Studio Ghibli’s New Movie How Do You Live to Change Title for International Release

Studio Ghibli’s latest film, How Do You Live, which recently premiered in Japan, will release under the title The Boy and the Heron through Gkids in North America.

How Do You Live is allegedly the beloved filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s final film. The studio’s co-founder Toshio Suzuki produced the film. It is the first Studio Ghibli film to attain an IMAX release, at least in Japan.

Despite heavy secrecy around the film, with Studio Ghibli refusing to release additional promotional material outside of the poster featuring what is assumed to be the titular heron, no spoilers have hit SNS from Japanese social media users who have already seen the film after its July 14 release. Co-founder Suzuki said, “A poster and a title — that’s all we got when we were children. I enjoyed trying to imagine what a movie was about, and I wanted to bring that feeling back,” explaining the limited marketing effort. How Do You Live has already earned $7 million since its premiere.

How Do You Live is based on a book written initially by Yūzō Yamamoto and completed by Genzaburo Yoshino, and published in 1937 by Shinchosa. The story follows 15-year-old Junichi Honda, known as Koperu, or Copper, in the English localization. Koperu lives with his mother, although his uncle, whom he is close to, frequently visits. The story alternates point-of-view between Koperu and his uncle. It is told through letters, journey entries and memories, to name a few things, as Koperu learns about things like relations, the structure of society and more. As Koperu learns more about himself, the book ultimately ends with asking readers, “How do you live?”

How Do You Live premiered on July 14 in Japan. The Boy and the Heron will debut in North America later this year.

Source: Engadget, Twitter