Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective Will Be the Inaugural Exhibit at the New Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will celebrate the "past, present, and future" of cinema when it opens its doors in late 2019, according to a recent announcement from AMPAS. As Variety reports, one of the first directors the museum will spotlight will be acclaimed animation director Hayao Miyazaki, who co-founded Japan's celebrated Studio Ghibli.

The Miyazaki retrospective, a collaboration between the Academy Museum and Studio Ghibli, will be the museum's inaugural special exhibit when it launches in about a year. It will also be America's first major exhibition to explore the filmmaker's nearly 60-year career.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures first went into development seven years ago, with an initial opening date set for 2016. After several delays, the Academy has finally confirmed that the $388 million attraction will be ready for visitors at the end of 2019. Other planned exhibits include “Making of: The Wizard of Oz” and “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1900-1970."

"We wanted to come out of the gate with an international figure ... to show this museum is not just about Hollywood," museum director Kerry Brougher told Variety about the decision to focus its inaugural efforts on the Oscar-winning director of Spirited Away.

The exhibition may the first of its kind to look at the films of Miyazaki in the U.S., but in Japan there's an entire museum dedicated to the director's filmography and the animation of Studio Ghibli. The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan features in-depth exhibits looking at his popular films, a theater screening exclusive shorts, and a life-sized Totoro.