Hayao Miyazaki might return to animation

What do Steven Soderbergh, Brett Favre, and Hayao Miyazaki have in common? Their retirements don't tend to stick.

Variety reports that the Japanese animation giant, and co-founder of the immensely successful Studio Ghibli, might just be back for another project—even though he announced plans for a final retirement last September. The news came from Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, who appeared on the NHK morning show Asa Ichi Thursday.

Suzuki told the press that the director "may make something again." He mentioned that Miyazaki, whose last film was The Wind Rises, had talked to him about putting something together for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. "This is my guess," he said, "but I'm thinking it will be something short."

Suzuki appeared on Asa Ichi to clarify a statement he made earlier this week about Ghibli's plans to take a break in the future. His comments were initially mistranslated by American blogs, which led some to believe the animation studio had plans to shut down completely.

"We're changing the way we make [animation]," Suzuki said, though he did not specify the studio's exact plans. "We wanted to make a dream company. We thought we would make what suited us and not make what didn't suit us. We were able to realize [that dream] to some extent and we're very happy about that. But now we're at a point where we've got to think about what we'll do next."

Though these sorts of breaks tend to be routine in Japanese animation studios, Ghibli had managed to avoid taking one for many years due to the incredible success of Miyazaki's movies.