Source: Anime News Network

Producer and former Studio Ghibli head Toshio Suzuki revealed on his Ghibli Asemamire radio program that the anime studio will announce its next film on December 16. He added that Oscar-winning director and studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki is currently animating a television commercial.

Suzuki had previously confirmed in October that the studio’s next project is from a new director, and a July 10 entry in the official Studio Ghibli blog had already revealed the studio’s plans to open its next theatrical feature film next year. Suzuki predicted in October that Miyazaki’s next feature film might open in four years.

Studio Ghibli revealed during a February 2008 press conference that “directors [Isao] Takahata and [Hayao Miyazaki’s son] Goro Miyazaki are both developing works” for release after Hayao Miyazaki’s Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on a Cliff), which opened in Japan last year. Studio Ghibli President Koji Hoshino added in July of 2008 that there is a likely chance that Ghibli will promote one of its own animators to direct a film or recruit a director from outside the studio. Miyazaki himself told his studio’s staff in November of that year that they will start two feature-length works, with young staffers at their core, over the next three years.

Movies from both Takahata and Miyazaki? This is going to be a great couple of years.