Studio Ghibli Finally Releases A Proper Trailer For ‘Promo-Free’ Film

Video screenshot via GKIDS Films

Studio Ghibli’s decision to release its latest movie, The Boy and the Heron, with minimal promotional materials unsurprisingly drove considerable attention toward the project. Known as How Do You Live? in Japan, it’s also co-founder Hayao Miyazaki’s last movie with the beloved animation studio.

Adapted from Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel How Do You Live, the story follows a young boy named Mahito, who visits a world occupied by the living and dead to reconnect with his mother. It’s described as “a semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.”

The Boy and the Heron stands out from prior Studio Ghibli animations in that there are few promotional visuals to clue in on the lore and its magical dreamscapes, the latter of which are Ghibli signatures.

Following the movie’s Japanese release, however, GKIDS, the distributor of Studio Ghibli films in North America, decided to drop a few crumbs. Earlier this month, it debuted a cryptic trailer filled with nothing but a blank screen and text.

At long last, we finally have a look at how The Boy and the Heron’s artistic scenes may play out. The distributor has dropped the first official (teaser) trailer for the largely marketing-free film, presenting viewers with some visual context for the very first time.

With the launch of the trailer, we also have word of when the film will show in US and Canada theaters—December 8—following preview events beginning November 22.

The Boy and the Heron will be screened in two language versions: the first being its original Japanese form with English subtitles, and the other being an English-dubbed release. Watch the first trailer below.

[via Gizmodo and Variety, video and cover image via GKIDS Films]