Hayao Miyazaki’s final film How Do You Live surprise hits IMAX this week

Hayao Myazaki was the mastermind behind Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro” Princess MononokeAfter the release of his 2013 movie, Studio Ghibli was planning to retire. The Wind Rises You work when you enjoy your job. In 2016, Miyazaki, despite calling time on his career, revealed that he would be working one final movie. How do you live?. Details were sparse and production was slow — in 2020, Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki said only 36 minutes of the planned feature film were completed since production began three years prior — but anyone familiar with Miyazaki’s painstaking work knew How do you live?The wait would be well worth it when the time finally came.

Good news! It’s finally here. It’s finally here. Like, This Week.

Trailers have not been released for How do you live?. No promotional image or storyline is available. Suzuki said that Miyazaki is not planning to promote the film. Ghibli’s Twitter account teases audio with cryptic messages. This is the closest to any hype.

How do you live? The movie will be released in Japan on Friday, 14th July with no fanfare. Ghibli claims that this was the original plan.

Suzuki told Bungeishunji magazine in Japan that Miyazaki wanted the film to speak for itself. In theory, if there’s a new Miyazaki film playing in theaters, audiences will seek it out — so why give anything more away? The pedigree of the film is already there. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle” PonyoThese are the top-grossing Japanese films ever. Wind Rises In 2013, the top movie in Japan was an existential story about an artist that loves to make warplanes. Anyone can outdo this? Cloverfield or Beyoncé’s Lemonade with a massive-but-surprise drop, it’s Miyazaki.

What is it? How do you live? What’s the story about? Ghibli has described it as a “big, fantastical story” — not too surprising based on Miyazaki’s filmography. But it also sounds like it could be the animator’s grandest film to date: This week, in anticipation of the Japanese release, IMAX confirmed that How do you live? It would be the very first Studio Ghibli release to take place in this format. Based on reports from Suzuki, the scale isn’t impacting Miyazaki’s style.

“We are still hand-drawing everything, but it takes us more time to complete a film because we’re drawing more frames,” the producer said in 2020. “So, there are more drawings to draw than before. When we made [1988’s] My Neighbor TotoroOnly eight animators were available. Totoro we made in eight months. [For]The current Hayao-Miyazaki film has 60 animators. However, they are only capable of producing one minute’s worth of animated content in a single month. That means 12 months a year, you get 12 minutes worth of movie.”

Miyazaki takes no shortcuts. He’s iffy about computer graphics and loathes AI-generated animation. One of the most talented animators to ever emerge. His new film is here. Disney released the movie. The Wind Rises in 2013 and GKIDS, the premiere animation distributor, has handled tons of Japanese imports and kept Miyazaki’s dream alive with constant theatrical revivals of the Ghibli films, at this moment, there are no international release dates or distribution plans for What is your way of life? You can expect a U.S. theatrical release to come as a little less of a shock. If you really want to experience the Miyazaki style, then skip the trailer.