Animation Magazine is reporting that Hayao Miyazaki's next film will be based on the Chinese children's novella I Lost My Little Boy.  The report has not been confirmed and since Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli play things very close to the vest, there is reason to view this report with some skepticism.  The book in question is a rather Miyazaki-esque saga of a boy with a serious heart condition and it even contains lots of direct references to Ghibli films such as Totoro and Valley of the Wind, which is cause for some skepticism all by itself.

 

The fact that reports that Ghibli had acquired the rights to the novella appeared in a Chinese newspaper in 2005 doesn't automatically disqualify the new report in Animation Magazine since projects can be temporarily shelved and then resuscitated.  Stay tuned for further details...