Studio Ghibli representative director and co-founder Toshio Suzuki reported on the NHK morning television program Asa Ichi on Thursday that director Hayao Miyazaki "may make something again." He said that Miyazaki talked about making a short film for the Ghibli Museum.

In addition to his award-winning feature films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Spirited Away, Miyazaki also directed such Ghibli Museum shorts as "The Whale Hunt," "Koro's Big Day Out," "Mei and the Kitten Bus," "Mon Mon the Water Spider," "House Hunting," "Hoshi o Katta Hi," and "Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess."

Suzuki also discussed his studio's plans to take a short pause to consider its future direction after Miyazaki's retirement from feature films. "We're changing the way we make [animation]. 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."

Miyazaki (sitting far left in the picture to the left) retired from directing feature films last year. Suzuki (sitting in center to the left of co-founder and director Isao Takahata) himself stepped down from his producer role this year, although he is assuming the new title of "general manager." The studio's latest film, When Marnie Was There from director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, opened at #3 during the July 19-20 weekend with 378,790,697 yen (US$3,721,297) on 461 screens.

Source: Variety