Can a production studio still do without advertising before a movie is released? At a time of pharaonic marketing budgets, of which Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is the latest example, and doubts about cinema attendance, Ghibli studios opt for a promotion at the economy of the latest feature film from their creator star, Hayao Miyazaki. The director himself expressed doubts about the adequacy of the strategy, while How do you live? is expected in Japanese theaters on July 14.
“I wonder if everything will be fine without publicity. I’m starting to worry […] I’m worried, that’s all, “said Miyazaki at the inauguration of the Ghibli exhibition at the Terrada warehouse in Tokyo, reports the cinephile media World of Reel, relayed by The Inrocks. In fact, with the exception of a poster designed by Miyazaki himself, no promotion of the film will be made. No trailer and barely a clear plot for the film – the studios had only announced that it would be an adaptation of the novel How do you live? by Japanese author Genzaburo Yoshino.
A concern not shared by Toshio Suzuki, Miyazaki’s right arm. “For years Ghibli wanted people to come see the movies we were making. So we thought about marketing and did a lot of things for that purpose. But this time, we said to ourselves that we did not need that”, he theorized in the Japanese magazine Bungei Shunji, convinced that the studio had to renew itself and stop trying to reproduce the same promotional schemes for each of their films.
