As Hayao Miyazaki’s “How Do You Live?” preps for its Japanese release next month, we now have a better idea of who will be in charge of its theatrical release Stateside.
GKids has acquired the rights to Miyazaki’s film, which still has no U.S. release date to its name. Rumors are also pointing towards Miyazaki completely bypassing festivals.
Last week I reported on Studio Ghibli’s peculiar decision to do away with pre-release advertising and advanced information. There will be no trailer or image released of the film.
Studio Ghibli president and producer Suzuki Toshio reasoned that the element of surprise will be key, “audiences will see for themselves what the film is about,” Suzuki said. “And to do that, they’ll have to go a theater.”
Another surprising admission on the part of Toshio is that the film is NOT based on the 1937 coming-of-age novel by Genzaburo Yoshino, adding that Miyazaki “only borrowed the title.”
If there is indeed no festival bow for Miyazaki then we can expect a general release strategy sometime in October or November — at the very least to qualify for Oscar.
In 2013, Miyazaki said he was retiring and that his last film would be the bittersweet WWII drama, “The Wind Rises.” That retirement was clearly short-lived.