Studio Ghibli Animates 'Majo no Tani no Yoru' Short for Ghibli Park

Studio Ghibli announced on Tuesday that it is producing a new short anime titled Majo no Tani no Yoru (A Night in the Valley of Witches). The film is set to premiere on July 8 exclusively at the Cinema Orion, located within the Ghibli's Grand Warehouse at Ghibli Park.

The short will be co-directed by Goro Miyazaki (Tales from Earthsea, From Up on Poppy Hill, Earwig and the Witch) and Akihiko Yamashita (known for Modest Heroes: “Invisible”).

The short will be set in the “Valley of Witches” area of Ghibli Park, which opened in March 2024. It will also mark the first original short that Studio Ghibli has created specifically for the park.

Following the premiere on July 8, the directors will appear for a special greeting and behind-the-scenes talk at 9:45 a.m. That screening will be limited to just 150 attendees, with tickets going on sale May 10 at 2:00 p.m. (1:00 a.m. EDT), alongside general July admission tickets for the park.

Ghibli Park originally opened on November 1, 2022-two years later than its planned 2020 debut. Currently, the Dondoko Forest, Ghibli's Grand Warehouse, and the Hill of Youth areas are open to visitors, with the Mononoke Forest section having opened in November 2023. The park spans approximately 7.1 hectares (17.5 acres) within the larger Aichi Expo Memorial Park, the former site of the World Expo 2005.

International ticket sales for the park began online in January 2023. In addition to the park, Studio Ghibli also operates the Ghibli Museum, which features interactive exhibits, recreations of iconic works, and rotating screenings of Ghibli animated shorts.