Studio Ghibli has revealed that it will not release a poster, trailer, or any other promotional materials ahead of How Do You Live? premiering in Japan on July 14th. The movie is a loose adaptation of Japanese author Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel How Do You Live? International release dates have not been announced.
“Deep down, I think this is what moviegoers latently desire,” says producer Toshio Suzuki.
This is exciting in its own way. Since the film comes out in Japan first, I assume we’ll know something going in. But it’s pretty cool of them to maintain some secrecy rather than blowing the whole plot in trailers. Mind you, I’m not accusing previous Ghibli productions of that, as I saw many of them years after initial release. But it has been a problem with some Hollywood trailers. This is Hayao Miyazaki’s next film, so at least it will be interesting.
This will either have a good or bad outcome.