Studio Ghibli has opted against releasing a trailer or any other promotional materials for Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, How Do You Live?, ahead of its Japanese release next month.
The studio shared a single poster for the film in December, depicting a sketch of what appears to be a bird-like creature, but has shared no other information or previews since. The absence of marketing for the film will continue right the way up until its theatrical debut on July 14.
In an interview with Japanese magazine Bungei Shunji (independently translated by IGN Japan), producer Toshio Suzuki addressed the studio’s decision to not advertise the film in the lead-up to its release, saying they wanted to step back from the usual marketing methods.
“In the past, we had to keep the company Ghibli alive, you know, and wanted as many people as possible to come to watch our movies,” Suzuki explained. “But after trying many things, we’ve come to a point where I think maybe it’s time for a change.
“Everyone is drowning in information nowadays,” he noted. “Sometimes people go see a movie just to check the information they already know [from what was revealed during the movie’s promotion]. That is giving too much to customers, and it’s like they’re being deprived of what really makes it fun.”
While Suzuki recognized the potential benefits for movie theaters and moviegoers of taking this approach with the release, he admitted that Miyazaki’s praise of the poster was the ultimate endorsement to move forward and use that as the sole piece of marketing for the film.
“I’ve worked in the movie industry since Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, but it was the first time Hayao Miyazaki really praised [the poster],” he recalled. “That inspired me in a way. Like, we should go with just this. Hence, no trailer. No TV spot. And no newspaper ads whatsoever.”
Suzuki said Miyazaki went so far as to call it “the best” poster they had ever done, but that he still had some reservations about the lack of publicity, admitting, “He [Miyazaki] was like, ‘Are we OK without advertising?’ But gradually, he began to understand it.”
Miyazaki previously announced that he would be coming out of retirement to make How Do You Live? The movie is said to be his final feature-length project, though details about it have remained scarce. Suzuki, however, described the film as “fantasy on a grand scale.”
How Do You Live? is loosely inspired by Japanese author Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel of the same name, which tells the story of 15-year-old Junichi Honda in the aftermath of his father’s death. The young boy goes to live with his uncle and finds himself living very differently.
How Do You Live? will be released in Japan on July 14. There is no date set for an international release of the film as of yet.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
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