Studio Ghibli’s latest animated film,How Do You Live?, has just released in Japan. The film has caused a huge stir online because there was no promotion done for it at all, aside from one single poster released along with the title. And now, Studio Ghibli is not even going to sell the usual release day program that goes along with the film, likely to continue on their campaign to keep the film as secret as possible.
When movies come out, there is usually a long road of hyping up audiences and getting them excited that leads up to the eventual release. Multiple trailers, theme songs, cast lists, promotional images, and more are ways that studios capture people’s interests and draw them to the cinema when the film releases.In an unprecedented move, Studio Ghibli avoided all of this entirely forHow Do You Live?, not even releasing a cast list, let alone a trailer.
RELATED:Why Do Anime Fans Ignore this Studio Ghibli Film?
The thought process behind this wasrevealed by producer, who said that the studio did not want the audience to come into the movie with any preconceived ideas. They wanted a true blank slate, which is why not even a summary of the film’s plot was shared in advance. For most movie studios, this would be a huge risk, because no one may be interested in the movie. But Studio Ghibli believed that their name alone would bring their loyal fans, who would come to see any film they make regardless of its promotion - or lack thereof, in this case.
It seems that Studio Ghibli is so concerned with keeping ideas out of anyone’s head, and keeping the filmas spoiler-free as possible, that they are also forgoing merchandise for the film for now. Usually, when movies release in Japan, along with a lot of merchandise available in the cinema there is a program. These programs are full of images from the film, plot summaries, cast interviews, and more. They are collector items that go for around ¥1000 ($7 USD), and are very popular for people to purchase when they go to see the movie.
However, there will be no program release forHow Do You Live?for at least the first few weeks the film is out. The announcement came via Toho Cinema’s official Twitter, as one of the biggest movie theater chains in the country and a top seller of movie merchandise. While movies make a lot of money from the box office, they also make a niceextra profit from merchandise, including these programs, which sell in the thousands.
Studio Ghibli is committed to not spoilingHow Do You Live?for viewers before they can see the film for themselves. Selling programs would result in photos and scans appearing online, especially for a film surrounded in so much mystery. So rather than banking extra profit from programs and other merchandise, they have chosen to stick to their values.
Studio Ghibli is a studio famous for saying that they make movies as works of art, rather than making them simply to make money. And how they are handlingHow Do You Live?seems to prove that theyare not just talk. No other big studio has done something like this before, and within the next few weeks, we will be able to see if their gamble paid off or not. Hopefully they make enough money at the box office to make up for not having a safe cushion of profit from merchandise!
MORE:Everything You Need To Know About Hayao Miyazaki’s Last Film
How Do You Live?premiered in cinemas in Japan on July 14th, 2023.
