Rare 'Ponyo' Work From Studio Ghibli Donated to Academy Museum
Studio Ghibli has never before donated original production materials to any institution, making this the first time key animation drawings and concept art from a Miyazaki film are held outside the studio.
Reporting from 1 sources: Cartoon Brew.
Studio Ghibli has donated over 120 items from the 2008 film "Ponyo" to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, including key animation drawings drawn by Hayao Miyazaki himself and artboards that served as early concept blueprints for the film. The donation, which also includes original Japanese release posters, came as a surprise to senior exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel, who had repeatedly asked Ghibli for materials over several years without a response. After the museum's 2017 Hayao Miyazaki retrospective closed, Niebel received an email from Studio Ghibli offering the items. The donation is now part of the museum's new exhibition "Studio Ghibli's Ponyo," which opened recently and runs through January 10, 2027. The exhibit is Niebel's first designed specifically for children, with interactive play spaces, viewing stations, and a movable woodcut of Ponyo that children can manipulate. Niebel also conducted new interviews with Ghibli artists for the exhibit, a rare opportunity since the studio's artists typically do not give interviews.
The donation includes over 120 items, among them key animation drawings that curator Jessica Niebel later learned were all drawn by Hayao Miyazaki himself. The artboards, which Niebel described as blueprints for key scenes, atmosphere, lighting, and mood, are displayed on a wall in the exit room of the exhibition. The materials also include original Japanese release posters, which Niebel had requested but never expected to receive alongside the animation drawings.
The exhibition is laid out across three main rooms with viewing stations, film-inspired play spaces, and an interactive station where visitors can try animation creation. Making-of material is interspersed throughout. Niebel said she invited Studio Ghibli's Ponyo artists to Los Angeles for new interviews embedded near Miyazaki's drawings, noting that the artists rarely give interviews. The exhibition runs through January 10, 2027, and is accessible with a general admission ticket.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.