The flying castle in Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky is called Laputa. The 1986 film was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and follows Sheeta and Pazu as they search for the legendary floating island.
Laputa is a technologically advanced airborne kingdom powered by a mysterious levitation crystal. The film’s title and concept were inspired partly by Laputa, the floating island in Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satire Gulliver’s Travels. Miyazaki reimagined the idea as an ancient civilization whose technology could be used for both wonder and destruction.
In the English-language release, some distributors changed the island’s name to Lapute because of concerns about the word’s pronunciation in English. The original Japanese title is Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta, commonly translated as Castle in the Sky. The film is also notable as the first feature produced by Studio Ghibli after the company was established in 1985.