rain pours down around them. A recent article from HYPEBEAST claims, “The beloved scene has been featured on promotional posters for the film for many years and is easily recognisable by fans worldwide.”
This will not be the first time we have seen a crossover of the animation houses. In 2010’s Toy Story 3, a Totoro plushy toy made a cameo. The history of the two houses goes well further than that. Hayao Miyazaki of Ghibli and John Lasseter from Pixar are two creative minds that go way back.
SoraNews24 reported: “The two first met back in 1980, during pre-production talks for a proposed animated adaptation of Little Nemo.” And afterwards, Lasseter visited Japan, “he made sure to stop by the Ghibli Museum, where he drew a signed sketch of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story on a wall inside the projection room of the Saturn Theatre, which can still be seen to this day.”
So while there is yet to be collab of any kind soon, we know the possibilities of what could come if two great masterminds of child-like imagination can remain friends over the years. There is still time for them to join forces. Let’s wait and see…
