Studio Ghibli Releases Miyazaki’s Final Film With No Trailer, No Marketing – The Hollywood Reporter

Japan’s Studio Ghibli said it would not release any trailers or promotional materials whatsoever prior to the release of Hayao Miyazaki’s final film. how do you live?

The upcoming movie, which opens in Japan on July 14, is easily the most anticipated movie to come to Japanese theaters in years — and very little is known about it (no US and global release dates have been set). Ghibli previously described the film as a “grand fantasy” based on Japanese writer Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel. how do you live?, a coming-of-age story about the emotional and philosophical development of a young boy following the death of his father. And the studio released a mysterious poster for the movie in December (watch it below), but hasn’t said anything else about the movie since then — no plot synopsis, no voice actor, nothing about the movie’s setting or characters. In an interview with Japan’s Bungei Shunji magazine on Friday, longtime Ghibli lead producer Toshio Suzuki, considered Miyazaki’s right-hand man, said nothing more would be revealed about the film before it hits theaters.

Explaining the absence of signs for the upcoming film, which is already becoming apparent in Japan, Suzuki said: “As part of the company’s operations, Ghibli over the years has wanted people to come and see the films we’ve made. So we thought about that and did many different things for that purpose – but these This time we were like, “Eh, we don’t need to do that.”

He added, “By doing the same thing I did before, over and over, I just got sick of it. So we wanted to do something different.”

Fans of the legendary anime house, which has prioritized the pure experience of its work over commercial considerations, will recognize the decision as a Studio Ghibli-esque move. For years, Ghibli restricted the amount of merchandise that could be licensed and made from its characters, for fear that they would be overexposed and lose some of their charm. And when the company launched its first long-running theme park last year, it limited advanced media access to the park, fearing that wide coverage would make the attraction too popular, which could undermine the gentle appreciation of nature for which visitors were designed. .

In the interview, Suzuki also took issue with Ghibli’s approach how do you live? With the usual Hollywood marketing methods.

“There’s an American movie — oh, I almost said the title out loud! — that comes out this summer around the same time [as How Do You Live?],” he said. “They made three trailers for it, and they released it one by one. If you’ve watched all three, you know everything that’s going to happen in this movie. How do moviegoers feel about it? There must be people who, after seeing all the trailers, don’t actually want to see the movie. So, I wanted to do the opposite.”

Suzuki also revealed that it was Miyazaki’s compliment about the first poster that finally convinced him to go with such a bold, stripped-down approach to releasing the movie.

He explained, “I’ve been involved in our films ever since Nausicaä Valley of the Wind (1984), but it was the first time that Hayao Miyazaki had sincerely praised me. “Suzuki-san, this is amazing. This is the best poster I have ever done. I felt like that was a hint, so I decided “let’s go with this poster just for marketing.” So, absolutely no trailers or TV commercials… there are no Press ads, too. Deep down, I think that’s what moviegoers unobtrusively desire.”

Studio Ghibli’s only poster for how do you live? below.