Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was Studio Ghibli founded?
These works were not created by Studio Ghibli, but were produced by a variety of studios and people who went on to form or join Studio Ghibli. This includes members of Topcraft that went on to create Studio Ghibli in 1985; works produced by Toei Animation, TMS Entertainment, Nippon Animation or other studios and featuring involvement by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata or other Ghibli staffers. The list also includes works created in cooperation with Studio Ghibli.
Hayao Miyazaki made his credited directorial debut in 1979 with "The Castle of Cagliostro", a film which was a distinct departure from the antics of the "Lupin III" franchise, but still went on to receive the Ofuji Noburo Award at the 1979 Mainichi Film Concours. Although "Cagliostro" was not a box office success, Toshio Suzuki, editor of the magazine "Animage", was impressed by the film and encouraged Miyazaki to produce works for "Animage's" publisher, Tokuma Shoten. Miyazaki's film ideas were rejected, and Tokuma asked him to do a manga: this led to the creation of "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind". Miyazaki began writing and drawing the manga in 1979, and it quickly became "Animage's" most popular feature. Hideo Ogata and Yasuyoshi Tokuma, the founders of "Animage" and Tokuma Shoten respectively, encouraged Miyazaki to work on a film adaptation. Miyazaki initially refused, but agreed on the condition that he could direct.
The studio was founded in April 1997 as part of Ubisoft's growth into worldwide markets, with subsidies from the governments of Montreal, Quebec, and Canada to help create new multimedia jobs. The studio's initial products were low-profile children's games based on existing intellectual property. Ubisoft Montreal's break-out titles was 2002's "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" and 2003's "". Subsequently, the studio continued to develop sequels and related games in both series, and developing its own intellectual properties through the "Assassin's Creed", "Far Cry", "Watch Dogs", and "For Honor".
Founded in 2003 in Singapore as a means to tap into the talent pool, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore (LAS) opened its doors in October 2005. LAS works closely with Lucasfilm Animation. The LAS production schedule also includes contributions to projects from other Lucasfilm companies. While the largest of LAS’ production groups focused on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", in July 2006 LAS announced the creation of the Game Group and the Digital Artists Group (DAG). With difficulty in meeting the technical and aesthetic requirements of Clone Wars, LAS was ultimately removed from the production and released a number of employees.
Since its initial serialization, "Nausicaä" has become a commercial success, particularly in Japan, where at least 11 million copies have been sold. The manga and the 1984 film adaptation, written and directed by Miyazaki following the serialization of the manga's first sixteen chapters, received universal acclaim from critics and scholars for its characters, themes, and art. The manga and film versions of "Nausicaä" are also credited for the foundation of Studio Ghibli, the animation studio for which Miyazaki created several of his most recognized works.
Pixar got its start in 1974 when New York Institute of Technology's (NYIT) founder Alexander Schure, who was also the owner of a traditional animation studio, established the Computer Graphics Lab (CGL), recruited computer scientists who shared his ambitions about creating the world's first computer-animated film. Edwin Catmull and Malcolm Blanchard were the first to be hired and were soon joined by Alvy Ray Smith and David DiFrancesco some months later, which were the four original members of the Computer Graphics Lab. Schure kept pouring money into the computer graphics lab, an estimated $15 million, giving the group everything they desired and driving NYIT into serious financial troubles. Eventually, the group realized they needed to work in a real film studio in order to reach their goal. Francis Ford Coppola then invited Smith to his house for a three-day media conference, where Coppola and George Lucas shared their visions for the future of digital moviemaking.
And when Lucas approached them and offered them a job at his studio, six employees decided to move over to Lucasfilm. During the following months, they gradually resigned from CGL, found temporary jobs for about a year to avoid making Schure suspicious, before they joined The Graphics Group at Lucasfilm.
Hybride Technologies in Piedmont, Quebec, is a technology company founded in 1991. Its main role is to create visual effects for films and TV shows, and had contributed to films such as "Jurassic World" and "". The company was acquired by Ubisoft in 2008. The company has a second office co-located with Ubisoft Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, which was opened in February 2016.
Sony has since created numerous other film production and distribution units, such as creating Sony Pictures Classics for art-house fare, by forming Columbia TriStar Pictures (also known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group) by merging Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures in 1998, revitalizing Columbia's former television division Screen Gems. It expanded its operations on April 8, 2005, when a Sony-led consortium acquired the legendary Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in a US$4.8 billion leveraged buyout, through the holding company MGM Holdings Inc.
In early 2013, the company launched the documentary short “Bob the Baker,” the first film in what would become the company's. Once Films would go on to produce 5 more films in the series in 2014 while growing its rolodex of clients and hiring several full-time staffers. By the end of 2015, Once Films had completed nearly 200 films for projects in the St. Louis area and across the country.
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (or SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio founded in 2002 as the successor to Columbia TriStar Television. Based in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment and a unit of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.
"Mobile Fighter G Gundam" was produced by Sunrise in association with advertising agencies Sotsu and Dentsu, and toy company Bandai. The series was created to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the "Gundam" franchise, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino in 1979. "G Gundam" was directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa, known for his work on the "Giant Robo" and "Getter Robo Armageddon" original video animations (OVAs). "G Gundam" was chiefly written and supervised by Fuyunori Gobu, a veteran screenwriter for various Sunrise properties such as "Shippū! Iron Leaguer" and "The King of Braves GaoGaiGar". Many of the principal production crew members for "G Gundam" were carried over the previous season's "Mobile Suit Victory Gundam", including character designer Hiroshi Ōsaka and mechanical designers Kunio Okawara and Hajime Katoki. Manga artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto collaborated on the show's character designs. Kimitoshi Yamane acted as a back-up mechanical designer and has since worked on Sunrise's acclaimed series "Cowboy Bebop" and "The Vision of Escaflowne". Hirotoshi Sano, previously credited for "Tekkaman Blade", was responsible for directing the mechanical animation in "G Gundam", but also produced much of show's promotional artwork seen on home media covers. The musical score for "G Gundam" was composed by Kohei Tanaka. The opening theme song "Flying in the Sky" performed by Hitofumi Ushima and the closing theme by Etsuko Sai are played for the first 25 episodes of the series. The opening theme "Trust You Forever" by Ushima and the closing theme by Takehide Inoue are played for the remaining episodes.
Following the success of "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind", Yasuyoshi Tokuma, the founder of Tokuma Shoten, encouraged Miyazaki to work on a film adaptation. Miyazaki initially refused, but agreed on the condition that he could direct. Miyazaki's imagination was sparked by the mercury poisoning of Minamata Bay and how nature responded and thrived in a poisoned environment, using it to create the film's polluted world. Miyazaki and Takahata chose the minor studio Topcraft to animate the film, as they believed its artistic talent could transpose the sophisticated atmosphere of the manga to the film. Pre-production began on May 31, 1983; Miyazaki encountered difficulties in creating the screenplay, with only sixteen chapters of the manga to work with. Takahata enlisted experimental and minimalist musician Joe Hisaishi to compose the film's score. "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" was released on March 11, 1984. It grossed ¥1.48 billion at the box office, and made an additional ¥742 million in distribution income. It is often seen as Miyazaki's pivotal work, cementing his reputation as an animator. It was lauded for its positive portrayal of women, particularly that of main character Nausicaä. Several critics have labeled "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" as possessing anti-war and feminist themes; Miyazaki argues otherwise, stating that he only wishes to entertain. The successful cooperation on the creation of the manga and the film laid the foundation for other collaborative projects. In April 1984, Miyazaki opened his own office in Suginami Ward, naming it Nibariki.
In 1983, Nolan Bushnell founded a new computer-guided animation studio called Kadabrascope as a subsidiary of his Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatres company (PTT), which was founded in 1977. Only one major project was made out of the new studio, an animated Christmas movie for NBC starring Chuck E. Cheese and other PTT mascots. The animation movement would be made using tweening instead of traditional cel animation. After the North American Video Game Crash of 1983, Bushnell started selling some subsidiaries of PTT to keep the business afloat. Sente Technologies (another division, was founded to have games distributed in PTT stores) was sold to Bally Games and Kadabrascope was sold to Lucasfilm. The Kadabrascope assets were combined with the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. Coincidentally, one of Steve Jobs' first jobs was under Bushnell in 1973 as a technician at his other company Atari, which Bushnell sold to Warner Communications in 1976 to focus on PTT. PTT would later go bankrupt in 1985 and be acquired by ShowBiz Pizza Place.
Ubisoft Quebec was announced on 11 April 2005, and was effectively opened 2 June 2005. In June 2008, Ubisoft Quebec ramped up its computer-generated imagery business to work on movies in conjunction with Guillemot. The unit was closed down again with the foundation of Ubisoft Motion Pictures in May 2011. On 3 November 2011, Ubisoft acquired a Quebec City-based development division of Longtail Studios, of which 48 employees were merged into Ubisoft Quebec, while 6–7, including the division's manager, departed.
There are four animated feature films based on the "Bleach" series, all of which are directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. The films were released annually each December starting in 2006, though none were released in 2009. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement.
Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. LLC is the animation division of Lucasfilm, established in 2003. Its first major production was the feature film "" and its . In September 2016, Dave Filoni, known for his contributions to "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels", accepted a promotion to oversee the development of all future Lucasfilm Animation projects.
After the completion of "Banjo", the studio moved out of Bluth's house and into a two-story facility in nearby Studio City. The studio's first commission was to produce a two-minute animated sequence for the song “Don't Walk Away” in the live-action musical "Xanadu". The brief sequence might ordinarily have taken four or five months to produce; Bluth's studio completed it in under three. The studio then started work on its first feature film, an adaptation of the Newbery Medal-winning children's book "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH". Backed by Aurora Productions, "The Secret of NIMH" started production in 1980 and was completed in 1982. Though generally well received by critics, who praised the richness and fluidity of the animation, some found the narrative unsatisfying. "The Secret of NIMH" returned only a modest box office performance, which was blamed on distributor MGM/UA's poor promotion, regionally staggered releases and competition from "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", which had been released the previous month (which most likely brought "NIMH" nearly into obscurity). Between this and an industry-wide animators strike in 1982, the studio found itself in financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy.
All four feature films based on the "Bleach" series were directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement. "", was released in Japan on December 16, 2006 and had a limited release in American theaters in June 2008. The second film, "", was released to Japanese theaters on December 22, 2007. The third film, "", was released in Japan on December 13, 2008. The fourth movie, "", was released in Japan on December 4, 2010.
The Graphics Group, which was one-third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm, was launched in 1979 with the hiring of Catmull from NYIT, where he was in charge of the Computer Graphics Lab. He was then reunited with Smith, who also made the journey from NYIT to Lucasfilm, and was made director of The Graphics Group. At NYIT, the researchers pioneered many of the CG foundation techniques—in particular the invention of the alpha channel (by Catmull and Smith). Years later, the CGL produced a few frames of an experimental film called "The Works". After moving to Lucasfilm, the team worked on creating the precursor to RenderMan, called REYES (for "renders everything you ever saw") and developed a number of critical technologies for CG—including "particle effects" and various animation tools.
"Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket" was produced by animation studio Sunrise in association with toy company Bandai. Kenji Uchida was the former representative and Minoru Takanashi was the latter's producer. The series was created to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the "Gundam" franchise, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino in 1979. "War in the Pocket" was directed by Fumihiko Takayama, known for his work on "Orguss 02" and "", marking the first time anyone other than Tomino directed a "Gundam" show. The screenplay was written by Hiroyuki Yamaga, with scenario by , while the character designer for this series was Haruhiko Mikimoto.
GitHub was developed by Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett, Tom Preston-Werner and Scott Chacon using Ruby on Rails, and started in February 2008. The company, GitHub, Inc., has existed since 2007 and is located in San Francisco.
On August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten formed a partnership in which Buena Vista Pictures would be the sole international distributor for Tokuma Shoten's Studio Ghibli animated films. Since then, all three afore-mentioned films by Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli that were previously dubbed by Streamline have been re-dubbed by Disney. On June 1, 1997, Tokuma Shoten Publishing consolidated its media operations by merging Studio Ghibli, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia software and Tokuma International under one location. On February 1999, the 30th anniversary commemorative prize issue novel, was held at the 19th Japan SF award, with a presentation award ceremony of a short novel labelled as Tokuma literary award. On July 2001, "Spirited Away" was released. It would go on to break numerous records and became the most successful film during that era in Japanese history, grossing over $289,000,000 worldwide. On November 2004, "Howl's Moving Castle" was released. Along with the movie, the original book of the same name was a success. Between 1999 and 2005, Studio Ghibli was a subsidiary brand of Tokuma Shoten, however, that partnership ended on April 2005, when Studio Ghibli was spun off from Tokuma Shoten and was re-established as an independent company with a relocated headquarters.
In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten formed a partnership in which Buena Vista Pictures would be the sole international distributor for Tokuma Shoten's Studio Ghibli animated films. Since then, all three afore-mentioned films by Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli that were previously dubbed by Streamline Pictures have been re-dubbed by Disney. On June 1, 1997, Tokuma Shoten Publishing consolidated its media operations by merging Studio Ghibli, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia software and Tokuma International under one location.
In September 2011, GKIDS announced the acquisition of the North American theatrical distribution rights to the Studio Ghibli library, that were previously held by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, however, retained the home media distribution rights. GKIDS has since also managed the North American distribution of three new Studio Ghibli films, "From Up on Poppy Hill" in 2013", The Tale of the Princess Kaguya" in 2014, and "When Marnie Was There" in 2015 as well as the first-time North American releases of "Only Yesterday" and "Ocean Waves" in 2016. On July 17, 2017, it was announced that the North American home media rights to the Ghibli library (with the exception of "Grave of the Fireflies" and "The Wind Rises") had transitioned from Disney to GKIDS, with the distributor announcing plans to begin re-issuing the films beginning in October. Unlike most of GKIDS' material on home media, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment or Cinedigm isn't distributing the Ghibli re-releases, Shout! Factory is instead handling the distribution.
In October 2001, the Ghibli Museum opened in Mitaka, Tokyo. It contains exhibits based on Studio Ghibli films and shows animations, including a number of short Studio Ghibli films not available elsewhere.