After three decades with consistent output of some of the finest animations ever made, Studio Ghibli has taken a break. Following the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki from feature animations, his company has decided to re-assess their goals, with no films on the horizon. Whether or not they return to feature work remains to be seen, but considering the development and intense work needed to create such an animation, it will be a long time before we see anything new.
Thankfully, there was still one more “final film in production,” as the press release says, with When Marnie Was There. Based on the novel by Joan G. Robinson and the sophomore feature of Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty), it’ll get a U.S. release this summer and today brings the first domestic trailer.
A ghost story about a lonely girl named Annie who meets her first friend in the mysterious Marnie, this English-language version features voice work by Hailee Steinfeld, Kiernan Shipka, Kathy Bates, Ellen Burstyn, Geena Davis, Catherine O’Hara, John C. Reilly, Raini Rodriguez and Vanessa Williams. Check out the new trailer and images below.
Sent from her foster home in the city one summer to a sleepy town by the sea in Hokkaido, Anna dreams her days away among the marshes. She believes she’s outside the invisible magic circle to which most people belong – and shuts herself off from everyone around her, wearing her “ordinary face.” Anna never expected to meet a friend like Marnie, who does not judge Anna for being just what she is. But no sooner has Anna learned the loveliness of friendship than she begins to wonder about her newfound friend…
When Marnie Was There opens on May 22nd in Los Angeles and New York and expands from there.