Jim Henson’s Creature Shop is making the puppets for My Neighbor Totoro’s stage debut.

The upcoming stage production of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro will feature puppets in the form of the anime’s most iconic characters. Designed by Basil Twist, they’re currently being built at the iconic Jim Henson Creature Shop in Los Angeles.

“I feel an immense responsibility to bring the iconic characters of My Neighbour Totoro to life on stage,” said Twist. “I want to honor these characters and capture the enchanting mystery of this beloved story. I want audiences to be inspired by the same feeling they get from the film when they meet Totoro on stage, so I chose to bring in the team at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to make sure we got it right.”

My Neighbor Totoro tells the story of Satsuki and Mei – two sisters who move into an old house along with their father to be closer to their mother, who is recovering from illness in a local hospital. It turns out that the house is inhabited by dust spirits, leading the girls to explore their surroundings – an enchanted, fantasy world inhabited by the ancient protector of the forest, Totoro.

“The Jim Henson Company is synonymous with imagination and childhood,” added Twist. “I have been building puppets since I was a young boy, and to me, there is still nothing more magical than when a seemingly inanimate object comes to life before your eyes. I have worked with the team at the Shop over the course of my career, so when I accepted this challenge and needed a team who could build my designs and bring Studio Ghibli’s treasured characters to life, I knew it had to be Henson. I truly believe we are creating something extraordinary.”

An exploration of magic and nature, My Neighbor Totoro is a Studio Ghibli classic. Thankfully, it sounds as though long-time fans will be pleased with the studio production, which aims to keep its version of the characters as instantly recognizable as the original.

“We know all too well the importance of maintaining the visual style and personality of beloved characters,” said creative supervisor Peter Brooke. “Whether an audience member is a long-time fan of this iconic story, or new to Miyazaki’s fantastical world, they will be simply amazed when they see these magical creatures live on stage in a whole new way in My Neighbour Totoro.”

My Neighbor Totoro opens on October 8, 2022, at the Barbican Centre, London.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

The Electric State is coming to Netflix, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the long-gestating adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated novel has been picked up by Netflix, with MCU directors Joe and Anthony Russo attached to direct.

Millie Bobby Brown will star as Michelle, an orphaned teenager traveling across a retro-futuristic American west with an eccentric drifter and mysterious robot, in search of her younger brother.

Chris Pratt is also in talks to join The Electric State in an undisclosed role.

The Electric State has been in the works for some time, originally at Universal, until rising costs forced the team to put the film into turnaround, eventually being picked up by Netflix. The film’s new budget is thought to be upward of $200 million – another hefty price tag for a Netflix production.

The script is currently being penned by Russo collaborators, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who also wrote the script for Avengers: Endgame, which the Russo Brothers directed.

The Russo Brothers purchased the rights to The Electric State back in 2017 with Andy and Barbara Muschietti expected to direct the adaptation as recently as 2019. But the Russo Brothers have since had a change of heart, opting to helm the project themselves.

As for who will voice Michelle’s toy robot Skip in The Electric State, that remains a mystery – but considering Chris Pratt is voicing both Mario and Garfield, he could be adding another name to the list.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

This story contains slight spoilers for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The appearance of Raccacoonie in Everything Everywhere All at Once was one of the film’s highlights, and a major talking point… and it turns out, it used a real, very-much-deceased, raccoon.

During an interview with The Ringer, makeup and effects supervisor Jason Hamer revealed how he made the incredible Raccacoonie prop.

“The guys were like, ‘Think cheap. We don't want it to look good. It should look goofy, like a bad taxidermy.’” The idea was the make Raccacoonie look low budget… but Hamer took their direction a bit too literally and used raccoon taxidermy as a basis for his animatronic raccoon.

Raccacoonie is first mentioned in a hilarious gag when Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) misremembers the title of the Pixar classic, Ratatouille. But later, Everything Everywhere All at Once uses this weird gag to illustrate the breadth of the multiverse.

“The idea that whatever she got wrong was real was a very exciting way to explore the multiverse,” said co-director Daniel Scheinert in an interview with Vulture. “That’s always when we know a joke is going to be worth pursuing—when first the idea is so ridiculous that we can’t stop thinking about it.”

Ultimately, Raccacoonie made it into the movie… but the directors didn’t want it to look perfect. “That was one of the challenges,” said Hamer. “The guys [were] going, ‘Cheap and quick and dirty.’ And I'm going, ‘No. Cool and beautiful and funny!’”

Of course, the logistics were… tricky. “You’ve got to think about the challenges of, you’ve got an actor and we’ve got to mount it to his head,” he said. “Are we going to do puppet arms? Are we going to make it animatronic?”

Ultimately, the taxidermy raccoon was used as a skeleton for a complex system of animatronics… while the outside was kept as lo-fi as possible. Hamer himself is renowned for his impeccable makeup and effects, having been nominated for an Emmy for his work on Westworld. So, how do you hold back the instinct to make it look better?

“It's going not as far as you would like to go, is basically what it is,” he said. “It's taking less time to blend the hair, or painting on the fur.”

The end result is an utterly charming (and hilarious) take on a Pixar classic that became a big subplot in the film as Evelyn helps chef Chad (Harry Shum Jr.) rescue his talking raccoon pal. Quite a step up for a taxidermized raccoon.

Everything Everywhere All At Once stars Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr, James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The film was both written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Return to Monkey Island will be the "conclusion" to the entire series, according to the game's charming new website.

The website is presented as its own point 'n' click experience, full of interactivity drawn from the Monkey Island series. Click through to the Overview section, however and (as spotted by Eurogamer) you'll find out that Return to Monkey Island will be "the exciting conclusion to the Monkey Island series."

After a very long wait – the last game in the series was Tales of Monkey Island in 2009 – fans might be dismayed to hear that this could be the final outing for the classic adventure games. It is possible that it may be designed as the end of the story, of course, and that prequels could be a future way for it to continue.

It's also possible that developer Terrible Toybox is referring to this is as the conclusion of a trilogy, rather than ruling out any more Monkey Island games. Return to Monkey Island will be a direct sequel to the first two games, The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, from original writer-director Ron Gilbert. It will ignore the events of Monkey Island games created after that point (although does reintroduce Monkey Island 3 fan-favourite, Murray the Talking Skull).

We've contacted the developer for comment.

Return to Monkey Island was announced in April, and Gilbert and the team at Terrible Toybox have been drip-feeding information ahead of its release later this year, most recently revealing that it will come to Nintendo Switch first on consoles.

While he's announced some gameplay details, such as the inclusion of an easy mode and hint system, Gilbert has mostly talked about the long and unexpected timeline that eventually led to the creation of Return to Monkey Island.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Ubisoft's open world pirate game Skull & Bones will reportedly be released on November 8, after years of troubled development.

As reported by Eurogamer, industry insider @ALumia_Italia shared on Twitter (below) that a release date had been found amid an apparent Xbox Store entry, also listing a plethora of DLC packs for the game. These include a preorder bonus, Bloody Bones' Legacy Mission, the Ashen Corsair Mission, the Smuggler Pass Token, digital soundtrack and artbook, and Premium Bonus Pack.

✅

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) June 28, 2022

While it's unclear exactly what these are individually, their placement on the Xbox Store certainly implies that Ubisoft is nearing an official announcement of Skull & Bones' release date, from which point players will be able to preorder it. Repeated leaker Tom Henderson subsequently followed up to add weight to the November 8 release date (also in the tweet above),

It's also not the only evidence to suggest a major reveal is coming. Skull & Bones was rated by the ESRB on June 27 (and by South Korea's ratings board in May), and games are usually only presented to ratings boards once they're in a complete or near-complete state. Gameplay also leaked in April that had a pretty comprehensive overview of the game, and while it's not clear what stage of development this was from, we do know that certain members of the public have been playing Skull & Bones to test it for Ubisoft.

The game was first revealed five years ago in 2017 but suffered delay after delay and as of July last year had reportedly been in development for eight years. It reportedly entered an alpha stage at this time after receiving a major reboot in September 2020.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ Star Wars series was originally pitched as a trilogy of feature films, still starring Ewan McGregor.

In an interview with The Direct, one of Obi-Wan Kenobi's credited writers Stuart Beattie revealed that he didn't actually collaborate with the production team but was instead responsible for writing a screenplay for the first of three planned Obi-Wan films. He added that, at the time, both Disney and Ewan McGregor were "absolutely" on board with the idea of a trilogy.

"I wrote the film that they based the show on," Beattie said. "I spent like a year, year and a half working on it. When the decision was made not to make any more spin-off films after Solo came out, I left the project and went on to other things.

"[Executive producer Joby Harold] came on and took my scripts and turned it from two hours into six. So I did not work with them at all, I just got credit for the episodes because it was all my stuff."

Beattie pitched three films to Lucasfilm as he believed the Obi-Wan from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith had to undergo three different evolutions before he became the Ben we know in A New Hope.

"The first one was the first movie, which was the show, which was: 'surrender to the will of the Force. Transport your will, surrender your will. Leave the kid alone,'" Beattie explained. "The second was thinking about where Kenobi ends up. And one of the most powerful and probably the most powerful moment in all of Obi-Wan's story is that moment where he sacrifices himself in A New Hope.

"Great moment, you know, makes you cry. But, if you stop and think about it, it's a pretty sudden thing, to just kind of go be fighting a guy, to see Luke and go, 'I'm gonna die.' You know, that to me, that required forethought. That required pre-acceptance that this was going to happen."

Beattie didn't share his ideas for the third film but said he was devastated when the trilogy was scrapped as Disney and Lucasfilm shifted major parts of Star Wars storytelling towards TV shows instead of movies.

"It certainly crushed us. Devastated, absolutely devastated," he said. "But, that's the business, you know, highs and lows. I'm glad it got made. I'm glad the show got made. I'm proud of my story that [got] told."

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said in May that Star Wars is now about "persistent storytelling" instead of film trilogies, as a regular output of TV shows, one-off films, and even novels, comics, and games will now be used to expand the universe instead of just landmark movie collections. The next film set to be released is from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, who also said in May that he'll bring a completely fresh story to the Star Wars universe.

The new model appears to be working, as in our 8/10 review of the first season, IGN said: "Bookended by strong opening and closing chapters, Obi-Wan Kenobi bridges the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope to satisfying effect."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ Star Wars series was originally pitched as a trilogy of feature films, still starring Ewan McGregor.

In an interview with The Direct, one of Obi-Wan Kenobi's credited writers Stuart Beattie revealed that he didn't actually collaborate with the production team but was instead responsible for writing a screenplay for the first of three planned Obi-Wan films. He added that, at the time, both Disney and Ewan McGregor were "absolutely" on board with the idea of a trilogy.

"I wrote the film that they based the show on," Beattie said. "I spent like a year, year and a half working on it. When the decision was made not to make any more spin-off films after Solo came out, I left the project and went on to other things.

"[Executive producer Joby Harold] came on and took my scripts and turned it from two hours into six. So I did not work with them at all, I just got credit for the episodes because it was all my stuff."

Beattie pitched three films to Lucasfilm as he believed the Obi-Wan from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith had to undergo three different evolutions before he became the Ben we know in A New Hope.

"The first one was the first movie, which was the show, which was: 'surrender to the will of the Force. Transport your will, surrender your will. Leave the kid alone,'" Beattie explained. "The second was thinking about where Kenobi ends up. And one of the most powerful and probably the most powerful moment in all of Obi-Wan's story is that moment where he sacrifices himself in A New Hope.

"Great moment, you know, makes you cry. But, if you stop and think about it, it's a pretty sudden thing, to just kind of go be fighting a guy, to see Luke and go, 'I'm gonna die.' You know, that to me, that required forethought. That required pre-acceptance that this was going to happen."

Beattie didn't share his ideas for the third film but said he was devastated when the trilogy was scrapped as Disney and Lucasfilm shifted major parts of Star Wars storytelling towards TV shows instead of movies.

"It certainly crushed us. Devastated, absolutely devastated," he said. "But, that's the business, you know, highs and lows. I'm glad it got made. I'm glad the show got made. I'm proud of my story that [got] told."

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said in May that Star Wars is now about "persistent storytelling" instead of film trilogies, as a regular output of TV shows, one-off films, and even novels, comics, and games will now be used to expand the universe instead of just landmark movie collections. The next film set to be released is from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, who also said in May that he'll bring a completely fresh story to the Star Wars universe.

The new model appears to be working, as in our 8/10 review of the first season, IGN said: "Bookended by strong opening and closing chapters, Obi-Wan Kenobi bridges the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope to satisfying effect."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has guaranteed the legal right to abortion nationwide since 1973. The practical effect of this decision is that abortion will be banned in 9 states within 30 days, with at least 12 more likely to follow. Increased legal restrictions are likely to severely impact clinics and organizations specializing in reproductive health, making it more difficult to access life-saving care, with people of color and other marginalized groups being disproportionately affected.

Game studios including Bungie, Insomniac, and Innersloth have responded to the decision by affirming their support for reproductive rights while posting links to charity and advocacy organizations. Disney, Netflix, and other studios have promised to provide access to abortion care for employees, including expanded travel benefits to cover employees who may now need to cross state lines to obtain essential care.

On June 24, IGN released the following statement.

IGN is committed to being inclusive and supporting equality. We believe our employees have the right to make personal decisions about their physical and mental well-being. With employees in multiple states, we believe that all of our employees are entitled to universal access to health care and services, regardless of where one chooses to live.

How to Help: Charitable Organizations

A number of reproductive health and advocacy groups are currently accepting donations and support for their efforts to help guarantee access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion. We encourage you to consider the resources below, which offer ways to help organizations advocating for access to reproductive care and support.

National Network of Abortion Funds

National Network of Abortion Funds provides support for those seeking abortion on every level, from national to regional. In addition to monetary support, they offer “practical support” which is defined as “transportation, lodging, childcare, translation” and other services. You can read more about their services here. Donations could mean a huge amount to these smaller, grassroots organizations – you can see a list of funds by region here. Note that National Network of Abortion Funds was experiencing site outages and are also accepting direct donations at this link.

Center for Reproductive Rights

The Center for Reproductive Rights touts itself as “the only global legal advocacy organization dedicated to reproductive rights.” Its focus is backing effective reproductive health law in both the US and abroad.

Repro Legal Defense Fund via If/When/How

This fund, set up by advocacy group If/When/How, covers bail costs and pays for legal defenses for those investigated, arrested, or prosecuted for self-managing an abortion. The fund also offers free, confidential help from legal experts.

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood provides a network of over 600 clinics that provide reproductive health and give access to abortion across the country. Here’s a list of services Planned Parenthood provides, and a list of clinics you can search here.

Other Resources

Below are resources for those looking for assistance with reproductive health. We will add any relevant resources that we discover.

National Abortion Federation Hotline - 1-800-772-9100

The National Abortion Federation’s National Hotline ”operates the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual Hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S.” You can also donate to the fund here.

Interactive Map of Abortion Policies and Access

The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice policy organization, has put together an interactive map of the US that provides a readable rundown of abortion policies and statistics for each state.

IGN has been diligently practicing ways in which we can share cultural celebrations and promote inclusivity, as well as drive support toward humanitarian causes through our How to Help articles. The IGN editorial team is committed to using our platform for good to aid the innocent voices who need it the most. We of course encourage our readers to support the causes and associated organizations that most resonate with them, and encourage you to donate if you have the means to.

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has guaranteed the legal right to abortion nationwide since 1973. The practical effect of this decision is that abortion will be banned in 9 states within 30 days, with at least 12 more likely to follow. Increased legal restrictions are likely to severely impact clinics and organizations specializing in reproductive health, making it more difficult to access life-saving care, with people of color and other marginalized groups being disproportionately affected.

Game studios including Bungie, Insomniac, and Innersloth have responded to the decision by affirming their support for reproductive rights while posting links to charity and advocacy organizations. Disney, Netflix, and other studios have promised to provide access to abortion care for employees, including expanded travel benefits to cover employees who may now need to cross state lines to obtain essential care.

On June 24, IGN released the following statement.

IGN is committed to being inclusive and supporting equality. We believe our employees have the right to make personal decisions about their physical and mental well-being. With employees in multiple states, we believe that all of our employees are entitled to universal access to health care and services, regardless of where one chooses to live.

How to Help: Charitable Organizations

A number of reproductive health and advocacy groups are currently accepting donations and support for their efforts to help guarantee access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion. We encourage you to consider the resources below, which offer ways to help organizations advocating for access to reproductive care and support.

National Network of Abortion Funds

National Network of Abortion Funds provides support for those seeking abortion on every level, from national to regional. In addition to monetary support, they offer “practical support” which is defined as “transportation, lodging, childcare, translation” and other services. You can read more about their services here. Donations could mean a huge amount to these smaller, grassroots organizations – you can see a list of funds by region here. Note that National Network of Abortion Funds was experiencing site outages and are also accepting direct donations at this link.

Center for Reproductive Rights

The Center for Reproductive Rights touts itself as “the only global legal advocacy organization dedicated to reproductive rights.” Its focus is backing effective reproductive health law in both the US and abroad.

Repro Legal Defense Fund via If/When/How

This fund, set up by advocacy group If/When/How, covers bail costs and pays for legal defenses for those investigated, arrested, or prosecuted for self-managing an abortion. The fund also offers free, confidential help from legal experts.

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood provides a network of over 600 clinics that provide reproductive health and give access to abortion across the country. Here’s a list of services Planned Parenthood provides, and a list of clinics you can search here.

Other Resources

Below are resources for those looking for assistance with reproductive health. We will add any relevant resources that we discover.

National Abortion Federation Hotline - 1-800-772-9100

The National Abortion Federation’s National Hotline ”operates the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual Hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S.” You can also donate to the fund here.

Interactive Map of Abortion Policies and Access

The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice policy organization, has put together an interactive map of the US that provides a readable rundown of abortion policies and statistics for each state.

IGN has been diligently practicing ways in which we can share cultural celebrations and promote inclusivity, as well as drive support toward humanitarian causes through our How to Help articles. The IGN editorial team is committed to using our platform for good to aid the innocent voices who need it the most. We of course encourage our readers to support the causes and associated organizations that most resonate with them, and encourage you to donate if you have the means to.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek hasn't exactly had a smooth ride since taking Disney's reins in 2020. From the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering theme parks across the country to a reported feud with former CEO Bob Iger, Chapek has come to be seen as an embattled executive moving from one crisis to another.

Nevertheless, Chapek received one big vote of confidence today, with Variety reporting that Disney's board of directors has voted unanimously to extend his contract for three more years.

"Disney was dealt a tough hand by the pandemic, yet with Bob at the helm, our businesses — from parks to streaming — not only weathered the storm, but emerged in a position of strength," chairman Susan Arnold said in a statement.

"In this important time of growth and transformation, the Board is committed to keeping Disney on the successful path it is on today, and Bob’s leadership is key to achieving that goal. Bob is the right leader at the right time for The Walt Disney Company, and the Board has full confidence in him and his leadership team."

The extension comes despite criticism stemming from his handling of major decisions like releasing Black Widow to both streaming and theaters simultaneously, leading star Scarlett Johansson to sue the entertainment giant. Chapek also found himself trapped between angry employees and the Republican Party amid the battle over Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill.

Chapek expressed gratitude for the board's support and said leading Disney was the "honor of a lifetime."

The next three years will continue to test Chapek's leadership a Disney recovers from the pandemic; tries to continue growing Disney Plus amid fierce competion, and leans more than ever on its stable of well-known properties.

In the short-term, though, Chapek and the rest of Disney can enjoy the pending windfall from Thor: Love and Thunder, which is set to release on July 8.

Blogroll Image Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.