Stardew Valley Movie: Only Happening With David Lynch Or Studio Ghibli, Says ConcernedApe

The creator of Stardew Valley, ConcernedApe, has been announcing a bunch of additional projects, including a potential Stardew Valley movie. According to him, it would only happen if either David Lynch or Studio Ghibli hit him up. But why is that the case?

Ghibli x Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley movie: Would a Studio Ghibli x Stardew Valley movie look like this? | © Studio Ghibli / ConcernedApe / EarlyGame

After the announcements of the Stardew Valley board game, the Stardew Valley cookbook and the Stardew Valley live concert (!) we thought that these would be enough big projects for ConcernedApe to take on, especially since he's still working on the Stardew Valley 1.6 update and Haunted Chocolatier!

The community still wants more, apparently. IGN even asked Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe, in a recent interview whether he would be open to making a Stardew Valley movie.

"If Studio Ghibli Approached Me, I Would Probably Say Okay, Let's Do It."

Stardew Valley movie theater
Imagine watching a Stardew Valley movie in Stardew Valley. Mind. Blown. | © ConcernedApe / screenshot gameplay

ConcernedApe has always been very involved in his Stardew Valley projects, and it doesn't seem like that would be any different if he were to want a Stardew Valley movie.

I'm just too protective of my IP to just hand it over to someone and say go ahead and make a Stardew Valley movie or whatever. I would need to be closely involved with that.

Honestly, that's what makes me really excited for all of his projects, because you can really tell that he puts not only a lot of effort, but also a lot of love into his work. He seems very protective of his first baby, aka Stardew Valley, and that's totally understandable.

While he jokes around saying, "if Studio Ghibli approached me, I would probably say okay, let's do it", or "if David Lynch approached me and wanted to make a Stardew Valley movie, I would say go ahead, just do it", he seems quite wary about creating a movie out of the beloved video game.

Giving the character's voices and making them actually move around might be risky, according to Barone. After all, many of us fans already have our own ideas of how the characters sound and if that doesn't correlate with voices in the movie, we might end up feeling disappointed.

Stardew Valley Joja Mart
What would the movie even be about? The end of Joja Corp as we know it? | © ConcernedApe / screenshot gameplay

So, from what I could tell from the interview, it didn't seem as though ConcernedApe is actually seriously contemplating making a Stardew Valley movie at the moment. After all, he is already very busy working on Stardew Valley updates and Haunted Chocolatier, as well as his other projects!

It seems he would rather focus on his video games than another big project at the moment. But who knows, if the right studio gets in touch with him, we might have a Stardew Valley movie in the future?

If he does ever decide to go through with the idea, how meta would it be if you could watch it in the Stardew Valley movie theater? That would be incredible! ConcernedApe, take notes! Or, you know, hit me up if you ever need another great idea or beautiful pictures like the one with Sebastian and Evelyn as Howl and Sophie. You're welcome.

What do you think about a possible movie collab? Are you team Studio Ghibli or team David Lynch? Personally, while I do love Stardew Valley and Studio Ghibli, I think it's best that they don't intertwine. But who knows? Maybe they would create the most amazing movie ever!

If you want to see what his other big project, Haunted Chocolatier, looks like so far, check this video out:

Carina Toenges

Hey guys, I’m Carina! I’m currently studying Journalism and write for EarlyGame’s Gaming and LoL categories. Whether it’s Stardew Valley, Dead by Daylight or even League of Legends, I love playing and writing about all sorts of video games! ...