Hayao Miyazaki’s Mysterious New Feature Will Get U.S. Release This Year

Hayao Miyazaki’s Mysterious New Feature Will Get U.S. Release This Year

The legendary Hayao Miyazaki’s new film releases today in Japan, and there’s good news for Studio Ghibli fans not in that part of the world: GKIDS will be releasing it theatrically in North America later this year. Miyazaki’s first feature in 10 years comes with multiple titles; in Japan, it’s How Do You Live, but here it’ll be called The Boy and the Heron.

That’s not the only puzzling element about the new release. From a GKIDS press release: “In an unprecedented decision by Studio Ghibli, no images, trailers, synopses, advertisements, or other information about the film have been made available to the public prior to its release in theaters in Japan. In keeping with this policy, GKIDS will not release any further details or marketing materials at this time.”

We do know the following about the hand-drawn animated film: it’s “an original story written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by the Oscar-winning Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki, and features a musical score from Miyazaki’s long-time collaborator Joe Hisaishi.” The poster—the only released artwork from The Boy and the Heron—is below; if you’re super-curious about the plot, reviews from the Japanese release are starting to trickle out online.

Image: GKIDS

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